We are excited for Christmas, only 6 days of school and counting...

Ian has been wearing his Santa hat to school every day, he is so cute in it. Jackson got a 100% on his science fair project so we are proud of him for that.

Gracie is as cute as ever and is working hard on making Christmas decorations after school.

We are excited to celebrate with everyone, hope everyone is doing well.

Regarding xmas suggestions here are a few:

Jackson - rock posters, he likes AC/DC, and most vintage rock groups like Led Zeplin, Jimmy Hendricks, Blue Oyster Cult, Meatloaf, so if you saw any posters that weren't totally gross he would like them.


music CD's although I don't know any he specifically wants, so maybe a gift certificate, also he likes games so a gift certificate to those game stores like Game Stop would be good. He is into cloths at expensive stores like Zumiez, Pac Sun, and other ones like that at the mall. Also Jackson loves the Simpsons so any of the collections of Simpson seasons he would like, you would be safe buying the fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth season DVDs. Don't buy the xmas collections because he has them.

Gracie: she likes cloths, wears a 6. She isn't so into dresses now, she loves goucho's and likes all colors not just pink. Anything with sparkles really appeals to her. Also likes Bratz and Barbie dolls, and pretty much anything in the girl section of the toy store. She could also use a portable CD player or MP3 player and any girl CD's. We are getting her a karaoke machine with 3 disney karaoke CD's.

Ian: Please no cloths, he would rather get nothing then get cloths :-). He is into computer games, obsessed really. Anything that he could play on the computer running Windows XP would be good, he currently plays some greek mythology game that he really loves, so it doesn't necessarily have to be a kiddy game. He also likes lego's, dragons, and remote control machines.

Well, we had a great Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Fullmer's house. We made the turkey and it turned out to taste great, but the skin was totally burnt. All the food was delicious and we went home stuffed.

Aunt Arikka is off to Anguila for an amazing beach vacation and we are all jealous!

Justin is busy putting up all the decorations and we will be decorating the tree tonight. Hopefully we will be able to keep Mo away from it, so far he hasn't expressed interest in pulling anything down. We are crossing our fingers, otherwise he will be a cold puppy popsicle if we can't trust him indoors with the Christmas tree.

Only 4 weeks until Christmas, lots to do. Our weather has been beautiful but there is talk of a storm coming this week.

We had fun when Grandma and Grandpa Tedrow came to visit on their way to California. Hope that Palm Springs is lovely!

Looking forward to Thanksgiving next week and only two days of school. The kids are getting psyched for Christmas and I am thinking I will add some suggestions for Xmas presents when I have a minute. I've already done my shopping for their big presents so all I have to do now is get the little stuff and shop for friends and family.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving - we are planning a trip to Red Butte Gardens to see their art glass display this weekend. Should be fun!

Halloween - it was cold and fun. The twins were very excited and for once Ian stayed out as long as Gracie. In previous years he has given up after 20 houses or so and gone home. Gracie on the other hand just wants to keep going, and going. Jackson talked about going trick or treating but didn't at the last minute. I think he isn't ready to give up the candy, but is now embarassed to be asking for it. He solved the problem by eating his brother and sister's hard earned sweets.

Jackson had his last game and lost soundly to Alpine, so football is officially over. We are all relieved as it takes up so much of our time, but also worried that Jackson will now go back to his lethargic self. We are doing out best to get him to do something else so he doesn't atrophy in front of the TV. Hopefully starting guitar lessons again soon.

This morning Gracie got up while I was in the shower and went out to the kitchen, climbed up on the counter and got the candy off the top of the fridge. She had eaten a number of pieces by the time I went out, inhaled them really. She isn't one to pace herself. Ian on the other hand likes to stretch his out so he took a candybar to school yesterday. Unfortunately, he decided to carry it around in his pocket so by lunch it was a big mess and he couldn't eat it.

I'm reading Hogula, Dread Pig of Night at school, using my best Mr. Burns voice for the vampire. It's a really fun story and the kids like it, I got a round of applause today which has never happened before.

At home I just finished New Moon by Stephenie Meyers - can't wait for the next one. Also read A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas. It was an excellent memoir.

Well, I'm at work today, I changed my Saturday schedule to 8-5 instead of 9-6. That means a whole hour of patron free time before we open at 9:00. How lovely, library patrons can often wear on your patience.

