Congrats RB!!

Being educators some think life is great. We get an extra long Christmas break, long summer, and every major holiday off. Well, all of that is really good! However, dealing with parents is not always easy, and the great state of UT has some wonderful legislators who always put education first. Haha. I wont get into all the things we are/were supposed to be getting and now are not. Well one hoop we have to jump through is taking some tests to make us "highly qualified teachers." These tests cost about $120 each. You do get reimbursed for them once you pass by your district but this only when you pass. If you do not pass these tests within your first 3 years of teaching then your district can fire you. There are two tests you have to take.

Test 1 is a content test. It is all multiple choice and takes a full two hours to finish all of the questions. Being elementary teachers our content test has questions from 1st to 6th grade. Yes we are supposed to have a fountain on knowledge where answers come readily now that we are educators. The only problem is nobody tells you were this fountain in located at inside your brain. Anyways, RB had to take this test before he graduated. I took it my first year of teaching. Both passed with flying colors.

Test 2 is more complicated. It is a principle and application test. It consists of multiple choice questions based mainly on theorists. Then there are short essay questions that consist of a,b,c, and sometimes d parts. So you have to make sure you answer all of the questions to the fullest or you get doced (? on spelling) points. Once again it takes the full 2 hours to take and I'm talking scrabbling to read and write and fast as you can full 2 hours. I barely finished with 2 min. to spare. The first time RB took it he didn't finish 2 parts of an answer. This time he didn't finish 3 parts.

RB was not feeling very confident with this last test and was anxiously waiting for his results. Well they haven't come yet. However, the ETS site that gives the test has a new option on it now where you can view your results. (I wish they had that when I took mine.) YEA, HE PASSED. I'm so proud of him. RB struggles with tests but he passed this one. We are very excited to have both tests over and done with for both of us. :)

Christmas 2008 In WY

Christmas in WY was really good. It's good to be home though too. Sorry Chel for not posting last night. We had too many things going on to get it done.

Christmas eve we went Christmas light looking. MJ loved it. We went down one neighborhood who had put up the sacks with a candle inside. It was fun to drive down the street looking at them. On Christmas MJ opened one present and it was a bag of marshmallows. I was a little perplexed that my mom gave my children a bag of marshmallows until I saw the next present, marshmallow shooters. We had a blast shooting each other.
MJ laughed a ton when shooting daddy.

Not so happy when she got shot though.

RB shooting Chel.

This is how Chel defended herself. Cover the face and try to hide.

Even I got hit when I was an innocent bystander.

Here are some more pics. of dinner and opening presents.

This is an updated pic of the grandkids. We are missing my sisters 3 kids and that's it.

MJ and Lil slept in the same bed most of the nights. Lil did really well and we are now in the process of taking down her crib.

The trip home was good. Dry roads until we hit the melting UT snow. But then they were only wet. That is until we hit our home town. Then we had snow covered roads that didn't look like any of them had been plowed. Here is RB shoveling so we can get into the house.

MJ loved playing in it while we were trying to shovel.

I do want to say thank you to who ever shoveled half of our driveway!! It was nice coming home and being able to pull into the drive. If you know who did it please thank them for us. We really appreciate it!!

I hope all of your Christmas's went well. Have a great day.

You know you're in WY when...

We are still here in WY till tomorrow. I decided to post even though their will be no Christmas pics. until we get home. We had quite the trip here. WY weather is very strange for those of you who have never lived here. So I've compiled a list of things that will let you know if you are in WY.

You know you're in WY when...
1) All through UT the roads are wet. As soon as you hit the WY border they are bone dry.
2) They stay dry all through Evanston.
3) As soon as you hit "the sisters" you are in a blizzard.
4) While traveling over the sisters you look up to see blue sky's above you. You look ahead to a white out.
5) Every other town you travel through is wet roads, dry roads, snow covered roads, dry roads.
6) Even though the temperature is 19 degrees you know with the wind chill it is well below zero and will stay that way all day.

Needless to say we were grateful when we were off WY roads and grateful they didn't close them because of the wind blown snow. Have a great day and I'll post Christmas later this week.

An Early Christmas

Since we will be in WY for the holidays we decided to have our own Christmas early. Yesterday we opened our gifts and had a GREAT DAY. MJ loved opening her presents and Lil followed her sisters example and tore into hers as well. Then RB and I spent most of the day before and after church playing games while the kiddoes were entertained by their gifts.

Here is Lil pouting about something. She's such a character.

The girls playing with their gifts.

This is MJ's favorite gift, "the shirt with the bunny on it." Her favorite present was, "the one with the M on it." The gift had her name on it and she thought that was great.

MJ in her new PJ's. She would wear then 24/7 if I would let her.

Lil was the first wake on Sun. morning so we went down stairs and played. While my back was turned she would the presents. This is her getting caught in the act.

