It's been too long!

I apologize for not posting in so very long of a time.  I have been very busy with many things and making time for the computer has not been one of the things I have been busy with.  So I will start with a quick update on everyone. Then my thoughts if I have time because I'm doing this instead of getting ready for work.

Taylor is under threat of suspension.  Her hair is currently blue and adorable.  And they can't have that in the schools here.  Her friends with gaged ears 2" around are not in trouble.  And I find that troubling.  She wears her hair short still, but it grows so fast that she needs another hair cut. Other than her hair issue, school is good, grades are fine.  She is excited to be able to go on her mission at 19.  She was so happy that she was bouncing from excitement!  She said, "Now, I don't have to wait to start my life!"

Jordan was also happy about women now being allowed to go at 19. She feels the same way as Taylor.  Jordan has straight A's as always.  She has decided to take all advanced classes in high school so she can graduate with an associates degree and get her bachelors paid for by the state. Because we have such a Mormon friendly state they will not hold her going on a mission against her schooling.  Because Jordan is on honor roll, the school does special things with the kids, so she is always getting to go to movies and other activities during school hours. Jordan has pink hair and her school doesn't care.

Bailey also has straight A's and is on honor roll.  She also gets to go with the honor students to fun activities and the movies.  She loves school.  Bailey is a ray of sunshine in everyone's life.  She wants to be a cheerleader, but she doesn't know how.  So now that Jason is working we are going to look into dance classes again for her. Bailey has blue and purple in her hair and her school doesn't care.

Madison is really the only one struggling in school.  It's not his grades, those are fine. He gets a bunch of numbers and the highest possible is 3.  He mostly get's 3's. I don't think they have the option of honor roll at his school.  The biggest problem Madison has is with bullies at school.  For some odd reason, he has a personality that other kids find fun to pick on.  Maybe because he's the baby of the family. I'm not sure.  But I am not allowed to go beat the kids up for him.  Jason says that it would only make it worse.  I want to get him a t-shirt that says, "My mom can beat up your dad." Now, whether I could or not is irrelevant. But you hurt my kid and I'm likely to try.

Jason finally found a job.  He got several offers for different positions at the same company.  I guess that's the Lord's way of saying, I want you to work HERE. He works for E-vault. If you listen to talk radio I'm sure you have heard their commercials on Hannity, Rush or Beck.  They are based out of San Francisco.  So our health care is from CA, which means great coverage, $0 deductibles,  and little cost to us! That number I don't remember, but I remember it being about half of what we paid in MA for less coverage and higher deductibles. Jason likes the job well enough. I don't think it's as intellectually challenging as he had hoped, but he is learning about Disaster Recovery which is his ultimate goal for his career. He will have opportunities to move from place to place in the company as he learns his job and does it well.  He is highly motivated to do a good job and move to the next stage of his DR training.

I am still at the animal rescue.  I have been working at the thrift store 3 days a week. A while back is was 6 days a week. That was too much.  Sometimes I think 3 days a week is too much.  But I get to help out and that is important.  My sister and her husband have really helped us out a lot.  They have taken us on vacations, bought us food, gas, a horse.  So I have to help her out to repay their generosity.  I also have to repay my mom for her generosity.   And put hardwood floors in the house we are renting for her.  Granted I am doing it because I hate carpeting, and with so many renters the carpeting is destroyed, so I am selfishly helping her out.  And finally Jason's parents have been amazingly generous.  And I don't know how to repay them yet.  But we will find a way!  I also take home foster pets. I have only one at the moment. But a few weeks ago I brought home 7! We were going to adoptions the next day, so it was only one night.  But it was fun.  There is always one dog that I find that I want to fall in love with.  And I'm always so glad when they get a good home.

Jason's sister and her family, as well as his parents are coming for a visit in July.  We are so excited!  It's hard to be able to do everything you want in just one week though.  We have already started making lists of things that we want to accomplish while they are here.  Some of us are going to get our concealed carry licenses.  Which means I have to finally get around to getting my Utah's Drivers License!  We are also wanting to take the kids horse back riding. Antelope Island is beautiful. And of course, there is that one spot in Utah that is the most photographed spot in the world because of it's beauty. The geo-beds, Topaz mountain, jet skiing, Park City and so much more!

In June is my high school reunion.  It's the first one for me to attend.  We are going on a cruise in the San Fran Bay, if enough people buy reservations.  We are taking the kids to California to spend time with their grandparents, because they know how awesome Jason's side of the family is.  They know their genealogy and how cool that side of the family is.  Now it's time they learn about my side.  And hopefully they will remember enough to tell me about it too!  I haven't heard these stories because many of them are new to my parents.

