Hamlet and fried green beans!

For Dale's birthday, we gave him season tickets to the plays at Pioneer Theatre Company. Last night was the first play. We went to PF Changs for dinner before the play. We both love that place! I took a picture of my MOST favorite thing there. I can't believe I actually took a picture of food! They are fried green beans. They actually look quite gross in the picture, but they are sooooooo good! The rest of the food was yummy too! We left very full.

The play was Hamlet. I'm glad that this was the first play because now I have a lot to look forward to. I am not a huge Shakespeare fan but Dale likes it. The play wasn't as hard to understand as I thought it would be and I actually knew what was going on. It was long though. It was hard for me to sit still for three hours. I sound like a little kid. I always like to go out with Dale and I think we will enjoy going to these plays every couple of months!

The Dad of the year award goes to...

In order for me to write this post honestly, and brag about my husband, I have to write something bad about Jadon. Jadon had to read a book and do a book report for school. He had to pick a book that was an award winning book. I suggested "To kill a mockingbird". He said ok. We borrowed the book from my friend and he lost that at school so he had to buy the book to replace hers. When he was buying it, the sales lady at the book store said it was the best book ever written. He got the book at least a month ago but kept putting off reading it and started it 4 days before the due date (friday). He got pretty stressed out on when he realized he probably wasn't going to finish it in time. He asked his teacher if he could do the report on Monday and she said it would take 3% off his grade. He tried to get the book on tape because he thought that would be an easier way to read it since every time he sat down to read, he would fall asleep. The library didn't have any copies and we couldn't get the audio version anywhere online. So Wednesday, after school, he came home and read all day and night. He spent most of the time reading on our bed. Dale went in to see how he was doing and offered to read it to him for a while. They ended up reading together all night. The next day was the day before the report was due and Jadon still had quite a bit to read. When Jadon came home from school, Dale read to him all afternoon, took a break for dinner, then read till about midnight when Jadon couldn't stay awake anymore. The book still wasn't finished. Luckily, Friday is late start and school doesn't start until 10:00 a.m. Dale woke Jadon up at 4:45 and told him to start reading. When I got up at 6:45, Jadon was asleep on the couch so Dale got up and read to him until he had to leave for school. They finished the book 5 minutes before Jadon's bus came. When Jadon got home from school I asked him if it was the best book ever written. He said yes. I was glad that he liked it but I sure hope he has learned something from this procrastinating experience. I took the picture and wrote a post about it because I don't want him to ever forget what his dad did for him!

Best accomplishment!

So today was Kierra and Katie's room, the messiest room on the main floor of our house. My office beats their room by a mile. I was not feeling very ambitious when I walked in the room and had no idea where to start.

Once I started going through her desk and dresser and finding all sorts of things shoved in any box or bag Kierra owned, I was feeling angry and still didn't want to take on this project. But since the other 2 rooms upstairs now looked nice and organized, I knew I had to finish. It was a good thing that Kierra was at school because I threw A LOT of stuff away and I got another load ready for the DI. While I was getting mad and trying to figure out why she had so much junk crammed into every corner of her room, I remembered that I was exactly the same way when I was her age.

So here is the finished project. It took me about 5 hours to get it finished. When she got home from school, she had a friend with her who said "I wish my mom would do this to my room!" That made me feel good but I still didn't want to let her in her room. I know the new cleaned and organized room won't last as long as I want it to.

What a beautiful, organized desk.

The best thing about the day was that Dale hung their shelves back up. We took them down when we painted their room two years ago and never got them back up until today. It is so fun to get that finished and put their cute pictures up on the wall. I will try to remember to post how long this room stays clean.

Room #2 is done!

Today I cleaned out my room. It didn't take as long as the boys because we don't have a lot of stuff to organize, just put away. For that reason, I didn't take a picture. It just doesn't look that different. So, while I was cleaning, Katie was playing in her room. I heard her say "Help, mom" so I went in to see what she was up too and this is what I found.
She was trying to climb into her crib to get her binky. Yes, she still has her binky when she sleeps. Anyway, I ran to get my camera, hoping she wouldn't fall in the meantime. After I took the picture, I just watched her try her hardest to get into the crib. She never made it in so she gave up and went back to playing with her babies.

