Busy Weekend

I spent Saturday getting my supply of chili sauce for the year all bottled and ready for winter. Nicky was here and helped me by putting the tomatoes into the hot water and fishing them out and into the cold water. I peeled tomatoes, and peeled tomatoes, cut them and measured. Yes, I got all the salt and sugar in this year. It should be a good patch. All that cooking and stirring got us 11 1/2 pints of chili sauce. And Nicky got a good laugh at me trying to fish out the hot lids from the water. It was a quiet day because we didn't even have a BYU football game to watch.

Sunday morning I was very slow getting ready for church. The time just passed away and before I knew it, it was already 8:10 and I didn't have make-up or hair done, and was still in my robe. I hurried to get a sice of toast so I could take my medicine, then rushed to get thrown together and out the door. And we were still the first ones there! It was my turn to play the organ this month so I had to start by 8:45 (My rules, no one else's.) I just can't handle it when I walk into a meeting and there is no prelude music. It really sets the mood of the meeting IF someone is playing and someone else is listening. Lately, no one but Dad listens.

We were planning on rushing on up to SLC to listen to Lexi in her Primary program. She called Saturday night and really wanted us to come see her. I said we might not be able to get there, and I could hear the tears in her voice and it just broke my heart. I can't stand to hear my little ones cry! Big kids, cry all you want, but little one's can't. So, after a LONG meeting (overtime, no 'practice song'), we made it to their church just before it started. Man were Koy and Kayden excited to see Grandpa! Lexie was so good with her part and sang all the songs so well. We were glad to be able to be there.

We went to IHOP for lunch so Josh didn't need to cook dinner. Not that he isn't a good cook, but we were rushed to get back and wanted to have time to visit with the kids and.....just an excuse. I know Lexi loves IHOP, even if she didn't have a really great experience there. The one good thing was that Kayden at a whole pancake and 1/2 of another one! He was so proud of himself! He had to show us his empty mouth. He can stuff as much in his mouth as Barrett could at that age. But he chewed it and swallowed it all. We were so proud of him!

Dad and I got home in time for The Amazing Race and time to rest a little bit. It as a very busy weekend after a busy week.

This morning I finished Maxwell's name on his Christmas stocking! Now all I have to do is get the fabric for the back and get it sewn together and sent off. Making any bets about getting it all done by Christmas?

Now I am going to bed. I wrote two three page papers and I am tired.

Fun in Mesa

We had a very good time visiting with Tyler, and it was nice to see Dallas and Nancy as well. We loved seeing how Tyler has grown and what great giant steps he has taken this past year. He even started to warm up to us some. He sure loves his basketball and giving Grandpa five's. He claps and squeals everytime he shots the ball. I love seeing him look at the puzzle pieces so intensely. I wish my students would look at things that closely. He is so memorized by simple thinge. He sure gets the beat of the music. What a cutie! Here are a few pictures we took. I'm not too thrilled with the focus. Guess I need to quit messing around with the camera.

School Work

I was working on something for school and I need to try it out. Follow this link and see what happens. My placespotting.com quiz

Back Home

I just have a minute to make a quick post. Hope to do more later today.
We had a great time in Arizona with Tyler on his birthday. The travel was fine and the days were great. We had fun playing with Tyler. He even got so he would let me hold him and kiss him, and gave Grandpa so many high-fives. It was so fun watching him get so excited about playing basketball. What a cutie and a tease. And it was okay to see Dallas and Nancy, too. Hope I have time to post a few pictures tonight. No promises because the day looks really busy.
Now I have a full day ahead. I have to give the IOWA test this week, which cuts into instruction time. I need to see just where the substitute was able to leave off, where we are and how much was done on Friday, and pick up from there.

Getting Ready

This week has been so busy at school. I was put on another committee which just means more things to do with my little bit of time. I went to a training on Tuesday afternoon. I am getting ready for a substitute for Friday. We are so looking forward to flying to Arizona. It has been eleven months since we saw Tyler! (okay, Nancy and Dallas as well.) We are so excited to see him (them) again. I will take lots of pictures for myself and maybe share them with you.

For some reason it just seems like we don't have the energy to do what needs to be done any more. We get home so tired at the end of the day. Dad leaves at 4:45am and gets home at 6:20pm. Last night he was mowing the lawn and looked so tired and sore from being on his feet all day. Well, really he mowed all day but that really jars his knee. And mowing our lawn afterward wasn't a help. He was just "plum tuckered out" as Grandma Olsen would say.

I am up at 4:30 and try to get to school by 7:00am. (It takes me longer to get beautiful.) And I never leave until 6:00, or when Dad comes knocking on my door. Then dinner and all that stuff, including checking and recording more assignments. I don't even seem to get to my handwork. All I need to do on Maxwell's Christmas stocking is sew on his name, but it is taking me forever to get to that! I will get it done in the next few weeks, then add the backing and send it off! I had so much time until school started. I must be doing something wrong. I just can't get it all done. Could it be this new math program is taking so long to prepare each night? Thank heavens for Sara who helps me with reading, and Cindy who comes in for math. Suzette Roberts also comes in and volunteers during math. I am so blessed to have such wonderful helpers.

