September

The Luke Bryan concert was a party and a half.  I thought Tim McGraw would be my favorite concert this summer, but now I'm just not sure.  Luke Bryan was every bit as fun.  I think the tie breaker would have to be that even Sean was dancing by the end of Luke Bryan, and Sean doesn't dance.  I don't know.  It's a close call.  We saw some great shows this summer.  I wish I had another one to look forward to.

Courtney and Curtis came over for dinner on Sunday.  It was really fun to visit with them.  As they were walking out the door to leave, Brittney and Anthony came walking in after work.  They both got off at the same time, so they met up here afterward for dinner.

Josh and Lexi had parent-teacher conferences Tuesday afternoon.  I really like Josh's teacher and I have a lot of respect for her, and she has some good ideas... but at the same time, it's hard when she's telling me what I need to do with him, and I'm thinking... I've tried that.  We've done that.  Or I've considered that and am not going to do that.  I have three other kids.  I'm not new at this game.  Each of my kids is different, but Josh is way different than all of his sisters.  He struggles with school, and it's not really clear what exactly the hang up is.  His teacher was asking me what motivates him, and telling me I need to use whatever that is as an incentive to get him to do his work.  Ya think?  Well, to be honest, nothing motivates Josh, really.  I mean, he has things he really, really likes.  But he hates schoolwork so much, and it's enough of a struggle for him, that he'd rather just not earn the reward.  He will start out trying, but it's just so hard for him.  Anyway, then there's Lexi's conference.  According to her teacher she can do no wrong and is pretty much a genius.  I love all my kids so much.  It's so hard to watch Josh struggle.

I have so much to do at work and I can never even get close to caught up.  It's overwhelming and keeps me in a constant state of agitation.  I had my students read this article about the brain, and among the different things, it said that lack of exercise, lack of sleep, and stress are all really bad for cognitive function. I told my students I'm lucky I'm not just drooling and wandering around aimlessly in the parking lot then, because I am batting 0 for 3 on that one.

Tuesday I did something I've never done in all my years of teaching... I cleaned up puke.  One of my sweet, quiet boys barfed at his desk and then I sent him off to the bathroom.  My students were all so sweet... worrying about him and if he was OK.  One offered to go get a custodian, but that just felt really... wimpy I guess.  Like, it's not like they have some specialized skills that I don't have.  If it were on the floor I would have got someone.  But it was just on his desk and not that much.  They were all so impressed that I was going to do it, and I'm like... Guys, I'm a mom.  I got this.  One girl was all... Yeah, but my mom would be gagging.  So I just got like half a roll of paper towels and desk cleaner and swished it all into the trash. Threw away his notebook and declared he would get credit for whatever was in there.  Squirted a ton of hand sanitizer on the desk and cleaned it off.  Voila.  Good as new.  I have a super glamorous job.  That's why they pay me the big bucks.

So then today, Lexi wasn't feeling well when she woke up.  Her blood sugar was really high, and I couldn't figure out if that was making her not feel well, if her pump site was bad, if she had a virus, or what.  So I took her to school with me, where she proceeded to lay on the floor and sleep, wake up and puke in the trash can, and go back to sleep.  There wasn't anything in her stomach, so it wasn't that big a deal, but high blood sugar makes her super thirsty.  So long about 3rd period, same class as the kid threw up in last time, she drank a whole bunch of water and then immediately barfed it up.  These poor kids were wondering what was up with my classroom.  And they were all taking a quiz at the time, so it was silent other than her.  Ha!  Oh my. Courtney was all set to come get her from me, but she just wanted to stay there with me and I needed to keep an eye on her glucose levels anyway, so I just kept her there.  Most of the time no one even knew she was there, until that little episode.  She's feeling slightly better tonight, but still not very good.  Her ketones are high, so I need to get those cleared.  I don't know what to do with her tomorrow.  I could get a sub, but I have too much work to do.  I've got to register my kids for a debate tournament by tomorrow and I have to talk to several of them.  Blarg.

So we're going camping this weekend.  Which is really stupid, because it's cold.  And will probably be rainy or snowy.  We wanted to get out one more time, and I wasn't really thinking clearly I guess.  So I've got to pack up the kids' clothes and get ready.  I don't feel like doing that.  This was a really bad idea, but I guess I should just make the best of it.