Fall cleaning

The old saying "spring cleaning" isn't really my thing. For some reason, I like to clean in the fall. Maybe it's the change to cold weather and I don't mind staying inside. Today I cleaned out Kyson and Jake's room. I've been trying really hard to get them to keep their room clean. I don't let them play with friends or play the WII unless their room is clean. They try but need a little help with the organization of their room. So I cleaned out their closet and under their beds and organized everything into the right bins and then labeled the bins.

After I finished, this is what I had. A nice little pile for the DI. I love to clean out stuff they don't use anymore so there is more room for everything else. After I do something like this, I love to walk by the room and admire the clean room. I'm so excited for tomorrow because my room is next! Yay!

fdc

NJHS

Last night we went to the first induction of the National Junior Honor Society at Jadon's middle school. He was selected to be in NJHS last spring but because of a change in principals, they didn't have the ceremony until now. To be in NJHS you have to have an accumulative GPA of 3.7 or higher and all H's and S's in citizenship. He also had to fill out an application and then be chosen by the board. We really didn't know any of this until we went to the ceremony. We thought it was just about good grades. It was a really neat thing and we are excited that Jadon has the oppurtunity to belong to this organization.

Our little soccer player

Kyson has decide to play soccer this year. He is on a team with his cousin, Taeya. Tonight was their first game. He looked to cute in his uniform and had a great time playing. He looked awesome going after the ball. We are not a soccer family and don't really understand the big hype about it but if Kyson learns to like it maybe we can to.

He and Taeya have so much fun together and get along really well. It's fun to see them be such good friends!

Making bread!

Last week I learned to make bread. I have a TON of wheat and haven't done a thing with it. Of coarse, I don't have a wheat grinder so that is one reason I have never done anything. One of my friends makes all her own bread and she was nice enough to show me how she does it.

Ihave never made bread before and she was putting things in it that I don't have and have never bought. That's easy to fix though. The only thing I need now is a wheat grinder and a mixer so I can make all our bread. We had such a great time and the bread was super yummy!

This is the finished bread. She let us each take a loaf home to share with our families. Everyone in my family loved the bread and were sad that I only let them have one piece. A mixer and wheat grinder are definately on my wish list!

Last outside swim of the season

Friday we went swimming at Kearns Rec center for the last time this summer. I didn't really want to go but I promised the kids we would go one more time before the pools close after labor day. Everyone had a good time. Katie spent most her time hanging from the bar in the pool.

Kyson loves to go to Kearns because they have 2 slides that he can go on that don't land in deep water!

All the kids had a great time making trains and going down the slide together.

Even though I didn't want to go, I ended up having a good time. My kids all LOVE to go swimming and I have a great time watching them have fun. We have made a lot of memories at the pool every summer!

4 weeks in her new home

We have had Jenny for 4 weeks now and she is growing soooo fast! She is learning commands like sit, come and has just started working on stay and walking on a leash. Dale has gotten a taste of what it's like to be a new mom as he has been the one getting up with her at night. She is sleeping through the night now so his "new baby" experience was very short. She is finally getting the potty thing down. She hasn't had an accident in the house for 5 days and is starting to go potty outside, where we want her to, on her own. She takes a lot of work but when she "gets" what we are trying to teach her, it is very rewarding.

I think Katie and Jenny will be great friends since they spend so much time together. Katie LOVES Jenny. When Jenny is in her kennel, Katie will stand at the door and say "puppy, out". If Jenny is whining in her kennel, Katie will say "Puppy crying". She always wants to play with her but doesn't like it if Jenny gets ahold of one of her toys. We just signed Jenny up for some puppy obedience classes and we are excited about getting her trained. We think she has the potential to be a great dog!