32 Years!

On the 11th of June Clive & I celebrated 32 years of marriage.
Sometimes it seems like we've been married forever,
yet the time has gone by in a flash!
It has been a wonderful rollercoaster ride and worth every moment.

We enjoyed a meal at Chili's and then spent the afternoon in the temple.
Thanks, Clive, for being my knight in shining armor.
I love you!

My Home Away From Home

For the past 11 years I have spent a minimum of 17 hours a week as an employee of

Copper Hills High School.

For 8 years my job has been an EdNet Facilitator. It is my responsibility to facilitate the classroom for all the distance learning classes. We broadcast ASL classes to other high schools in the district, receive concurrent enrollment courses from USU & our newest undertaking is to receive Mandarin Chinese classes from BYU.

I take care of the technical end of the classroom (computer, projectors, cameras, etc.), handle classroom management, work with facilitators, techs, professors, schedulers, and others at the universities, Utah Education Network, & district offices, handle grades, organize files, make copies, and anything else that you can think of that may involve a classroom or technology.

I love my job and the challenges that it offers. There are never two days alike.

Working with the students is refreshing and I'm especially grateful for my co-workers.

I had planned on snapping photos of all the classes, but chaos reigned at the year-end (especially when I was called to jury duty) so I missed out on half of them.

This is the smallest of our Chinese classes. It started out larger, but some couldn't handle the challenge.

The second group of Chinese students. Notice how the subject appeals more to the guys than the girls? It is the exact opposite in our ASL classes.

Here I am with Vanessa Francis, the Chinese teacher facilitator. She is a darling young woman who has become a dear friend. She was born & raised in Taiwan.

Our classroom is located within the Media Center, so we work closely with the Media Aides. Two of them are Heliana Glad & Maurine Helm.

Lori Munson & Terri Cluff are the wonderful facilitators I get to work with. Lori has been with me for 2 1/2 years, while Terri just finished her first year. We enjoy working together and have become friends, which is an enormous bonus!

Bob Tiney is the school librarian & school computer expert. Two more Media Aides are Lydia Nagle (a former facilitator) & Carol Cole.

I Have A Garden!

I have never been much of a gardener.

I hate dirt, don't get along with heat, & am allergic to the out-of-doors in general.

Besides that, nearly everything we have planted in the past 24 years has died.

However, I LOVE fresh produce.

In the past our summer garden has consisted of a few tomato & zucchini plants stuck into a weedy patch behind our old (now deceased & buried) shed. I refused to step a foot into it.

This year, however, we decided to try our hand at

SQUARE FOOT GARDENING.

I really liked the idea of a garden that is weed-free, requires very little water, & no hoeing is necessary.

Sounds too good to be true?

Well, we'll let you know what the results are at the end of the season.

Clive built the boxes & lined them with landscape cloth.

I stomped on the peat moss to compact into just the right amount of cubic feet.

We stirred up the mixture of equal parts of peat moss, compost, & vermiculite,


then shovelled it into the wheelbarrow

and moved it to the back yard

where we filled the boxes, watered, & raked until they were filled.

Clive nailed on the grids & built the trellises & then I planted the crops ... tomatoes, 4 types of lettuce, carrots, cabbage, sweet peppers, jalapeno peppers, sweet onions, green onions, beets, radishes, bush beans, peas, zucchini, crookneck squash, baby watermelon, & pumpkin. We tried potatoes, too, but a neighborhood cat dug them up! I added a few flowers into the mix, too. The vine crops will grow on the trellises. We also planted strawberries & herbs alongside our new, improved shed.

We'll add photos of the progress of the garden as the season advances. I can't wait!

Yes, I'm Alive!

If it seems that I've dropped off the face of the earth, it is all an allusion.

Like everyone else I know, I have just been overwhelmed with the busyness of life.

During the last two weeks of May I was caught up in working extra hours to finish up the business of ending a school year, helping Marisa and Jonathan pack up to move, a ward funeral, and celebrating Clive's birthday. In addition, Clive and I worked long, hard hours preparing and planting a garden.

When June arrived I made a recommitment to exercise daily and I spent two LONG, boring days doing my civic duty on jury duty. It is an opportunity that we all need to participate in. The court system seems a little different when you are on the side of making decisions concerning people's lives. I worked on a Relief Society enrichment social, making myself a pioneer bonnet and apron to be in the spirit of the evening and prepared and taught a Relief Society lesson.

We've attended weddings, celebrated our anniversary, spent time in the temple, and enjoyed an outing with our grandsons. On top of everything, summer school has started and I work from 8-4 every Tuesday and Thursday. This week I'll be hosting our dinner group and finishing up visiting teaching to the five sisters I'm assigned to.

On top of everything, my camera isn't working. It looks like I may be making a new purchase. I'll be making new posts soon with the few photos I have been able to get.

Now ... life continues to speed along!

Book Tag

Directions:

1. Get the nearest book to you, or one you're reading that contains over 123 pages.

2. Go to the 123rd page

3. Find the 5th sentence

4. Post the 5th sentence

5. Tag five people

"If you are one of those people who wouldn't know what to have for lunch if it didn't involve a sandwich, or breakfast if it didn't include toast, this may actually be the biggest challenge for you."

