Wednesday 27 May 2015

A Week in Review (May 24-30)

A Week in Review (May 24-30)

Watched: A ton of the Aquarius show that is new to NBC. I thought it would be more about the cops interaction with Manson, but so far, it's more about the life a cop of during the Manson era. 

Read: I'm remiss to stay this category still remains empty. Summer is the hardest time for me to read.  I still hope to change my pace. I just keep letting other things get in the way. 

Listened: To the sound of the road as we drove home from Phoenix. We took a different way home that let us see the edge of the Grand Canyon without adding any extra driving time. We also got to encounter snow up near Bryce Canyon too. It was a wild ride, but we sure were glad to have it over with. 

Made: A trip to Leatherby's to celebrate Jack's baseball season. He was super excited to at the end because he got two gum balls instead of one for his quarter.  The look of excitement on his face was absolutely priceless when it dropped them both. 

Felt: Amazed at how many box tops were turned in after the competition had ended. I spent a couple hours in Friday trimming all the ones that were turned in.   It was very awesome to mail a box containing $850 dollars worth of free money for the PTA. I hope their is an opening on the committee at our next destination. 

Planned: For my boys to have fun in Vegas while I relaxed at home. It didn't quite go as planned, but it was a learning experience for everyone. 

Loved: Getting to see a lot of our Phoenix family on Sunday. We had a rather last minute notice for them to get together, but lots of people were still able to make it. Sherry, Nick's aunt, got some great pictures. I put my favorite one below. She also got a fun family shot of the three of us too. 

Here are the pics for the week:










Wednesday 20 May 2015

A Week in Review (May 17-23)

A Week in Review (May 17-23)

Watched: Jack have a great time at his school's free carnival. They had sack racing, which he was very excited about. He raced a fifth grade girl and dove across the finish line to beat her. They also had a magician that he enjoyed. They had a cupcake walk that he tried several times but never won.  There was also a bird show, but he didn't go to that. There were a couple other games including a candy in the jar estimation game that I helped man. It was a pretty fun night for everyone. 

Read: Hardly anything at all. I can't believe that this is the second week in a row that I really don't have much to write here. I remember really falling into a slump this time last year too. I know next week will have a book on it because it's book club again. :)

Listened: I got the audiobook Yes, Please. It's Amy Poehler's memoir. I am not sure what made me ever put it on a hold list.  Nonetheless, I like it. I don't have a ton of  alone time to listen to it in the car, but I still have managed to get a couple disc in.

Made: An entire day out of finding the perfect place to grill.  We found out that not many parks in southern Utah have a space to add your own charcoal to a grill that they have there. One of our stops was this awesome park in Coppertown.  I would love to know the story behind it. I think Jack and I will be making another trip out there for sure.

Felt: Proud of my work that I have been doing in the school.  Of the kiddos that I work with on reading, 77% of them reached the grade level target.  My 4th and 5th graders have made big strides too. It's amazing what a small amount of one on one time can do. It was decided that I would take the last week because the kids will mentally already be on summer vacation. The time has went by quickly. 

Planned: On staying the night with Nick's mom and step-dad on our way to Phoenix. I had no idea that they would be getting back from driving their stuff cross country. They were nice enough to even unloaded and assemble a bed for us. And then, we stayed up way too late just chatting. Jack was so excited because right out their front door is one of the condo's pools. He hopped right in. It was a bit too chilly for me without any sun. There was a perfectly heated hot tub too.  I am very grateful to them. 

Loved: Our first half of our Memorial Day Vacation.  It was so much fun to see new places, like the Hoover Dam, and to hang out with family. We have plans to see even more tomorrow. I just love watching Jack play with his cousins. I am so thankful for those relationships.  

Here are the pics for the week:
Coppertown Park

Anyone want a cat?

Sack races

Swimming at night

The Hoover Dam
  Rebels from the beginning

Look how low the water is.  It's such a stark contrast between the normal and the current. 

It's a long way down

I asked the boys if I could take their picture. The first is what they gave me. The second is when I asked for a nice one. The bridge that you see in the background is absolutely mind blowing. It was crazy to turn the corner and see on of the massive concrete trusses in the air. 



This is the overflow area for the dam. It's a crazy looking hole and we called it the Gates to Hell. I can just see one of the boys telling their teacher that is what they saw. 

