Leap Day!

Did you know that today is Gioachino Rossini's birthday? Just a little leap day trivia. He actually had written an opera or 2 before his 3rd birthday!


Ok, so this has been a very hectic week. Not only did we have parent/teacher conferences on Tuesday, but I also travelled to Orem to play for 5 band students for their region solo competition. Three of the 5 actually received I's (Top scores), and will probably go on to State in April. In the meantime, John has had the flu and Gabe hasn't been feeling that well, either.




This was a big snowball someone had rolled into the middle of the park. Gabe just wanted to sit on it.

These were taken on our big Snow day at the park! Gabe loved it. I was freezing!


Gabe turns 5 this week! Does it even seem possible? We were going to try to have Gabe's birthday party this weekend, but I haven't even had time to figure out what cake to make him or anything else, for that matter. So, we will postpone the festivities to next weekend: Sara has agreed to let us have the party at her house. So we will plan on Saturday, March 8th, probably around 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. I will keep everyone posted this week.


I thought I would also show everybody what the downstairs bathroom is shaping up to be. Of course, right now, all it is is a great big mess! But it is really taking shape. Sorry for the poor color on these pictures.

The shower is all tiled in and the grout applied. There is even this great bench inside. I guess this is the south-east side of the basement. It used to be storage space.

Here is some of the construction mess. Then the floor has just been installed: dark blue tiles put down in sheets. The walls are now sanded and smooth. A little more finish work, and the toilet and sink can be installed. Not to mention my washer and dryer put back. (Luckily, we've been able to use my Mom's for the last 3 weeks.) We'll take more pictures as more gets done and let you all see the final product. We are really looking forward to getting this all done! Then we can start upstairs!

An Unexpected Day Off!

Valentines Day held a few extra surprises yesterday: the biggest being that I did not have to go to school! For the first time in over 15 years, Tooele actually cancelled school! But, it was a nice, relaxing day, with a nice big rose bouquet at the end of it. Madi has so much fun making pictures in negative, that I decided to try a few. Here is my bouquet in both real and negative colors. They look really cool!

Here it is, February 15th, and the month is half gone! Where is time going? It seems like the term just got going, and now mid-terms are due next week, as well as parent/teacher conferences the next. We all got hit by the monster storm on Wednesday, but Tooele actually got more that 18 inches of snow out of it! John called me at 3:30 a.m. and told me it was not a good idea for me to try to drive to work yesterday morning. So, I got up early and set up sub plans and applied for a sub, etc. and then, as it turned out, Tooele School District actually cancelled school, so I didn't have to worry about it. I still had to get up and get Madi to early morning seminary.

This picture is taken looking west from Clarke Johnsen Jr. High. It was really pretty out there today. Even if half of their snow melted there like it did here, that was a LOT of snow!

This picture is at Tooele Jr, where I just about couldn't find a parking space for all the snow!

Ok, so it doesn't quite match up to Idaho standards, but you have to admit Utah hasn't seen this kind of action in quite a while.

Lalo discovered that the heat vent is right under the sink. He just stretched out there and enjoyed the warmth!

You know, for a cat that isn't even ours, we've sure had fun with him! He comes and goes as he pleases, but we all just love him! He even has Mom's nurse under his spell. She picks him up and he just purrs like a little motor.

These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago when we were all at Stacy's. Somehow, John got both babies, and I couldn't resist taking these pictures. Unfortunately, the lights from the windows kind of distort these, but you can see that John is just loving having those girls in his arms.

Well, this is the big weekend for Esme. We will be seeing everyone there! Drive safely and we look forward to the fun!

Back to the Grind

Since the last time I checked in, we drove home from Idaho, spent a day doing laundry and other necessary tasks, and then drove to St. George for my Music Teachers' Conference. Gabe really looked forward to the pool! We stayed at the same place we all stay when we travel down there for the Shakespearean Festival, etc. So we all got to swim a bit, I got some really great new ideas, and John got a few extra relaxing days to finish off his vacation.

Notice the difference in snow depths from the 1st day to our last in Idaho. John cleaned about 18 inches of snow off the van before we left.

We stopped by the Rexburg Temple on our way home. It was still really cold, so we didn't linger long enough to do more than snap these pictures. It is a beautiful building.

Well, the vacation was great, and now it is back to work for both John and me. One thing about being gone for a few days, my students were really glad to see me again. However, I am now finding out that I have quite a bit of work cut out for me to catch up on grades. Not only that, but I have to figure out exactly what the subs did and did not do.

Yesterday we had a little glitch with some of our construction: someone had forgotten to reconnect the water softener hose correctly, and as I was getting ready for school yesterday morning, I stepped in a rather large puddle of water right in the middle of our closet! The water covered half the basement, and, with John at work and me heading out the door, we couldn't do a thing about it! Luckily, it didn't spread to the bedroom itself, and nothing was really damaged. It was just another one of those nuisances that occur when you are rebuilding.

Anyway, life is back to being very routine -- which is not always a bad thing. It just isn't as fun as vacation time.