Saturday, July 12, 2025

We are a happy family

 P came home.  Yay!  This has been a busy summer.  M went to be a camp counselor.  We visited Gtowne. lP and B had camps.  L did homeschooling pretty well this summer.  I took 4 classes for grad school.  P took 2 trainings for AP classes where he was gone for a week.  We visited DC.  B's church group hiked/camped the walls of Jerhico.  lP's group went white water rafting.  I got to do a formal observation and see a lot of great therapy sessions.  I just have 2 more finals.  4 more sleeps until I get a month off.  During that month off I'll be helping with uniforms for the band, and studying for my fall courses.  No rest.  

G is going to the ASL FSY next week.  M flies home July 31 and I drop her off for college August 1.  

lP starts band camp in 8 days.  

lP is doing cross country so I have been waking up every weekday and walking 3 miles with a neighbor.  My knees and hip don't ache anymore!

Life is good.

Thursday, July 10, 2025

Super Busy week

 P has been at a training for one of the AP classes he will teach in the fall.  B has been going to a daily space camp.  lP has been going to cross country.  L sometimes gets his work done.  I have been going to observations for my clinical experiences.  I have also been trying to finish out the semster.  I have 2 more exams.  Hurray!  I just have Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to get through.  Then I'm done!  I am pretty sure I'll get high Bs for at least 1 of my classes.  I'm OK with that.

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

DC fun

 We've arrived safely in DC to visit my dad.  I visited last summer with M, but the kids haven't been since Thanksgiving 2023.  We'll be here 3 days and hope to see cousins, and siblings too.  M is at camp just 90 minutes away.  We're going to the zoo today.  M was the major zoo girl but everyone likes it too.  It just feels weird to go without her.  Having kids grow up and move on is strange.

When P and I went to California 3 years ago, it was so strange, and nice, to experience travel without the kids.  So much of what we do has been dictated by the kids for the last 21 years.  L will graduate in 9 years. P has 16 years until retirement.  I hope to be an SLP in 2 years, so I'll have 14 years of experience at that point.  There is something called Travel SLP where you get a 6 month or 1 year contract and they pay really high wages because you are moving to fill a short term contract.  I think that would be a fun way to travel, and still work after P retires.

The years fly by.

Update: We had such a great visit.  We took cousins to the zoo on Wednesday.  Thursday we spent more time with my dad and went to his favorite buffet for lunch.  We had to come back and take a nap!  In the evening we went to 


Thursday night we met up with R at Great Falls.  It was so beautiful and we ended up hiking the trails until it was dark!

On Friday we went to the church breakfast with my dad and sister's family.  We dropped my dad off and took the metro in to town.  The parade was still going on when we got there!
We went to R's house afterwards for dinner, swimming, and local fireworks.  It was a great visit even though it was a bit fast and busy.



Sunday, June 29, 2025

Linger Longer

 Today we had a longer longer at church.  I don't think we've done that before with this ward.  Last year we did have a nice 4th of July picnic at a park.  We've had ward meals for Christmas.  This linger longer we didn't set up tables or have the ward provide the main dish.  It was designed to be a finger food party.  The emphasis was on mingling.  I think a lot of people enjoyed that.  The kids were a bit crazier than I expected.  Plenty of people didn't come, but the people who wanted to, did.  I'm glad that I pushed for this and we did it.  The new RS presidency didn't have to put it on.  Just the people who wanted to do it.

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Summer is getting hot

 The 3 peas are home for the summer and homeschool is going better than any year previous.  lP wakes up at 5:20 to run with cross country every day!  That means I'm walking a few miles each day with another team mate's mom. 

Levi is getting into a good routine of doing daily work.  He does math, writing, piano, sign language, and music theory.  Computer time is from 11 to 2 and sometimes we go visit the cats at the thrift store "A new leash on life".  Right now they have kittens that are pretty cute.


After our visit to Florida, B is more willing to go to the pool.  He wouldn't go last summer.  I can take my books and study by the pool in the shade.  Nice!

I'm so swamped with my classes this semester.  Somehow it didn't seem like taking 12 credits would be a problem but aparently 6 is full time for the summer.  I believe it.  I'm having to be very organized and stay on top of my chapters and assignments.  7 weeks to cram it all in.  Luckily I'll never do this again.

P has been away on a work training and he'll have another one in July.  The kids  are doing a great job of being pretty low maintenance.  I read every night with them for 30-60 minutes though.  

My sister N visited and I'm so glad she drove out of her way to visit us.  She does a lot to keep the family in contact and keep us from drifting apart.

I've learned so much in the last year.  It is truely amazing.  I find things I like about most every possible setting for speech pathology.  I look forward to working with patients in the coming semesters and years.


Thursday, May 29, 2025

M jet plane, lP camp, B camp



 Monday we dropped lP off at girls camp.  We went to 3 waterfalls "on the way home", the long way home.  We had an awesome hike at Nocalula falls, and the waterfalls were surging from recent rain storms.

Today I dropped M off at the airport.  She's flying to Maryland to work at a camp for 2 months.  It is terrible sending kids off.  I just want to be there and know she is OK.

P is taking B down to camp and picking up lP.  

Sunday, May 25, 2025

Talk for church

 I got to speak in church today 2 years to the day we moved here.  I’m pleased that I gave a talk that didn’t involve a lot of personal stories of trial.  I’m glad I prepared it last Saturday so I had a whole week to practice it.  I love the spiritual submersion I feel preparing and giving a talk.

While waiting these 2 years to give a talk I have given a testimony a few times and written several talks just for “fun”.

Being in graduate school I have a lot of recent practice writing.  I prepared a 12 minute talk and practiced a 12 minute talk.  I’m thankful that I don’t have the spiritual gift for preparing a talk and then not giving it.