Our time at Lake Pleasant










A Week in Review (May 10-16)

A Week in Review (May 10-16)

Watched: The first season of New Girl. It's quite funny and all the characters are pretty adorable.  We spent a couple hours of Mother's Day getting started. It started out okay for Jack to watch, but quickly turned to more adult themes and I let him know he couldn't watch anymore. He was bummed, but I think he'll get over it. 


Read: I finished up Dead in Dallas. It was overall an okay book, but none one that made me feel like I had to jump right into the next one.  My reading slowed because it was a super busy week and I just wasn't good about making myself go to bed early enough to make good progress on any book.

Listened: To Jack tell me all about the freaky big snake that he had seen at school during a presentation from Snails 
And Tails. He said that you didn't have to worry because it could only eat one kid at a time, so he sat in the back. I didn't realize how big it was until I saw the pictures posted on the school's Facebook page.  His teacher later sent me a picture with Jack actually touching it. I am sure he never would have done it without the encouragement of his classmates. 

Made: A lot of goodie bags up for the students who won the Box Top daily competition for Jack's school. I knew it was going to be a big project, but it was more than I had imagined. I am so thankful that I had some excellent volunteers that helped me work through it. If you would like some helpful hint on box tops, please trim them nicely. This saves the school on postage and makes counting them so much easier for the volunteers. Also, make sure to be careful to include the expiration date at the bottom or it can't be submitted. 

Felt: Upset with Xbox.  I went down at the end of a long day to watch a Days of Our Lives and our Xbox would not turn on it. It appears the power supply had quit working. I trouble shot it and determined it to be officially dead. I had a nice chat conversation with a representative that lead me to believe a new one was being shipped out. Then I got an email that stated I had to ship in the defective one, wait for them to get it, and then wait up to 10 business days for them to return it. Ugh. This isn't handy when they have had you run all your cable and everything through the machine. Frustrating.

Planned: On having a picnic on Saturday, but Mother Nature had different plans. It was rainy and chilly so we decided to do fondue instead. We made it an all day affair with the shopping trip, then we had our big cheese course, followed a couple hours later by our broth course. It was yummy as always. 

Loved: Mother's Day.  My boys spoiled me well. I got some long lasting flowers on the table.  Nick actually set an alarm so we could wake up and make it to a brunch on time.  We chose Squatter's, a local brewery, in downtown.  It was really good food for a pretty reasonable price.  They even had $2 Mimosas.  There was a bit of wait when we got there, but it gave us time to explore the outside area and the funky art that was on display.  On the way back to the car, Jack hopped up on one of the bike racks and asked me to take his picture.  I remembered that I still had the one from August in my phone, so I made a side by side photo.  I don't know that I see any huge changes.  When we got back, Jack sent me on a scavenger hunt to find my presents.  He had made a Spa Book at school for me.  He is very excited for me to redeem my coupons.  They also completed a book about their mom.  Here were his answers:

She loves to go to.... Walmart
She loves to listen to... Pandora
She loves to spending time... working
She loves to watch... Days our are lives
She loves to eat... vrerthing (in case you cant read 7 year old, that's everything :D)
And then there was a spot for them to just write and he chose...  You are the best because you dont like purple.
Nick also gave me the gift of planning and cooking every meal during the week.  The cooking didn't always happen with his crazy work schedule, but I love the thought.  I hope that it is a tradition that repeats itself every year!

Here are the pics for the week:











Tuesday 12 May 2015

A Week in Review (May 3-9)

A Week in Review (May 3-9)

Watched: Some Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's at the suggestion of several of the gals in my book club. Nick definitely didn't like it and I am not sure that I get it yet. I am reserving judgement until I finish the season. I wonder if it's not one of those shows that you have to watch several times to really get into.  

Read: I got most of the way through Dead and Gone, the ninth book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I enjoy the books, but they are nothing but fluff. Next up on my list is going to be The Hypnotist's Love Story.

Listened: To the parents in the stand give a giggle as Jack had more antics at catcher. He looks so stinking cute in the oversized equipment and then he does hilarious things like block the ball with his leg and call for pitches with some funky hand signals. Keep in mind, it's machine pitch!  I am glad he is willing to play catcher as most kiddos on his team aren't willing to try. 