A post or two ago I showed this pic. and said MJ added her own two ornaments. I neglected to tell you what they were. The one is the balloon and on the bottom left of the tree is a yellow hair ribbon. That one kind of blends in though.

We had a great Christmas with our family. Now we get to have another one in WY. I can't wait!
Hope you all have a great Christmas!

Snow and Crafts

Sat. was our first real snow storm. We didn't get outside to play in it until later that afternoon. By then the snow was not very good for packing. But we tried. Here is our mini snowman. Pretty cute but pretty pathetic too. At least we had fun with it.

Here is a close up of it. Yes, that is a carrot nose too.

MJ and I rolling down the lawn.

Lil actually looking happy. She face planted in the snow twice within the first 5 min. of being outside. She was not happy for the rest of the time.

You can't play in the snow without making snow angels.

This last weekend I also finished a craft. The pics. don't do it much justice. The summer is red and white with blue lettering. Not orange. Now I need to find cute things to go around the blocks and with them. This is my type of decorating. Turn the block and it's for a new season. Easy and cute. Got to love it.




Have a great day!

Tree and Stuff

I haven't posted in awhile so here are some odd ball pics. of things that have happened in the last little bit. Here is our new Santa Claws. Small but she'll grow into the part well I think.


RB and MJ like working out together.


MJ put eye makeup on her cheek and then got mad at me for wanting to take her pic. The pic. doesn't show the beautiful rainbow of colors that were their.


Sat. morning cartoons are the best. This doesn't happen often so I'm glad I got a pic. of it.


MJ decided to add her own ornaments to the tree. Can you find the two that she added?


The next two pics. are just of our village under our tree. It's small but we like it. The girls really like the train and watching go around and around and around.




Happy Holidays and Have a great day!

Thanksgiving and Tree Hunting

Here are a couple pics. from earlier in the month. This is MJ still dressing herself. RB hates the pants and I hate the shoes.


RB and MJ had a good time running in the rain. They only did it twice and they were soaked.


On Wed. this week I had to work but RB didn't. I told him it would be nice if he could do some laundry that needed to be put away before I got home. Instead he:
1Went shopping for the rest of our Thanksgiving meal.
2)Put away all the laundry. Plus he washed and put away two more loads.
3)He cleaned our bathroom.
4)He bathed the girls.
5)Cleaned up the kitchen some so I could cook my rolls when I got home.
It was so good to come home from work and have it almost all they way done. We had to vacuum Thurs. before everyone came but that was it. RB is so good to me. I love him so much!

Thanksgiving at our home was great. Nice and relaxing with good company. After everyone left we watched some movies and vegetated. It was a good day!

Yesterday we went Christmas Tree hunting. We went with RB's brother and some friends. It was a long day. First RB and I checked out some Black Friday Sales. We got some stuff, like socks, at an amazing price. Then in the afternoon we headed up the mountain in ID to get our tree. There was just enough snow to create the atmosphere and the weather was perfect. I bundled up the girls and hauled Lil around everywhere. MJ had fun playing with her friends that came and she got to ride up and back with them. That made her really happy. When we got up their the other two kids in her van were asleep. I asked why she wasn't the our friend goes she told me stories all the way up here. It was some good times and RB found us a great tree again this year!

My Cup Runneth Over

My family and I have had a very blessed month.

1) We were having car problems. One place diagnosed our vehicle as having two things wrong with it and a cost of $1100. I was devastated. We paid our $100 diagnosed fee and I began looking around. I found the best price to be around $700. Much better but not great. So I took it in. They began looking at the car and said it was something completely else than what I was first told. The total cost was $430!! YEA!!!

2) Having one vehicle can be kind of a pain. As I was debating how I was going to get my car from point a to point b and then home again with two kids was really stressing me out. My b-sitter stepped in with out even being asked and said hey I'll follow you there to drop your car off and then I can take you home. THANK YOU. It was great not having to walk home with two kids even though it would only have been about a 1/2 mile walk. Then while the car was in the shop I had two co-workers step in and offer/give me rides. The one was able to drop me off after work at the shop since the car was fixed. I love great people who are willing to go out of their way to help someone else. I pray they will be blessed in their efforts as well.

3) Last week at school I checked my teacher mail box. Inside was an envelope with "TP" on the front of it. Inside was $200! Because of this money our savings (which isn't much) is now back up where it was before we had car problems. What a blessing!

4) RB last night saw a guy at the side of the road who needed a jump on their car. After jumping them once and then five miles later jumping them again he ended up taking them where they needed to go. They parked their vehicle at the Texaco and RB drove them to Pocatello, ID. Yes, he was gone for 3 hours but it was the least we could do after receiving the extra money we got.

