Family Picture

Yesterday after the game, we saw Cosmo out in front of the stadium! It was SO exciting -- we just HAD to get a picture with him:) The crowd was going crazy all around him so we had to take a really fast "one-armed" picture - too bad Brian's aim was a bit off...


Isn't that hilarious?! I think this means we won't be able to use this picture for our Christmas card this year...oh well! (Do you like the bag under my eye? Its been a long week at school!)

Here's one for you!

So school starts 2 weeks from today and I decided to go to my school and start organizing, cleaning and setting stuff up. I did not get dressed up for the occasion because I was going to be moving around and working hard so I was wearing jeans and had pulled my hair up in a ponytail. Lo and behold, registration was happening today! Not a big deal, I was not a part of it so I was not worried about how I looked. Well, I left my classroom in search of the secretary with a list of questions to ask her. I went into the main office and swung the door open to find at least a dozen students there helping with registration. I took one step into the room and a girl asked me, "What grade are you in?". I was completely caught off guard and put my hand up and said, "I am a teacher!" I can't even describe the faces I saw but I can tell you about the whispers I heard. From one, "She's a teacher?" Another, "What is she teaching?" And finally, "I heard there are 2 new P.E. teachers this year." I did not know whether to laugh or cringe. School has not even started yet and the students have mistaken me for being one of them. Should I be concerned whether or not they will take me seriously? I don't know. But I do know I will not wear my hair in a ponytail to school and next time I am going to tell them what I am teaching and do some recruiting for my class! =)

Too cute!

So we were happily sitting around our table, the couch, enjoying a lovely meal tonight. Abby was somehow sitting between both sides of the sectional (which now face each other) and decided she wanted to lay down. Dad's foot could have posed a problem for her comfort but she made it work-check it out!

Construction Zone!

Okay, so I don't know if I have much to say about this one. I will just let you look at the pictures! Ta-Da! It is the kitchen! Wow! At this point it is at the phase where it gets worse (or bare) before it gets better. Actually it isn't that bad. You can see we have a little work station in one corner (that picture was taken from the closet under the stairs) and we proudly admit we have cooked at home a couple times this past week. The ceiling with all the pipes is what I took while sitting on the couch in the family room. All of those pipes are the upstairs plumbing. With the pipes exposed, it sounds like Niagara Falls when someone is taking a shower. It's almost relaxing-you know people pay big money for machines to make running water noises-it is not necessary for us! =) Today "the boys" (aka constructon workers) put up 2 more walls, that is what you are seeing in the middle of the family room. I saw it and said, "I thought we were getting more space, not losing it!". Mom said, "I like how they built themselves a storage room to keep all their tools!". Dad said, "I think it makes a great fifth bedroom!". Truth be told, the original wall they are removing is low bearing so in order to prevent the second floor from caving in, they put in "support walls" so they can remove the original wall and install the beam. The beam alone is supposed to support the second floor. You may wonder how a beam can support what two walls has to hold up. I don't know the answer to that one but what I will say is the contractor knows what he's doing! We will gladly live with some extra framing as long as the upstairs never becomes the downstairs! So I guess I had more to say about this than I originally planned!

The best water you will ever drink . . .

is at the Hill family ranch in Daniels, ID! A couple weekends ago we went up to Malad to help Grandma Hill with yardwork. We spent one afternoon at the ranch mowing the lawns (Dad did the mowing) and watering them (I give Dad as well as Aunt Renae props for the watering and weeding as well!). Don't get me wrong, I did help too. I got the extra chair, set up the sprinkler and read . . . anyways, it was lots of fun to visit the ranch. It is so beautiful up there I couldn't help but snap some pictures. One of them is even the spot where dad proposed to mom at the hay derrick (which is no longer standing but that doesn't matter, we know the general vicinity!)! Precious! Since it is year #30 for them, it is always fun to reminisce! So about that drink of water. Before we turned the water pump off, Dad turned the hose on so we could all take a swig, he told me it was going to be the best drink I ever had in my life. I must say, it was refreshing, amazing and delicious! Nothing beats perfectly chilled water fresh from a well. (From what I hear that is fresher than some bottled waters I have had!) Yum! So next time you're at the ranch, grab the hose and take a gulp, I promise you will love it!

Greetings from LA

I went and saw Great Grandpa and Grandma and Aunt Linda on Wednesday -- it was so fun to see them all again and they say hello to everyone!


PS - Last Saturday was Grandma and Grandpa's 74th anniversary! Isn't that awesome?!

Wicked!

I was going through my pictures on my camera and I came across a few pictures from our trip in LA to see Wicked!

The Bunker

With Pioneer Day over, I have successfully completed my 4th summer of work at the fireworks bunker! Although it was hot, busy, long hours, and stressful, all of the shows went off perfect! The Salt Lake Tribune did on the company. If you want to read it (since I can't get the link to work) go to www.sltrib.com and search Lantis Fireworks. The reporter offered to take our picture but we graciously declined since we all looked like we had been outside in the 100 degree desert all day packing firework shows! The picture shows a 12" and a 16" shell. The 16" is the largest shell (it weighs over 40 lbs) we have and is now illegal and considered to be dynamite. Needless to say everyday at work was like taking a weight lifting class at the gym

Hole in one!

Nancy and the kids came to visit last week! After a lovely meal at a McDonald's Playland, we all went miniature golfing. I was successful as a labrador retrieving hand-thrown balls all over the course by Emma. Using major engineering skills, Ben and I even managed to save Sarah's blue golfball from a pond complete with bright blue water that also had been thrown in by none other than Emma. Luckily, we convinced the kids that one time through the course was ample fun for one evening. (Thank heavens for that last hole which keeps the ball!).

