F.H.E.

Our Family Home Evening included a mini Georgia Mudd Blizzard at the local Dairy Queen

A water show while consuming our confection

Lots of lights flashing

Bright red trucks gathering

and men flying above the trees.

Sadly, a business was destroyed.

Hopefully, they were well insured.

Gratefully, no one was injured.

How was your evening?

Summertime, and the Livin' is Easy...

That title is kinda catchy, maybe someone should write a song...

I thought I would post some pictures from one of our activities this summer.

This may look like a scene from White Christmas, but that there is cottonwood "stuff".

Makes me itch and sneeze just looking at it.

Dave and I discovered this place on one of our bike rides. There is a very nice trail that runs along the river. All of us, including the dogs, enjoyed the river's coolness on a hot summer day.

It was a nice outing full of wading...

Melissa with Sophie

Melissa, Sophie, Ashley and her dog Riley

and thinking.

Dave - nice legs!

Sunning and smiling...

Shelby & Laura

and sleeping...

Dave with dogs (Sophie & Riley)

followed by more wading...

hiking(sort of!)... and nature.

Isn't this dragonfly awesome?

Dave, Laura and I were returning from exploring the river when all of a sudden we heard screaming and laughing and screaming. What? We got back to our picnic area to find this dragonfly "frozen" on the chair. Nature had gotten a little too up close and personal for my brave daughter's tastes. Poor dragonfly was frozen in fear! After I took the picture I gently lifted it off the chair and it flew away. I can imagine the stories it had to tell as it returned to where ever dragonflies go after a hard day at work!

Whirlwinds and Weekends

My four-day weekend is almost over. Sad.

Kudos go to Laura who passed her drivers test - the only one of her group to do so. Sadly, she is still one essay and a final exam away from finishing the book portion of the online course. And, even more sadly, her instructor is out of town on vacation for the week and won't be able to sign off on it until the following week. It's probably a mixed blessing for us. We have to keep picking her up from her late night shifts, but our insurance rates won't be going up quite yet!

Went and saw Inception today. Intense, bizarre, intriguing, clever, thought-provoking, and entertaining are all words that could describe this movie. Even at the end you are left wondering! It's not a story created to simply entertain. I would recommend it. Was it the best movie I have ever seen? In its genre, probably.

I created a button for my other blog "Musings of The Mama B". I was pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to do it. See the beehive over on the sidebar? Well, you can click on it and see my most recent project.

The whirlwind of activity blew in fierce this weekend with four of the six kids at home. And just as fast as the whirlwind came, it was gone. Poof! Weird. Were they ever here? Maybe it was just a dream?! The house is quiet and still, except for the hum of the air conditioner, Dave snoring on the couch, and Sophie who is panting and drooling because of the fireworks going off outside.

It's been a great weekend.

Like It?

Well, that was fun! Hope you enjoy the new look, I do! I wish you could see the entire background. There are three flowers and the one "missing" is purple (did I trick ya?!)

Today I am taking one day of the two weeks vacation I'm supposed to get during the summer! Attached to the upcoming 3-day weekend (in Utah the 24th is Pioneer Day-a State Holiday!)means I get a four day break! Ain't I smart? That's because I work at a school! This is the fourth summer I have worked without getting my full vacation time! Not because my AWESOME BOSS (emphasis added just in case he, or anyone he knows reads my blog!) won't give me the time off, but because the summer is one of the busiest times of the year for what I do! Fortunately, I can usually take some vacation time during the year, which provides me time for some quick get-aways with my hubby. Last year we went here for 4 nights. It was F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S! I would go back in a heartbeat; unfortunately, the $ are a little dry right now!(probably because we spent 4 nights at the Hotel Del last year!) Maybe one day...

My house will be full this weekend - college girls headed home. It will be fun. Wish everyone could be here - now, THAT's a houseful and a Party! I guess we are going to see Inception. Shelby says it's the best movie she has ever seen - stay tuned for my report! Laura finishes up Drivers Ed this week and is looking forward to getting her drivers license on Monday! Yikes! Consider yourself forewarned! Dave has not started up in Wyoming yet, probably the first of August. It's nice to have him home working around the house! Although today, my day off, he is actually working at the office here in Salt Lake!

It is now 12:00 noon and I am still in my pjs! How cool is that?! But, the sunshine is being wasted so I'm bidding you farewell for now!

Bye! Happy Summering!!

ps - I have tried to insert spaces between the paragraphs, but the dumb Old Editor is not letting me. Come On Blogger, work with me here. Puhlease.....

Changes are a Comin' ~

My background is currently provided by these creative minds. But today, when I logged in I found a message announcing that my current background would expire on July 23 (tomorrow!). I clicked on the message and was directed to their site for more information. However, the link that would answer my "why" was not working. So... I guess this blog will be getting an overhaul soon!

That's okay. Change is good! I would love some feedback as to how to make it more personal and customized!

ps - I really hate this Old Editor option and wish blogspot would get their act together and fix the problems with the New Editor so I could use it. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do on my end?

Having Troubles Loading?

So, for a while I have wanted to post something here. Don't get your hopes up, I don't have a fabulous post to post! I have just come to my blog to post several times and I have not been able to because it took FOREVER to log in to a new post screen. The last post I posted was actually a post I had started earlier that was blank and I selected "edit" and then I was able to post! Anyways...

I went to the "help" menu and in the search window wrote "new post" and Lo, and Behold, turns out I'm not the only person experiencing this frustration. There it was - the exact question I was asking: "Why is it taking such an amazingly long time to load my new post screen?" Well, maybe not the exact question, but close enough!

Betcha wanna know the answer, huh? Probably because you've also been trying to post and you can't because it's taken so long!

Apparently there is a hang up of some sort with the New Editor. All you have to do is go to your dashboard, select "Settings", scroll down to the bottom and select "Old Editor" and voila - it's magic! Then you can write a post about the challenges of posting a post and share the solution with someone else!

What was that? Oh, You're Welcome!

Summer?

I can't believe summer is almost gone.  In less than one month the teachers return, with the students not far behind.  I have been busily searching for the best values on curriculum and supplies, trying to stretch  budget $$ as far as possible.  Reminds me of the days I would scour the weekly grocery ads, meticulously creating lists for each store, determined to get the absolute most for my money! 

It doesn't seem quite like summer when you work the whole time.  I would happily go on a vacation somewhere; however, money and time are in short supply, so I don't see a vacation anywhere in our immediate future!  I think if I could find a swimming pool, a chaise lounge, a bottomless glass of icy lemonade and a good book I would be very satisfied!  

Our garden can be found in various pots on our patio this year. I am very pleased with the success we are having. I have eaten one cherry tomato off the vine and just picked my first zucchini!  I water my little garden everyday before I go to work.  Oh, I am just so domestic!

Dave will be away, working onsite in Wyoming for the next several months.  I am grateful he has work - no complaints here! But, I will miss him.  I know it's a temporary arrangement, and he will be home every weekend(!). I can handle this...I'm a big girl, I am!