First day of 6th grade

Bri had a great first day of school. She is really excited about all the things she is going to be learning this year. I had a good day back too...even though it rained during lunch recess. I have less time that I will be spending on the playground this year and was able to pick up some clerical hours too. SEM this year was cut hours so I am working about 5 hours less per week than I was last year. I have more to do and less hours to get it done!

Rock Hounds!

We had the most amazing day yesterday! We got up at 5:30 (yes...on a Saturday) and left the house at 6:15 to meet up with a group of people that JT knows from work. (Russ works for the company that JT used to work for, and Dr. Checketts and some of his office staff). We drove out to the boonies in Wyoming where we had made arrangements to dig for fossils on some private property. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. The rock is sandstone and is in layers. You chip the layers apart with a hammer and chisel and there are fish, manta rays and plants inside the layers of the rock. We found some amazing things and now have to get them cleaned up (you have to take a dental pick and get all the sediment off of the fossil) and then we can display some of them in our home. VERY COOL!

This is one of the fossils we found!

The guy who owns the property is working on excavating these palm fronds. He keeps them covered and when he gets them removed from the side of the cliff he will probably be able to sell them for at least $20,000!

We then went with Russ to another area of the state and met up with another group of work associates. We drove to an area that has fossilized turtles. They have been under much looser soil and are broken into bits, but it is really amazing to see and the pieces are very interesting. As the ground has eroded it has exposed the fossilized turtles and as you can see in the photo below, a lot of them were in little circles on top of the mounds of dirt. You can see the texture of the shell, the spongey material it is made of and even find bones mixed in. We also found Gar fish scales, which after millions of years are still shiney. The area was a lake about 45 million years ago.

When we were done we went back to the home of Dr. Noe, who was the one that took us out to find the turtles, and he showed us some of his other fossils and rocks. The photo below shows him with a turtle shell that he found. It was in pieces just like the ones we saw, but he found every piece and put it back together. He was such a kind man. He gave me a very cool piece of petrified wood that he has polished and it is just beautiful. I will always treasure it.

And one of Bri's highlights was when she got to drive a quad!

We had a fun adventure and are kind of bitten by a rock hound bug...now I want to find more!

Wow..I was actually productive!

We took Bri swimming with her cousins last Saturday. I got to have scrap day (even though I didn't do as much scrapping as I did talking...sorry guys!)

I painted my little dresser with my free paint that I got from Glidden. This was my dresser growing up and it has been yellow, white, green and now brown.

I took Bri school shopping and got her all ready for 6th grade. She also wanted to get a haircut and have her eyebrows waxed. They look very nice...and she is VERY happy!

One thing after another

Ok, I don't usually complain on my blog but I think I have to vent a little.

My dishwasher broke in June. I didn't want to spend the money when I was not working during the summer so I did dishes by hand for 2 months. Two weeks ago we felt like it was close enough to me going back to work that we could replace the broken dishwasher. We even installed it ourselves because we ROCK!

Last week JT was out of town for four days and Bri was playing with her friends. They came running upstairs and said there was smoke in the basement. I wigged out trying to find where it was coming from. It was not thick smoke, but it was definitely something burning. After about 10 minutes I narrowed it down to my dryer. It has been having a few problems working for the last several months and is now a risk to our home. We JUST bought the new dishwasher two weeks ago, what makes me want to buy a new dryer...that is NOT fun.

THEN...the next day Bri was looking at Yeager and said that he was winking at her. He was actually squinting his left eye and it was watering a lot. I waited until the next day and then called the vet. They recommended having it looked at because he could easily lose an eye if an infection goes untreated. So after a visit to the vet, a cornial stain and a diagnosis of a corneal ulcer, we are getting him feeling better with some antibiotic ointment that we have to put in his eye three times a day. And for those of you who know Yeager, he is a very hyper puppy and doesn't sit still very well, but it must feel good to have the ointment in his eye because he sits very still and lets me put it in every time.

Today we were going to have that garage sale I have been waiting for all summer. I have had a pile of junk in my bathroom all summer. We finally got a round to it and had everything set up in the garage...and it rained. Now I have a garage full of unwanted items that have to wait another two weeks because we have plans next weekend. But at least I have a clean bathroom!

So...dishwasher...good......dog...good.....junk...taking over my garage......dryer...HOW AM I GOING TO DO LAUNDRY THIS WEEK!

okay...rant over. sorry. ;)

Priceless

Money spent on couches purchased 10 years ago, that I disliked within minutes of delivery...$1200.00...

Price of fabric given to me by a friend...$0.00...

Cost of materials to complete the project...$10.00...

Liking my couches again...priceless!

I was given this fabric, which was actually two curtains which used to hang in the Ogden Temple. There were some dirt stains on one of them that I had to work around, but it was totally worth it to have such pretty fabric and add some life to couches that I have really come to hate! It took two days of a total disaster in my living room, but JT was out of town and I was able to surprise him with "new" furniture when he got home...and he LOVED them! :)

Jackson Trip

We enjoyed our trip to Jackson Hole Wyoming this past week. We had a lot of fun camping and hiking in Teton National Park around Jenny Lake. We drove through Yellowstone on our way to Cody Wyoming where JT had some work stuff he had to do. When he got done working we spent part of the day at the Buffalo Bill Museum. It was a great museum that had five museums in one: An area all about Buffalo Bill, a Natural History Museum, Indians of the Plains museum, Gun Museum and a Western Art Museum. The weather was not so good, we got rained on a lot while we were hiking and at night, but never when we were fixing dinner or sitting around the campfire in the evening...small blessings! We had a great trip and enjoyed being together, but we are also glad to be home and in our warm beds!

MIA..Missing but still in Action

We have been keeping ourselves very busy for the past few weeks. We have been spending as much time outdoors as we can since the beginning of the summer we were inside so much with Bri and her recovery. She is feeling so much better and wanting to be active. These are some pictures from a few of our hikes a few weeks ago, and a Home Depot moment with Keekin.

Waterfall Canyon

Today for the holiday we wanted to be out doing something together. We ended up going for a hike up waterfall canyon. It was pretty difficult for me...I am REALLY out of shape. Just when I was getting discouraged and about to let JT and Bri go on without me, we were there. I MADE IT! JT and Bri didn't have a problem at all, just poor old Mom! :) It was refreshing to sit under the waterfalls and cool down. Now I am stiff and sore...I have got to get in shape!

Randomness

Over a year ago I lost my micro SD card that goes in my cell phone. I had looked everywhere for it and it magically turned up a few days ago. I have not had a way to get the pictures off of my camera for a while, so here is a smattering of what has been living in my phone...

Bubba, outside looking in (It is usually the other way around!)

We like to find pictures of oddly named products and capture them for posterity. :)

Marf is bendo-twisty and she was sitting like this last week when we were visiting.

So cute!

My great niece, she had dropped her binky and I gave it to her through the gate! (Yes...that makes me a GREAT aunt!)

Yeager loves it when his blankets are warm from the dryer, I let him climb into the dryer to lay on his warm blankets.

DOT...

Fun at the park a few weeks ago.