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31.8.09

August Books Read

Well, I didn't read as much as I would like, but I still didn't do so bad this month.

Ranger's Apprentice Series, by: John Flanagan. I liked this series. The author likes to mix modern and past a bit that was annoying at first, but once into the series, I just let the story go, which made it more fun.

The Ruins of Gorlan - pgs. 249
The Burning Bridge - pgs 262
The Icebound Land - pgs 266
The Battle for Skandia - pgs 294
The Sorcerer of the North - pgs 295

***I'm still waiting for the next book to come it the mail.

Bradbury Short Stories - pgs 33

**I started reading some of Bradbury's short stories because I LOVE his books, but this collection was hard for me to get very far because it is a collection of all his stories, good or not.

The 13th Reality Series, by: James Dashner

The Journal of Curious Letters - pgs 428
The Hunt for Dark Infinity - pgs 446

**These are more science based fantasy, and I really liked them. It's really such a fascinating concept really.

Buried Fire, by Jonathan Stroud - pgs. 332

**I really enjoy this particular author. The Bartimeaus Trilogy is by far one of my favorites. This particular story was very compelling.

Well, and since I am currently waiting for some shipments of books to continue with some of the series's I've been reading, I opted to fill my time with something I've already read before.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - pgs 309


Total for August: 2914 pgs.
Total for 2009: 24,492 pgs.

28.8.09

Potty Training

Well I didn't want to toot my horn on facebook and gross a bunch of people out, but PORTER IS FINALLY POTTY TRAINING!!!!! He went all day yesterday without an accident and today he is running around in his new underwear and going all on his own. For those of you who know us well, you know what a struggle I've had with Porter. He turns four at the end of September, and I was really worried. The exciting thing for him--if he manages a whole week without accidents, he gets to go to preschool!!!! He wants to go so bad!! I'm so excited for my big boy!!!

26.8.09

Back to School

Well today was Hyrum and Emma's first day of school for this year. Hyrum is going into 2nd grade and Emma is my Kindergartner. They attend Venture Academy, which is a charter school. The nice thing is that there is only one kindergarten, so it keeps them small, and 1st and 2nd grade are in the same class, so Hyrum has the same teacher that he had last year, which is so nice.

Anyway, they finally got the new building done, and so the kids were very excited to be at their brand new school. It's so nice!!
We arrived early and there was quite the crowd, but they didn't want to let everyone in until about 10 minutes before school started, so we took a picture.
They had a whole hoard of stuff to bring in the first day. Emma's is acutally at her feet. Hyrum was set on carrying it all himself. I finally had to force his backpack away from him because with so many people trying to get in at once, people kept knocking it off his shoulder.
My two scholars. Yup, they wear a uniform to school.
Mern; he had a hard morning. He swore he wasn't scared or anxious, but was crying all morning because he couldn't find his shoe, and said he was tired. I told him what I always tell him, "you have to go to sleep earlier." "But mom, I like to read in bed," was the response I got. I love that kid!!! He has such a hard time shutting down at night.
Porter and Dan wanted to go to. Porter wants so much to go to preschool, but I refuse to let him until he lets me get him potty trained all the way. Everytime he goes to the bathroom, he says, "okay, let's go to preschool." I sure wish he would get it!! Oh well, hopefully it will be just the push he needs. What's funny is that Dan wants to go on the big boy potty too, maybe I'll get two done!! Now that would be great!!
Emma and her pink backpack. It was so heavy this morning, so mom had to carry it to school.
Such a cutie. We cut and straightened her hair for school; she loved it.

Emma had such a WONDERFUL day at school; she just absolutely LOVED it and totally can't wait to go back tomorrow. I only wish she had all day school, because she is totally ready for it. She loved playing with the tannegrams and coloring. She's so excited for the rest of the week. I really expected her to struggle with being without mom, so Joe stayed home today so that I could actually take her into school. Well, she broke my heart just like Hyrum did, when she didn't even look back as I dropped her off. It was like, "whatever mom, see ya." I've been telling her all week that I was going to miss her so much and she always tells me, "oh mom, I'll come back." I'm so happy she is happy to be in school.
Hyrum also had a great day!!! However, I guess gym class got a little rambunctious, and a little first grader clawed him during a game of tag. He loved getting to eat at school. It was an all out great day for him.

They are both excited to head back out tomorrow.

