She's Back!

I know, I know. You probably thought I dropped off the face of the earth. I mean, my last post was clear back in April. I can't believe that. Well the truth is I just haven't had time, then I got lazy, then I forgot about the blog. But I'm here now and I'm back, better than ever. Let me give you a recap of what you've missed.

• I finished my first year at Marsh Valley, and they actually wanted me back!
• Over the summer we went to the Miles Family Reunion at Cherry Hill during some really rainy weather.
• We also toured Temple Square with the kids, which they loved, and Hogle Zoo, and during one of the really rainy days, we went to the Children's museum in Ogden. Great place!
• I stripped wallpaper off the walls most of the summer, then I textured, and then I painted. I'm actually still not done. I have to do the stairwell and the little hallway by the bedrooms. But I love what I've done so far. I got adventurous and painted a red wall in the kitchen and the brick around the fireplace the same red.
• We planted a garden and harvested many things, but especially 13 pumpkins from our 2 plants. Crazy!
• I went to the IDLA Conference in Boise.
• I taught a summer IDLA class, which was crazy with all the software updates.
• I took pictures of Lindsay and her family, just before they got married.
• I entered some photography in the EISF and actually won! $29 to be exact. I got a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Honorable Mention!
• I became president of IBEA and just recently finished putting on a teacher conference here in Bosie, and I'm sure glad that's over.
• Let's see, Ashlyn turned 5 in July and Kenny turned 8 in September. Just this Saturday he was baptized. We are so proud of him.

I feel bad because any one of these bullets could have been a fantastic post with pictures, but because I am lazy and I have a headache, this is all you'll get. but I can promise you that I will be better in the future with lots of pictures.

My picture was on the news

Last night on Channel 6 at 6:00 pm, the photograph above was featured in the Weather Pics segment. I was pretty excited because this is one of my favorite pictures from our Coeur d'Alene trip. Eventually they will post the picture on their website, but it wasn't posted yet. Here's the link: KPVI Once it's up there you may have to scroll through the pictures....or you can just look above.

My hand at portraits

So at BPA State a couple of weeks ago, I convinced a few students to let me photograph them. Here are the results after a little tweaking in Photoshop. What do you think? Just practicing for Lindsay's engagement and wedding pictures.

This Young Women is Amazing

I found this on my friend Apryl's blog. And it's incredible how well spoken she is. Everyone should watch this. It's just over 20 minutes so make sure you have time.

Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose - 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo

Going Private

I'm going private....let me know your e-mail if you want in.

My little man

This summer, Grandpa Brown found an old briefcase for sale at a gargage sale, and guess what, Kenny had to have it. It came with a key and Kenny puts all of his treasures in it. Which actually works out surprisingly well, with a nosey sister sniffing around. This thing, I swear, weighs about 20 pounds. It's really heavy and he drags it around everywhere. We got a rare view of what was inside and every night, after homework, he pulls everything out, and looks at it, and reorganizes. It's so funny to see the things that he finds important.

Trip to Coeur d'Alene

Valentine's weekend found Allen and I on a trip to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Way up north. We flew because driving takes something like 13 hours....YUCK! I had to go there for the WBEA conference, since I was on the conference committee and executive committee. It's not my fault that it fell on the most romantic weekend of the year. We stayed at the resort that is right on the lake, and every morning, we looked out our window to see a new view of the lake. All breath taking. It was cold, of course, and just a little bit of snow, a healthy dose of fog, and a couple of sunshinny days. Don't worry, I took lots of pictures and I'm going to post them...but not all. But it definately gave me a chance to really play with my camera. The conference was good and I got tons of ideas for my classroom.

Another year....Another Birthday

Saturday was my 33rd birthday. Wonderful. I was fine with my age, embracing it really, until mom called and said, "what is it, your 35th?" Then I felt old. I was glad I wasn't really 35, but I took real comfort in knowing that my mom probably thought she was old enough to have a 35 year old. And then I felt better.

My day was pretty casual, did some cleaning and took a long bath. Read more of my Chris Stewart book. Took the kids to the neighbor's baptism, and then went to Roy and Jeanne's for a family birthday party. I got really spoiled this year. I got some movies, 13 Going on 30, and 27 Dresses. Bath and Body Works lotion and shower gel, a 4 book series, a big bag of Swedish fish, a gift certificate to Waldon Books. Yay! Then I got in the mail a West Jefferson HS BPA community cookbook. It's awesome! Also a photography book....and last but not least.......

A Nikon d60 dsrl camera. I had no idea that I was getting it. It came with a 18-55 mm lens and I also got a 55-200 mm lens. A filter for night photography that makes points of light turn into a 6 pointed star, of course, a camera bag, memory cards. I even got a Epson high resolution color printer to print out my works of art! I was so excited I nearly cried. AND.....it even came with photography lessons and a couple of how to dvds. Needless to say, I have a new favorite sound....it's the sound a slr makes when the shutter clicks.

I was in heaven, and struggled to plan for my Sunbeam lesson. I can't wait to really get to take pictures, not just goofing around. All in all, I had a great birthday! Thank you everyone!

Ashlyn's Dance Recital

Ashlyn had her ballet and tap dance recital the other night and it was really cute to see these 4 year olds dance on stage at Pocatello High School. The night before we put her hair in curlers so she would have curly hair. And instantly, it brought back memories of Grandma Miles where we had to have curly hair for church when we would sleep over at her house.


Of course we had to cover it all up with a bandana so she wouldn't play with it.

She got to wear makeup and dress up in her cute outfit. Way fun for her. This is what she looked like.

And here she is on stage waiting to go on when it's her turn. She always knows when a camera is out so she can pose. Pretty dang cute. I tried loading her videos, I'll try at school. It wouldn't work at home.

A star in the making

So, tonight I sat in on Kenny's first guitar class. That's right! My little boy....age 7, is taking guitar lessons. In a group class. So that means that there are about 25 kids, ages 5-13 all
strumming, picking, tuning, warming up, knocking over music stands, talking, and even really rocking out to the song in their head.....ALL AT THE SAME TIME. His teacher is possibly the most patient man ever. Let me just describe him. He has salt and pepper hair in a pony tail that trails down to his butt. Definitely has that hippy vibe. He's got a very hairy beard. But trimmed. And get this, his last name is Hendricks. Coincidence? I think not!

Kenny was a model student. Raising his hand when the teacher asked a question. He even got one right. He took notes and practiced. He really wants to play a real song and I think he's beginning to understand that it is going to take many hours of practice to get really good. I hope he doesn't get discouraged.

Later tonight, I caught him playing his air guitar in the hallway. Just like Chris from the Family Guy posted below. When he looked up and noticed I was eavesdropping on the concert, he stuck out his tongue and gave me the rock on sign. Should I really encourage this?

And here we go!

Need I say more?