Back in the Day

Well I was visiting with my grandparents a few weeks back.....We were in their basement and I stumbled upon these childhood pictures of my family.  I seized the opportunity and snapped a few shots of these old photos.  It's fun for me to look back on them and cherish the memories of a wonderful childhood. I was so blessed to grow up in a strong family who kept me close to the gospel.  My mom is a spiritual giant and my dad is always there to lean on or offer a hand.  I am a very blessed girl!

My Parents

The family around 1987

The family around 1989

The family around 1992

On another post, I'll have to show some photos of today. :)

Random Sampler

Well, my littlest sis Maria got married November 16th. It was a beautiful day for a wedding at the new Draper Temple. The weather could not have cooperated better. We had a very enjoyable day with her and Dallin.

We went to a Halloween party at Uncle Mike's house up in Layton. It was a fun party. They transformed the entire garage into a spooky vampireland!

We randomly attacked our yard. We used Uncle Greg's talents and his Bobcat to tear up the yard and take down part of our retaining wall so that we have more room to park in our driveway.

Makayla is growing up very fast, using bigger words all the time. Last night Scott and I were saying "Where has the night gone?" Makayla replied, "Daddy, is the night gone? We'd better go and find it!"She is very cute even though I know I'm biased. Sterling, who is now 4 months old, rolled over for the first time this week. (From his tummy to his back). Watching him improve and learn new things is very fun for us.

Life is good, it's just passing by too quickly.....

Happenings

Well it's back to school time. Unfortunately, I'm still working full time at the junior high. The teaching part isn't the hard part. It's the leaving my beautiful children part that gets to me. But, at least Scott works evenings right now, so he is able to watch our kids while I'm at work. It has been a very stressful time for me. Last year, I had two 45 minute periods M-Th to get my grading and special ed paperwork/meetings/planning done. I could usually get most things done by then, with very little volunteering my time after contract time. This year, they took away one 45 minute period, (thanks to the economy), gave me a PreAlgebra class (which I've never taught; I am an English/behavior teacher), and they still expect me to get all my stuff done. Well, the one remaining 45 minute prep period, 30 minutes of it I am pumping milk for Sterling. So in reality, I have about 15 minutes per day to get all my stuff done. NOT COOL!! So, needless to say, I am staying quite late, volunteering my time, after the the required contract time of 3:10. Plus, they took away 2 special ed teachers, and didn't rehire, so I'm stuck with way more files of kids than I've ever had. So, I am just hoping and praying that I can get a system down to get my paperwork/grades/meetings/lesson planning done faster my sake and my family's sake.

The new ward also just called me to the Primary Presidency (2nd Counselor). And they said, 'By the way, you're in charge of the Primary Program that is in 2 months. Good luck with that.' So I've been frantically planning and creating this in my spare time (or lack thereof) too.

We have had some neat things going on at home though.

We blessed our beautiful Sterling on Labor Day weekend. We had some great family support for that. It was pretty stressful planning for company and meals, etc..... but it luckily all worked out well. He is an awesome baby. He is such a mellow, happy kid. We know we're really lucky to have him.

Our home insurance people insisted that we get a new railing for our front porch. We didn't want to, but they were going to cancel our policy, so we were forced to. I think it looks good, and my grandpa really needed it on Sunday...... but, we would have waited if it hadn't been such an urgent issue with the insurance people.

We took our kids to the State Fair. My camera died really soon into it, so we didn't capture too many moments, but, here are a few....







So that's about it. Not too much going on but work, work, and more work. Hopefully, my work works out. At least I have evenings, weekends, and summers, right?

Summer Adventures 2009

Sadly, this summer is just about up. I have actually started going back to work already. But I can still cling on to some great memories.

We decided to go camping again, to prove that trips don't really have to be so hard on us. We went to Rockport up in Wanship for a few days. We really had a good time fishing and enjoying nature. The only downfall was when Makayla dropped her brand new never been used pink fishing pole into the deep water. It rapidly rushed down to the bottom of the lake, never to be seen again. Oh, and a big windgust gave our big red and white umbrella the same fate. But other than that, we enjoyed the break from the everyday grind and we were able to catch several fish!






We also were able to squeeze in some more adventure with some Connect Passes. These were well worth the money and we went about everywhere including: Tracy Aviary, The Dinosaur Museum, The Aquarium, a tram ride at Snowbird, Hogle Zoo, Heritage Park, The Lion House, Ski Museum up at the Olympic Park, and Clark Planetarium.









My brother Danny also got married to a very cute girl, Dixie. They are a great couple!



Scott's Mom had a girls night where she took her 3 girls (myself, Christy, and Candi) and went up to dinner and the Martin Harris Pageant up in Clarkston, Utah.

So overall, it was a fun summer with some good memories!

Trip from H%$@ !

We went on a lovely trip to Pine Lake with Scott's family. I know, call me crazy, taking a 3 week old newborn camping for a week, but it was only the going and coming that were truly H%&@! Holy cow!

We knew that Scott's Jeep was acting kind of funny. For instance, it shut down on the way from our old house to our new one, in the middle of a crazy intersection (Highland Drive and Fort Union Boulevard) pulling our trailer, just a week before we were to leave. Scott and his dad must have ripped out and replaced 10 things trying to make sure the Jeep would be in working condition for our trip. They replaced the temperature valve, the coolant sensor twice, the serpentine belt, and on and on.

