BACK TO SCHOOL!!!!

Well it is Friday of the first week of school. Taylor is very happy with his teachers this year and is really excited to have made the Golf Team. He worked all summer on his game and it really paid off! He has a pretty academically challanging schedule this year as it is his Junior year and the most important year as far as Colleges are concerned. At this point he is aiming for BYU (with a little bit of encouragement from Mom & Dad which is hard for Dad (GO UTES!!!) He is in Student Government and working on his Eagle. So BUSY is the key word here! He is such a delightful young man and I love being around him! HAPPY and full of life!

Bret came home for the summer and has been working full time at Tampa General. He has been exposed to some medical careers and has recently decided that he would really like to work in Radiology. So here we go again.....changing our major.....BUT yesterday he did an all day shadow in the Radiology Dept. and came home more excited about that than I have seen him since he got his Drivers License! So we will press on!! With that decision also comes at least another semester at home taking classes via the internet and working full time. We just want him to find a career that he can love. Maybe this is it??? Time will tell!!

Megan is in 5th grade and is taking part in an experimental all girls class. It was something the school asked us if we would like to participate in and since Megan thinks boys STINK and ANNOY her to death.....That was a no brainer!!! So far she is LOVING it!!

I decided this year that I was going to try and limit my volunteering at the High School to just two or three days a week. I went in the first day and just didn't have the heart to not show up the rest of the week. THEY NEED ME!!! I just can't even imagine them being able to service all these kids without help. I love to do it and so I do........

So as the close of the first week of school arrives I am once again reminded of how nice it is to have my children home all summer but also how nice it is to have them gone again!!! :-)

Bored to sleep

Taylor has two A.P. classes that he is taking in school this coming year. For both of these classes he has a summer reading assignment. I, being the responsible Mother purchased these books and planned on getting them read while we were in Utah. Taylor wanted me to read them with him. Which is a practice I started with Bret because some of the books they ask these poor high school kids to read are quit frankly inappropriate reading material for teens. So I would read them with him so I could sensor them as we read. So any way, of course Taylor thinks this is "normal and customary" and I really didn't mind. I like the bonding time we get to spend together. So anyway... our first attempt to read the book for A.P. U.S. History "Founding Brothers" proved to be useless. Every few pages I would have to nudge Taylor to get him to wake up! I tried this a few times while we were on vacation and then decided that he just wasn't getting enough sleep and that we would just resume our reading when we returned home. Well today, with the start of school getting dangerously close and still 4 chapters to read in one book and the whole other book, I told Taylor we were going to get some reading done.
We read for a about 10 minutes sitting in the computer chair and a dining room chair. I was getting kind of uncomfortable in the hard chair so I suggested we move into the living room and sit on the couch. He was agreeable so we moved. I started reading what was beginning to actually be a pretty interesting rendition of the most famous Duel in history (Burr vs. Hamilton) and I am getting into the story. I look up to see if Taylor is as enthralled as I am and this is what I see..............

This is some of the girls in my family.
Left to right : Sister-Vickie, daughter-Megan, Sister-In-Law-Krista,
Me, Niece- Ali
(in front row) Sister-Mary, (holding niece Hadley) and niece-Miranda,
Nephew-Braden in the lower left hand corner (goof ball)

This was taken at Murray Park in Murray, Utah. July 2008

Home from Utah!

So I just got home from my month long visit with my family in Utah. I love being there so much!
It's not just that my family lives there. I LOVE the fooD!!!!! I love: Cafe Rio, Zupas, Rumbis, The Training Table, Costa Vida, The Pie, Taco Time, Pei Wei, oh...the list could go on and on... I know you are thinking...Is all this girl thinks about is food??? Well.....they just have the best food in the world and I miss it! I love the mountains and the dry air! I love all my little nieces and nephews! I love that you can find any address you need EASILY! It is so easy to get around there. I love all the beautiful temples splattered around the valley. I love the night time view from the east bench down on the valley. GORGEOUS!!! I love seeing 8 chapels in one stretch of 5 miles down the SAME road! I love that I can drive 30 minutes and be in the mountains listening to a wonderful fresh mountain stream. I love that they have a movie theater in every five mile radius. I love that you can buy a ticket to see a movie and get a RESERVED seat. I love that you can take a whole meal into the theater and not have to hide it!! I love that you can take your shoes off and walk in the grass and actually ENJOY it. I could go on and on but I will stop for now........

So I finally decided to get with the program...

After following several of my friends "blogspots" I decided I was enjoying them so much I should really do one of my own. So here it goes....