Farewell Summer Vacation- We Hardly Knew Ye!

Here we are at the end of summer vacation. Not that our summer was filled with much vacationing...

Steve starts teaching again tomorrow, and his night classes start this week as well. With all the hubbub and last minute preparations, it was great to have one of the ultimate peaceful experiences take place today. We got to attend a session of the dedication of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple this afternoon. (Special thanks to Uncle Scott for watching Josh so we could both go together!) What a way to cap off summer break! To be reminded of the blessings available through the temple, and to be reminded that living about 8 minutes away from one is a blessing that so few around the world get to have... a wonderful experience to have to recharge our batteries as we enter into another school year.

The finally-finished piano!

It's done! My one goal for the summer (besides taking 4 master's classes, and of course, moving into a new house) was to refinish our piano. So, here is the finished product.
We sanded down the original finish and stained it a deep black, and then sanded some areas so that the brown could show through. It looks pretty cool.

We decided to personalize it as well.

For those who never saw it, this was the original.

Take a look at those old, chipped keys! New plastic covers replaced the old ivory ones. Sanding them down and filing them smooth was the last part to do.

So, goodbye, old brown piano, and hello new, beautiful black one!

Mid-August Update

Here we are in the middle of August. Steve has to go back to school on August 19th, and the kids come back on Monday. He also starts 2 more master's classes next week, so it is back to the grind for him.

We are almost done with the piano. Mostly we are just waiting for 2 things. 1) Scott to get his football friends to come move it into the house from the garage and 2) the new key tops to get here so we can get those all replaced and put back together. I can't wait to put up pictures of this. It is so awesome.

Over the weekend we went to the Weller Family Reunion up in Sandy. Good food, games, and LOTS of rain. Then I got to spend Saturday with my mom helping judge the Orem Junior Miss Scholarship Program. I was the alternate judge- so I attended everything, judged everything, but my scores were only used if another judge didn't show up or something, which didn't happen. It helped me understand what Scott feels like red-shirting on the football team. All the work, none of the glory.

Me spending all day (really- 9 am until about midnight) with my mom meant that Josh got to spend all day with Steve, which was fun (after the initial mommy-is-gone shock wore off anyway).

And- as a reward for making it through this post- here is the only pictures we have taken in a while since the camera isn't exactly functioning. They are from the phone. Josh enjoying his first ice cream cone that was just for him. He loved it.And another pic of Josh from this morning- playing in the kitchen sink.

School's Out for Summer!

Steve is finally finished with all of his summer master's classes (now that he has less than 2 weeks left of summer break before having to go back to school). My Hermione-ness is rubbing off on him- he has three As so far.
Since we can't just have him sit around and be idle for those 1 1/2 weeks until 'contract time' starts for teachers, he has been working busily on sanding our piano. We should be ready to start staining on Monday, and then comes the joy of removing all the old ivory key tops and gluing on the new plastic ones. But the piano will be so spiffy when we are done.
My little brother is still here with us (by 'here' I mean he sleeps here and eats here...) I am really impressed with his dedication- and with the amount of food he can consume in a day!
Josh is learning new things every day. His favorite movie is Cars and he loves to watch for Mater and say "vroom" when he sees a car or truck (which, in that movie, is all the time). He also has started saying grampa (bum-pa) and when he is really excited he puffs out his cheeks before the buh sound- we'll try to get it on video. He can point to most body parts (and especially loves gouging out eyes). Baths and playing in the water are his favorite activity. He is also getting molars which is not the most exciting experience... And, he never eats. He is so skinny that all his pants fall down, except for his size 6-9 month pants (and he is going on 16 months now). We worry that he isn't eating enough- but he always has plenty of energy and is happy and cheerful.
Sorry- no pictures this time. Our camera is broken, and seeing as we are still a few months from Christmas, we'll have to settle for cell phone pictures. But the cell phone is all the way downstairs...

Phew!

