Easter Weekend!

Our Easter weekend consisted of our dishwasher flooding our kitchen floor and our dryer going out. All I have to say is when it rains it pours. So instead of shopping for Easter dresses we skipped that and went straight to Lowes Home Improvement store where we bought a new dishwasher and dryer. We passed on the dresses which ended up being OK since we all got sick and didn't make it to all of our meetings on Sunday anyways. Grant spent the weekend taking dryers and dishwashers out and replacing them with new ones. We took a huge load to the dump with our old dishwasher. While Grant was installing the new one he realized he left the piece he needed on the old one which was at the dump. It was nine o'clock at night when we headed back to the dump hoping to jump the fence and retrieve the piece. I wanted to go for it and jump the fence, but Grant saw the cameras and got spooked. What happened to the old days of jumping fences to play hide and go seek at the golf courses. I guess we are getting too old. Here he is hard at work for our family. What a great guy!I can't believe how quiet the new one is. Apparently ours was really old. A lot has improved since 7 years ago. I love it. No more dirty dishes.

Wrestling Banquet

Breanna has been a wrestling manager for North Ridge High School this year. They had their end of the season banquet where Breanna was given an award for her hard work as a manager as well as she was given a certificate showing that she had lettered in wrestling. We were so proud of her.Breanna receiving her award from her coach. Breanna and Amy received new stylish manager uniforms for next year.Look how cute my little girl is. I guess she isn't so little anymore.

The Basketball Season Comes To An End!

The basketball season has come to end and Grant had a blast coaching Austin and his friends. He did a great job teaching the boys new skills and how to have fun while playing. He is an amazing father. They had a great season 10 Wins and 2 loses. Not enough to go to the playoffs, but an awesome season. We are already looking forward to next year. We are very proud of Austin and his desire to become a better ball player.

Linda the Scuba Diver

OK!

This is the first, and may be the last, time that I blog in my life (Grant)but it is time to brag about my good wife Linda. This week she is a legitimate, fully trained, and certified Scuba Diver. This has been a struggle for her as she has had a fear of going under water her entire life. She attempted a class about 10 years ago but the timing was not right. Here are a few pics of her adventure.

Getting ready to take a dip. 1st Phase Swimming Pool.

My wife the Scuba Babe.

Blub...Blub

How FINtastic... Ha Ha

Finishing up on the written final. What a great student.

Gearing up for Linda's first Open water dive. This was at the Homestead resort Crater in Midway, Utah.

They call the area that Linda is sitting on the Hot Tub. The crater is a thermal water spring about 95 degrees. What a great place to get certified.

Air Out...Air In

Bubbles all around

Can anybody see anything in here. Look at the Big Orange Ball.

At the end of the day Linda and her Brother Ron did great.

Linda, I love you and am proud of your resolve to try new things and better yourself. You are the Best Friend and Wife I could ever imagine.

I Kissed a cow!

I teach third grade and my school had a reading contest this week. Our class decided that if they met their reading goal then Mrs. Price and myself had to kiss a cow. Well...they made their goal and during a school wide assembly we had to kiss a 5 month old cow. Our PTA was very kind to us. It was really cute, but really slobbery. It scared me to death..... when I went to kiss the cow it mooed right in my face. I jumped back and of course everyone thought that it was really funny! Especially my class. Here are the pictures they took of me. I guess I kissed it so fast that they didn't get one of me actually kissing the cow. By the way...I don't dress like that all of the time. It was Pirate Day! Ahoy Matey!