I want to live at Disneyland...

We went to Disneyland on Saturday and had lots of fun:) There's a piece of prime real estate at the end of Main Street that I am trying to convince Brian we need to move in to (its the big pink pointy one).

You've got me on my knees, Layla.

Meet Layla.
She belongs to the family that I tutored for our first week down here (aka their last week here for the summer). Layla is the same size as Abby (not near as cute, of course!) and suffers from the same hair loss "condition" our poor puppy has always lived with. The family shaves Layla in the summers and they said she is always so much happier and perky when she's shaved because she's so much cooler -- and it saves them from the shedding! What do you think? In my opinion, this is definitely an option Abby should look into....:)

Please note the stylish pom-pom at the tip of her tail:)

Home Sweet . . . Hotel!?!!?

So Dad, Mom and I were starting to feel like the house was a little to big for the three of us. After returning from Oregon, we decided we didn't want to go home. We would rather stay in a hotel. It has had some very nice perks for us besides the fact that we have less space so we are"closer" together! :) We have found that our new home at the Comfort Suites in Oakley offers a lovely spread for breakfast, all free of course (no biscuits and gravy, bummer). The USA Today paper arrives right at our doorstep on most mornings; a lot closer than our paper boy at home ever got it. There also is a lovely pool with a sun deck that mom and I can relax at in the afternoons. Best of all, if we leave in the morning and come back in a couple hours, our beds are made, the floor is vacuumed and our bathroom towels are fanned out beautifully. Need I say more, why would we ever pay a mortgage on a house that gets leaks in the slab when AAA will pay for us to live here!!???

Vroom. . .Vroom, Mom's got a new toy!

Check it out! Susan has a truck! Yesterday mom picked up her new Honda Ridgline! Isn't it beautiful! Nighthawk black exterior; tan leather interior! We have several shots so you can see what it's like, inside and out! It is so nice to drive and very comfortable to ride in. It rides like a car, hauls stuff because it's a truck and is a Honda so it gets great gas mileage (something the expedition was not good for). So this little beauty will replace several other cars. We are finally going to consolidate the car lot we call a driveway. The Expedition is for sale and Dad's green truck and the green honda will soon be for sale! When that is all said and done, we will have a good ratio of one car per driver! p.s. The coolest thing about this truck is that it has a trunk underneath the bed-it is awesome! According to Olivia, it smells good too! p.p.s. They just got back from church, can you find the pyrex dish? =) haha!

Happy 30th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom and Dad celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary while we were in Oregon! Look how cute they are and still so in love. Mom says, "30 years . . . where has the time gone?" Dad says,
"Bring on the next 30 years!"

Say Cheese!

Oh my goodness-how could I forget to mention our trip to the Tillamook cheese factory while we were in Oregon??! Crazy! It was a pretty fun factory! I love factory tours. Remember on Mister Rogers when they
would show videos from factories of how they make stuff? I loved the crayon factory episode! :) This factory had a self-guided tour so we meandered from window to window watching them package cheese. We learned how to make cheese. We sampled cheese. We bought cheese. We ate ice cream. We smelled cows (that was pretty effortless, in the town of Tillamook you just have to inhale to smell cows!). It was great fun!

Newport

So we kept trying to plan trips for this summer but nothing ever worked out. I really wanted to do something since graduating from college. I thought I should go on some exciting getaway to celebrate. I have come to learn we should start planning a few months ahead instead of a few weeks but still we were hopeful. With our timeshares you can often get last minute deals so we tried. Hawaii would have worked except the flights were full on Southwest and Hawaiian Airlines prices were so astronomical it would have meant no souvenirs and maybe no eating for half the trip! A cruise was another attempt but something did not work out there, I can't remember why-oh well! But lo and behold, we were able to find a condo in Newport, Oregon for a week! It was lots of fun (after we got used to sleeping on our swedish Tempurpedics!)! We went to a couple lighthouses, walked on some beaches (the water was chilly!), ate some yummy seafood (we're talking world famous clam chowder!) and went crabbing! The crabbing was awesome (minus the fact that I got motion sick on the dock-crazy weird-I know!). In order to keep the crabs you catch, they must be male and have an abdomen that measures 5 3/4''. Go Susan! Mom was the only one who caught one big enough to keep. Fortunately we had some nice crabbing neighbors from Boise who were catching but not keeping their crabs so they gave us one. We got them cleaned, cooked and ate them for dinner-yum! It was all so fun and quite the adventure! I had never been to Oregon before but it is so beautiful! You could be driving down the road with a forest of pine trees on one side of you and sandy beaches on the other. Here are a bunch of fun pictures from the trip! p.s. If you fly into Portland and drive to Newport, it takes about 3.5 hours, even though it is only like 115 miles, Oregon does not have many (I mean "any") freeways by the coast! Just a traveler's tip!

I finished!

Woo-hoo! I graduated from BYU-I in April in Family and Consumer Science Education! I also got a job! I will be teaching home ec at Iron Horse Middle School in San Ramon. Go Jags! I am super excited about it and am loving my summer break. I really could get use to this teaching schedule! I am still busy getting my classroom and lessons ready and organized- just a month away from school starting!

Yusan! I yee a yeagull!

Can you believe this is the dress Nancy wore to mine and Dad's wedding? Like a step back in time - so fun:)

I did it!

Look everyone - I can blog!!!

Welcome Everyone

to the world of blogging! We are very excited about this because it will be a perfect (and super easy, may we add) way to keep totally updated on everything we're all up too (pictures included!). Hope to read you soon!