Feel Neglected?

May 3, 2009
I have neglected my blog in the last couple months. There's no real reason other than it has not been a priority. It should have been but... So, I've decided to give a recap of the last couple months. So much has happened and I'm not sure how long this post will be but I will TRY to keep it short. HA HA!!!

It says that the last time I wrote was the end of January. (I really can't believe it has been that long). It is now the beginning of May. Where did the time go? Hmmm. I think I'll ponder on that for a minute....Oh, I almost forgot what I was doing.

The February calendar starts to get really busy. I had lots of sub jobs. I started my 2 1/2 week stint (February 25-March 13th) in kindergarten while the teacher went to Israel and Egypt. I had a good time with some really cute kids. I can't think of anything better than singing, learning and playing with the kindergarteners!!! There was one little boy who spent more days in the office than in class but, other than that, we had a great time.

We had some fun activities with the Young Women. We went to the local Family History Library so they could look up their ancestors. We are prepping for the Pioneer Trek and each of the participants will be walking as if they are a pioneer ancestor. (Eric and I were asked to be a Ma and Pa of a family for the trek, so we are involved too.) I have been excited about learning about the people of my past. I was really surprised that there are about 25 to 30 individuals on both Mom and Dad's sides who were pioneers. I would love to find biographies and journals and learn a bit more about them. For other activites: We had a Valentine's activity where we watched "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". We went to the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake. Oh...we went skiing!!! I actually tried it!!! It was fun. Unfortunately, I was the entertainment of the night. The girls had a good time laughing at Me!!!

Eric shared his "karate" talents in our Ward Talent Show. The theme was Talent through the Decades. Each auxiliary was assigned a decade. The Relief Society did an awesome rendition of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy". The Primary "Rocked Around the Clock". The Bishopric had fun with "Surfin' USA". Eric and the High Priests did a "karate demonstration" to "Kung Fu Fighting". The Elder's Quorum had some fun break dancing moves and the Young Men did a couple of cute skits and did the "Mormon Rap". The Young Women did not perform because none of the girls were able to be there. That's okay because I did my part taking videos to post on Facebook!! (Somebody needs to be the audience, right?!)

The March calendar is even more full. Of course, I finished up my subbing job in Kindergarten. By the time that was done my house had been sorely neglected. The laundry was piled high and we were in survival mode. I am still learning to adjust to working and trying to balance everything else.

Jared and Tyler were both involved heavily in their respective plays. Jared did "Showboat" at the High School and Tyler was in "The Music Man" at the Jr. High. Both productions were great. It is so fun to see my kids on stage. They have so much personality. It's great!

Other than trying to keep up with his normal workload, Eric spent a week in Denver for an Elder Law Seminar. He is constantly studying and learning more and more about that area of the law. He has also spent lots of time preparing to take the CELA (Certified Elder Law) exam. He just took it at the end of April. There is only a 30-40 percent pass rate. (That translates to HARD test.) If he passes he will be one of three?? attorneys in the state of Utah with that distinction. He has really made a name for himself in the Senior community and continues to stay busy with new clients. I'm so proud of him. We are truly blessed, in this economy, to have a job and actually be growing in the business.

I held my spring Creative Memories Retreat in March also. We had group of about 12. It is always great to get away to scrapbook with my friends. I was able to move a lot of old product and felt really good about my weekend.

On to April, I taught for a week in Mikaela's 4th Grade class while her teacher had surgery. I really love Mrs. Carter as a teacher and a friend. The class did a really good job. Sometimes it has been hard to teach in Mikaela's class because she wants me to give her special privileges. I warned her sternly that if I had any problem I would send her to work in a 3rd grade classroom. That was the trick because she did great. She continues to improve in her reading. The teacher told me she has especially done well in Math. She was at the top of her class on an assessment she took the other day. Yeah Mikaela!

Spring Break!!!! We had spring break between April 6th through the 10th. The choirs at Layton High, Laytones, Lyrics and Lace, go on a California Tour during spring break every year. I went along as a chaperone. We had a fun-filled, packed week. We slept on the bus on the way down, went to Disneyland, Six Flags and did an exchange with John Burroughs High School. (They are amazing! They have some stuff up on YouTube that is just incredible, if you are interested in seeing what they do.) We then went down to San Diego where they performed at Sea Port Village, spent a day performing at Live Oak Elementary School in Fallbrook, had a free day to play at the beach, performed at Horton Plaza (an outdoor 4-story mall much like the Gateway in Salt Lake) and then slept on the bus on the way home. There were many late nights and early mornings. It took me about a week to recover from the lost sleep.

The return to life was an adjustment because I jumped right back into sub jobs and driving kids to their activities. Tyler has been busy auditioning for choir and the big musical at the high school. He is proudly a member of Lyrics (the all-male show choir) for next year. He will also be in "The Wedding Singer" next March. The productions at Layton High are incredible. They will rehearse and prepare starting in September.

I think I mentioned everybody but Zach and Parker. Zach has really been enjoying being part of the 11-year old Scout group. There is only two of them in the group right now. Their leaders are fun and bring donuts almost every week!!! Zach is a social butterfly who flits between friends frequently. We are a little worried about some of his choices of friends, but overall, he's doing pretty good. Poor Parker gets lost in the shuffle of everyone's activities. He spends lots of time at his friend Kaden's house. I feel bad that he's over there so much but Kaden's mom insists that they have a great time and she loves having a buddy for her kids to play with.

We are going through quite the transition with Jared. He's getting ready to graduate at the beginning of June. We have many worries with him and hope he will choose the right. I can't go into a lot of details but please pray for him and us that things will work out for the best.

I guess that's all for now. That wasn't too bad, I guess. Hopefully I will be able to be more consistent now that this is out of the way.