5) Since we got our car back from repairs we still had an obnoxious noise. It was only when we were going between 30 and 60 miles per hour. We were dreading having to take it back into the shop and pay more to get it fixed. Well this morning RB called me and told me he hasn't heard the noise at all. Sure enough after I drove it I haven't heard the noise either. Hopefully it fixed itself and all is well with our vehicle.

6) When RB called me he told me of another great blessing. He filled up his car in Pocatello, ID before heading home. He drove 85 miles back and then another 20 miles this morning to his car pool. After arriving at his car pool his gas meter thing still read we had a full tank of gas. Wow.

The Lord has truly blessed me and my family this month! I am truly grateful for all he has blessed us with. I know he is looking out for each and every one of us. Some blessing are easier to see and recognize but I know he blesses up each day. We just have to look for them. I pray we all can recognize those blessings and have our cups running over every month!

Old Post

I started a post in Aug. and never finished it. Then when my sis sent me some pics. I decided it was time to finish the post. When I published it, it published clear back in the Aug. posts instead of the Nov. posts. So anyways, here is a link to the post that I did so you can enjoy it.

The Past

My Night

My afternoon/night started with my return from school at 3:30pm. I walked into my house and heard a dog bark. After further investigation I found the dog tied up in my backyard. I had forgotten we were dog sitting again this weekend. Yes, it is the same dog as before, Lady. Now my love for dogs has not grown any since the last time we watched her so you can image my surprise when she was here. After MJ played outside for awhile she decided we needed to go for a walk with the dog.

Being the wonderful mother I am (ha, ha), I agreed. Lady was super excited and we started our adventure around one block. Lady is much stronger than I. I am pushing the stroller and holding onto the leash at the same time. When Lady would take off so would I. That meant so did the stroller. We were two wheeling it many times trying not to tip Lil over. Finally MJ decided she could push Lil as long as the dog wasn't close to her. Yes, you heard right. She's the one who wanted to go for the walk WITH THE DOG, and she's afraid of it. She would freak out and scream every time the dog got near. About half way around the block MJ was tired of pushing. This actually worked to my advantage. MJ would run and so would I with the dog. Every time the dog got close she would take off again. The second half of the block did not take nearly as much time as the first half.

After we got home I reheated waffles, the frozen kind, and sat down to eat. (RB had a meeting tonight and didn't get home until after 6:30.) MJ decided to pray. For the first time she prayed by herself. MJ is the type where she has to do something over, and over, and over and over again before she will do it on her own. She did so good. She thanked Heavenly Father for our blessing, and then asked him to bless a whole bunch of people. Then she paused and asked "what other words can I say?" I prompted her to bless the food and then she closed. It was great. She loved it.

Sorry this is a novel tonight. After RB got home we were downstairs and MJ was pushing around my big exercise ball. It hit the pool table and Cocoa Puffs went flying everywhere. I was amazed and shocked to see these chocolate balls all over my floor with no cereal box in sight. Upon investigation we found a pocket of our pool table full of Cocoa Puffs. MJ had made a little stash for herself so if she ever got hungry while downstairs.

Overall my night has been full of fun and adventurous activities. Hope your night is going well too!

Happy 2008 Halloween

Halloween this year was great. We had a really good time walking around the neighborhood and going up the famous Century Drive. I must say Halloween in Tremonton has been a whole new experience for me. I have never received some of the great things that we get. Don't get me wrong, I love the pop, and drinks, and treats. It's just that I never thought people gave stuff like that out. It's cool.

MJ loved going house to house knocking on the doors. RB and I didn't dress up though. We get to dress up for school and we were all pooped out from doing that. MJ was Areal that swims in the water, and Lil was a beautiful butterfly. Lil hated her wings. She threw a fit every time I put her in her costume.


Lil finally got happy when Daddy came home.

This is her pouting. I love the lip!

This is Areal that swims in the water (or sea).

Now I have to tell you this. We borrowed this costume from our babysitter. It came with a red wig. Now the wig was really tangled and I couldn't figure out which way was up or down. So RB suggested using the hair coloring spray. You have to understand I have NEVER dyed my hair. I also have very clear images of people from past Halloweens trying to use the spray and it not coming out. So with all of this in mind I was a little apprehensive to color MJ's hair.

After trick or treating I sent MJ straight up stairs to the tub. There I brushed her hair first, like the instructions say, and then I washed it. It took two shampooings and all the red was out. I was a very happy mother. There was no way she was going to sleep with the red in and get it all over her pillow so I was very glad it all came out. After our bath we had pizza for dinner and then I went to bed. I was in bed by 8:30. It felt great!

Hope your Halloweens were just as good as mine. Have a great after the Halloween day. We are going to have a Christmas dinner, Christmas music, and games party.

Up close and personal

It seems like every time I look at our blog there is another embarrassing photo of me.
So I thought i would let you get to know the rest of my family a little bit better. What I mean by a little bit better is here is some great shots of their nostrils.