Here are the school pictures! We got Spencer's today ... handsome boy! ... and so I decided I should probably post them both, what do you think??

*ALSO* in family news, Sarah got her braces off! She was very excited and so were Mom and Dad! She has to wear a retainer on the top, and there is a bonded wire retainer on the bottom, but much easier than trying to floss and brush with the braces!

The kids are into their third week of school now. Sarah is a freshman in high school now, and Spencer started middle school. I can't believe they are growing up so fast! Here are some first day of school pictures ... I hope they upload this time. Last time something hiccuped and nothing saved *or* uploaded. *Stomp!*

This little video was taken at the Benton-Franklin Fair Parade on Saturday. Sarah is the blonde swinging around the flag a little bit (7-8 seconds) into the video. Don't blame me for the wobbliness; DH took this one!

Okay, now Sarah is cranky because I posted the post-Trek picture of her for all to see. Well, at least the all the reads this blog (5?). It's the most horrendous picture of herself that she's ever seen. LOL.

Sarah returned from Trek on Friday. She had a wonderful time and learned a lot about herself and what she was capable of doing! She came home very dirty and tired (see picture), but enjoyed herself a lot. I have such an appreciation for this opportunity and what she learned from it! There was a nice article in our local paper, the Tri-City Herald, about the Trek. Some of the comments make it sound like Mormons are too weird for words (LOL), but you really do have to understand the pioneer experience to really "get it." http://www.tri-cityherald.com/901/story/258613.html is the link to the article. There is also a gallery, and there's a good picture of Sarah's boots on p. 73 of the photos. Sarah is on several pages since her cart was second in line that day. On p. 37, Sarah is right behind the guy doing the "thumbs up". She's in a plaid dress (blue primarily) with apron and bonnet. The guy doing the "thumbs up" is actually somebody she went to school with the last few years, although he's in another ward.

Thought I'd also post pics of the afghan I'm making for Christmas. Won't say who it's for, but I'm making two, with different yarn. Maybe a clue?? This is called a Monet Afghan and the pattern is by The Crochet Dude (blog here http://blog.thecrochetdude.com/ , and pattern page here http://www.lulu.com/thecrochetdude ). These are very easy squares and are pretty easy to make while in a car or watching TV. You don't have to memorize complex stitches, it's all just single and double crochet in a pattern, also easy to remember. I like that!

My sweet Sarah left on the Trek reenactment on Tuesday morning. I keep checking her bedroom because it's too quiet. LOL. I have no doubt that I will be this way when Spencer goes, too. The kids are at Bing Canyon, about 20 miles or so south of us. There was a nice writeup in our local paper about it, here http://www.tri-cityherald.com/901/story/258613.html . I took a pic of Sarah in her pioneer dress before they left and am posting it here. Yes, it was windy, but it hasn't been unbearably hot as it often is this time of year, so hopefully they aren't totally miserable!

We made our lightning trip to Utah this past week. We left on Thursday and went as far as Boise; stayed overnight there with one of Alan's cousins. Had fun talking and really appreciated the opportunity to stay there overnight. Then on Friday it was off to Utah! We ended up staying with Suzan and Randy in Sandy, Utah. Thanks!! They put us in their basement, which is lots better than it probably sounds, LOL. We had a nice cool room, kitchenette, bathroom, and TV to entertain us when we weren't out gallivanting around.

On Saturday, we went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Day Concert. The special guests were The Osmonds, finishing up a year-long tour celebrating 50 years in the entertainment industry. It was a wonderful experience, and if you have the opportunity to watch the show on BYU-TV, please do! I will remember it forthe rest of my life, and enjoy the beautiful music in my brain!

Here's a picture of the Salt Lake City Temple, taken from the Conference Center on Saturday night. Also a pic of the choir in their seats after the show (we weren't allowed to take pics during the event). Tons of fun, and so glad we went, even though I think I had heat stroke or heat exhaustion from the 101+ heat and humidity. It was well worth it and we loved it!

Finally! Thanks to Constance (THANKS!!) over at LDSMoms for posting the links to these great blog backgrounds! I had no idea!! Call me naive ... but isn't it FUN?! I am gonna have to blog more, I have to try all these great backgrounds out now (LOL).

We are well into summer now. And the a/c on the Taurus went out on Saturday night. Fun, fun, fun! (Not really!) It is in the shop right now getting looked at. Prayers for an easy and relatively inexpensive fix would be great!

On another note, here are some of the latest projects I've been working on. I joined a crochet group and have made two Go Green Market Bags (from http://suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.com/), and am working on a third. Go me! These are easy to make and I'm hoping maybe I can sell some and earn some cash. We could surely use it! The first one is made from Red Heart variegated yarn called Fall. The second one (longer handles) is made from RH variegated also, and is called Painted Desert (I think; couldn't find the label after I took it off!). If anybody wants one, let me know!

Your Spelling is Perfect

You got 10/10 correct. Your spelling is excellent. You also have a great memory and eye for detail.

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Good grief, I do not even know what to post about first! We got through Christmas, only to have snow days hit us ... oh, and the flu! I got vaccinated but apparently we got the strain that wasn't in the vaccine (our run of bad luck continues!). Sarah came down with it first, with a high fever and runny nose and coughing. Then she shared it with me and Alan, then Spencer got it. Luckily Spencer only missed 2 days of school , what with the snow days. Here are pics of Sarah and Spencer in the snow. Sarah's on "Mount Noakes", whch is what we call our snow pile after DH gets done shoveling the driveway ...

Well, Christmas has come and gone and I still have the tree up in my living room. Most of the ornaments are off, we just have to repack them and put them away. I haven't been very motivated, to be honest, but I've got it on my agenda for this week! Thought I'd post some pics of what I gave my SIL Caroline for Christmas. We draw names on hubby's side of the family, and I got Caroline this year. I made her a table runner that is basically made from charm squares, and 8 matching coasters (they have 5 kids so I figured they needed at least 8 coasters!). She really liked the gift, and MIL said they spent part of the time figuring out how the coasters were made. They're quite easy, just a basic 4-patch but you don't sew the patches together. You lay them in a grid and sew around the edge, then turn from the middle. Voila!