Made: Our way to Sizzler finally. Since we've moved here, Nick has talked about eating there. It was one of those places he ate as a kid and wanted to try it as an adult. Everyone was pretty pleased with it. They had a ton of fresh fruit in their salad bar which I really loved. They also had some delicious ice cream. Jack was a huge fan and ate three small bowls. He was so proud of his work that he had to make a bowl all of my own to try. I really enjoyed it too. 

Felt: Lucky. Every year for Mother's Day, I have also taken a picture of Jack with irises as part of the gift for my mom. They definitely are not as popular in Utah as in Wichita, and I hadn't seen any I could use. I was googling it and found they had an iris show going this Saturday. There were a lot of neat hybrids. When we walked in, we were definitely the youngest people in the room. Everyone was very excited to share about their flowers though. So we did get a picture with some irises, albeit a bit unconventionally. 

Planned: On coming home while Jack was invited over to a friends house on Saturday afternoon. Instead, Nick suggested that we visit Pirate O's, a gourmet market, here in town. I wouldn't call a gourmet market, but more an important shop. It looks like it was built out of the desire to find things that people might have enjoyed while on their LDS mission. I was so excited to see that they had candy and bubble gum cigarettes. These were some of my favorite candy growing up. Jack loved him.  I had him put one in his mouth like he was smoking just for giggles. The rest he just munched down and enjoyed their wintergreen flavor.  They had a lot of odd bacon flavored things too.  It was a fun time to browse the isles but I can't see going back very often. 

Loved: Collecting the box tops for Jack's school and clipping, counting, and sorting them. It was such a great time. I hope that his next school doesn't have anyone signed up because then I will totally take it on. I'm not sure why I like it so much, but I really do think it is a great time. 

Here are the pics for the week:



Doesn't this just look so delicious ;)










Preparing my ice cream for me. 


Tuesday 5 May 2015

A Week in Review (April 26-May 2)

A Week in Review (April 26-May 2)

Watched:  Jack have two more fun baseball games. Nick was able to make it home in enough time to travel with us so that he and Jack could warm up. Jack also had a special visitor come and watch him.  Our neighbors were looking to kill some time and decided to come cheer him on. It made his night. 


Read: I finished up Vanishing GirlsI'm a fan of Lauren Oliver's writing and this was no exception. I was a bit surprised by the ending, which makes me want to reread the book knowing it. Sadly, there are too many books for me to read, so I doubt I will ever take the time to do it. If you are looking for a quick summer YA read, I would recommend picking this up.  I also quickly read The Girl on the Train so that I could discuss it with my book club on Saturday. If you need a "Gone Girl" like fix, this book is for you. It reads very quickly. None of the characters are good people, so it is harder to feel empathy for them. I thought that the twist was rather obvious throughout the entire book, so it didn't surprise me how it ended. Overall, I would give it 3.5 stars.  Next, I started At The Water's Edge. It didn't grab me and is due back at the library so I put in back in my TBR shelf. I will probably pick up a Sookie Stackhouse book next. 

Listened:  To Nick feel horribly sick on Friday. He had something just settle in chest and with the little sleep that he gets, it took him out pretty hard. A couple sets of Chicken Noodle Soup and a good 14 hour sleep and he was feeling much better. 

Made: Three doors for teacher appreciation week at Jack's school. The theme was Bees. I think they all turned out pretty cute. It was fun to see all the different ideas that people came up with for celebrating the staff. 

Felt: Glad that Jack had a smooth time at the dentist. He should be losing four teeth anytime soon and it doesn't look like we will see him toothless for very long. When we got done with the appointment, we heard an ice cream man playing at the park across the street. We hurried over for a treat, but he took off as soon as we got there. We followed him to another park across town. We had a good time playing at the park too. 

Planned: On having a full Friday finishing up the doors, cleaning the house, running errands, but I had to cram all that in because I was called into Emergency sub for a third grade teacher at Crescent. I was a bit bummed because I learned that they spend approximately 90 minutes on Friday, watching a movie.  Id rather see that be recess time. Any who, they were behaved pretty well and I had fun doing their small groups with them. 

Loved: Sharing stories and wine with my book club. It had been several months since I had been and it was nice to catch up with everyone. The hostesses house was up on top of the shelf and it provides beautiful views.

Here are the pics for the week: