50! That is half of a century!

In our family we have a lot of June birthdays, Happy Birthday to all of them, each one a neat experience in their lives. Chants turned 17 on the 1st, Wyatt turned 1 on the 22nd, and my Dad turned the big 5-0 on the 23rd. He has been a good sport all week between having a picture in the newspaper and various little things occurring at his office, as well as an awesome sign on the fence placed early on his birthday... And then to top it all, coming out of a very fulfilling church meeting to find his way into his vehicle blocked by rolls of saran wrap and ribbon, must love neighbors :)

I love my dad, he has always been and continues to be a much needed figure in my life. He has taught me many important things from always doing your best (what is the point of doing something if your are not going to produce the best outcome you can?), he has taught me how to persevere, to be patient, to think before I speak, and most of all this last trying year, to have faith and learn to listen to and act on that faith. I am so excited for our little girl to get here and meet her Grandpa, and I know he will continue to teach me and her, and our family as he continues to be a big part and influence in our lives. Love you dad!!

Freezer Jam!

So I tried out my first attempt at making jam, can't say if it tastes like jam just yet because it is still setting up, but it looks super good, and appears to be setting up too thanks to Grandma Wilson's expert advice. Thanks Grandma! Have to thank my mom for letting me use her kitchen space and her knowledge also, she is a great help and a really good sport when it comes to some of my crazy ideas. So after one flat of strawberries ( got a great deal on strawberries through Bountiful Baskets 1 flat for $11 ) I have 12, 2 cup containers of yummy strawberry jam to go into the freezer... :) PB&J anyone?

Our family is growing by two feet!

Daniel and I are happy to share the news that we will be welcoming Baby Girl Luke into our family on or around September 25th, 2012.  We are very happy and feeling very blessed for this opportunity that is ours after a long wait.

More updates to come in the future, we are enjoying our time with this special spirit that is growing right now and have high hopes that all will continue to go well and she will arrive safe and sound in a few short months.

Can you find what is hidden?

Some of you already know what this is, don't spoil the surprise!  I found this Sunday and brought it to my classroom to show my kids and teach them a lesson on adaptations since it is in the core, how is that tying a unique find to the core :)  I have not seen one of these since I was a kid, so I was pretty excited to see it just sitting on my car.  Enjoy! - and can anyone tell me what the adaptation might be?

Tribute to a friend...

I have a little bit of sad news to share... Daniel and I have said goodbye to a good friend of ours.. I was more attached than Daniel because I knew them longer, but we are glad to have had them in our lives.  Today I said goodbye to my good friend, 2001 Nissan Sentra XE/GXE.

 

Just a week and a half ago we put my little white car up for sale because it didn't make sense for Daniel and I to have as many vehicles as we did where it is only the two of us.  We will be using the profit to take care of some things - and even though we have other cars, this little one holds a special place in my heart because it was my first car.  It is my first car that I got a part time job in college and paid for all by myself - an accomplishment like that makes you feel so good, grown-up, and responsible.  It is one you never forget 

Our cute little car went to a sweet girl who has just turned 16, who also worked hard so that she could get a car, and to see the excitement on her face made it worth it!  But I will never forget my friend - the target for 2 accidents while being parked, the trusty little car that would take me to Ferron and back to see my favorite man when we were dating (it did pretty well even when I would push it to make it home by curfew), so long old friend!  Keep on running.

Fallen off the face of the planet? No, silly, the earth is round!

It is back to school time! Quite literally - I just finished my second day and have to say it was quite hard to find the motivation in going back after the nice long summer. I was not looking forward to not having my kids (I was spoiled because the kids I taught last year I also did my student teaching with some of them so I got quite attached but I have to say I was pleased and almost brought to tears when the "favorites" came up to me after the first school day to say hi and give me a hug :) I love those kids quite frankly; they'll always be mine 'cause I taught them very first. This new crop of 4th graders is a tad bit different; I went from a class of 23 to a class of 28... You wouldn't think that 5 kids make that much of a difference, but that is 5 more places I have to try to spread my mind too... I tell my kids when we learn division how they have to help me help them because Mrs. Luke cannot split herself into 28 pieces equally, therefore Mrs. Luke is not divisible by 28. I am enjoying my new kids, I have one that had to show me her fossilized dinosaur poop the very first morning before school started (I have the kids bring in rocks for a lesson we do), I had one child proceed to try and "dunk it" in a teachers bulletin board display while doing the school walk around, and I had two girls tell me first thing that they were going to be trouble because they were best friends and would talk all the time. They make you smile, so thus far it has been fun - we'll see how happy I am when I have to try to get them to write, because their writing needs a lot of help.