Kid 3.0's Post

Hey! This is Bailey, aka 3.0 (I was born third). tons of time has passed, for instance, it's now August 13, 2012. School went out months ago!

 Sorry about the post quality, it's 11:27 pm and my mom, the usual blogger, is trying to sleep.

Summer!!

This picture has nothing to do with this topic, the post just looks bland without it:) and guess who it is?!

One of the exciting things that happened this summer was we went out to California to visit my mom's parents, my Gramma and Grandpa. We stayed over their house for a few days along with some cousins. My mom has 10 siblings but not all of them have kids. Some places we went were the MYSTERY SPOT and Coast Redwood California. The Redwood place was awesome! When we were going to leave, my Uncle Steve said one of us (the kids) could ride with him on his Harley! Madison, 4.0, ended up riding with him. Some how we got separated, and Uncle Steve and Madi went on the other side of the park! Still, it was a lot of fun! Some trees we saw were from the dinosaur age! some others you could stand inside! One tree was hollow all the to the top, I mean you could seriously look strait up and see the sky! the trunk could even actually fit the entire family inside it! Sadly, Madison missed it. But he saw the trees that cars drove through!!

It was tons of fun!!

Also in California, there was the MYSTERY SPOT!! There, there was this shed that slid down the hill and was completely crooked! Not only that, but your compass went haywire and pointed north in the wrong spot. Plus, EVERYONE WAS STANDING CROOKED!! My mom has pictures in her camera, but I don't.

Another random picture for spice, LIGHTNING!!!

I'd draw a picture, but the comp.'s paint sucks (as in I suck at drawing on my comp.) so I'll just explain some of it. in the shed, you can lean over the edge of the table safely, hang crookedly, and walk up the wall(actually there was this ladder...) and you can do the matrix! Awesomeness!!!! 

there was also a boardwalk at CA, too! We went swimming at the beach, which scored us a lifetime goal, 

LIFETIME GOAL ACHIEVEMENT: SWIM IN AND BEEN TO BOTH THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEAN

Awesomeness, right?

The rest of the summer was swimming in the new pool (score!)and being totally LAZY!! Not appreciated by the rest of the family FYI, so Some summer cleaning was added for some spice. I say, the soup of life had too much of that seasoning(I wish there was a little less summer cleaning). Sadly, I left my bike out in the carport and it got stolen!! Sadness!!!! We reported it to the police, and I'm left wondering if I'll ever get it back.Waaa!!:(. 

Easter

We had a great time at Topaz Mountain for Easter!  We collected Apache Tears, Obsidion, Topaz and geodes! And I think Fluorite, it's a really pretty purple rock.

This is a kiln from the 1800's

From left to right: Bailey, Jason, Madison, Jordan, Taylor and Brandy

A mining shoot of some sort.

On top of the hill.  

It's a good 30-40 feet up

Desert scape

This was really high up, like 100ft, give or take.

Here we dug for geodes

Sunset

Pronghorn

We really had a lot of fun.  Spending time together, climbing over rocks and hills, and mountains!  I will have to take some pictures of out cache so you will see the kool stuff we found!

Sundance Film Festival

http://www.sundance.org/festival/

If you don't know what Sundance Film Festival is I'm going to give you a very brief explanation.

A bunch of people who have artistic talent of some kind, throw together, or get huge fund to make, a movie.  They try it out at a local film contest.  Those that win go to Sundance.  Two movies that I know of that didn't make the cut were Cathedral Pines and Turkey Bowl.  But no one cares about those movies.

The movies at Sundance are supposed to be the cream of the crop.  Already having gone through the judging process, they should have substance, cohesiveness, and a theme that many find interesting.

All this I already knew.  What I didn't know is that the movies are shown in theaters all over the place.  Mostly in Park City, UT and Salt lake City, UT.  But I know of at least one in Ogden, UT.  So it is actually very difficult to see every movie showing.  It also lasts for 10 days, so there is plenty of time to see plenty of movies.

So far we have gone two days and  seen one famous person at the table next to us at the restaurant and spoke to a few after the movie.  We also got to go to an art gallery with amazingly talented artists showing their work.  At least one artist was present, who we got pictures with and got to spend quite a bit of time talking to.  Very nice gentleman, and extremely talented.  I will have to write down his name and google him so that when I post pictures you will know who he is.

Pictures will be coming soon!  As well as my movie reviews for Robot and Frank, Where Do We Go Now?, and Excision.  And possibly more over the next 10 days.

What's being going on out here...

So I want to give a quick synopsis of what we have done since the move. 

August- we drove out. This is covered in another blog post.