21.8.09

Paradise Bakery

So today, I got to spend a couple of hours with my best friend. Now when your best friend lives two hours away, has a kid of her own, has a husband who is deployed, and is trying to go to nursing school, getting to see one another is a really great treat!! Well, and it's even better because she happens to be my sis-in-law. It's so nice to be around someone (other then your spouse) who never judges you, who you can talk about anything with and know they will accept you. I just wished we lived closer so we could hang out more often and so that I could help with my little nephew, especially this year. Well, anyway. The next best thing is getting to go eat at a GREAT place. Thanks to another sis-in-law, we went to Paradise Bakery in SLC which is the best food. I loved it and I totally can't wait to go back again. Man, I wish we lived in Salt Lake. Oh well. If wishes and dreams were nickles and dimes, I would be a freaking millionaire. Anyway, the whole point of this was to recommend a great place to eat, and also, to say thank you for a GREAT day.

18.8.09

Las Vegas

We all needed a vacation, and we wanted to take the kids somewhere fun for a back to school hurray. So we decided to head on down to Las Vegas. I've never been there before so this was a whole new experience for most of us. I can tell you, I will not go back during the summer, although it was a total BLAST, it was like walking the ninth circle of hell. It was really hot and it made us all even more exhausted. Well, the walking around ALOT helped too, but it wouldn't have been as bad if it had been about 30 degrees cooler. Oh well, we had so much fun anyway.

I totally forgot to take a picture of where we stayed, but we stayed at Circus Circus.

**Disclaimer, this is a LONG post, and also not in chronologic order so bear with me.

Before we left town we went to M&M World. The kids were disappointed it wasn't a factory so that they could see how they make M&M's, but they sure enjoyed the spoils.
Joe got Dan the mini M&M's and as soon as he had the bag, he was trying to get at them. He was so upset that he had to wait for me to pay and for us to find a good spot to eat them up.
Porter downing them M&M's.
Emma and Hyrum enjoying there's.
M&M World.
Posing with the M&M. Porter wouldn't get any closer, and Dan wouldn't turn around. Emma thought he was funny.
Pay already!!!!!
The M&M wall. Yummy!! Actually I was good and we only got the kids candy.
Hyrum wanted so much to go and ride the rides at the Adventurdome. I went with him, and because I was riding most of the rides with him, the camera stayed upstairs, so I only got the one with my camera because this was one of the ones I couldn't go on. The only thing that sucked was that Hyrum had me go on the Pirate ship that just swings back and forth. It made me so sick, I couldn't go on the Inverter with him, which I really wanted to go on, but didn't feel like throwing up all over my son. It was fun anyway.
We also went out to the Hoover Dam. I figured we were so close and I had never been there. This is a bridge they are building over the river. I about died looking at it, you couldn't pay me enough to build that thing. They said they were building it so high in the hopes that people would crash so much looking at the dam. You going over a bridge that big, you had better be paying attention to where you are driving or you be dead fast!!
The dam.
Hyrum kept hoping from one side to the other, going "Now I'm in Arizona, now I'm in Nevada." It was so funny.
I just love astrology so this was cool.
Colorado River.
These are so cool, especially since I just read "The Last Olympian" Series. They come "alive" in the book, because they are "really robots." It was just cool seeing something I had read about.
They were so excited to be there.
We also went to the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef. Emma doing her typically pose.
Danny was enjoying the fish, but I guess at this moment Mom as more facinating.
Hyrum trying to listen to the information and Porter just having fun.

The sunken ship here was totally cool, but Porter had a hard time with the walking on glass thing, and Joe had to carry him. He was so afraid that if he walked on it, it would break.

Anyway, it was a GREAT trip. Joe and I were completely and utterly exhausted by it all but it was so much fun. Can't wait to go back. Actually, next time Joe and I may go alone, because there are other things to do that we would love to do, that are just way too expensive with four extra peoples. But it sure was fun!!!!

Aquarium

We haven't been down to the Aquarium for a while, and so decided to hit it up. There's a whole new section where they have all the animals of the amazon. It was so cool!!! The kids loved it. I loved it.

Park Adventures

Thank you to a friend, we found a great park up in Huntsville for the kids to play on and with all the shade, I can actually stand to be there for a while.
Hyrum trying to get the swings to twist.
Porter ran all around and finally settled on digging in the dirt under the swings.
Emma just wanted to go higher but oh not too high.
Dan would have spent all day in the swing if I had been willing. This swing was so perfect for him.

It was great to take them and let them run about and wear themselves out. We hope to hit up the park again soon.