2009 Legislative Session

The Utah legislative session ended Thursday night. There were several bills this year that grabbed my attention, but due to time and other responsibilites I felt like I had to choose the ones that really meant a lot to me to get involoved with. I was busy writing to congressmen all week. I had a nice email conversation with one of our representatives about charter schools. He actually seemed interested in my opinion, and I promised to keep him updated as I gain more experience. Then there's a Michigan representative who introduced a parental rights amendment into the house. I noticed my Utah Rep., Rob Bishop, had signed up to support him, so I simply sent him a thank you note for doing so. I got the standard, automated-reply email back from him. Then tonight in the middle of family home evening my phone rang. I usually don't answer my phone during FHE, not to mention it was an out of state number I didn't recognize so I REALLY shouldn't have answered, but I went ahead anyway. It was Rob Bishop! He personally called me to thank ME. He didn't seem too happy about the way the bill was being treated, though, so that was a little depressing. I wish I'd had more time to talk to him about it, and been more prepared with some questions. But this is not just a Utah issue -- it affects all parents, everywhere. So, if you care in the least bit hop on over to the parental rights website and see how you can get involved!

Sophie's Lucky Day

Just to follow up on my last post, Brandon took the girls to the family reading night (while I went to book club) and Sophie not only won a prize, but TWO! Then she came home from school today with another poster and said it was ANOTHER prize from the reading night, but I'm not sure why she got it today?? I just realized I should have taken a picture of her with her prizes. That might have made this post a little more exicting. Maybe I'll update it later.

Lucky Day!

My radio alarm clock woke me up this morning with the grand announcement that Keith Urban is coming to Salt Lake City on September 9th. Tickets go on sale next Saturday, but as DJs like to do they decided to give away tickets right then. We'll just cut to the chase and say "I WON!" Yup, I'm the very first person to get tickets (that is when they're available). I have to call back in a couple weeks to see if they have my tickets. The hard part now is trying to decide who to take with me. I may have to milk this a little, and I've got six months to do it. But you know where to find me on 9-9-09.



After starting my morning off on the right track, I went and got a massage (thanks to my hubby -- my vday present), and then since I was in such a good mood I decided to treat my hair to a cut. Then I went and picked up the girls from school. Chloe had a big AR party today so she was trying to tell me about all the stuff she had gotten when her teacher walked by and pointed out a jar of taffy Chloe was holding. She asked me if Chloe had told me about it. I hadn't even noticed it till then, so Chloe told me they had to guess how many pieces were in the jar. There were 57. She guessed 55 and another kid had guessed 59, so she got it because she didn't go over.



Yesterday Brandon got a promotion at work, so we're just waiting to see what's in store for Sophie. The PTA was sponsoring a special reading week at school, so Sophie told me she couldn't miss any days. Well, yesterday she was STILL sick. She had been up early in the morning, but had fallen back to sleep at about 7:00, so I didn't bother to wake her up for school. I thought it would do her some good, but just like before she was very upset when she woke up and realized she was missing school. I told her if she felt well enough I would take her right after lunch, then she could go listen to this story and get a stamp on her card. She turned that in today, along with the family trivia sheet so she may have a shot at winning something.

Patriotic Program

You may have received an email from Sophie a couple weeks ago. She emailed everyone in her contacts to invite them to her first grade program, only she was being sly and wouldn't divulge any information. She simply asked, "can you come here on the 26th?" She told me she wasn't going to tell anyone why so they would have to write her back, and then she'd get more emails! Isn't she a tricky one? So, I was left with a mess of confused people trying to set everyone straight about what was going on.

If you recall, the last time I wrote I left trying to figure out what to do about our wheat. We actually made a decision, and I went and placed an order with Walton Feed in Montpelier, Idaho. That very morning my dad emailed me and asked if we had looked at getting our wheat from Walton and said he could pick it up on his way to see Sophie on the 26th. WHAT? You're seriously going to drive all the way here just for Sophie's program? He sure did. Is that not one supportive grandpa? So, I called Walton and had them change my order from a delivery to a local pickup.

Amongst all the phone calls I was receiving trying to sort things out, Sheri decided since she's just sitting at home on maternity leave she could pack up little James (3 weeks old) and throw him in the truck with Grandpa. And Ross hitched a ride home with Brandon like he does every Thursday, only they left a bit earlier. We got all the food unloaded and then headed to the school. We did not leave early enough to get front row seats like Sophie had requested, but I did bring my camera and video camera like I was told to -- even had batteries charged. The biggest problems were that Sophie was on the front row so it was hard to see her, and they turned the lights off for parts of the program so the video is hard see. It had nothing to do with the person operating the camera. ;) But here is the video for those who were not able to make it:

After the program we came home and did a little photo shoot with James and ate cheesecake. Sophie was coming down with a cold, but there was no way she could miss her program so the show went on; however, Friday she was home in bed. She slept until 9:30. When she woke up and realized she was not only missing school but also they were having an AR party that day she was pretty sad. She was awake for an hour before she finally cried herself to sleep and slept 4 more hours! She needed the rest. She was doing a little better on Saturday, but Sunday she slept in until 1:30!! That would be PM. I don't think she should have gone to school yesterday, but I also didn't want to spend the day at home with a child who would just cry about not being at school so I let her go. When it was time for dinner Brandon found her asleep in her room. She's definitely getting enough rest. But I got her germs, and I'm not improving as quickly as she is. That's my excuse for taking so long getting this posted. A great big thank you goes out to Grandpa, Sheri, James, and Ross for coming to support Sophie. You sure made one little girl very happy!