September- The kids started school.  They quickly made friends, and when I say quickly I mean very slowly.  Bailey and Madison wasn't too bad, it was with in the first week they had a group of playmates.  Taylor and Jordan it took 2-3 weeks to figure out where they fit in.  Which makes total sense. 

October- We were the only family on the block that decorated for Halloween.  Very few kids came to the door, even though the neighborhood is filled with families.  One house had a guy who was exposing himself to the kids.  I was going to call the police, but no one remembered which house it was. }:-(  The kids started to have friends come over to the house and spend the night.

November- Madison mooned another kid.  Jason thought it was funny.  The other kid's parent did not.  Madison can no longer play with that boy.  And we found out that there are two bullies that pick on Madison.  One is in middle school, the other is in the same grade but another classroom.  We have spoken to the school.  They are watching the boy in the same grade, but there is nothing they can do about the other kid, because it is on the way home that he see's Madison. 

December- we had to put a lock on our fence.  Someone kept opening the fence and letting the dogs out.  If the dogs got picked up by Animal Control we would be in trouble and get fined. 

We had a great Christmas!  So many people were so sweet to us!  We had a lot of help from family, friends, church and the school!  The kids didn't get anything like i-pods, computers or video games.  But they got clothes, boardgames, books and other stuff they just loved everything!  And really appreciated that they got anything at all. Because J and I are mean, we kept telling them that they weren't getting anything because we didn't have the money!  Hahaha! 

We went to temple square, which i blogged about already.  We also went to Ogden and saw the Christmas villages.  We got Bailey and Madison light up toys for $1 and $2, which would have been a minimum of $5 in MA.  And we got candy for Jordan, $1.50 UT ($6 MA), and Taylor wanted nothing.  We did get cookies and Hot Cocoa, which was $1 each. Depending on where you are in MA it would be the same or less expensive. Seeing the lights was free, and they had live music for free as well.  So total we spent, $14.50.  About the same as if we went to Bright Nights in Springfield, without getting hot cocoa, cookies or souvenirs.  (I have loving how the dollar stretches out here!  It feels like I can do more as a family, without feeling like we have to cut back on other things)

January- The month has just started, but it feels like we have yet to stop!  During the kids vacation, December thru January, I was working 8-10hr a day 6 days a week.  So J got to be home and spend time with the kids.  And it was no fun for me. I am back to volunteering, but now it is only 3 days a week!  Whew! 

We are getting another dog.  He is a Cocker Spaniel, all black, just a tiny bit of brown on his paws.  I'm sure one of his parents had black & tan in him.  He was kept in a garage for the 1st year of his life.  And he is another great dog, who's owner is moving so can't keep him.  It's like his story mirror's Lady's.  His name is Hem.  I think we'll call him Hemi for short.  We are going to DNA test him, if all goes well and his DNA is good we'll get his papers and breed him with Lady in the spring.

Jordan's birthday is this month.  We are going to have pizza and cake at the house, then head over to the Nickelcade.  It's an arcade that takes nickels! (Guess you could have guessed that on your own!)  You pay $2 (or less) to get in, then trade your dollars for nickels and then go crazy!  We spend hours there when we go.  We took the kids once and J and I went once for a date night!  It's so much fun because the have all the games from when I was a kid, some from when J was a kid, and some even older!


I am going to have to get some pictures posted.  Some from the nickelcade and some from the Christmas Village.  I don't have any of the Nickelcade so i guess we are going to have to make a trip! ;)

Stuff

Taylor walked Mickey at the Pirate festival.  She helped earn money for the rescue animals.

J's parents came to visit.  That is Willard Bay behind them, which is a bay in the Great Salt Lake

Bailey facing down Captain Jack Sparrow of Utah

Our new dog Sadie

She is AKA Poppet

A rescue Kitten horse racing.

Iz in ur regiztrah steelins ur monies

Quiet in the library you brats!

Wise old Sadie

Jordan being walked on Blondie by Crystal

Bailey on Mickey

Madison on Star 

Temple Square At Christmas

We went to Salt lake to see the lights.  And here are a few more pictures of that trip.

These book stores are everywhere.  But this one has a cool display!

There are Seagulls are at the top of this spire.  Do you know why? If not, research it!  It's a cool story!

Millions of lights on every tree

From left to right- Brandon, Becky, Taylor, Bailey, Madison, Jason, Karley, Kevin and Brenda
Jordan was taking the picture.

Madison saving bailey's life - Hancock Style.

The hills above Ogden

Taylor loving her picture taken.  Brandon in the back ground and my neck.

Brandon- appears to be making a Zoolander pose.

Really cool the way this picture of the temple came out!

The organ.  It was made in Boston and sent to Salt lake.