On other news, Daniel was offered a foreman position from NC, and he has accepted it. He has been working in Duchesne since June and it is looking like he will be there for a while longer. He is enjoying what he is doing with working, and the added stress and responsibility. This of course means that he will not be going to school full time, but he will be taking online classes to finish. This is a great opportunity for both of us because neither of us wants to leave Carbon or Emery County. :) So we want to nonchalantly keep an eye out for houses that are for sale that are in a good neighborhood, on streets that are not busy and if we happen to find one we like, we may just buy it.

The new job is the only big change that has been going on in our lives, I will try to do better at keeping up the blog, but we are just two boring old married people... :) but enjoying life as much as we can!

Tick... Tock....

I know it has been well over a month since I have updated the blog, but hey who knows who even reads it?  So as long as people know we haven't died or disappeared off the face of the planet, then we're okay.  Since our last post nothing really exciting has happened worthy of posting about on a blog.

We did get our taxes done and it was nice to receive our tax return to turn around and use it to pay down our debt on the credit card because of being students who don't qualify for financial aid.. here's to working too much and barely making it... but still making too much to receive any form of financial aide that does not have to be paid back eventually!

On a happy note, I made it through this week!  It was a long one because we had our second go round of parent-teacher-conferences (luckily we only have to do them twice a year... but it makes for really long days when you teach all day, then have PTC, then when I still have to go the extension for my 2nd job)  Let's just say I got the best sleep the last two nights because I have been so tired - that I haven't woke up until my alarm!  I guess I should explain the lack of sleep too - about three weeks ago a fellow 4th grade teacher took a principal job out to Bruin Point Elementary, this was the time in which I also came down with that horrible flu that is going around and missed two days because of it, well feeling crummy and all I was doing my best to work with the other 4th grade teacher we still had to make sure the sub knew what she was doing each day in the classroom, and when you're still feeling crappy.. it is pretty hard to want to offer to help to do much more than I was capable of, but I did it!  Needless to say, I and the other teacher still working at CHE haven't been sleeping well lately due to stress, and tend to lay in bed awake for 1 or 2 hours before we actually have to get up... so now that they have hired a new teacher and she is getting into the swing of things.. it is nice to actually start sleeping a little better at night.. I think it also makes me a more pleasant and patient teacher.. :)  What can I say, when you're tired.. you don't want to put up with much.

Daniel is doing well with his studies, he is still staying really busy with school and working part time.  He is really enjoying his calling in our ward as Elder Quorum Pres.  it has been nice to see him grow and learn from this experience and see the man that he is continuing to become.  I think it is neat how each experience we have builds on the prior one and looking back it is quite something to see how we are being prepared for things later in life, whether it just be months, or years, but how we are being prepared to serve or take on different trials..  I know that I am very blessed to have a husband who is a wonderful example and help to me.  It has been so nice this semester to have Daniel working part time, and have a little more time to help out around the house because I am really rarely home.. so he has been stepping up with helping with the dishes and straightening things up - my man is awesome!

I hope that everyone is well!  Here's hoping that spring is around the corner, I'm ready to be out of the snow and the cold cold cold, my students are going a little stir crazy too.. so when we can, we get out and walk laps.. but the playground is like a swamp because of last weekends storm... and you would think that 4th graders would be smart enough to avoid the huge puddles... but just today I had one come into school soaked from the knees down because he "tripped and fell" into the puddle... boys!  Gotta love em' though, they make me laugh that is for sure!