Happy Birthday little Katy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
I hope all is well. Just think, you're 2 now. You should be able to read this message by now. We love you tons. SKT (Uncle Sam)

Mom Trekking...

So, Mom sent me this picture of her on the trek to post here for everyone to see. I think she looks great, don't you?!? Keryn and I were talking about it earlier, and they look really vintage, like they stepped right out of a pioneer picture...you know, except for the water bottle, the camera, the sunglasses, the tennis shoes, the camp chair...=) Anyway, enjoy!

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of MEEEEE

So yesterday, Sunday, was an interesting day. Caren and I woke up to our air conditioning not working. Through the help of our home teacher we diagnosed the problem as our fan motor stopped working. We were able to get a hold of Caren's old visiting teaching partner whose husband works to repair air conditioning units. We told him what we thought it was and why and he came right over to fix it. He had a few spare motors on hand and was able to repair it. As a side note, we did call a company to see if they could come and they said they couldn't make it until Monday. We were so happy to have our air conditioning back on again. The temperature in our house got as high as 94 degrees before it was fixed. Hot day.

As for other things, I am done with my workshop for the fellowship I was awarded that will put me into a middle or high school for the coming school year. I will be working with a small school with both 7th and 8th graders. I will be working with 2 different teachers. I am excited to interact with the students and to see what kind of equipment they have at the school. The school is located in Superior, AZ. It is just short of 40 miles away from our home but in the opposite direction of Phoenix. I don't mind as I will be reimbursed for miles driven. Now get this, they reimburse the miles as if I were driving from ASU. So the important mileage is how far away the school is from ASU not from my house. The school is closer to 60 miles away from ASU while as I mentioned before I will be traveling less then 40 miles. So I guess I will be making an extra $2-3 on traveling alone.

Love you all tons and I do hope all is well. SKT

I survived!!!!

Trek is now officially over and I survived.  I really cannot tell how much I am glad it is over.  We have been working on it for soooo long.  I can't tell you how much I am sorry that it is over.  It was very successful.  At least I think it was.  From where I was I think that the youth of our stake will never forget it.  It was hard, it was fun, it was emotional, it was great.  I truly saw some miracles and also some amazing acts of charity.  There was one girl ( a member of the youth committee) who went up and down the big hill at least 5 times.  She was carrying the buckets that everyone packed in to lighten the carts.  The biggest thing was that she didn't just carry one bucket at a time but one in each hand.  This same girl sat through our youth committee meetings and never said a word.  We sometimes weren't even sure she was listening.  We saw boys and men go up and down to help many carts and not just their own.  We saw other youth just sit there and let others do the work.  I guess that human nature is what it is.  Those who really got into the experience got the most out of it.  I can't say that I walked every step of the way but those I didn't take were because of the job that I had to do to make sure everything was working the way it should.  I did however climb the big hill.  It was easier than I had feared because we were able to take our time.  It was great.  I learned  to appreciate the sacrifices made by the pioneers and especially our own ancestors.  It was a great sacrifice for them and I understand it only a tiny bit but more than before.

It's about time

It's about time I posted again. I am sorry that I haven't done it for a long time. I do get on and read but I have been so busy I haven't posted lately. I am up to my ears in Trek but that is no excuse. It was lovely to have LaDale here and I will admit to taking some time off to spend it with her. We were in fact quite lazy, which was good for both of us. However, I had meeting almost every week night and on Sunday. Monday has been the only night that I have been home for some time now. This week is going to be busy but on Wednesday afternoon, we will be leaving for Ely. Trek begins Thursday and to tell you the truth I can't wait for it to be over. I am soooo tired of thinking about it that I could cry. I really hope that it goes well. I am so afraid that the kids will just walk the trail and feel nothing. I know tha some will really get into it and some will not but I hope they have a good time anyway. Next week I get to start on camp. I am trying to see if I can go to Provo between trek and camp. I am hoping to. I am also still planning to go to Arizona in August. Now you have all my plans. I love you all. i will let you know how trek goes.

Alert! Bragging ahead

Ezra and I have been doing preschool for the past three weeks, three days a week. It's a blast and totally worth the lost nap (mine, not his. Ezra hasn't napped in months).

Ezra can read the word "lava". He knows that strawberry flowers are white, but that strawberries are red. He is quite comfortable with opposites, and knows that "leafy" trees lose all their leaves in the winter, but "forevergreen" trees always have their needles. He can recognize most color names (pink and purple are a little confusing, probably because of the "p"), and he can make up songs about anything in the world. (Fortunately most of his songs are short.) He can write his name (although more than half the time the "Z" is backwards) and is currently having "preschool" with his little sister in the other room.

I think that next week in preschool I'll teach him linear algebra. Anyone know a good textbook?

Happy Birthday

Sorry this is so late on your birthday, but I just wanted to tell the bestest oldest sister in the world how much I LOVE YOU. Happy happy birthday, LaDale. You really are the best.

Baby Awesome

Baby Awesome likes to hide, which makes for some interesting moments at the doctor's office when they try to find the heartbeat. It took long enough today to find it that I honestly started to worry...but just for a minute. All is well!

We're going to invade B. Awesome's privacy on July 9 at around 3:30 in the afternoon, and maybe we'll get the A-OK on all things health related. And hopefully we'll get to know if we are following in Jen's footsteps--boy, girl, boy with slightly-longer-than-normal hospital stay, then...girl? That would be fun, and would break the pattern of Bradley's family--one girl each, except Nicole who has all boys.

Puzzle Master

As I'm going to sleep at night--a process that takes progressively more time as pregnancy continues--I like to listen to NPR. I like their science shows, the news quiz show, I like most of their "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition" (I like mocking their left-ward slant), etc. On Sunday mornings, they have a little puzzle segment that you can try to figure out. If you do, and you get it right, and your entry is picked, you get all sorts of prizes and get to try some real live puzzles on the air.

So last night's (actually yesterday morning's) puzzle was DRIVING ME CRAZY, because I felt like I knew the answer. Here it is:

Name a famous male movie star. Change the first letter of his first name to a G and change the last letter of his last name to a T. The result will be two words that are synonyms. Who is the movie star and what are the words?

I finally figured it out! (I'm embarrassed to tell you what I resorted to or how long it took me, but I did not cheat or look online for the specific answer. I did use lists of famous actors from online, though...)

I'll give you a clue, if you are so inclined to try to figure it out. I know FOR CERTAIN that you all have heard of this actor. Hey, and if you figure it out, go ahead and submit your answer at the link above. Maybe you'll win!

My (presumed correct, because I am brilliant) answer is in the comments.