Back to School Sales

Everywhere I turn there are ads for back to school stuff, and all I can think is "No, I don't want to go back yet! I'm not ready!" I think I am ready to switch places with Werty. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it will happen. I haven't finished any of my projects this summer (I'm not counting the class I finished and the surgery I had as 'projects.') However, I have spent a lot of time with my son, which was my highest priority. And now with Softserve's wedding and other family stuff, my summer is about done. I am in mourning.

Yesterday I actually got Werty interested in a house for sale in Springville. (The lot was over a 1/3 of an acre!) Then today we had a dose of reality. Ah, well. Maybe next year.

The last few days I have been canning apricot jam from my sister's apricot tree. We ran out of homemade jam a couple of months ago, and it has been sad. I am hoping that 13 pints will last us for at least a year.

Today we took advantage of the overcast weather to do some weeding in our garden. The tomato plants are tall and bushy this year. Because of the colder season this year, the first few tomatoes are just now showing up.

Yesterday in church the family that usually sits on the other end of our pew wasn't there. Since Werty leads the music, I have BooBear to myself during sacrament meeting. BooBear spent the meeting walking along the length of the pew, holding on of course, making lots of friends with the people in the row behind us. Werty found it very amusing to watch from up on the stand. Back and forth, his mommy following after.

Day at the Zoo

We went to the Hogle Zoo last Tuesday. We had to drive to SLC anyway to pick up my mom who flew in for the sealing, so we decided to make a day of it. Here is BooBear in his safari overalls for the occasion. He didn't stay in the stroller very long. I ended up carrying him around most of the time because he got hot and tired quickly.

Seeing the new baby elephant was on my "to-do list" for the summer, and she sure was cute!



This primate climbed out on the branch to stare right at BooBear. Being black, white and fluffy, he got BooBear's attention.


Can you find the animal in this picture?

Here's a closer look:
A snow leopard!
Yay! Tigers!
I sang him the Willy the Whistling Giraffe song when we got to the giraffes. Even the giraffes thought it was hot. They were standing under A/C fans.

Note to Maria: great minds think alike! Some people thought BooBear was too young to take to the zoo, but then I saw that you took your kids to the zoo the same week, and it made me feel better!

Congrats to GLump and Soyjoy

My little brother GLump and his wife Soyjoy were sealed in the Manti temple on Thursday. We made it for the sealing, but not the actual session, because the Manti temple is a decent 1.5-2 hour drive each way, and we didn't want to be away from BooBear that long. Werty and I will have to go back someday to do a session there, it is such a lovely temple! (Werty and I probably would have been married there if we had been married in the Spring instead of Winter. Getting married in the middle of Winter we were concerned about the icy two-lane roads.)

GLump and Soyjoy are expecting their first child in December, which they found out on Wednesday will be a boy! It will be such a blessing that he will be born in the covenant. Looks like BooBear will have only boy cousins close to his age.

Standing

BooBear has been pulling himself up and walking alongside the couch the last couple of weeks. Last weekend he started pulling himself and trying to stand on his own. Here you can see his progress from the video Werty took this morning.

Makes it all worth it....

when you get an email like this one:

Dear Mrs. ____ ,
I don't know if you've heard yet but...I GOT THE IB DIPLOMA!!!! Anyway, I just want to thank you so much for everything you did for me this last school year. I learned so much and I really learned to love history in your class. Thanks for being so supportive, thank you for all your awesome pep talks, thank you for being fun, thank you for being so empathetic and knowing exactly what we were going through, thank you for showing us cute pictures of your baby, thank you for being awesome!!! thank you for everything!!! I hope you know that you had a major impact on my life this last year and that I will never forget you!
With lots of love,
E

I really do love teaching the IB class. I work with phenomenal kids. And the subject matter keeps me researching and learning along with them. Congratulations to E and the other IB diploma recipients!

Softserve and Maeby

We got to meet Softserve's fiancee today. I know FBS requested a pic of the two of them together, so here it is.

1st Haircut

Here he is now:

BooBear's hair was hanging down over his ears and eyes, so it was time for a haircut. I am starting to understand the reason behind the "bowl haircut" idea - makes it easier when you are cutting the hair of a moving target. With him moving around so much, there was a snip here and there, and I just hoped that it would be even. Enjoy the pics!