We had a great Christmas this year. We were able to go to Temple Square to see the lights and take some pictures. Luckily, it had warmed up to the 20's for that evening. The week before it had been in the single digits. Brrrrr! But I digress. Constantly.




Look how happy everyone is!! We're standing in front of a giant statue of Jesus!! Shouldn't everyone be happy?!







Isn't it hard and sad to be them? We also got together with our old and dear college friends like we have for the last few years. We went up to Tibble Fork Dam and went sledding on Christmas Eve Day.





Beautiful Day! The kids went to bed early so Santa could come to town.


We spent time with Kara's family in the afternoon, eating, opening presents, and spending time together. All in all it was a good Christmas.

Christmas is upon us

Wasn't it just July?! I say that every year around this time of year. Because it literally does feel like it was just July. And every July I think, "Oh no. In 5 months it's Christmas." But then there is January and February to bring us back to the cold, dark reality of winter. So I have that to look forward to.

We had a fun fall. In September we went on a river rafting trip down the Colorado near Moab, Utah. We did the same trip last year and had a blast. This year I actually, got out of the raft and swam in the muddy waters of the Colorado. You can't tell what is down there...kind of freaks you out. We camped overnight on the beach about half way through our 20 mile trip.













The day after Thanksgiving we drove back down to Moab and stayed the night visiting with our old friends the Andrews. The Andrews drive over to Moab every year for Thanksgiving to escape their family dramas. They have children about the same age as ours. We ate out, shopped around town, and went out to the Hole 'n the Rock which was fun.

Here we are next to a Jeep made completely out of junk.

Molly and Matthew find a new ride

Last Sunday my two youngest children found a new toy. The stairs. Actually it is an old toy but is being used in a new way. Matthew has a bunk bed in his room that has this old crappy mattress on it. We bought it for Adam years ago when we were in graduate school and we were poorer than dirt. Of course, now we are just poorer than dust but we're moving up! It was brand new at the time but really cheap. I think it is just a really thick piece of foam. Anyhow, they drag it off of his bed and downstairs to the top of basement stairs then they slide down the stairs on it. They did this for hours. They brought it down again today. I tried it and screamed all the way down-it was a small thrill. I thought I'd take pictures of them to memorialize their new toy.

School again

The kids will start school again this week. Adam will be in 10th grade at American Fork High
School, Emily in 7th grade at American Fork Junior High and Molly in 5th grade and Matthew in 3rd grade both at Forbes Elementary where I also work as a secretary.

My cousin Paula mentioned on her Facebook page that signing up her two high school daughters for school this year consisted of paying over $1200 for public education fees. And she still had to pay for her twin boys at their junior high. YIKES! Luckily I have to come up with only $500 for my two secondary school students' fees. $200 for Emily and $300 for Adam. Sometimes it would be nice to have a credit card in our possession.

In-laws visit

Jon's dad Clay Sherman and his wife Stephanie visited us here in Utah this weekend. We didn't do anything spectacular just sat around talking and listening to the kids and their friends be silly.
Emily and Adam played a duet on their electric and acoustic guitars and Emily played a song on the piano which in and of itself is a miracle. We ate good food-flank steak, shrimp on the barbie, watermelon, strawberries, cucumber salad and other stuff I can't remember. For dessert-key lime pie. Fun weekend.

Dog Days of Summer

It's that time of year when it is too hot to go outside except early in the morning or late in the evening. All outdoor activities have to be curtailed unless it involves a swimming pool or a lake to sit in. In Utah we have what is called a swamp cooler that cools our house. Air-conditioning sucks all the hot air out of the house while evaporative cooling (swamp cooler) pushes water- cooled air through the house. If the temperatures are below 95 and it is dry outside then the swamp cools nicely. However on days like today it is not so wonderful. Today is 100 degrees and about 50% humidity which is high in Utah. It's like living in a cooled down sauna. Makes one very, very sleeepyyyy....and laaazzzyy.

Beginning of summer: part deux

Our family from the east end of the country came to visit us at different times for the first few weeks of June. Grandpa George was here to be a part of Matthew's baptism and then Jonathan's brother, Ben, and his wife, Leah, and boys, Duncan and Donovan came to spend a week with us. Ben's family and our family went to Bear Lake in the northern Utah/southern Idaho region. It rained 1.7 inches every day for two days in a row! And it was cold!! We decided to do some other non-beachy things like investigate a local stalactite cave in the region called Minnetonka Cave. My children have been there several times and are sick of it but they had a good time anyway. On the last day the sky cleared for awhile and we went to the beach for a couple hours. On the way home we hit the Great Salt Lake on Antelope Island. The stink was terrible and the bugs horrible! I can say I've been to the Great Salt Lake and now I never have to go again. But you really do float in the water because of the high salinity.

Beginning of summer

To start our summer off, Matthew our youngest was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I think the whole thing was lost on him. Some of our kids when they were baptized got the idea and importance of it and some didn't and he was a didn't. However, as they grow up and mature a little they come to realize the idea and importance of it.

Neutered

Every spring the sheep have their lambs. The sheep live about 1 mile from us in a field next to the Alpine Highway or 100 East to the locals. Every fall and winter we watch them wander around the field eating whatever sheep eat, growing fleece and and getting fatter with the impending lambs.

Between the end of February and mid-March we start looking for the lambs. We drive that way a few times a week on the way to the kids' piano lessons which gives us a great reason to look for the lambs. We drove by a few weeks ago and there were the sheep laying all over the field or standing awkwardly on their little black legs, fat and round and lazy, waiting for the lambing time to begin.