I just really wish someone would stop the roller coaster and let me get off for a few minutes.  Catch my breath.

That is all.

Song of the Day

Squee!!  Luke Bryan concert tonight!  So excited.

September

I really want to sit down and write, but I never make the time.  And then by the time I sit down to write, I've forgotten everything.  Or someone else has already said it, and said it better.

I spent a good portion of Saturday in a debate coach's meeting, which included two hours of Congressional Debate clinic, followed by another two hours of Public Forum clinic.  I got lots of good information, but my brain cells got a bit fried.  It's so overwhelming. Some of these schools are Serious, which makes me feel even more inadequate. I love debate and would love to develop this kickass program... but I'm just not sure if I have what it takes right now.  I guess we'll see how it all goes this year and then look towards next year to see what's what.  One thing though... being a debate coach can simultaneously make me feel like a freaking genius and a freaking idiot.  And I think I love that just a little bit. The challenge of it and the possibility of it all.

Yesterday in my English 10 Honors class we were having a discussion about Syria... and oh how lovely honors kids are!  Instead of, "Why do we have to read about this stuff?"  and "I hate politics because I don't understand it and it's scary and I don't want to know anything that is scary or makes me think," I get so much discussion that I have to cut it off or that's all we would do all day.  Not one single person complained or asked why they had to read an article about Syria.  So glorious.  There are things I love about teaching the regular class too... this just happens to be a perk of Honors.

Brittney is at work tonight for an awards ceremony.  She got an award for being Super Awesome or something, and she went with her boyfriend, who is receiving the Supervisor Scholarship.  Pretty cool.  She started an internship today through school at a cupcake bakery.  She said she got to make frosting today.  I hope she learns some interesting things about owning a bakery and about baking itself.

We finally bought another car after our Mazda died.  It needs a few parts and then hopefully it will run smoothly for a little while.  I hate care repairs.  We had a 1997, a 2000, and a 2001.  The 2001 Mazda was the first to die.  The 2000 Suburban will be next.  The 1997 F-250 runs the best of the bunch.  Funny.

Our dishwasher has been broken, so we've been washing dishes by hand.  That sucks.  Sean tried all kinds of things and it just wasn't working.  We had decided we finally needed a new one, but he tried a couple more things last night and thinks he has it working.  We still need a new one because this is a cheap contractor model and has outlived its life expectancy by like 8 years, but hopefully this can get us by a little longer.  I hate spending money on things like that.

My mom and I went out to lunch for my birthday last week, and it was so fun!  I feel like we haven't had a good visit like that forever.  We totally pigged out on pasta and chatted.

Brittney and I went shopping for Homecoming dresses last week.  She found a pretty black and red dress. Afterward, we were passing the movie theater and smelled the popcorn, so we decided to just go buy some. We went to the tables in the food court to sit and pig out on our movie popcorn, and one of my former students saw me and came over to visit.  His girlfriend was like... oh, did you guys just go see a movie?  Um... no, we just go buy the popcorn.  Ha!  It was embarrassing.  But I don't regret it.

Hopefully we are going camping this weekend.  Should be fun!

Lagoon, Fair, and Pineview

Courtney and I took Josh and Lexi to Lagoon last week.  We did the water park and a few rides.

The Davis County Fair was this week, and I do love the fair.  Sean, me, Josh, and Lexi, Heather and her kids, Scott and Wendy and their kids, Courtney and Curtis, Brittney and Anthony, Katie and her date Chris, all met up at the fair.  Good times.

We went camping up at Pineview this weekend with Scott and Wendy's family and Katie.  It was so much fun!  We need to make sure we do that every year.  It's been too long.

Josh and Lisa

Courtney took her chair to the edge of the water to sit with her feet in, and then gradually kept taking her chair farther out, until that's where she was.  And eventually she fell over.

And now, for the best part of any camping post, the soon-to-be-critically acclaimed feature, "The View From Under My Awning," in which I show... the view from under my awning.