As for now, I think I will go home and cry myself to sleep, I am so tired!

Busy, Busy, Busy

What a full week of work this has been. First of all, we are so thankful that Tyler is doing better. It is amazing how kids seems to bounce back from something major like head surgery. My knee recovery was longer than his head recovery! Kids ae amazing.

Our schedule included a trip to the temple for our annual Stake Temple Super Saturday. It is a fun family day with activities for the Primary children, the YM/YW doing baptisms, and the adults attending a session together. I washed up our clothes, pressed and folded them and had everything all ready to leave Saturday morning. When Garth got home from the football game (I wasn't willing to risk sitting out in the cold air and getting sick again) I told him to be sure to check for his recommend so we don't leave it home. He checked....expired. Has it really been that long since we traveled to Manti? Saturday morning we called around to find the bishop but all the bishopric had gone with the youth to do baptisms. Knowing from experience last year that you can't just have the bishop and/or stake president talk with the front desk when your recommend has expired, we knew it was useless to try. Last year someone else's recommend had expired and even though the bishop and stake president were there, they needed a RECENT recommend. If it had been lost or forgotten the stake president would okay you to go in, but being expired you need a new slip. I think the bishop needs to just carry his recommend book around with him. Anyway, we didn't get to the temple. So we drove up to Salt Lake to see the kids.

I knocked on the door at Tammy's and heard Kayden yell "Grandpa." He opened the door, with me standing right there. He pushed me out of the way so he could get to Grandpa. So much for loving and missing Grandma! We had fun at Chuck E. Cheese's again. But it was too crowded and noisy. It was nice to spend time talking with Nicky and Tammy, learning about Lexi's school and running after Koy and Kayden.

The drive home was difficult. I had traveling at night because of the lights so I close my eyes and end up sleeping, leaving Garth to drive alone. He was tired and rolled down the window to keep him awake. I tried to keep him company but wasn't too good at it. In Price we switched drivers. By then I was wide awake, so he slept.

Sunday we went to church, hunted around to try to find something for dinner since we didn't go grocery shopping on Saturday. We were lazy all day until it was time to go to the fireside. We had Mack Wilberg speaking at the stake center in a three-stake area fireside. He spoke about his memories of the building, along with his responsibilities as choir director. It was basically the same thing he did a few years ago, but just fun to talk with him again. He is just a good friend, the kind you just pick up where you left a few years ago. There were a lot of us "old friends" there. We should have gone to his mom's house and had a party like we always did after a Sunday performance in high school choir.


Now I have a lot to do this week in school. I should get busy! No time to sit at the computer. Got to go.

Prayers for Tyler

Our sweet little Tyler had surgery last night. Apparently his shunt was not working properly and needed to be replaced. Nancy details it at her blog. She called about 9:30 last night telling us he would be going into surgery. We understood that it would be a few hours until the surgery, but she called again at 11:30 and said it was all over and he was going better. It was hard to not jump in the car and drive to Arizona, but knew we wouldn't really be any help by the time we got there. I am so glad we have planned on coming down next week and have our tickets ready. Please keep Tyler in your prayers. He is such a strong spirit to go through everything he has gone through these short three years. He is a fighter. We are so blessed to have him in our family, to teach us understanding, patience, and unconditional love.

I Felt Important

I was looking through my email messages and found a response to a question about a site I used to use called I Keep Bookmarks. Someone had responded to the questioneer to use del.icio.us because you can add so many tags. This summer I switched all my "I Keep Bookmarks" over to del.icio.us and I really enjoy using that social bookmarking site. Anyway, this responder left her del.icio.us address for us to check out her bookmarks. So I did, of course. Just looked around a little and then decided to tag it so I can look in depth at another time. (Teachers seem to have a ton of bookmarks!) As I was leaving I noticed there were a few Smartboard bookmarks so I decided to quickly glance over them. To my humble heart, there was Cottonwood Technology bookmarked! My wikispace for Emery County teachers using Smartboard technology! I have been discovered by the outside world! (Too many exclamation marks in one paragraph...rewrite, revise, and edit.)Just thought I would humbly pass this on to all.

Help or Suggestions

I have noticed that on my classroom blog there is a tool icon on each gadget on the side. I can't seem to get rid of it. This icon doesn't show up on this blog, or on other blogs I see. Does anyone know why it is there and how to get rid of it? I guess it is okay to sit there, but just looks a bit messy compared to others. Suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

(Since posting this message I now notice the same icons here! So this is an edit to the original post. Do other people see it? I don't understand. Maybe it is something new that comes on with a new post. Am I crazy?)