Home Remodel

This is the during picture.  Soon to come the before and after.  We really are almost done with remodeling our house.  It just needs some final touches.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just a short post to give thanks. So many things to be thankful for. My little family, and my bigger extended families, a job that I love (most of the time), a beautiful place to live with changing seasons, the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life, and good friends to share this life with.

Summer Checklist

Every summer I make a list of things I must do before the summer is over. On July 1st I had a mini panic attack. How can a month of my summer break already be gone? So here is what I have already checked off my list.

Summer Conference. Check.
Dance Week. Check.
Summerfest. Check. Carmel Apple at Summerfest. Check
Visit to Instacare to get tetnus shot for sewing finger instead of trek skirt. Check.
Trek. Check. Extreme sunburn while on trek. Check.
Bear Lake with family. Check
Fireworks. Check. Hoarding mentality while shaving firework spot. Check.
Parade. Check.
Watch Summer Magic on deck. Check.
Learn how to knit. Check.
Organize cupboard. Check.

Ok, so I guess I don't need a panic attack yet.

Merry Christmas!

Here is our Christmas photo. As you can see we have had a great year!

First Day of School

Last night as I was lying in bed and couldn't sleep thinking about the school year ahead. I was thinking about my summer and if I was ready to give it up. This is what I did this summer: I went on a plane, ate smores, visited a museum, went to a family reunion, watched fireworks, went river rafting, had a picnic in the park, waded my feet in the canal, went to a parade, visited a national monument, slept under the stars, went to the movies, read at least 10 books, cleaned out a drawer or two, did some scrapbooking, went shopping, lunch with friends, floated boats down the canal, sat around a campfire, and spent time with family. I think I am ready for some adventures at school now.

More Graduation Photos

Ashley's Graduation

Jessica took some great pictures of Ashley and I had to share them.

Washington DC

What a fun family vacation. It was just soooooo hot. As you can tell from my photo I was on the verge of heat exhaustion every day. We saw just about everything there is to see, and spent a lot of time in air conditioned museums. Matt was in heaven looking at all the art, and Ash was in heaven soaking up the history. I was in heaven when I could find an AC vent to sit on.

If I Could Save Time In A Bottle

It's graduation, and I can't believe it. Where has the time gone? I swear it was just yesterday that I was dropping her off at her first day of kindergarten. I am so proud of Ashley. She has worked hard to earn what she has accomplished. She is one of the most talented people I know. I have decided that the only things she can't do are the things she hasn't tried yet.

Some things she has been involved in:
*Dance. She has been dancing competitively since 2nd grade. I love to watch her, and I am glad she stuck with it.
*Singing. She was in the musical this year, as well as Crimson Colony. Performing is definitely her thing.
*Acting. Who knew? She has always been a drama queen, but she did a great job as Miss Stacy in Anne of Green Gables. Just give her a cape as part of a costume and she is on top of the world.
*National Honor Society. She is a honor student with a 3.89 grade point average. She has been on the honor roll every grading period since 6th grade.
*Sterling Scholar. This year she represented Logan High as the Sterling scholar in Family and Consumer Sciences. She completed a quilt on her own, made a recipe blog, and sewed her own costumes for the musical.
*Most School Spirit. This is my favorite. She was voted as having the most school spirit. Mostly that means she wasn't afraid to wear crazy clothes to school. Believe it or not it included a cape.

I am so sad Ashley won't be with me next year at Logan High. Watch out world here she comes.

Skippy

Poor Skippy. He lasted sooooo long. He was 19 years and 2 months old. On Sunday May 16th he started to lose all his bodily functions. Unfortunately he lost them all on Ashley's bed. After that he could hardly walk, and wouldn't eat or drink anything. During family prayer he came in and yodeld his I love you meow. On Monday Matt took him to the vet to put him out of his misery. We had a burial in the back yard on Monday afternoon. Such a sad day for us. He was the cat we loved to hate for the last little while, but he was a great cat. We bonded with him from the night he was born. He was a member of the family, and Ashley's big brother that she never had. He had family prayer with us every night, and slept on our beds with us. Whenever we were in a room together he would come find us and sit on one of our laps. We will miss him.