Jackson won his game this week, so they will be in a playoff game. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Arrika for attending even though it was horribly cold!

Now that football is pretty much over we need to figure out what all the kids will be doing next, Jackson needs to get back into guitar lessons, and Grace really wants to do dance. Although, I think she would be better suited for gymnastics so I will be looking into that.

Can't believe the holidays are almost here, only a month till thanksgiving break. 3 days off school, woohoo! Looking forward to seeing Grandma and Grandpa Tedrow in November!

I just finished a lovely vampire novel written by a BYU alum. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I don't read a lot of fiction but I was very glad to have picked this one up. I can't wait to read the sequel - New Moon.

We spent $50 to go to the corn maze at Thanksgiving Point last night, Ian got sick so I spent the entire time holding him while Gracie and her friend tore around. Too expensive for what it was, but still a fun fall activity. The twins are very excited for Halloween.

Well, I'm at work today, I changed my Saturday schedule to 8-5 instead of 9-6. That means a whole hour of patron free time before we open at 9:00. How lovely, library patrons can often wear on your patience.

Jackson won his game this week, so they will be in a playoff game. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Arrika for attending even though it was horribly cold!

Now that football is pretty much over we need to figure out what all the kids will be doing next, Jackson needs to get back into guitar lessons, and Grace really wants to do dance. Although, I think she would be better suited for gymnastics so I will be looking into that.

Can't believe the holidays are almost here, only a month till thanksgiving break. 3 days off school, woohoo! Looking forward to seeing Grandma and Grandpa Tedrow in November!

I just finished a lovely vampire novel written by a BYU alum. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I don't read a lot of fiction but I was very glad to have picked this one up. I can't wait to read the sequel - New Moon.

We spent $50 to go to the corn maze at Thanksgiving Point last night, Ian got sick so I spent the entire time holding him while Gracie and her friend tore around. Too expensive for what it was, but still a fun fall activity. The twins are very excited for Halloween.

10/12/06 - Today is Justin's b-day, the big 39. He always teases me that I am 40. He did it so much that I started thinking I was 40 and even told people that. It was kind of fun to realize that I am only 38!

Anyway, we'll be having a b-day dinner with Justin's folks and sister tomorrow to celebrate. Jacksons game went well this week even though they lost - they were up against the best team in the league and they really tried hard. Jackson had one really good sack where he took down their quarterback, he isn't afraid to get in there and take down those guys that are bigger than him.

We are all looking forward to football being over so that we can get our free time back. Jackson will probably start up his guitar lessons again and Grace wants to take dance or gymnastics. We'll have to see if we can find something local.

I'm reading a new author from Utah called Stephanie Meyer - the book is called Twilight. It's a vampire love story - my favorite :-)

UEA has been great so far, spent the day shopping for Justin. Looking forward to relaxing tomorrow and not doing much other than cleaning the house, something it desprately needs.

Well, we just got home from Jack's third game. It is freeeezing. Grandma and Grandpa Fullmer came, but left when the rain started pouring down. It's going to be a long season if it doesn't warm back up. I can't imagine how miserable it must be playing in that mess. The boys kept slipping in the mud, and dropping the slippery ball.

They lost this game, but it was close, and they were pretty evenly matched. Those games are fun to watch, although we have several nightmare, screamer parents on the team. Since I know nada about the rules of football, half the time I don't even understand what they are yelling about. Something about the ref's paycheck???

Anyway, school's going good for everyone so far. Starting to plan for Halloween, Grace is going to be a vampire and Ian will some type of ghoul. We think, of course Ian has a bad habit of changing his mind on the 30th.

Jack had his first football game against Provo - they won 50 to zip. It's nice when your kid is on the winning team, but you always feel sorry for the other team for loosing so horribly. The win is not so fun as if they were evenly matched.

Jack did really well, there were lots of boys bigger than him, but he doesn't seem to let that bother him.

We are all sick right now, even Mo the dog has some kind of gooey eye thing going on. Yuck, will be glad when it goes away. I guess it's having all of us exposed to the germs at school. Come to think of it I got sick this time last year too.

It's August now and school is back in session and so is football. Things went from relaxed to crazy just like that.

Jack's in the starting lineup and is excited to start playing some games, I just hope he doesn't sustain any permanent damage. He's already hurt his thumb, foot, hand, etc. He's tough though and really loves it.