We have this corner of our house that is crazy good for tomato growing.  I don't know what it is, but they pretty much turn into like shrubbery.  Like tomato shrubs.  I'm sure it's because I put too many plants in one small spot, but still.  It's pretty awesome to behold.  Tomatoes and potatoes are all we are going to get this year, pretty much.  Well, turnips and beets, but who likes those?  And radishes.  Blech.

Back to work this week.  So not ready.  Blarg.

Courtney's Wedding

The wedding went well, no major catastrophes, I had fun, so I call it a success.  We started out at about 9:00 am, picking up her bouquet, the boutonnieres, and the loose flowers for the cake.  The florist was giving us this big spiel on how fragile the bouquet was, and how she shouldn't leave it sitting outside during pictures, and should have someone run it in to the refrigerator between pictures, and I was all... um, do we just need to plan to take the pictures in the refrigerator? and Courtney was all... mom, shut up.  Turned out it was all fine, whatever.  We got to the building and decorated and got all ready.  We had to make a billion flower centerpieces and we hung pictures up and put some things up on the mantle.  That's mostly it.  Courtney had a couple of hair and makeup pros come in to do her all up.  The procession walked to a couple of songs from Lord of the Rings performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.  It was such beautiful music.  Curtis' cousin Colby performed the ceremony, and it was lovely.  I wish I had thought to have a video recording of it.  They had a sand ceremony and recited vows that they had written.  Then we had a family dinner catered by a company that brought out a big grill and made beef and chicken kabobs, au gratin potatoes, fruit salad, pasta shrimp salad, green salad, rolls, and brownie ice cream sundaes.  Once that was finished, we started the reception.  She had a first dance with Curtis to "I Love the Way You Love Me," and then after the first verse opened the dance floor to everyone.  Then she had a daddy-daughter dance to "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time On You," and opened the dance floor up to any other parent-child combos who wanted to dance with them.  I was able to force Josh into dancing with me for about 20 seconds.  They smashed cake into each others' faces.  We did some dancing and visiting, and I had Kneaders bring in fruit tarts and some different kinds of brownies for the reception.  All-in-all, I really enjoyed the evening.

Song of the Day

I have this weird thing with songs sometimes where I don't like them at first, but then one day I decide I love them. Like flipping a switch. I didn't ever dislike this one; it was just melancholy feeling so I didn't listen to it. But now I love it.  "Amarillo Sky" is the same way.  And I hated Eric Church's "Springsteen" when it first came out, until one day I decided I didn't hate it, and now I luuurve him and pretty much everything he sings. Nasally twang and all.  He's adorable. Anyway, back to Jason Aldean.  Love this song.  

Weird Kids and Summer Stuff

Kids are so weird.  I love them.  After school Josh's friend said, "It's so hot today, right when I walked outside I broke into like 3 sweats." Hmmmm...   Do we have to count them all separately?   I didn't know that was a thing, but now I think I will do that.

Tonight Josh was going outside and he's all... Mom, I want to see if I fart when I run, if it will make me go faster.  Uh huh.  My little genius.  I really worry about that kid.

Yesterday at the splash pad, Lexi came running over to tell me that there was a BEE!  And the all the kids were yelling BEE!  And then Josh came wandering over a minute later all... "So, there was this bee?  And everyone was all freaking out?  So I flicked it off.  C'mon people.  Be a man."  Ha!

Omigosh this weather.  This freaking weather.  It has been so beautiful.  I love it so much.  I need at least another month of 90+ degrees.  Utah is bitter cold and gray and brown and just ugly for so much of the year... I love these blue skies and the puffy white clouds and the heat.

We've been having some good times...  Courtney's wedding, which will be getting its own post; a Chamberlain family party; a Rasmussen Sunday dinner; visiting at the pool with Lauralee, Mindi, Cami, and Marilyn; a picnic at the castle park with the Rasmussens; and the splash pad with Josh and Lexi and Sean.

Next up:  Davis County fair, hopefully with Heather, Scott, Wendy, Katie, and assorted children; camping at Pineview with Scott, Wendy, and Katie, and assorted children; possibly a Lagoon afternoon.  Gotta squeeze every last drop out of summer vacation before I have to go back to work next week.