Memorial Day Weekend 05-25-08

I love Memorial Day Weekend. I think it runs a close tie with Christmas, My Birthday, and 4th of July as being my favorite holidays. I think mostly because of all the good memories I have about Memorial Day. I remember as a girl going with my parents and Grandpa & Grandma Pehrson to decorate graves in Millville and Smithfield. Those are memories I will always cherish. Since moving away from Cache Valley, I really miss not being able to visit the graves of my Grandpa & Grandma Pehrson. I think about them almost daily. I was very blessed to marry into a family that honoring family heritage runs deep. I love spending Memorial Day with them. We usually celebrate it on a Sunday with a hot dog roast and then visit the graves.

This year my mother-in-law invited us to go down to have a hot dog roast with them. We decided with the price of gas, we could stay at home and eat our own hot dogs cheaper than we could to drive down there. Sorry, we might have been influenced for steak but not round steak! :)

We met up with them at the Archer Cemetary. Bryon's grandmother and several other family members are burried there. My mother-in-law is so creative and always has fun games for the younger children to do to help them learn more about the graves we are visiting. This year she just printed off a family group sheet with pictures. It still was very helpful in helping our children learn more about the ancestors. Then we came into Rexburg to visit the Rexburg Cemetary. Then we went back to Archer to visit Bryon's aunts grave.

After visiting graves, we went back to Bryon's grandpas house for cookies.

Mrs. Farmer's Suprise Party 05-23-2008

I know it looks like I am back tracking and I might be, just a little. I have had so many things I have wanted to blog about and have just ran out of time.

Sam this year has had the priveledge of being in Mrs. Farmer's class. Mrs. Farmer was going to retire last year but decided to work one more year. We are so glad she decided to stay on another year. She was a great teacher for Sam. She helped Sam and us so much this year. We knew all year that this was going to be her last year. I have enjoyed being one of two room moms this year. After the holidays, I began thinking more about her retiring. In talking to Bryon, it sounded like the schools don't do a whole lot for retirement. The more I learned about her, the more I was amazed by this incridble woman. I couldn't stand the thought that this great teacher was retiring quietly. So the other room mom and myself put our heads together and started planning this surprise party. It all just snowballed from there. We made a bound book with family, teachers, and students writing tributes. I was amazed with as many people knew about the surprise party that we were actually able to pull it off. So the day of the party came. Her class had library. They went to library but ended up coming down to Bryon's room where we holding all the festivities. Once the kids were in the room, the principal brought down Mrs. Farmer. She was totally surprised! We played a game of Jeopardy of things the kids learned through the year. We also played a game about how well the kids knew Mrs. Farmer. It was so much fun. We had made a video made of pictures of her teaching through the years. She couldn't believe all the pictures we had. Her first comment to me was, "Where did you get all these pictures? I have some of the very same pictures." I told her they all were actually her pictures. Then she really was stumped. I had her daughter in Logan gather the pictures, scan them and e-mail them to me. Then after school was out we had an open house for faculty, family and friends. She was so surprised. The principal's daughter-in-law used to do some catering for the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City. She made us two cakes to serve. They were beautiful.

Mrs. Farmer, thank you so much for the awesome teacher you were to not only my son but hundreds of other boys and girls. We are really going to miss you!

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Wouldn't you know it the one nice day of weather we have had in a while and I was to busy to spend the time I would have liked to work outside in the yard. I split a shift with a lady and we take turns working Saturdays in the Rexburg Temple. It worked out that I had four Saturdays off while she worked. Now I am in the middle of working four Saturdays while she spends time with family. I work in the office answering phones. I LOVE IT! Bryon stayed home with the kids cleaning the house and cracking the whip on having them get their chores done. Bryon has become really good at getting Saturday mornings organized with assigned jobs and then having them each draw for some jobs. Conner really wanted the "wash dishes" job. This morning before I left, he begged me to make up the jobs and put that one on top and then he would draw first and draw that one. When he got it, he was going to say, "It's a miracle! I can read! I got dishes. Whoo Oooh!" What a crack up that boy is. I am not sure what happened with the jobs because I had to leave before they got going. All I know, is the house was in pretty good shape when I got home. However, Bryon said Conner had earned an extra job for not following the rules today. He ran off again on his bike. The summer is still young and I can't even begin to count how many times we have taken his bike away already! I got home from the temple about 1:00 p.m. I grabbed a bite to eat and then had to go to a funeral. I teach piano lessons and four of my students grandma passed away from cancer. The grandchildren were doing various musical numbers and I was the accompanist. They all did really well. When I got home, we started working in the yard. Bryon went and bought some edging and he worked putting the edging in around a little rock garden we have been working on for a year now. We finally have it weeded, the black tarp down, the plants planted, and the rocks in so that should be one flower bed that will be lower maintenance for us. We also have an island flower bed that I wanted to put trim around so I can plant the flowers I bought a week ago. We got the trim put around it and I worked on weeding and shaking the dirt of big clumps of grass. That was about all we were able to get done before it was time to come in and eat and get the kids bathed for church tomorrow. I was a little disappointed that we weren't able to get that flower bed ready to plant my flowers. We are hoping Monday night to get that flower bed done and start on planting our garden. However, our rock garden looks awesome. I couldn't help but snap a few pictures of the finished project.