Twins are in 2nd grade and are really liking it. Ian is up to reading level and Grace seems to have matured enough to stay in her seat. So far, I haven't received any complaints about them. That's one of the bad things about working at their school, I ALWAYS hear about it when they act up.

I've got my library done up pretty cute, although as soon as the kids start coming in they will promptly destroy it. I guess as their librarian I shouldn't hope for a library free of patrons, but geeze some of those ankle biters give me a headache. I never claimed to be a kid lover, especially those kids that I didn't give birth to!

Anyway, Justin will hopefully be doing team pictures for the football league so he is excited about the money involved. We'll have to see which teams decide to use his photo service.

Ian and Grace had their birthday party 7/8/06. Five kids came and they had a fun time, we did lots of games and then decorated cupcakes. Justin and I were tired and glad when it was over!

Ian and Jack work on building their legos.

Another game, we had 3 sack races and Gracie won every time by a mile.

Ian wanted a kitty cake so I did my best. Grace wanted a mermaid cake, and I made that one about a week later.

Jackson takes a wack at it, finally it broke but he had to really whomp on it.

Ian hitting the pinata, it was really tough, each kid took 2 - 3 turns and still it didn't break.

They decorated cupcakes for one of their activities.

Jackson observing the balloon toss

They had an airplane race at their party...

Grace in her b-day outfit from Grandma

This is towards the end of the vacation, everyone is ready to go home!

Ian loved the sub

Here they are on a Russian sub, I got claustrophobic and had to get off.

We went to the Maritime Museum in San Diego, we got to tour 5 cool ships...

More hands on stuff...

We took the kids to SeaWorld - they had fun, this is Ian and Jackson touching the dolphin

Kids enjoyed the pool and hot tub at the hotel...

Gracie on the beach!

We took a vacation to the beach, we miss our Grandma and Grandpa's house!

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn - South Carlsbad beach. It was a beautiful beach, and great for the kids.

Here's Ian at it.

The kids started swimming lessons this week.

Justin took the kids to the local carnival...

First day of summer vacation!

Jack on his early b-day present, it was his Dad's idea

Close up of Jack, unfortunately his hair was not covering his face for this one. What a miracle!

This was after field day, all the activities involved getting soaked, which of course the kids all loved.

Can you see Grace? She is in the very middle of the picture, she has a purple visor on, and is sticking her booty out. I believe they were dancing to YMCA.

I can't believe it's the next to last day of school. Kids had a blast outside at their dance festival and field day.

Here's the kids in our willow tree, can't believe how big it's grown. We finally have a nice shady spot in our yard.

Well we've got 3 weeks of school left. Now that I'm working at a school I'm counting down along with the twins. It's going to be weird not to have to get up in the morning.

I'll still be working around 20 hours a week as a reference librarian at Provo Public but that is pretty fun and I do enjoy it. I mostly work nights and Saturdays so Justin takes over when I leave.

We've got lots of yard work to do this summer, hopefully we will finish off the last 1/2 of the back yard that is still dirt and weeds.

We're also clearing out the basement and trying to get my craft room finished. Just in time to actually have some time to use it finally!

Me and the twins...

Last board...

I liked this bulletin board - it actually came to me in a dream. I had this big drawer of book covers that the last librarian had not used and I wanted to do something with them...

Here's my last bulletin board of the year - celebrating National Poetry Month

Deerfield Elementary - Cedar Hills, Utah

Here's the kids in front of my desk at the school

Here's Mo getting comfy on the couch :-)

Here's our new dog - well, he's not that new. He turned 1 in February. He's a pain but so cute, he chews up anything and everything. I need to create a montage of all the things he's destroyed and display it like the one they have at the zoo with all the things that the hippo ate. He has a particular fondness for library books and remotes. His name is Mo - he's a Rat Terrier.

Here is a view from inside a Native American dugout.

A view from Calf Creek...

Here is a view off scenic Hwy 12 on the way to Escalante. It was amazing.

Welcome!

Well, thought I would start a blog that you all can check to see what's up with us since we are horrible at sending out photos.

Our last thing was a trip to Escalante State Park. We went over spring break in April. We spent two nights at the Petrified Forest Campground and went for a hike at Calf Creek Falls.

Currently we are working on our yard in the hopes of getting it finally finished since we've lived there for 7 1/2 years! Will post pictures soon.