Lexi's Birthday

Lexi turned 6 last week.

Presents from grandma

I hope she had a good birthday.  Josh had a baseball game that night, and then afterward we went out to dinner.  She chose Chuck-A-Rama.  Then we came home and unwrapped presents and ate cupcakes.  As if we needed to eat anymore, but we are not quitters in this family.  If there is cake to be eaten, we will do our best to eat it.  We see it through to the end.

The daycare had their annual end-of-year carnival last Friday.  They do a little program for the families, have a bbq, and have carnival games.  I deliberately came late because I didn't want to go to the program because it would make me too sad.  I'm really trying not to think about how she's "graduating" from preschool this year.  I mean, she graduated from kindergarten this year, but she was still going to the daycare preschool for half days.  Josh was a baby when I started teaching, so I've taken one or both of my youngest kids to daycare with me every day for the entire time I've been teaching.  It's going to be so sad next year not to be able to do that anymore.

The face painting was supposed to be a butterfly, but I don't think she had time to finish.  It was getting late and there were about 10 kids in line constantly.

Josh's face paint was the Superman symbol, but again... they drafted the boy who was making snow cones to come help paint faces, so, yeah... ya get what ya get.

I really want to read the book Half the Sky, but I know it will just depress me really bad so I'm not sure if I should.   I was watching a presentation on FMH that a woman gave to her ward on Congo, and it's just so sad.  A lot of what she shared I knew, but some of it I wasn't aware of.  Along with this, some ladies who are board members for the charities The Giving Tree and Anything For a Friend came to speak to a group of students at an honor lunch last week.  They talked to the students about finding your calling.  One of the women, who is a cancer survivor, told the kids that when life gets hard, and she said you WILL have hard, find your calling and serve others.  It will make your life better and your own troubles will feel smaller.  I have heard this many times before, of course, but I loved hearing it again from these women who have been through a lot more in their lives than I can imagine.  Still looking for my calling.  I feel called to do a few things, but am not sure I have the abilities needed to do them.

Josh's baseball team lost both games last week.  He still seems to be enjoying it, though.  He is struggling even more with hitting than before, though.  I can't help him either.  His coaches keep telling him his swing is good; he's just not connecting.  I wondered if he needs glasses like all the rest of us, but he says he can see fine.  I don't know.

We did yard work for the last 3 days.  I'm so sore.  The yard looks better, though.

I like Avril Lavigne's voice, and I've always thought she was cute, but now I'm just not sure what to think about her.  Like, I feel like she's way to old for her new song.  It's a catchy little tune and all, but how am I supposed to relate to this in any way?   And how she's all... we're never growing up!  Never, man!  Yeah, Avril honey, you may think you're all cool now, but "running down the street yelling kiss my ass" isn't so cute when you're my age.  At some point you have to grow up honey, and I think you might be about there.  You cannot continue to sing teenage angst songs any longer.  Another song I'm confused by is Taylor Swift's "22".  Isn't she like 23?  So why are they supposed to dance like they're 22?  What does that even mean?  Help.

Only a few days left of school.  I swear, every day for like the last 2 weeks I've thought that I didn't have work the next day.  My brain is already in summer mode.  But there's still a lot to do, so I will trudge on a little longer.  Camping this weekend, Tim McGraw next weekend.  Yay summer!

Memorial Day

This weekend we pulled the trailer up to Moon Lake.  It was beautiful, and we had a prime campsite.  I took these pics from my chair, under the awning in front of the trailer.

We did a little bit of hiking and caught lots of fish, four of which Sean and the kids ate for lunch Sunday, right after they caught them.

We were also able to visit the Rasmussen graves at the cemetery in Roosevelt.  It was nice to be able to do that; I haven't been in a while.  We took a short turn around Roosevelt and I just had so many questions.  Even after 5 years I will still start to say, "I need to ask my dad about that," and then I realize that I can't.  I hate that.  So much.  I wish he could take me around and show me things and tell me what it looked like when he was a kid and tell me all the old stories that I've forgotten and some he's never told.  I wanted to ask him about the tribal land out there and where it extends to and where the Indian towns are and where are the houses he helped build as a teenager and which reservoir he used to waterski on as a kid and if he ever camped at Moon Lake as a kid and all kinds of other questions.   My mom knows all of those answers, and I will ask her.  But I just miss my dad.

Brittney worked all weekend so she didn't come with us.  She went over and stayed with Grandma Marilyn for the weekend so she wouldn't be all alone.  Her grandma lives right by her work, so that was really nice for her not to have to drive so far.  She texted me tonight and said she wasn't coming home; that she was moving in permanently.  Living with grandma is living the good life, man.

