Blogging Catch-up night

Last weekend we decided to go to Hollister for the last weekend before school started. We left Friday morning for our trip over the hill. We had a great time visiting with The Dad's family and took the kids to the beach. For Austin and Kelsey, this was their first time to the ocean. Allynn and Sydney had been before, but Allynn must have been about three and Sydney was not one yet. These two informed us they were too young and that visit didn't count. Whatever -- A great time was had by all!!

The mad dash for the water.

It is cold!

Well, not that cold.

Here comes a wave! Lets get ready

We weren't ready!

Did you see that wave just knock us all over!!!!

The Land Lovers. At one point both The Dad and Duane were on their phones. At least they weren't talking to each other. (on the phone, I mean)

Kelsey did not leave the blanket for most of the day. She was not impressed with the sand on her feet. She was pretty happy to just sit on the edge and put her hands in it.

Hey Austin! Look out for the wave behind you!!!

Too Late! (Can you see his foot?)

"I do not like the salt. I like the waves, but not the salt."

We did not loose any children. We did, however, loose a yellow sand form which at one point came back just to be swept out to sea again. The life guard, who I assume was bored, offered to swim out to get it, but it was gone.

Thanks anyway.

The Dad!

He is not much of a beach goer now that he is old, but he had a great time anyway.

Allynn - not excited when it was time to leave, but was very relieved to take a shower to get all of the sand off. A few days later she finally believed me when I told her the sand would never really be gone. "Is it bad if there is sand in my ears?"
Sydney - She played in the water for a little while, but decided that the salt was not worth it. She played nicely in the sand with the land lovers and manged to not get one bit of sunburn.
Austin also did not like the salt. He was the one that swallowed the water and threw-up in the sand. He was quick to bury it and head back to the water. Good Job, Bubba Dubba!
Kelsey was happy to stay out of the water. Her favorite part was when The Dad got out of his seat so she could steal it. He also left his drink behind. Finders Keepers. I was the one taking the pictures, so of course there are not any of me. I wore my sweat shirt the whole time. I know I looked exactly like my mother sitting on the beach -- in my chair with my hood on and a towel over my legs. We didn't take any snacks, and I was missing a Good Housekeeping, but I thought about it and that should count. This was a great way to end the summer break.

Sprinkler Trenches

It was hot and the ground is so hard. We had to first water the ground for two days to make it muddy so the shovels would go into the dirt. Allynn was in charge of pictures. This picture shows the center trench. There are two more - one on the right and one on the left. I was glad to have them done, but I was tired!!

New Look

Since everyone else has changed their blog look, I thought I would too. I chose stripes to match the rainbow of the Reno arc and the building colors to the side. The stripes also match my living room.

Since I changed this layout so easily, I am now wishing I could change my layout so easily. I would like to get a haircut, but I don't know what style to get. I don't really like to do my hair. Right now I have long hair, which is easily put up into a pony tail. I have put my hair up so much this spring and summer that I now have the lovely wispys that stick up all over my head. I miss Aunt Mary, who would cut my hair just right. She was here in the US visiting, but I never did get to anywhere she was, not that she had her scissors with her anyway. I have also seen a few old episodes of "Friends" and I almost want those cute hair styles to come back. I am not really a short hair person even though short hair could have some perks. I guess what I really need to do is look through some books and magazines and find something simple. Winter is coming and the ponytail will be chilly on my ears since it does not fit in a hat very nicely.

School is in Session!!!

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For 7 hours of everyday, 3 of the 4 children are at school. This house is so quiet, well, quieter. Today is the first Friday and all kids have had a great week at school. Allynn and Sydney jumped right back into the swing of things on the first day. They did not what to be driven to school, because they were worried about missing the party on the bus. Austin was sunburned (I know - bad mom) so he needed to stay home Monday. He was also very nervous about going for the full day. He stayed home and watched movies with The Dad. Then Tuesday morning he was worried about going because he had missed the first day and the school tour. I drove him after first going to Wal-Mart to fill every one's supply list. We lucked out this year. For 3 classes, we only spent $27.00 on supplies. The killer part was the $20.00 each child needed for the "class fund". This is supposed to take care of the field trips, weekly reader, and pretty much whatever else the teacher wants to do with it. Anyway, after getting Austin to school, he remembered the great times to be had and was fine. They all rode the bus home together.

Kelsey and I and Jason keep ourselves busy with "Baby Renni" as Kesley calls her. She is 10 months old and has been sick for most of the days we have had her. Today though was a great day. She played on the floor with Kelsey. Kelsey was nice. There was way less crying than the day before. (I am OK now, thank you!)

Jason had two interviews this week and another company emailed him for his resume. We are feeling upbeat and ready to tackle whatever may come our way.

As for the yard - - - The sprinklers are in. I have some pictures and will post them soon. Our goal for this weekend is to get the seed spread and watered. I am very excited!!

Have a great three day weekend!!!!

New Post To Fill You In

I am in the 8th week of my Research Writing class. I will be very happy when it is over. I am hoping for at least a B. I have the rough draft of the paper done and now I need to beef it up from 1000 words to 2000-2500 words. I am sure I will be able to find more fluff with a little help from my mom and Laura who have taught me more than this class. I am very thankful for their help and encouragement to keep going. I am ready to be done. It is very close, since it is a 9 week class.