New Recipes Added

I have a month worth of menus on my recipe blog http://scrumdilliteyumpschous.blogspot.com. I am always looking for some new recipes and think I found some fun ones to try this month. I have also put on a bunch of new recipes and as always if you try any be sure to leave a comment. Last night for dinner I made the orange chicken. It was delicious. My whole family loved it. It is definitely a recipe I will use again!

Conner's Fat Lip 05-28-08

I need to preface this by saying that Conner is my "dare-devil" child. Bryon and I gave him a bike for his birthday. He has waited all winter for spring to come so he can ride it. Now that the snow is gone, he is constantly riding it. Yesterday I was in the house and he came in from riding his bike. He was crying hysterically. He also had his hand covering his mouth and all I could see was blood. I am not the greatest with blood. Thankfully, Linda was still here and she got him cleaned up for me! The neighbor gal brought his bike home for him. She said he ran into a parked car. Conner said it bent the training wheel on his bike but I haven't been out to look. By the looks of his lip, I would have to say the car won!

Sam Earns His Wolf

Sam officially earned his Wolf Badge! I am from a family of all girls and so this scouting thing is totally new to me. In November, the ward wanted to move all of the scouts up in scouting at the first of the year, instead of on their birthdays. Bryon and I felt like we wanted Sam to really earn his Wolf and it just not be something he hurries through to complete. We didn't let him move up with most of his age group. This past month, he finally earned his Wolf Badge. I was so proud of him. He worked so hard. Besides earning his Wolf Badge, Sam earned four arrows. Way to go!

Conner & Logan's Preschool Field Trip 05-13-08

Conner and Logan's preschool took a field trip this month. They were supposed to go on Monday the 12th. We woke up to terrible weather and it even snowed that day. The field trip was postponed until Tuesday. I was luck enough to be able to go with them. My friend, Linda, watched Natalie while I went. It was a full day. We left the school at 8:30 and traveled to Idaho Falls to Tautphaus Park Zoo in Idaho Falls. Because we had such a large group, they decided to let us just enjoy the zoo at our own pace and meet back at the buses at 11:00. One of the aides, Ms. Carol caught up with us just inside the gates. She wondered if I needed help. I actually felt like I could handle it but told her sure. She took Logan's hand and I took Conner's. I was so thankful at the end of the day to have had her help. We had a great time at the zoo. The peacock was Logan's favorite. I think the monkeys were Conner's. The weather was just perfect for the zoo, not too hot and not too cold. The animals were pretty active, so that was fun to watch. We also got to watch them feed the penguins. Once everyone got back to the buses, we found a spot to have our picnic lunches. Logan ate his pretty good but Conner would rather play than eat. After we let the kids run around for a bit, we then loaded the buses back up and headed back for Rexburg. Just outside of Rexburg, we stopped to ride the Beazer train. This is a great hidden treasure! Beazer train was built by a man who has since passed away. His son now runs it. The son has a full time job so you just call and schedule appointments when he is available. They have built this little train track that runs out through a pasture and even has a tunnel. It takes about five minutes. We had a blast riding the train, the rest of the afternoon. Conner rode every single time. I even took a couple of turns riding it! We made it back to school just in time to pick up Sam and head home for the day. I don't know who was more tired at the end of the day: Conner, Logan, or myself.