Last week was Josh and Lexi's last week of school.  That always depresses me a lot.  Most of the week I put it out of my head and refused to think about it at all so that I wouldn't fall into a depression over it.  I was so successful that as I was dropping Lexi off on the last day, I suddenly realized that it was the last day and I hadn't bought teacher gifts for their teachers.  I had to hurry and run to the store on my lunch break and do teacher gifts and run them back to the school.

Josh's team won their game again last Thursday.  They are having lots of fun.  A little too much fun, sometimes.  The coach was having a hard time keeping a lid on a few of them in the dugout.  They have 3 coaches, and they seem to be really good.  He isn't doing well at hitting right now.  Partially I'm sure that's because the kids don't pitch very well at this age; lots of the kids aren't doing well at hitting.  But some of it he just needs to practice, so we've been working on that.  Since lots of the kids struggle to hit, it's hard in the field too.  There's not much to do out there.  He played shortstop and the ball only came to him one time, but he scooped it up and threw it to 2nd and they got the runner out.  So that was fun for him at least.  I think that as the teams get a few games under their belt the play is going to improve.  

I still have two more weeks of school, and I think they are going to drag by.  No one wants to be there.  No one wants to work anymore.   But I still have plenty for us to do.   

Heather had her baby.  Can't wait to see that little peanut in person in a couple of months.  

I read this book the other day, and the whole entire thing was depressing.  Just, like, everyone was moping around having things not go their way for the whole book.  And then it had a happy epilogue where everything worked out OK in the end for everyone.  And I was like, the freak?  What just happened here and why did I read it?  Oh well.

May

Pictures from Lisa's baptism:

Cute cousins

Love that David

Cute Katie with the kids at the Pool Party last month

Josh's baseball season has started.  He's on the Pirates this year.  His first game was tonight, and his team won.  It was really cute to watch them.  They are such a great age.  I kind of got choked up for a minute at how big he's getting.

So teacher salaries and testing... Katie, you always ask me/comment about my favorite pet topics.  :) The way it works now is that teacher salaries are just set according to how many years you have taught and how much education you have.  At least in my district.  Test scores can be used in different ways by different schools (usually as part of planning/improving curriculum), but they aren't tied to salaries or performance evaluations currently.  That is changing next year.  There is a new teacher evaluation system rolling out next year which will take into account administrator observations, which have to be at random (ours already do random, but some schedule them I guess), test scores, parent and student surveys (no longer optional), and I don't know what else.  It still won't necessarily tie any of that to salaries or bonuses, but the general consensus is that it is only a matter of time before it will be.  I don't really care all that much.  Just tell me which hoops to jump through and I'll jump through them.  I just want to teach kids how to read, write, speak, and think.  Whatever.

I like a little bit of just about every kind of music there is.  Not a huge fan of polka, but I'm sure I could find a song I would like.  Folk music mostly makes me feel like I should go smoke some weed to make it tolerable in any way, but I'm sure I could find a song or two I'd like.   Rap, reggae, teen scream, classic rock, pop goes punk, classical, religious music... none of it is my favorite type of music, but there is music I like from all of those genres.  So Brittney and I were having this conversation the other day about how we hate it when people proclaim certain types of music as "not real music" or "crap" or say that people who listen to that type of music suck.  Some of her friends were saying that about One Direction, and we were saying... hey, they may not be my favorite, but it's happy music!  It makes people feel good.  It speaks to some people.  And that's what's important.  That's the key with music... it resonates with us on some level.  It speaks to us somewhere in our minds or hearts or souls.   I don't like Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift, but I don't feel like it's a moral failing or lack of taste on someone else's part if they do.  I don't want to see Insane Clown Posse or Kottonmouth Kings, but that doesn't mean I think everyone who does is stupid.  And, really, that is likely to be a crowd of people whom I just do not get.  And they probably don't get me either.  And that's really OK.  I love country music.  It resonates with me somehow.  Call me a redneck, I'm OK with that; I like rednecks.  But I think it's dumb when the classic country people criticize all the new country and say it's worthless crap.  Music changes.  You don't have to enjoy the new sound, but that doesn't automatically make it crap.  Your standards and preferences are not universal.  That's what I think is so funny... that some people think their own taste should somehow set the standard for what everyone else enjoys.  I was reading an opinion piece the other day where the author declared that rap is not "real music," and called it something along the lines of ghetto noise.  No matter what kind of music you like, someone else hates it, so everyone relax and listen to what you like and shut up about what everyone else likes.   Why be a hater?  That's my general philosophy of life lately. 

Last week was teacher appreciation week.   One of my students wrote me a note that said, "Your sarcasm always makes me laugh."  Aww... what higher praise is there than that? 

Mother's Day weekend was really nice.  Saturday night Scott's family, Katie, and mom came over for dinner.  Courtney was even able to come.  It was really nice to just hang out and visit with everyone.   Sunday night Marilyn, Mindi's family, Mike's family, and Cami's family all came over for dinner, and again it was really nice to hang out and visit.  We hadn't seen Sean's family for about 5 months, so we were overdue. 