About a week ago we drove past again and notice several little black lambs standing near their mothers, nursing or gamboling on their scrawny, wobbly legs with their long tails still intact. When I told my dad about it he commented that they wouldn't have their tails for much longer. Still a farmer at heart. We noticed at the time that some of the sheep were still pregnant. A few days later they had all given birth.

We were approaching the field on Saturday when the children asked to pull next to the field to look at the lambs. We watched them for a few minutes then drove on. Molly had a question: "Wouldn't it be funny if people could be fixed like dogs?" Where did this come from??!!

I asked her what she meant knowing full well what she was talking about. She said, "Well, like you can spay the girl dogs and neuter the boy dogs so they can't have more babies like Pepper (our dog)."

I told her, "Well, they do, honey. It's called tubal ligation for girls and a vasectomy for boys."

She said, "Really?"

How did a pleasant look at the lambs turn into sex education? Oh, yeah.

Yesterday my son came into the office right after the bell rang. He was crying loudly with his hand pressed to his cheek. I asked him what had happened and he said that someone had slapped him. I asked him who had done this and he told me a name which I had to help him identify by picture on my computer. It was one of the Rabbits. I called the Rabbit into the office and asked him why he had slapped my child. He told me, " It was a joke. It was just a joke!" I said, "Well, he doesn't look like he thinks it's a joke. He's crying and you hurt him. I'm calling your dad." Then he got this look in his eye of "oh no" and left the office. I called the dad who is in law enforcement and calmly let him know what had happened. I said, "I didn't yell at him but I did speak to him sternly." Dad said, "Well, you could have. You should have!" He then said he'd take care of it. So I have to wonder what happened last night.

My son cried for about 20 minutes. At one point he said that it had gone from stinging to hurting. He must have really smacked my kid hard. That just makes me mad. We aren't a physical family; not a lot of roughhousing. My point is that parents need to keep in mind what happens at home will almost always come to school.

And that's all I have to say about that.

dances

I took my nearly 15 year old son, Adam, to his junior high Valentine's Day dance a couple weeks ago. His friend, Brenton was in the van with us so I decided to give the boys some "advice" for the dance. The first thing I said was, "Can I come in and dance, too?" Before I finished my sentence I received a very definite "no!" from my child. However, Brenton said I could come in and dance. He then mentioned that another friend's mother came to a recent dance to dance with her son and after he refused Brenton stepped up and danced with her. I said, "Well, if Adam won't dance with me, will you dance with me, Brenton?" Before I finished that sentence I had a very definite "no!" from my child. But Brenton said he would of course laughing the whole time.
I then decided to really give the advice. I said, "Okay. Let me give you some pointers. Make sure you look in the girls' eyes. Don't look at their boobies. Girls don't want you to look at their boobies. You must look them in the eyes at all times."
Adam was dying and he was captive in the front seat of a moving vehicle. Brenton on the other hand could barely contain himself in the back seat.
Then I said, "Also, don't dance too close to the girl. There is nothing grosser to a girl than to be dancing with some sweaty kid too close and he has a, you know, boner (I said this in a whisper). That's totally gross."
At this point we had neared the entrance of the school and the door was open before I had stopped the vehicle. "Mom! Shut up!" he yelled. Brenton can't even sit up straight at this point for laughing so hard.
As he loped to the front entrance, I got up next to the sidewalk with the van, rolled down my window and yelled, "If you need any more pointers, honey, just give me a jingle!" At this point I can't contain myself any longer and start laughing maniacaly as I roll the window up.
I thought that was pretty funny.

diets

So I have this friend Wendy who has the most amazing diet that has helped her maintain her 115 pound weight for several years. We call it the Wendy diet and have told her that she needs to write a book. Here it is: large quantities of chocolate every day, minimal amounts of vegetables except for the occasional salad containing good greens, (she doesn't like iceberg), one real meal a day usually one she cooks for herself at Rumbi where she works, and if going out at night to a restaurant-dessert, whatever is the most chocolaty on the menu. However, if she ate a large breakfast she may be ready to eat dinner by about 7:00pm. If she goes on a trip and happens to gain 5 pounds or so she just eats one meal a day and of course copious amounts of chocolate. What could be better?

old friends

After finding old friends from high school, my mission, grad school and life I've really had fun reconnecting and getting to know them again. I've realized that some of them have really grown but most just haven't changed a bit. This one guy from my mission is aging, balding, has a pretty good sized gut not to mention his 6 kids and a wife. However, he still looking at girls and women like he's still free and they are still free. He cracked me up out there in Minnesota and he's still cracking me up now. Horn-dog. Is that a word?
Some people haven't aged as well. They haven't taken care of themselves. And I'm not talking physically only. This is mentally, spiritually, etc. And it comes through their physical appearance. Oh well. Hopefully they will find that part of themselves again.
Of course I'm perfect (eye roll). Things sagging, other things bagging, and I have to keep upping the dosage on my anti-depressant. Winter will end soon enough.
Have I mentioned I'm going to Hawaii on Thursday?

Facebook

After finding Facebook I spend quite a bit of time on the computer. I mean I spent a lot of time on the computer anyway at work and then at home for different things. But I am pretty addicted to this new medium. I rush home every day after work to see who has posted what. Is anybody else in this predicament? I work for the Alpine School District and found rather quickly that I could access Facebook at school. I told several of my friends at school about it and they all got on, too. Within two weeks the district completely blocked it. I used to be able to go through these back doors and get around the blocks but no more. I hate techies.