Today I went to the DETR (Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation) to test for a position there. I should have the results in about 2 weeks. It was pretty straight forward - a few math questions, reading comprehension, and situation questions. I had 2 1/2 hours to take the test and finished in 2. I feel pretty good about it. Now I just have to wait.

Jason will be taking a similar test on Thursday for a different position. Good Luck to him! He took the Census Test a couple of weeks ago when they all went to Utah. He passed! What that mean now, I don't know. We are still waiting.

As for the job hunt, we are still hunting. I have started watching a baby, which I think I blogged about already. Jason has a meeting with a recruiter tomorrow and another interview for a different company next week. Keep us in your prayers. Something is coming, we just don't know what.

It has been REALLY HOT. We had a week of temperatures over 97 degrees and a few of those were over 100. Then today it was 67 degrees for most of the day. The wind picks up here and the weather gets all kinds of crazy. Then about 3pm the temp went up. We are talking about going to CA this weekend to visit with Jason's parents. Our last get away before school starts. I am hoping for at least one great day so we can go to the beach. My kids have not been for a long time. I am not sure Austin has ever been and I am sure Kelsey has never been. This will be a fun trip. I am hoping Jason will show the kids how to body surf. We don't really have waves at Lake Tahoe. I will bring the camera and try to get some good pictures.

Then Monday school starts. I am not the only one excited for this. All the kids are ready to get back. They are "soooo bored"! We are looking forward to a better year for Allynn in 5th grade. Sydney will be in 3rd grade and yes, Austin will be in 1st grade. Where does the time go? It will be just me and Kelsey during the day taking care of the baby.

So, that is what we have been up to in a nut shell.

Family gone, but am I ready for them to come home?

Well, I did finally find things to do. Kelsey got sick, we found a home for our dog Roxie, I visited with friends, and rested.

I didn't have too much of a problem Wednesday since that was the day everyone left. The evening was quiet and Kelsey and I laid on my bed and read books and watched TV.

Thursday I watched the little baby I had to stay home for. She has been sick and I have only had her starting last week, so she was not fun to have. Kelsey also has been sick with an infection so we had to go to the Dr to get antibiotics. She does not like the medicine so it has been fun getting her to take it. I hold her down, pry open her mouth, squirt a little bit in her mouth and then tell her "good job, Kelsey, good job". Then she gets Lemon Lime soda in the can with a straw. That seems to make everything better. Between these two babies, I am always glad when it is nap time, during which time I tried to read more research for my persuasive paper. The ruff draft is due on Wednesday.

Thursday night Roxie met her new family and went home with them. I didn't think I was so attached to her already, but I was sad to see her go. I didn't sleep much that night which made Friday a day of pretty much nothing. As soon as Kelsey and the baby were asleep, I laid down to take a much needed rest.

Saturday was just me and Kelsey. We returned some movies to Blockbuster and had dinner with some friends in our ward. She was still not feeling that great so she didn't eat anything, but she did jump on the trampoline and play with our friend's dogs. She was tired when we got home so we went to bed.

Sunday was church, so pretty much the excitement of the day was taken care of. Sacrament meeting, Primary, go home. We took a rest and then went to another friends home for dinner with the missionaries. We had a great time talking while Kelsey chased their cats. She was tired after that too so we came home and went to bed.

Today is Monday. We had the baby over again today. She seems to be felling better which makes her happier. I think we will like her. Kelsey is taking her medicine so she is feeling better too. We went to Costco to get diapers (We hope the last two boxes.) and then came home a put the babies to sleep. I have been reading more research and trying to formulate my thoughts for this research paper. I am so rusty on the whole school thing. I didn't realize until last week that all the assignments are designed to prepare for this one paper. I am doing it the hard way. Hopefully for the next class I will catch on sooner and stay ahead.

That is my time alone in a nutshell. Not much going on. Today all the family gets home and tomorrow we will go to Lake Tahoe and swim in the lake. It should be a very nice day.

Whatever will I do with myself?

Tomorrow morning, Jason and the big kids will be going to Utah for 5 days. Kelsey will be staying with me. Jason is going to take the Census Bureau test. I wonder if it is a Civil Servant exam? Anyway, that will be on Thursday. Keep him in your prayers, this could be the leg up we have been waiting for.

More yard work ahead

Last Friday our friend came over to look at our sprinkler system to tell us just how much work we are in for. By the time we were done talking, I thought for sure we would never get sprinklers in our front yard and I would have to hand water forever. Jason being the great husband that he is, went out today and dug up some of the old sprinkler pipes so we could really see where the water is coming and going.

Here is what we found out -

There is water coming from the backyard to the font yard and there will not be as much digging through cement as we thought!!! YEAH!!!!!

It looks like we will need to do a little patching of pipe where we accidentally dug into it. Then we will be able to put in new valves for both the front and back yards. This will get the water to each yard. Then we will dig the new trenches for the pipe, which I think I will be working on while Jason and the kids are gone.

We may have lawn before the end of the summer.

I am sure we will have a better appreciation for what it takes to get this yard looking better. I hope I never have to do this again. If we ever move again, the yard will need to be done and the house will also need to be done. The only project allowed will be changing paint colors and even then I am not sure we will want to do that.