Saturday night we went to Cami's house to celebrate Dennis' birthday.  A good time was had by all.

Brittney decided to join the National Honor Society next year, so her induction was last week.    I hope she likes it.

We've been working hard to get ready to go camping this weekend.  It's a lot of work to get ready, especially at the beginning of the year when everything needs to be de-winterized.

Yesterday I spent all day at work meeting with the other Honors teacher and the AP teacher, planning curriculum for next year.  It was very productive, but I am so overwhelmed.  Next year is going to be very, very difficult, and I'm not sure that this summer is going to be at all relaxing.  The previous debate coach keeps telling me about things I need to do, forms I need to submit, and I am feeling so clueless.

We've been too busy lately to work outside, and our yard is really suffering.  We haven't had time to buy/plant flowers in the flower beds, and the weeds are taking over the garden.  The radishes need to be thinned.  I don't think we'll have time until next week.  I guess I'm OK with that.

Modest v. Appropriate

I saw this comic strip in the paper last night, and it just kinda grabbed me.  I love how the mom isn't saying her daughter can't wear the dress without a sweater because it's immodest, or because she might tempt boys into having dirty thoughts with her bare shoulders...  It's because it isn't appropriate to the situation.  It's not proper etiquette to wear a dress without sleeves to that event. 

Ok maybe I need to get a life?   Oh well.  

Random Thoughts and Happenings

I am really ready for it to be summer.  I'm trying to enjoy spring and not try to rush into June because it always goes by so fast.

I would just really, really like to get some normal neighbors on the left side of me. The house has been a rental since a few years after we moved in.  We've lived next door to all manner of strange and annoying people.  Then, a family bought the house.  A normal, wonderful, nice family with kids the same age as my kids, and they were best friends!  Oh happy day!  And then last Christmas they moved and rented the house out.  And now we live next door to several people sharing the home.  They have garbage and junk piled all over the outside of the house.  Some of it blows into our yard. Their cigarette butts blow into my grass.  Their little boy walks into my garage and takes the kids' toys out.  The other day, their garbage can was full so they threw something away in ours.  Except it was our green waste can, and we'd get fined for having it in there, so Sean had to go pull it out and throw it away.   I want to buy that house myself so I can at least choose who I live next to.

I really want to go on a road trip.  So badly.  I saw an article the other day about ghost towns in Arizona.  That would be a really fun adventure!  It had more well-known ones like Tombstone and then others that are mostly unknown.  I would totally love to take a trip to visit some of them.   I would even settle for visiting ghost towns in Utah, and I also want to visit Topaz, where the Japanese prison camp in Utah was located during WWII.

This is part of a larger conversation/observation that I don't want to get into right now, but I really really hate the attitude that women/boobs were put on this earth for men to look at.  I was reading an online article about the woman who tried to use a breast pump on an airplane and the flight attendant wouldn't let her.  She had verified with the airline beforehand that her particular pump was allowed, she had brought along a giant blanket to put over herself, and her husband was sitting in the seat next to her and she was by the window so that no strangers had to sit next to her in tight quarters while she pumped.  Anyway, some of the online comments were along the lines of, "Yuck, who wants to have to look at someone's floppy, flabby boobs?"  Well, first off, jackass, you won't be seeing any boobs.  Secondly, jackass, her boobs don't exist for your pleasure.  Women and their bodies are not public domain.  Our existence and function is not to be pleasurable for you to look at.  I'm tired of reading the argument, and I have, often, that women shouldn't nurse in public (or pump in public) because it can be a turn-on to males, especially teenage boys or those struggling with porn addiction.  I'm truly sorry for whatever struggles people have, but it's not my/my baby's job to live our life around your addictions.  Teenage boys get horny seeing all kinds of every day things.  There's nothing you can do about that, and it's natural and normal, so I'm not sure why people feel a need to try to prevent boys from getting turned on by innocent things.  Teach them that it's normal and it happens to everyone and to just move on with their day if it happens to them.  Gah.  Why does every little thing have to be such a big deal to people?  Just avert your eyes.  Mind your own business.

Last Friday we had a pool party at the Bountiful Rec with Katie and mom.  The kids had lots of fun.  Katie is such a fun aunt.  She went down the slide with Lexi countless times.  Then we went to her house for food after.  Scott brought his kids and met us there, and we sat and visited for hours while the kids trashed her house.  We didn't leave until like 11:30.

The Mazda died sometime last month.  We have to figure out what to replace it with.  Sean wants a motorcycle, but I don't want any more crap in my garage.  Maybe if he got rid of the go cart and the 4 wheeler that are already taking up real estate in there, there would be room for a motorcycle.  But we'd still have to buy another car this winter, so I don't want to spend money on a motorcycle.  I told Sean he should get a Smart car.  Hahaha that would be funny to see him driving one of those.