My family

We had so much fun taking pictures and sharing stories. I am sorry everyone couldn't be there. I just hope it isn't 10 more years until we can do it again.

80th Birthday Celebration for
Janee Elizabeth Smith Walker

Date: Saturday May, 1
Time: Family Pictures 11:00 am
Luncheon 12:30 pm

Place:
Pictures: Bottom of Old Main Hill

Luncheon: Eastridge Church (Ginger’s)
1350 Eastridge Dr

Merry Christmas

This is our Christmas photo for this year. It kind of fills in for the long Christmas letter. You just get to see what we were up to in pictures instead of words. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our friends and family.

Christmas Photo 2009

 

I'm Thirsty

When I was little we would travel to Salt Lake and Provo a few times a month. Less in the winter of course, but still it seemed like quite a few times. I didn't really love sharing the back seat with my brothers and sisters, but the worst was sitting in the very back seat in the station wagon.

The one thing I remember the most about our trips to the south is wanting to stop at Maddox on our way home. How can you not love driving your car up to a drive-in with a tramway with clear boxes going around and around with food in them. Taking the food from the kitchen out to the cars. Taking the garbage back into the kitchen. Girls calling your order into the kitchen on cool walkie talkie gismos. 994 994 Cheeseburger and fries and an orange soda. (That is what I would order everytime.) I would try to figure out the lingo they would use, it was a secret code to me. Not until much later did I figure out it was the position of our car for our order.

I took it upon myself to get dad to take us to Maddox. So I decided at about the turn off onto the old highway 89 I would start prepping my dad to stop. I would start with "I'm thirsty". I would wait a few minutes, then again "I'm thirsty". It was probably only 15 or 20 minutes that I would torture the car with my whining, but we would get to Perry, pass that big twirling red sign and drive right on past.

The worst part is dad would stop in front of a car dealership in Brigham City with a drinking fountain out front and let us all out to get a drink. I am sure my dad thought he was being quite helpful finding a place for me to get a drink. Of course I couldn't just sit in the car and not get a drink. I was the one who had whined for 20 minutes that I was thirsty. Did he not notice that the whining had quit when we had missed my target?

It took me quite a few failed trips to the water fountain before I figured out my problem. I decided I would just ask dad if we could stop at Maddox on the way home. Wow. What an amazing realization. If I want something, just ask for it. Dad did not stop every time we went through, but at least we did sometimes. When we didn't stop I knew ahead of time and didn't have to have false hope or wonder.

The best part of this memory is that poor drinking fountain. I still drive by it on main street in Brigham and laugh my way right on past to Maddox. 994, 994 Cheeseburger with fries and an orange soda.

Unfavorite things

I was thinking maybe I haven't posted forever because I only have unfavorite things to write about.

I was at the school yesterday from 7:15 am - 7:15 pm. Ok, I went to get some lunch and ran home to get my laptop, but other than that I was correcting like a crazy lady!

Parent-teacher conferences. Something is missing in this scenario. The student. Their were a ton of parents there. Luckily I have mastered the visit to last about 2.5 minutes per student. No line in front of my table!

Football season

I love football. It is the time of year when the leaves turn colors, it finally cools off, and school spirit runs high. I love cheering at the games and being part of the excitement. However, I hate feeling like a single parent. If something needs to be done, it is all me. If there is a bill that needs to be paid, an errand that needs to be done, a car that needs servicing, it is all on me. It is more than a bit stressful.
I guess seeing Matt on the sidelines makes it all worth it. He gets into it a little bit more than the average coach. Last week he got a sideline warning for yelling at the ref. (It was his second one this season.) I stood and cheered for him. Of course, I was the only one cheering that we got a flag. He is also very good at getting the boys motivated. Ash calls it his coaching voice. It is huge and booming. Whatever he says the boys do it. I wish I had such power.

Summertime!

Some great photos from last summer!






My very, very favorite thing is SUMMER! Not so much the sun, but the idea that Matt, Ashley and myself are FREE to do whatever we want, whenever we want to. Sleeping in, staying up late, going to Disneyland. It is all good.

More favorites from the big trip