A good week for our family!

After two months Ben is finally off the list of those that are unemployed! A good friend in our neighborhood gave him a job as the maintenance mechanic at his work. The company is Eagle Eye Produce and they ship produce to grocery stores. It is in Layton which means an hour drive both ways but he is carpooling with our neighbor so that helps. Ben is enjoying having a job again and is having fun being the "fix it man" at work. He has always enjoyed fixing things or figuring out why things are broken.

I was able to go to lunch with Heidi this week and we had so much fun. Our lunch only lasted 3 hours :) We went to Zuppas and had some really good food. I ate a summer chicken salad, it was yummy! The best part was talking to Heidi!! She is awesome!! I miss working with her, we had some really great times together. Heidi also gave me a cd of all the picture she took during the year and here is one of my favorites...

I also wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and support while we struggled through the last two months! Things are looking better for us! YEAH!!!!

Brittany is home!

Brittany came home from girls camp yesterday, a little sunburned but she had a good time. She talked and talked about all the things they did. I know my worries were not necessary but it was hard not being to talk to her. One of the funny stories I have to share is about a squirrel. The squirrel came into their cabin and one of the girls gave it an oreo. Then a little bit later it came back and had a two more squirrels with it. Brittany said they were being attacked by squirrels, that will teach them not to feed the wild animals! LOL! They went hiking a lot and they went canoeing (sp?). She also made a few crafts. Oh the fun of girls camp!

Welcome home Brittany!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 14th wedding anniversary. We had a very nice day together. First we took Jenny with us to see the movie "Up", it was cute and Jenny loved it. (Brittany is still at Girls Camp) Then we left her with her cousin while Ben and I went to run some errands. Then we picked her up and took her to Grandma Linda's where they made dinner together and enjoyed each other company. We then went to the Olive Garden for dinner (without Jenny). The food was wonderful! Over all we had a good day just hanging out together.

Brittany's at Girls Camp

This is a hard day for me. Brittany left for Girls Camp this morning and I am going crazy not being able to talk to her. I am worried about her. I want to make sure she is okay or that she has everything she needs. I hope she is getting along with the other girls. This is the first time she has been away from home for so long, I hope she doesn't get home sick. I just want to talk to her to see if she is okay but I have to wait until Friday, UGH! I even asked if I could go with them but my Bishop said that no mothers are allowed to go this year. I do have to admit it has been a very quiet day because Brittany is not here to fight with Jenny.

It is going to be a long week!

Last Day of the School Year

Today was a fun but sad day. I work in the second grade with a teacher that is totally awesome, her name is Heidi. We went to the park with all the second grade kids today and played some games and had some good snacks. I loved our second grade class, they were so much fun. I will miss them so much. Heidi and I have had a great time working together and we got along so well! The bad part is her husband is going to law school and they are moving to Georgia for three years. Sigh! I am happy for them but I am going to miss her. Teaching won't be the same with out her! I feel like we have known each other forever when it has really been 5 short months. I have been fighting the tears all day! She is not leaving until July so we will be able to go to lunch a few times before she leaves. Usually teachers are excited for summer break, but I am not!

Spring Pictures

I just received Spring pictures from school.
I am so proud of how good they are so I had to post them.
Brittany's picture is first then Jennifer's picture.

The Beach

We spent some time at Huntington Beach.

It was a little to cold for swimming suits.

Brittany in the sand

Ben enjoying the beach

Jenny in the sand

Brittany running from a wave

Disneyland!

We had a wonderful time in Disneyland.

Here are some of the fun pictures!

Cinderella's castle and Jenny and Brittany with Mickey

Jenny and Brittany on the teacups & Brittany and Ben












Brittany having fun and Jenny with her new hat















Waiting in line for the Matterhorn & on the ride

Long Beach, California

Here are some picture of our trip to California.
First we visited the Long Beach Aquarium

Jenny next to a really big fish and Jenny with a seal








Brittany and Ben with a lorikeet









Jenny and a lorikeet










Long Beach lighthouse and Ben with a starfish

I got my Laptop back!

I am so happy that I was able to pick up my laptop last night. Why was it gone you ask? Because the CD drive was not working. It took GeekSquad a month to fix it. I have been using an old laptop of my mom's while it was gone. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I got it back! Other than that my job is going great and my college is going okay. I found out the other day I was in the wrong program at school and I am in the middle of switching my class schedule around. I have been doing everything online but at the end of April I have to start attending a class once a week for four hours. UGH! If I stayed with online classes I would end up being licensed to teach in Arizona. To get my license in Utah I have to attend their classes, make sense but what a pain!

We are 10 days away from our California vacation! We were going to leave on April 12th but we changed it to April 11th. That way we won't be traveling all day on Ben's birthday (April 12th). Instead we are going to the Long Beach Aquarium on the 12th. Then to Disneyland on the 13th! I guess the Easter Bunny will visit us in our hotel room this year! I am also excited about warm weather because the snow keeps coming at my house. Luckily it does melt by the end of the day, but I have had enough it is SPRING!

Have a great day!

Happy St Patricks Day!