I had another eye pain episode last weekend.  It hurt really bad for a couple days.  It feels better now.  I guess I really don't have anything else to say about that.  Huh.  

Sean and I took the younger kids on a hike up Adams canyon.  I think that's what it's called.  It was fun.  We were all really winded on the beginning part where it's steep.  We really need to get in shape.  But it was really nice and very pretty.  We didn't go all the way to the top.

I'm doing end of level state testing right now.   If/when the legislature finally ties our salaries to test scores, there are going to be some changes.  It will need to be run like ACT testing is.  No interruptions.  No one comes into the classroom or calls in from the office.  No sports games or field trips scheduled during testing. Students who move in during the middle of the year aren't counted against us.  No students transferring teachers at the semester.  As it stands, I have a good 20 students minimum, maybe more, that I have only taught for part of the year, one for only a few weeks, so why do they think I should be responsible for how they do on an end of year test?  Not to mention the ones that just don't care.   And the ones who only attend class every fifth time.  

Brittney got elected senior rep for GSA next year.  It sounds like they have a good pres and VP, so I'm hoping they can do some good things next year.  There are so many opportunities where GSA could get involved and do cool things.

The weekend is almost here.  Yay for sleeping in!

My Life In Pictures

I guess I forgot to post about Easters.  We went to my mom's for dinner.  Katie and Dave filled eggs and we hid them around the family room for the kids to find.  It was pretty cute.

Dying Easter eggs the night before

Found all the candy the Easter bunny hid around the house

 The home improvement project from hell finally wrapped up.  We pulled all the vinyl flooring and subfloor, removed all the baseboards on the main level, pulled up all of the carpet, painted Josh's room downstairs, painted the main bath, painted the master bedroom and bathroom, did some touch-up painting on other rooms, and had new flooring put into every room on the main floor and the stairs.  Which necessitated moving every bit of furniture and appliance.  I'm very happy with the results and happy we did it.  Now that it's done and I'm not living like a hobo anymore, having to sleep on the couch and use the bathroom downstairs.  My friend Jennifer just did a similar project, and she said that she felt like she was camping.  Yeah, I get that.

Sean and I went to the Bon Jovi concert.  It was way fun.  I loved it.  We had nosebleed seats, but we were dead center.  I think Jon was looking right at me.  I'm sure of it.  I'm glad Sean likes to go to concerts with me.  It's so fun being in a packed stadium with everyone singing along to "Living On a Prayer."  My only complaint is that I read they did 6 more songs in Denver the night before and 2 encores.  Boo.  

Brittney went to Prom Saturday night.  Her friends did her hair.  It turned out really pretty, although in this pic it looks like it's in her eyes.  

 Courtney and I went to a bridal shower for one of her friends on Saturday and then out to her wedding venue to check out a few things.  Still lots of things to do, decisions to make.

We went today and bought potatoes, peas, carrots, beets, radishes, turnips, and parsnips.  Going to plant them tomorrow.

That's about it.  Things have been a little crazy, and I'm looking forward to trying to slow down for a few days.

Things I Have Learned

Things I have learned this week:

• Spring Break is for going to Las Vegas or St. George or somewhere else warm.  That's it.  That is the only acceptable activity.  
• Never do major home remodeling over Spring Break.  If I had it to do over again, I would wait for summer of 2014.  
• If you think your kids will help you with major home remodeling, think again.  Because they will not.  
• I am a laid back person.  I am more much more productive if I have a schedule, but I usually love to just kick back and go with the flow.  Not when my house is torn apart.  I'm anxious and on-edge.  I can't just sit down and read a book or watch a movie or read the newspaper and write scathing letters to the editor in my head.  I can't get any other sort of project done, like go dig in the flower beds or organize the junk drawer, when I have down time.  I can't do anything when I have workers in my house.  Waiting for them to come this morning, I just couldn't do anything but wander around and wait for them to come.  
• I can do hard things, like pull up subfloor, but I don't want to anymore.  I have bruises and cuts all over my body.  I am hoping I regain all of the sensation in my pinky at some point. 
• Flooring guys have a great schedule.  At least mine do.  I called yesterday to ask when I could expect them to show up, and the receptionist said, "He starts his jobs between 9:30 and 12:00."   Why can't my job be like that?  "Mrs. Chamberlain usually teaches sophomore English between 9:30 and noon.  So, you can just be hanging around until she decides to show up."  
• Eating out is fun, unless you are eating out because your kitchen doesn't exist, and you need something quick so you can get back to the job you are doing, and you look like a dusty, filthy hobo so you don't want to go anywhere good. Then eating out is yuck.