Day 1

We left Salt Lake at 9:30 a.m. on the dot. Things were going okay until we broke down not 60 miles away in Santaquin. Not even Santaquin. We were broken down on the freeway, just off to the side for 45 mintues. It's getting hotter.

The Jeep finally starts again, we go about 40 more miles and break down off the first exit to Fillmore. We don't even make it off. There is a service station that sees us and brings a golf cart to escort us to their station. Being from the city, I rapidly lock Scott's doors, so nothing is disturbed. Well, stupid me, his keys are in the car. We have to pay $40 to get them out. By now, it's really hot outside.

After another hour, his Jeep is cooled down again. The mechanics insist that we get 4 new tires for our trailer, and pay to get our engine diagnosed. We didn't want to pay for all that (because they WAY overcharge in small towns) so we took our chances and went on the road again.

Only 25 more miles down the road, we break down again. I am so freaking frustrated with the Jeep. We luckily made it off of a ranch exit, so not on the busy freeway this time. A stalker mechanic pulls off and wants to tow us to his shop 2 miles down the road on the Cove Fort Exit. We tell him, our Jeep needs to cool down, and it will take 45 minutes. We are not going to pay $140 to get towed for 2 miles. Exactly 30 minutes later, he comes back.... hence the name, "stalker mechanic". Well, we went to his little shop (him following us to make sure to give him business), and he conviced us to do the diagnostic check on the engine for $20. We thought that would be reasonable, so we let them do it. Well, they didn't tell us that labor was not included, so it really was $55. They told us to replace the fuel filter. Being a small town, they couldn't even replace it for probably a day, plus charge us handling and gas fees for making them drive to Richfield to get the part. Outside was boiling hot now!

Keep in mind trying to entertain a 2 year old and a newborn that demands to eat every few hours. We had only made it 160 miles our our 280 mile journey. Oh the joy!

We called Scott's family, and they came to the rescue! They had already dropped off their trailers and were on their way to come get us. They arrived a few hours later and towed the trailer and fishing boat the remaining 120 miles. Our Jeep worked with just us in it. But we knew we had to replace the fuel filter before we could make it home.

We arrived at camp 10 hours from our departure time, at 7:30 p.m. It was only supposed to take 4.5 hours. What a day!!!

Days 2-5

These days were great! We didn't have to take the trailer anywhere. We spent the time fishing, relaxing, playing games, watching movies, and bonding. Makayla especially had a blast with her cousins. She followed them everywhere and had conversations with them. Watching her interact with them was really fun! They were all super nice and mindful of her, except her 2 year old cousin Camron. They had a love/hate relationship. They were either best friends, or fighting. One day, he ended up getting jealous that she was holding Grandma Vickie's cat and threw a giant rock at her head and she got a giant goose egg.

Makayla's Goose Egg

Other than that, it was good times.

Day 6

Oh no! We were so nervous about the Jeep pulling the trailer! But we thought that by replacing the fuel filter, it would function. We made it a whole 45 miles and it broke down AGAIN. Right in another intersection past Panguitch. About an hour later, it finally started up again. Scott's family said "No Way" to us trying to pull the trailer home. They talked us into leaving it and the fishing boat in a vacant dirt parking lot and going only 50 more miles to Cedar City instead of attempting to go 240 to Salt Lake. We agreed that Cedar City was a big enough town to have a part to fix the Jeep. After locking up our things, we were on our way. We arrived around 4 p.m.

Scott rapidly dropped me off at his parent's home, so that the kids and I didn't have to suffer at a mechanic shop again. Scott was on his way..... when around the corner, at the bottom of a steep hill, a cop radared Scott for going 35 mph in a 25 mph zone. To add insult to injury, he slapped him with a ticket!

We paid to get the Jeep diagnosed AGAIN, and this time, they used a Chrystler computer, which could give a more detailed explanation of what was going on. It turned out that our Crankshaft Sensor was not functioning. $90 dollars later, the part was ours.

When Scott got to his parent's home, his dad, brother, and him went to pick up our trailer, this time with a reliable towing vehicle. So they arrived back around 10ish. Then all 3 of them went about working on the Jeep yet AGAIN. It took them until 1 a.m. to finish the project.

Day 7

Scott and I decided that we'd better get on the road early to have the best luck with the Jeep's engine. (Because it only gets hotter with the temperature) We were on the road at 8 a.m.

This time, the Jeep is actually functioning. We take a break in Fillmore to let Makayla run and to feed Sterling. We tour their little Museum , which used to be the State Capitol, and go off on our way. The Jeep keeps beeping on the computer that it has a 'Bad Coolant Sensor', so we stop at least 3 quick times to jiggle it back into place. But luckily, these stops were short. We make it home around 2 p.m. We were thrilled our trip didn't take 10 hours this time and that the Jeep actually pulled our things home for us.

If we had known all of the drama and extra spent $ we would have faced, we wouldn't have gone.

We need a new car! Hopefully we can work that in the budget somehow by next camping season.