My Camera is Back!!

I am so relieved to have my camera back! I had to send it back to Kodak for a warranty repair and I almost felt like a part of me was missing! Just to celebrate I had to take some cute pictures of my boy!!

Ready or Not...

Well, I can still hardly believe it but we started school on time. (There were rumors that the builder wanted 3-4 weeks but he powers that be overruled and said we were starting regardless!!) let's just say I am still not sure we should be in that building. So far we have had a few bumps including: 2 teachers have gotten stuck in the elevator on separate occasions, numerous bathrooms have had problems with their flushing ability, sewage has backed up into a science classroom as a result of the bathrooms not working properly, rooms have been flooded due to leaks after a summer rain including downstairs rooms, and many items including one computer have come up missing since the "grand" opening!
So we are open and children are attending but there is still much to do before the school will be considered complete. Let's hope we don't run into too many other "bumps" along that road!

Daddy's Little Helper

Justin was mowing the lawn and Lincoln decided he needed to help!!

Going Forward Against All Odds

Well, teachers come back tomorrow and I still have no idea how that is going to work out. The new campus is very much not done. Basically tomorrow they are all going to be quarantined to one room while the construction continues in the rest of the building. They have started to bring in the furniture, but most of it is being housed in the cafeteria. But as of today they still are moving forward with the idea that school starts for students on Monday. Let's hope they have chairs to sit in!

Finally Done

Well, I did it. I was finally able to finish the book Breaking Dawn. I know that many of you are wondering what took me so long! (This book came out on Aug. 2) Especially considering I tend to read a book in less than a day.
My first excuse is that I did not even own the book until Wednesday. Plus the Olympics started so those have taken quite a bit of my focus. Rounding those out with the fact I have been back to work full time and I still have a very rambunctious one year old who desires your full time attention, it has been hard to fit it in.
If you have not heard of this book or the Twilight series that it is a part of you are missing out. Stephenie Meyer is the author and her books have been quite good. I am sure if you have not read them but have heard what the topic of these books are (Vampires) you might be a little put off. But trust me when I say you need to give them a try. They really are an entertaining read!
It's always a little sad when I finish a good book because then I know I don't have anything to look forward to. But no worries, I can usually find another one to immerse myself in! If anyone has a book they really think is a must read let me know!

Back to the Grind

My Dad pointed out today that it has been a long time since I have posted anything, so I figured I better give an update. The problem is since returning form my last vacation I really have not done anything very exciting.
I went back to work the Monday after we returned home and have been there every day since. (Well I have restrained myself and stayed home on the weekends!) We are int eh process of moving into a new school building. And it is a chore. Not only is there 50 years of stuff piled up everywhere in the old building, the new building has still not been released for occupancy. Which basically means we are not allowed in! So far they "think" the furniture will start to be delivered on Tuesday. And since they originally said that it would take them 5 days just to get all the furniture delivered and distributed we are quickly running out of days! School is scheduled to begin the 25th, if they do really take 5 days to get it in then that means Saturday. But the problem is those five days does not take into account any of the transport of stuff from the current building !! So lets just say it is going to be an interesting start to a new year!!
I am not looking forward to the set up of this new building. I don't feel like I am ready for it to say the least. But since they have cut us off form the network at the old Martin it is very hard to work on most the things that need to be done. But as of today I think I am officially packed!! (Thanks to all my helpers, I could not have done it without you!) Let's just say I have a lot of pallets that are full of the "tech" stuff! We probably won't know what to do with it all when we get there, but it's hard to let it go when you don't really know what the situation is going to be.

I have no pictures to post as my camera is on the fritz! It has been sent back to Kodak for repair so hopefully it will be back in a timely fashion. I feel like a part of me is missing! I love being able to pull it out whenever I want to catch my little boy at his best (or worst)!

Home Sweet Home

We made it. It was a little longer of a drive today. But we made it in pretty good time. And although we had a ton of fun I am happy to be home. I missed Justin!

Day 17: Grand Junction

Happy Birthday Emerie!

Today was Emeries birthday. She turned 7! So yes she got to eat seven number 7 pancakes! And she worked up an appetite by going with the Hunts bright and early this morning to help clean their chapel.

After breakfast, the kids went out to the backyard and fed the neighbors cows watermelon rinds. Cutler found this to be quite exciting! He could have fed those cows all day long!

Once everyone was ready we took off to Downtown Grand Junction. (Yes, they do have a downtown area!) Grand Junction is actually quite a bit bigger than I was picturing in my head. You really only drive through the very outskirts of town when you are driving on I-70 across Colorado into Utah.
Downtown was pretty cute. They actually have a lot of art on display on the main street. Once again there is definitely some art I just don't get. While other pieces where very cool. The kids favorite was the giant Buffalo made from large pieces of metal. (I think it reminded them of the Buffalo Roam in West Yellowstone!)
We only went in a few stores. The kids favorite by far was the Toy Store. Those little toy stores have so much cool stuff. But it is so much more expensive there than at someplace like Walmart that it is hard to even consider buying anything. They had a really funny little rubber horse that the little kids thought was fun to bounce on. (But at $50 there was not much of a chance it was going to be purchased!)
After our walk around downtown and grabbing some lunch at Chick-Filet (which I still can not believe that we don't have here in Vegas as they have the best lemonade in the world) we headed back to Leslie's house to change into our swimsuits. (No we did not go to another waterpark, but we did go to a Lake! It's kind of like a natural waterpark!)

Leslie took us to a State park close to her house. She had never actual been there before, but had heard about it. And it was really fun. We got there a little later, so the crowds had started to diminish which was good because it was not that big of a lake. Also it gave our kids free reign of the kiddie area- at least most of the time.
There was an entire section roped off just for smaller children. And for a cost of $5 you got two hours of playtime. Which included small paddleboats, a climbing "iceberg", sand toys, and a shallow swimming area. The kids had so much fun the $5 was well worth it. And the adults could go in with the younger kids too, so that was nice. Lincoln still doesn't think he needs any help, even though he has no idea how to swim!

After the lake we headed back to the Hunts where Troy fired up the grill and cooked a nice spread of different BBQ items including hotdogs, hamburgers, pork chops, steak, and corn. So there was something to everyone's liking!

I think Emerie had a good time on her Birthday. And she was so excited to get her first Webkinz- a lilkinz hippo! She is still debating on what she is going to name it, but I bet it will be good whatever it is! (I guess I better get a computer set up at her house so she has some way to get on to the website to give it a name!)

We leave tomorrow and we are definitely not looking forward to the drive or the fact that returning home means we have to go back to work. But I think it is about time to bring this trek to a close! It has been a ton of fun, but I am definitely going to need a vacation from this vacation and from the looks of it that is not going to happen! (I go back to work Monday morning!!)

Day 16: Traveling

We have made it to our last destination before home- Grand Junction. The drive wasn't too bad today. It was just about 4 hours. Which is one of our shortest routes so far. (Which does not make up for the fact that stopping here makes for the longest car time when we head home on Sunday! But let's not think of that now!)

Quincy was so excited to get here and I think Jenna must have been just as anxious. Jenna ran right out as soon as the car pulled up and her and Quincy gave each other a huge hug! It was so cute! (I of course was not prepared with the camera!)

We did not do much today other than drive and then hang out here with the Hunt's. The kids had a good itme jumping on the tramp and playing Rock Band on the Wii. While I once again tried to keep Lincoln off the stairs~ I can not wait to get home where he can roam free without worrying about what he is destroying!!