I hope everyone had a day full of green and fun. I work at a charter school where they wear uniforms but today they were allowed to wear jeans and a green shirt, it was awesome! The school was so green and the kids had a blast in casual clothes! (they behave worse too)

Brittany and I had a fun weekend. We went and got our hair cut together and went shopping because we need clothes for Disneyland! We bought Jenny some too. Jenny was playing with her friend Taylor so she didn't go with us. Jenny is very sad right now because Taylor is moving this weekend and has already stopped going to school. It is hard to see her so sad, I hope she finds a new friend soon.

Have a Great Day!

Sleepover Fun!

Last night Brittany went to a party and Jenny had a friend sleepover. I do not like sleepovers but Jenny's friend, Taylor, is moving to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. So Jenny spent the night at her house last weekend and then Taylor came to our house this weekend. Two 9 year old girls can get very hyper. But they had a lot of fun. I went and got Brittany about 10 o'clock last night and we stayed up talking about the party until about 11 and by that time both Jenny and Taylor were asleep. I was lucky because they slept in until 10 o'clock. Taylor dad should be coming about 3 o'clock to pick her up.

Brittany's party was for her friends birthday at school and most of the sixth graders were invited. So she had lots to talk about. Most of the party was fun except one of the girls started telling mean rumors which caused a lot of hurt feelings. But overall she had fun. Now she went rollerskating with some of her friends. It reminds me of when I went rollerskating when I was her age, what fun! I wouldn't dare go skating now I would probably fall and hurt something, lol.

Dentist Appointment

On Thursday I took both of my girls to the dentist for a cleaning and neither one of them had any cavities. I think that is the first for me, usually one of them has something they need fixed! I was so excited I took them out for ice cream. I know, I know maybe not the best thing for them to eat after having their teeth cleaned but hey I was happy for them.

Jazz Game and a Vacation

Last night Ben and I went to a Jazz Basketball game in Salt Lake. It was really fun! We sat on row 9 in the lower bowl, which was cool to actual sit close enough to see the players faces. Oh ya we also were able to see how incredibly tall these guys are. The Jazz were ahead the whole night and won the game 102 to 89 against the Sacramento Kings. I can't imagine how much the tickets cast but we got them from a friend Ben met at work.

Before the game I was able to do some shopping with my Mom and my sister Cyndee. We also booked a hotel room for Disneyland. Yes we are going to Disneyland over Spring Break! Cyndee graduated from college with an bachelor degree and she wanted to go to Disneyland. Well I graduated with my associate degree so why can't I go too? I talked to Ben and we agreed to tag along with Cyndee and her son. Then my parents decided they wanted to go also and now we all have our rooms booked and we are counting down the days!!!

What a long week!

I finally finished by associate degree in Elementary Ed. I just received my last grade and I received an A-. I am so excited that I reached one mile stone. Now I start my bachelor classes and in two years I will have my own class to teach. I can't wait!

This week has been very busy. I went to Jenny's Parent Teacher Conference and it went surprisingly well. The teacher talked good about her and her grades are really good. Then I had to get home and go to New Begining with Brittany's for Young Women's. The next day (yesterday) I had to visit with all 8 of Brittany's Middle School teachers which took forever. I made her go with me which she did not like. Three of her eight teachers told me about her talking and laughing problem in their classes. Imagine this, her boyfriend is also in these classes. I think it is obvious what the problem is. After a very long argument with her that night I think she is going to start behaving better. Her boyfriend has started calling her every other night and I told her that the phone calls will stop (and the texting) if she doesn't behave. We will see if it helps. But there are some good things, her teachers do like her and she does have five A's. When she completes some missing assignments hopefully her other grades will increase also (which she will be working on all weekend or until they are done). Her school moved the sixth graders into middle school after the Christmas break so she is trying to get used to all the teachers and what they require.

Other than teacher's conference, helping kids with school work and working, I have been trying to get caught up on house work and the many other things on my never ending "list of things to do". This week has worn me out and I am glad it is Friday tomorrow.

Happy Valentines Day!

Ben and I didn't really do anything today. Ben had to work and I did visit him at lunch for about 20 minutes but other than that I ran some errands and worked on school work. Yesterday was a fun day because we had a Valentines Party at school with my second grade class. I received tons of Valentines from them and several boxes of chocolate. So even though Ben didn't get me chocolates, my students did!

Brittany had a lot of fun at her Valentines Dance/Party. They ended up having more games than dances but she did get to dance with the boy that asked her several weeks ago. Then he gave her a heart shaped box of chocolate and a card that he wrote a poem on. It said "Roses are red, violets are blue, you are sweet and I love you." Talk about a bold kid, he also leaves her love notes in her locker all the time. To tell you the truth this kid is making ME a bit nervous. He is only 12 and he acts like this........ anyway I asked Brittany what she thinks of him and she likes him but she never says she "loves him". We did buy him a cute gift for him for Valentines Day because her friends told her this boy was getting something for her. I thought it would be rude if she didn't get him something.

