HI

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. So much has happened in the last year and a half.

I started working as a 3rd-grade teacher at Excelsior Academy. I absolutely love it! It is so fun to be teaching these children. I love to see how they grow and continue to learn throughout the year. I love being at the school with Joanie and Hunter and being home with them when they're home. This job has been a true blessing to us.

Ryan continues to work at Wal-Mart. He was on overnights for a while, but then was moved back to days. Days are much nicer for us. We have a bedtime routine down. He has to put the kids to bed, or they don't sleep.

Joanie is 9 and learning so much. She loves her teacher this year. She is in third grade, and I made the request that she not be in my class. I have her 30 minutes 4x a week. This is doable. She is playing the violin and loves reading (I wonder where she gets this from). She continue to amazes me with what she knows.

Hunter is 7 and will be baptized April 7. I can't believe my baby is old enough to be baptized. He too is learning so much from school. He can tell you exactly how your digestive system works, with great detail. He has an amazing teacher who works so hard with him to make sure all is well. He has gone from reading 18 wpm at the beginning of first grade to 89 wpm mid second year. I am so proud of how hard he works to become so smart.

We stay busy and continue to have fun. I really should do more blogging, but I don't seem to have the time.

Family Vacation

We had a wonderful vacation. We started out from my parents on Sunday night and drove to Rawlins, Wyoming. Monday morning we drove to Martin'sCove, Wyoming and looked around. The kids were able to pull some handcarts through a little park. It was really cute to see them pull the handcarts. Hunter said, "This is really hard." I explained to him how what he was doing was nothing compared to what the pioneers went through. They loved pulling the handcart and they each got a "diamond" ring (made from a diamond nail), and a necklace for looking at different buildings.

We then drove on to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD. There we went on a little tour of the site and saw where they were digging for mammoth bones.

After the mammoth site we drove onto Mount Rushmore. This was awesome. Especially when we saw the mountain light up. It was an amazing experience. The kids had a good time and we were able to see a lot.

We stopped in Deadwood, SD and saw my aunt, and then we drove through Yellowstone. The kids absolutely loved seeing Old Faithful. Where as, the post is full of pictures, I'm not going to post anymore here, but suffice it to say, we had a great time, but are glad to be back home.

End of school

I can't believe it's already close to summer vacation. This school year has gone by extremely quick for me. I have to say though, I can't wait for summer vacation! I'm so excited for the kids to be home with me all day. I'm not sure how it's going to go with Ryan on overnights. We're going to end up spending a lot of time at the park. We're also buying a pass to the Tracey Aviary in Salt Lake City. If we buy a certain pass we can get into the Dinosaur Park in Ogden, the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, Thanksgiving Pointe in Lehi and a couple of other places. I'm planning on keeping the kids busy during the summer while Ryan's sleeping.
The kids are really excited for summer vacation. Joanie loves school, but is ready for a break. Hunter's is just ready for a break. He has a very small attention span, but loves to learn. They are both excited about our plans for family vacation. We are planning on taking a road trip to South Dakota. We will end up going and seeing Mount Rushmore (Hunter learned about it in school and has wanted to see it since then). On the way back we're going to drive through Yellowstone. My parents are going to go with us. We're going to rent a large vehicle with three rows of seats. That way the kids can be separated and won't be able to fight. We're going to take a week for the vacation. It should be tons of fun. I'll make sure and post some pictures afterward.

I used the spring picnic blog train from stuff to scrap to create this page of our family at a family reunion last summer. I love the colors in this blog train. If you're interested in the freebies follow this link http://craftwithme.typepad.com/craftwithme/. You'll have to scroll down a little bit to get to the links for this blog train. I didn't use a lot of the elements, because I wanted to keep it simple, but here's the page I designed with it. Let me know what you think.

Hunter's six

Last Saturday Hunter turned six. I can't beleive it was six years ago that we brought home a tiny 4 pounds 9 ounces baby from the hospital. Hunter was born March 20, 2004 in St. George, Utah. He weight 5 pounds 3 ounces, but he lost weight before we brought him home. He was so small, but such a breath of life. He was loved from the start by Joanie, Ryan and myself.

Saturday, we didn't really have a birthday party, but our neighbors boys and our children spent all day together. Hunter opened presents first. He received a track, a zhu zhu pet, a Scooby-Doo DVD, a bookcase, a Handy Manny toy and some shorts.

The complete second season of Scooby-Doo.

Handy Manny

His bookcase for his room.

Hunter Rhea, Joanie, Hunter Palmer and Christopher Rhea waiting for cake. Bridger Rhea waiting for cake.

Later that night we took Hunter and Joanie bowling. We invited their friends, Christopher and Hunter Rhea. After bowling we took them to Denny's for dinner. The kids all had a blast. They loved spending all day together.Hunter PalmerJoanie

Christopher Rhea

Hunter Rhea

I can't believe my baby is six. He is growing up and learning so much. I love him so much and he is my happy helper.

New Furniture

Ryan and I were in desperate need of a new bed. We had our mattess sitting right on the floor, no box springs or frame. RC Willey was having a great sale on a bedroom set. We were able to get a new bed, dresser and night stand. I am so EXCITED to have it. Here's some pictures of it.

I'm so excited for the bed. I have wanted a sleigh bed since Ryan and I were married, and now I have one! We went from a king bed to a queen bed. The kids are disappointed because we told them they could no longer climb into bed with us. We only got one nightstand with it. Can you guess who's side of the bed it is on? The pig should give it away. It has two drawers and is great for my books (since we all know I like to read).

The dresser is gorgeous. I absolutely love it. There are eight drawers in it and a beautiful mirror. We gave the dresser we had in our room into Joanie's. She's way excited because now she has a mirror in her room.
Abby

Digital Scrapbooking

My friend, Robyn, has got me hooked on digital scrapbooking. I haven't done much of it in the past, but in the last 24 hours I've completed a few pages. Let me know what you think.