Piano Lessons

I have made the decision to start teaching piano lessons in September.  I've been mulling it over for a long time, and have finally committed.  I'm pretty excited to have a new challenge!  Lesson times will be Tues, Wed and Thurs from 3 to 5 pm, so I have room for 12 students max.  Cost is $40/month for one 30 min lesson each week.  Now I just need to find some awesome students!

July 4th

For the 4th of July, we went up to our trailer for 5 days.  It was so nice to have 5 days with no phone calls, laundry or video games.  Of course, there was plenty of laundry when we came home.

We had a great time.  Our friends and neighbors, the Tufts, came up, too, along with Tim's parents, Josh and Brittney, Cody and Lindsay, Daniele and Matthew, and Kip and Sabrina.  It was fun to have so many people there.

We went fishing and swimming, and rode the 4 wheeler.  On the 4th, the kids and I painted shirts.  Tim was a party pooper and didn't want to, so note his BSU shirt instead.  We went with Josh and Brittney and their kids to Red Fish Lake and then watched the fireworks in Stanley, then came home the next day.  The kids loved playing on the beach!  Pardon my hair--this was my 4th day w/ no hair dryer or flat iron.  Good thing I wasn't a pioneer!

Ryan's Bday

Ryan is 11 now!!!  He can't possibly be that old, can he?  I remember when he was Jake's age--I would try to tuck him into bed with his blanket, and he would  take it off, lift up his shirt, and say, "My belly's hot!"  And when he was barely 4 years old and had to get glasses--how is he 11 now?

We let him open his family gifts before he left for camp, since he would need some of the gifts for the camp out.  He got a Bear Grylls packet knife, a flashlight, a mess kit, a Boy Scout shirt and book, $20, Almond Joys, and some other fun stuff.  For his family treat, he requested a Paula Deen cake we saw on her show one time.  It's called Volcano Cake and is like an Almond Joy in cake form.  He loved it!

The next week after his birthday, he had a party with some of his friends.  They went to our neighbor's pool and swam for a while, then we had dinner (Ryan wanted Sloppy Joes) and treats.  I made rainbow cupcakes for the first time, and they turned out so cute!  He had a great time and is excited to have a great year ahead.  He starts middle school next month...how can that be??

No more cub scouts for a while

While I was in Texas visiting my family, Ryan had his Arrow of Light ceremony.  He has been such a great little cub scout, and it's hard to believe we won't be going to pack meetings for 5 more years when Jake starts!

Ryan was able to go to the 11-year-old overnight camp out as a 10-year-old, and come home the next day as an 11-year old.  He thought it was a great way to spend his birthday!  He got a lot of camping/
Boy scout gear for his birthday.  The shirt just swallows him up.  One day when he is getting his Eagle, I want to compare how his shirt fits him then compared to now.

 Seriously--how cute is he?!?

You think that was enough stuff for 2 days?!?!?

Working Out

Sometimes for my morning workout, I do Jillian Michaels's 30 Day Shred DVD.  It's a nice change from running sometimes.  And she kicks my butt.  Often, when the kids wake up, the first thing they see is me sweating to this DVD.  Well, a couple weeks ago, they caught me doing it and sat and watched me...then I went to shower...then when I came out all dressed a little later, this is what I saw:

I laughed so freaking hard!  They were both so intense.  It was awesome!

 Sydney is those stinkin' boots!  I asked her later why she was wearing them, and she said, "Well, I needed some shoes and these were the only ones I could find.  I think she's channeling her inner Wonder Woman!  If that weren't enough, she was also using canned soup as her weights, since Ryan was using my hand weights.  It was such a sight!

Ryan was trying not to laugh--he must have had an idea how ridiculous they looked!  I was pretty glad that they wanted to try the workout, too.  Of course, they went with Level 1.  Level 2 almost brings tears to my eyes...someday I hope to be able to get to Level 3...


Someday.

My Hero

My dad is pretty amazing.  This is a picture of all nine of his children at a reunion a few years back.  I have some great ones of him and me on my camera from just a couple weeks ago...but that's another story.

This man has somehow endured raising 9 children--7 of them girls!!!  He is amazing, like I said.  I was reminded on my recent trip to Texas how easily he can comfort me and make me feel everything is going to be o.k...

The night I flew in, my flight was delayed several hours.  Instead of driving the 3 hours to my parents' house late at night, I stayed the night at my sisters' place in Dallas, then drove Liz's car the next morning.  She has a GPS and programmed it for me.  She and Maggie had to work that day and were going to drive Maggie's car to Mom and Dad's later that evening.  I was a little nervous to drive in Dallas traffic, but I had a GPS--everything would be fine.

***Side note--I grew up 2 1/2 hours from Dallas and didn't get my driver's license til I was 16 1/2.  I left Texas at 18 and have never really lived there since...so not much Dallas driving experience...***

Anyway, I started out that morning to drive and headed for the first highway.  I was at a stop light waiting to turn, when the GPS started freaking out.  First it said I was moving into a large body of water.  No water in sight...  Then it said the battery was low, even though it was plugged in.  Then it said cannot find signal and shut off.  I couldn't get it to work.  And I had no idea where I was.  Or how to get to where I wanted to be.  Stupid technology.

I pulled off onto a side street and tried to think of what to do.  I tried calling my sister to ask her what the heck was up w/ her Garmin...no answer.  I decided to get back on the one freeway I knew I was supposed to be on, but didn't know what to do from there.  I kept hoping the Garmin would magically turn back on.  Even better.  My sister Carolyn called my phone.  She was at Mom and Dad's and my Daddy was right there w/ her.

It was like Superman had just swooped in to rescue me.  He asked what road I was on and got on the computer and for the next 30-40 minutes, talked me through the great city of Dallas.  He has driven that route hundreds of times and was able to literally tell me every landmark that was ahead all along the way.  It was still a little nerve-wracking to drive through that craziness, but such a calm came over me once I knew he was in charge and with me every step of the way.  Once I was on the main freeway out, we hung up so I wouldn't burn through all my minutes.  He called every little while to check on me, though, and I made it there o.k.

And the Garmin did magically come back on, about 15 minutes from my parents' house.  :)

Lessons learned:

• I am eternally grateful for cell phones.
• I never want to live in Dallas.
• My dad is my hero.

Actually, I already knew all of those, this was just a reminder.

My daddy is amazing and can literally do ANYTHING.  The end.

sad day

A couple weeks ago I was able to go to Texas and visit all my siblings and my parents (and various nieces, nephews, etc...).  It was a great trip and I had a blast.  Until I was boarding my plane and realized my camera was not in my backpack.  I had no time to run around DFW airport looking for it.  I felt sick.  This wasn't our crappy little Kodak camera. Oh, no--this was my nice, pricey Canon.  I don't know what happened.  The only thing I can think is that I possibly had to take it out at security when I was looking for my ID and quart sized bag of lotions and potions...  Perhaps I set it down?  Who knows.  Point is, it's gone.  Sure, I've called the airport MANY times, but there are like 100 lost and founds at that airport, and so far, none of the ones I've talked to have my camera.  I'm thinking I should just check on e-bay.  That's probably where it is. :(

The saddest part is the pictures of my family and me that were on it.  Gone.  Sad day.