So do you see what is wrong with this, my 12 year old gets a box of chocolates from the boy that "loves" her and my husband doesn't get me anything......hmmmm. Only kidding I am happy for her and no matter what Ben does or doesn't do, I still love him!

Happy Valentines Day!!!!!!

Poor Parakeet

Last night I was getting ready for bed and I was checking on our two birds and two dogs when I found our little parakeet was dead. He was laying on the bottom of his cage and he was dead. He was Brittany's bird and she named him Snowflake. Jenny actually had a harder time dealing with it then Brittany. He was not very nice though, he would bite everyone and we didn't get him out of his cage very often. So even though it is sad it is not that traumatic. To me it is one less animal to feed. I do hate to see animals die but after going through two hamsters and several hermit crabs it is not so hard to say goodbye to Snowflake. For those who are wondering if we are going to buy another one, the answer is no! We still have an amazon parrot and two mini dachshunds and that is enough!

Picture of Snowflake

Life is Good!

My new Ipod came and I am so happy. I have missed it a lot! It took a couple hours to download everything and charge it, but I have an Ipod again.

The other good thing is when I went to work the other day there was a plate of cookies and a letter addressed to me. I opened the letter and it was a "Thank you" note from the teacher I work with. She told me she appreciates all the things I do for her and is glad I am working with her. How awesome is she? I just love working with her!

The other good thing is that it is warming up and the snow is melting! I know it could change any day and the snow could come back but I am enjoying the warmer weather. To top this all I am eating a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. :) Life is GOOD!

Ipod Blues!

Monday night my Ipod froze and wouldn't do anything. So I took it to Best Buy, where I bought it and I asked them to look at it. They could not get it to do anything either so they had to send it to Apple and then Apple will send me another one in 10 days. I am going crazy without it. I know I am completely addicted to it. I really don't listen to music much, I just listen to books. My friend got me started when she gave me "Twilight" on CD and then my sister keeps me addicted because she keeps buying books on audible.com which I get to download and listen. I just finished listening to "Inkheart" and "Inkspell" then it died. I really want to listen to the next book "Inkdeath" but I can't. I even took my daughters Ipod and put my book on it and everytime I start listening to it she wants it back.

I listen to my Ipod when I am in the car, when I am cleaning or cooking (which seems like I do all the time) and I listen to it when I can't sleep at night. My Ipod goes everywhere with me. The only time I don't listen to it is when I am at work or doing homework. It is so nice to listen to stories and escape the problems of real life. I also really enjoy listening to someone else's voice in my head instead of my own :)

Have a great day!

January Update

I am loving my job at the school working with second graders. The teacher I work with is the best, I love the way she teaches and all the kids love her. We work good together and get along very well. Last year I worked in the sixth grade and had a horrible teacher so this year is such a relief for me to have someone good.

Brittany is in sixth grade this year and the school is having a sixth grade Valentines Dance during school. Well the other day Brittany found a note in her locker from a boy asking her to go to the Valentines Dance with him. She was very excited because she was the first girl to get asked! Last year they had dance cards and couldn't dance more than two dances with the same boy. I am hoping they do that again so she won't spend the whole time with one boy. The best part is that I am working at her school so I get to know most of the kids. I asked her to tell me who this boy is, so I could check him out and make sure he is okay, so I did and he is a good kid for the most part! Now I need to take her phone away at night because the boys keep texting her when she is suppose to be asleep. I know she is only 12 and the worst years are yet to come, arg!

Happy New Year!!!!

Wow it has been a long time since I wrote anything, December was a crazy month! Christmas is now over and I feel like I can breathe again and get back to life, or so I thought.

Last school year I worked at the school my girls attend as a teacher assistant but decided not to go back when school started in August. Well a couple months ago I realized I missed being in a classroom and being around kids, so I asked if they had any openings. They told me to wait until they get the school budget settled and then they would call me. Well the call finally came and I started back to work today as a teacher assistant in the second grade! I love second graders, they are so cute and they love going to school. They have so much energy and they made me smile all day! It was so much fun. The teacher I work with is awesome! I can't wait to finish my degree and be a teacher also!

Speaking of getting my degree, I did not have to worry about school work for the last two weeks because of Christmas break. Well school starts up again today, bummer, which means homework. My classes are online so I can do my assignments anytime of the day, which makes me able to go work also. But assignments are due regularly and I have to post for attendance a lot! So it keeps me busy!

I also got called to teach the 3 year olds in my church. Talk about adorable! One little girl was so sad when her mom left, I sat and held her until she stopped crying and then she wanted me to hold her until the end of church. They are the cutest things! Since my little girl is nine I don't get to have little ones on my lap anymore, so it was fun. The best part about it is that they get to go home with their mom.

Over the month we also had several babies come to our family. Ben's cousin had a baby boy, and Ben's brother had a baby boy. Then we have the cute twins I mentioned earlier from another one of Ben's brothers. The Christmas party was so fun because if you wanted to hold a baby there were four to choose from! Then to top it all my best friend had a baby boy also. WOW tons of babies this winter thank goodness I don't have to take them home and stay up all night with them! That is the best part of being an aunt!