(In case you can't tell, I'm reading yet one more book on becoming healthy by getting rid of all the acidic foods in my diet. No problem? Just eliminate meat, dairy, yeast breads ...)

I tag: Mel, Tara, Stephanie, Erin & Jolene

My Little Measure of Time

I've been contemplating lately about how busy each of our lives seem to be.

We are always dashing around in a dither, trying to fit 48 hours into every 24 hour period.

When we look at one another's lives, we never cease to be amazed about how much the other person manages to complete, totally forgetting about our own awesome accomplishments.

We are all in different places ... some newly married, others raising young children, many working outside the home, and all working inside the home. Some of us are empty nesters and others are in the winter of our lives, needing to be cared for.

My hat goes off to all the women in my life.

I watch my sisters ... Jolene, dedicating her days to teaching young minds, and Nancy as Mom's major caregiver. It is an overwhelming task for which I will always be deeply grateful. Neither has much time for their own pursuits because they are so involved in serving others. My daughters, Sheryl and Melanie, are young mothers, so their focus is on the care and activities of their children, while Marisa is adjusting to marriage and a full-time career.

Some have immaculate homes, others raise wonderful gardens, and each has talents to offer.

So ... in reflection, I'm going to focus on just one of the aspects of my life during this particular season and share some of my pursuits when I'm not on the job, taking care of home and family or serving in the church.

I can't think of even one day in the past dozen or so years that I don't spend at least a few minutes reading. I love mysteries, biographies, inspirational, romance, & historical novels. It is the way I wind down before climbing into bed each night. The above photo is the curren stack sitting on my nightstand. East of Eden will be the 31st book I've completed since January.

I always have a list posted in my craft room with my current projects ... quilting, needlework, sewing, and crafts.

Quilting has become my passion over the past six or seven years. This is my recently completed Sunbonnet Sue quilt top. It has special meaning because my Mom cut out all the dresses & bonnets from fabric scraps of clothes she made us girls as we were growing up. I added a few extras from clothes I made my daughters. I can't wait to have it machine quilted & bound.

This is the Flower Garden wall hanging I just made my Mother-in-law for Mother's Day. She spends all summer in the garden tending to her flower beds that are so beautiful.

These are the blocks I made in 2003 for a Civil War Legacy quilt. The sashings & borders are also pieced, which is why it still isn't finished. It has been quite a challenge for me to figure out how to put it all together, but now I've taken a giant step in beginning the process and think that the results will eventually be very striking.

This is my latest and greatest hairbrained idea. I've made baby quilts for all the grandchildren except Jayden. He was born before I even took my first class. I decided to make him an Old Bones dinosaur quilt for his 8th birthday and baptism. It will be vibrant and colorful, focusing on reds and blacks, which are his favorite colors. I've just begun cutting and I think that I may have bitten off more than I can chew. It's going to be a humdinger!

I also do quite a bit of non-quilted sewing. I just finished making Tegan a pair of blue dinosaur pajamas for his 5th birthday.

These are my latest fabric purchases ... a stack of juvenile flannels for baby receiving blankets, some decorator cloth for a bathroom window valance, and some homespun calico to make myself a pioneer apron and bonnet for a Relief Society event.

This is the dress and teddy bear I made for Mayci's 2nd birthday. I made each of my children a teddy bear when they were young (okay, I'll admit that Kevin didn't get his until he was 16) and now each of the grandkids receives one when he or she turns two.

This the the crocheting project that occupies me when I travel. I use a variety of patterns for dishcloths and always have some on hand for gifts.

I've been playing the piano for more years than I've been alive (49). It is always a source of joy to me to be able to relax by sitting down and playing. While growing up my family could always detect my moods by the way I played. I took out a lot of frustration by pounding those keys!

One of my latest hobbies is blogging. I think I enjoy it because it is a way to document my life. I especially enjoy reading the blogs of my daughters and neices because it keeps me connected to them and their families in spite of the miles that separate us.

This is my latest labor of love. I have spent hundreds of hours (and $$$) organizing all of the slides Clive took while serving his mission. I've had them scanned onto a DVD and had prints made. I've organized them into a photo album and will journal each with Clive's help. This will be his birthday gift on Thursday.

Finally, this is where I do my paper crafts. I make all my own greeting cards and occasionally make books and do a scrapbook every now and again.

This Is My Life!

Avery's Dance Recital

Saturday evening after a dinner gathering in Logan, we enjoyed a wonderful evening in celebration of Avery's very first dance recital. I experienced the thrill that all grandmother's reserve as I watched her "strut her stuff" through three Disney numbers ... When You Wish Upon A Star, Tikki Tikki, and Under the Sea. She dances like a seasoned entertainer, never showing any fear and wearing a glowing smile. She radiated pure joy in what she was doing.

I was able to get Avery to stop for a quick pose after the recital.

Big hugs from Mom & Dad.

A squeeze from Grandma Wendy.

Sharing her happiness with Kevin & Kristen.

Little sister, Gracyn, poses to get her share of the attention!