Kristen's brother Scott is staying with us for a few weeks while he is doing football camp. Instead of paying money each day to move in early to his apartment, he figured he could just come here. It's been fun to have him here. Josh thinks he is so great, and runs down to his room shouting "Scah! Scah!"

In other news, I finished class #3 this last week and will finish class #4 this coming week. Phew! Then all of my classes this summer will be done, and I'll have two weeks before school starts and my next batch of classes start. So...not much of a summer break, but it'll be enough to get my classroom in order and start to plan what I should be doing with my students.

Our Craftiest Project to Date

We mentioned that we were redoing an old dresser for Josh's room. Well, it is FINALLY finished. Here is photographic evidence that we are actually crafty when we put our minds to it.

Before:

Please note the awesome dinosaur contact paper. It smelled like old people. Or cats. And it had been there long enough to kind of stain the wood underneath with dinosaur outlines. Gross.
Dresser- $5. Paint (an 'oops' can at Home Depot)- $5. Goo Gone (to get off the yucky, icky, gooey mess under the contact paper)- $10. New drawer pulls- $8. Total cost: $28

Final product:
I know the pictures aren't fabulous- they are from my phone. The drawers say "PJs, Shirts, Pants, Socks" in case you can't read it... So- what do you think? Not bad for under $30, right?

The 24th of July (really long post!)

It takes all year to get ready for, and finally the 24th of July in Monroe has come and gone. We've been going to the 24th since we were first married simply because it's the biggest celebration that Kristen's hometown puts on, and everybody comes back for it. There was even a foreign exchange student from Germany who comes back every few years with her husband since it's so great. It's seriously a 2-day celebration!
So, early wednesday morning, our nephews Conner and Cannon came up with Kristen's dad on his way to work and we entertained them all day and night long. We went to the fabulous Manti swimming pool where I got beet red from not wearing strong enough sunscreen. The kids loved it, especially the lazy river section in the middle of the pool. Afterwards we had a wii bowling and tennis tournament, and we all really enjoyed making funny characters. Conner wanted to watch the Spiderman movies, so we watched #1 and 2 wednesday night and #3 on thursday morning. We would have done a complete marathon, but it was already 1:30 in the morning when we finished #2.
Thursday we headed down to Monroe to start the festivities. The children's parade is always fun to watch with all the children dressed up in their little outfits. The community barbecue was a smash hit as usual with their famous slow-roasted meat. Yummy! But the barbecue is where we get to show off the annual milk run t-shirt. I've been designing them for a few years since Kristen's mom is in charge of the race early Friday morning. It's always a big secret as to what the t-shirt is going to look like. People have been collecting them for years! Too fun.
Friday morning started early as we set up for the race and helped with registration. Kristen and my job is to man the water-hole halfway down the course. We've done this every year I've gone, and can't imagine what it would be like not to do it. Josh was a trooper and got up with us, but by the time the runners passed by and we got cleaned up, he was back asleep. Poor guy!
After the race is over, everyone gets ready for the parade, and I set up my booth in the park. I've been drawing caricature sketches for a few years, and this year was pretty successful as well. As soon as the parade ends, I have a line of people that want to get their pictures drawn and I don't even get a chance to stand up until about 2-2:30. Or eat my navajo taco which Kristen stood in a long line for. Sorry!
After the fun in the park everyone goes home and sleeps until the concert in the park/barbecue before the fireworks. Now, my parents decided that they wanted to come to the 24th this year. Last time they came, it rained so hard that they shut down the concert, and the fireworks were pretty much ruined. This year, just as the concert started, the rain came again. It rained hard enough to stop the concert for about 20 minutes, but it finally let up and it resumed again. We all wore ponchos and huddled under blankets, but the show went on and the fireworks were great.
We learned a secret to making the best fireworks show: WEAR 3-D GLASSES. It is so cool! The fireworks look so much more intense! My dad said that it was the most fun he's had watching fireworks in many, many years! Remember that for next year.
We'll get pictures later. this post is long enough. Suffice it to say, it was aother successful 24th of July. Whew! Now to recuperate for next year!