"The Grinder"

As you know, we've been working on our food storage for a while now. We've decided were finally ready to figure out this whole wheat thing. We've (and by "we" I mostly mean Brandon) been experimenting with different types and learning all we can. I've cleared out closets to make room for our supply, and we finally went ahead and ordered a grinder. We've had one picked out for quite a while that we wanted, but we ordered it online yesterday afternoon while Brandon was at home. Well today he was home again (thanks to the snow) and noticed the UPS truck pull up. We weren't expecting anything so we were surprised. Then while Brandon's signing for the package the UPS driver APOLOGIZES for it not being here YESTERDAY, because he said it was ready for pickup yesterday. Yeah, it was the grinder. Even though the company we ordered it from was in New Jersey, the manufacturer is located in North Salt Lake -- 10 miles from our house. I'm glad we got free shipping on it!

After calling it "The Nutrimill" for awhile, Brandon approaches me and asks if it would be ok if we just called it "the grinder." So, meet the grinder.


Now we just need to figure out where we want to get our wheat from.

Draper Temple

Yesterday we had the opportunity to attend the Draper temple open house. The girls had the day off school for President's Day. We were going to pick Brandon up on our way down, but he ended up working from home so he could just come with us. I was so excited for the opportunity to take our kids inside a temple. I was a little naive about the whole process, however, and I think that messed us up a bit. I thought if we had tickets for a specific session that's when we'd get in, do the tour and come home. Apparently Brandon had heard from other people the truth, so he was more prepared. I would have gotten us tickets for early morning, but as it was I chose the 4:00 time slot thinking that would be good for Brandon's work schedule. Yeah, we showed up at 4:00, but we had to sit in this gym for a long time before they even took us in to the chapel to watch a movie. Then we boarded a bus that took us up to the temple. The temple was very nice, but the line was so long and SLOW moving that it was hard for the girls to appreciate what was going on. Our legs were so tired, and it was almost 7:00 before we even got out so we were a little hungry. My kids did awesome, though, compared to most others around us that were in tears. I hope they remember it as a special day. Chloe told me about her favorite parts, so I asked her to record it in her journal.

I talked Brandon into taking a picture of me with the girls. I thought it would be nice to have a picture with me in it for a change, but I'm not sure I'll do that again any time soon. He wasn't too happy with me for it. He got his pants a little wet. He just doesn't understand the sacrifices a photographer has to make to get the necessary photo.

Friendship

Sophie is my social bug, if you haven't figured out yet. She comes home from school many days with a new phone number. She'll just pick up the phone, call them up and ask her new friend to come over. This is not inherited from either parent. Brandon and I are both afraid of the phone. I try to take every opportunity to point out to my girls how they each have a best friend that lives right at home that they can always play with, but most times it doesn't seem to register with them. However, last week they decided they liked each other! (which is why I'm recording this before we forget) Then last Thursday one of Sophie's "new" friends called her and asked her to come over. Sophie asked if she could bring her sister. I was so proud of her for caring. They had it all arranged to walk home with her after school. I was taking advantage of my free time to run some errands and do some stuff, when at 3:30 I got a phone call (from the school). "Mom, I need you to come pick us up." I tried to find out why they weren't walking home with her friend, but she said it was too complicated to explain. So, I went and got them and then heard the whole story. I have yet to verify this, but I was told that the friends dad would not let Chloe go, and Sophie was not about to leave her behind. I can't imagine why he would let Sophie go over and not Chloe, but whether or not it was true Sophie felt it was and she stood up for her sister. I'm so thankful that for one day her sister came first.

Then Friday Sophie came home with ANOTHER new number. Her dream is to have an address book that she can take to school and have everyone fill it out. Well, this time she hops in the car, shows me the number and asks me to guess whose it is. I'm completely out of guesses because I'm sure she's invited every kid in her class over. Her "enthusiastic" response is, "the meanest, rudest girl in the class!" Of course, I knew who that was because I've heard quite a bit about her (and even had to talk to her once about how to treat my Sophie). Well, can you imagine what caused Sophie to want to invite the "meanest, rudest girl" in the whole class over to our house? Barrettes. Yes, they had both worn the SAME barrettes that day, and now they had something in common that brought them together. So, Sophie called her as soon as she got home and after talking to her rude brother and waiting for her mom to get home she finally came over. And they actually had a good time playing together. Our new plan is to just invite all the rude kids over and make them our friends.