First Photo Shot

Ok....My insecurities are coming out, but here it goes. You know when you think ...I am not good enough to show what I have done...well I still don't think I am, but I am proud of what I did. I have been taking this photography class for a month and have learned some really amazing things. Thanks to my sweet husband I got a new camera for Christmas and I thought I better learn how to take pictures. Realize, it is going to take me years to be as good a photographer as my friend Heather. She is an amazing photographer. Check out her sight. You can get there from my blogging buddies. So....I needed to get my assignment done for my class. I never have time so I decided I would make time between basketball practice and scuba class. I had 20 minutes. I grabbed Bre and told her to get her cowboy hat and that we were going to take some pictures. We went to this cute barn across from our church. Every week I see this barn and think that would be an awesome place to take pictures. Of course there was a "No Trespassing" sign, but anyone who knows me knows a sign can't stop me. So...I'm in my dress pants and we jump the fence. I started taking pictures quickly while trying to remember what I was taught and hoping I would get at least one good shot out of this experience to take to class. Well since I have such a beautiful daughter it wasn't hard to get a good shot. Here are my favorites. The story doesn't end there it only gets better. So...there are horses in this field and they started toward us. I told Breanna we needed to go before they got to close, but being my daughter she said, "No let's take some pictures with the horses." I thought...ok that could be cool. As the horses got closer one must of thought Bre was hot because it kept trying to corral her. The horse kept following her and pushing her with it's head. It got a little scary and I finally tried to distract the horse and told Bre to run. Unfortunately she didn't get away without being bit by the horse on the the thigh. Take a look at the picture. We laugh at it now, but I think Bre learned that all horses aren't safe.
They needed a sign that said BEWARE OF HORSE instead of NO TRESPASSING. I think I would have taken that sign a little more serious.

Austin Plays the Piano

Wow! It has been a while since my last post. Between teaching school, two nights of scuba class, a photography class, taking kids to basketball, taking kids to young men and young womens, and just being a mom life has been crazy! But I love what I am doing. I love my kids. They are amazing! Sometimes I can't believe they are mine. They are too incredible. Austin has taken up piano and I warned him that if he did he would have to take it for a year or he couldn't do it. You know how kids are...they say they want to do it and then 2 days later they want to quit. Well...of course Austin is the exception. He has practice every day without being told and his piano teacher told me that she has never seen a student move so quickly through the lessons. He loves it. He hears songs on the radio and he tells me that one day he will play those same songs. I am so proud of him.

Both Austin and Marissa want to play in the Junior High band. Marissa wants to play the flute and Austin wants to play the percussion. I played the flute in the Junior High band so I am excited for them. I will keep you updated on how it goes. Can you believe my twins will be in Junior High? I don't have any kids in Elementary. It's weird....I have always had kids in Elementary School. I feel old!

The Life of a Military Wife!

Can I just tell you how sick I am of being a married to an officer in the military? I love my husband dearly, but the thought of being left again 6 months to a year is really hard on me. It is a roller coaster of emotions. It seems that one day Grant is going to Afghanistan for 6 months to a year and the next he isn't. It has been going back and forth like this for about three months. How can I plan my life with this hanging over my head all of the time. I try to stay positive, but it sure is hard when I know what my life will be like....lonely, sad, and tired a lot from being mom and dad. The dead line is the end of March. I can't help but get uptight when I see the same thing happen to my friend Courtenay. Her husband just left for a year to Afghanistan. I know too well the pain and hurt. I thought If I wrote this down it might help me deal with it better. No....it didn't work, but I thought I would give you a glimpse into our past. These are pictures I scanned of my first experience as a military wife. We had been married 8 months when he left for basic training in Texas. I decided I would visit him for a few days. I was pregnant seven months in these pictures and we were both hoping he would make it home for the birth of our baby. We didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl. We wanted to be surprised. I knew I was having a girl, but kept it to myself. Grant being gone for the last three months of my pregnancy was the norm. He would always make it back from a deployment for the birth of our babies with a day to spare. I figured out last night that that through our entire marriage I have been without him over two years. It is looking like I can add another 6 months to a year to that. I know he loves to serve his country so I can't ask him to quit. It just sucks!! I would never wish this on anyone.
I know you are laughing, but yes...that is me with the permed hair. I can't believe how small I was 7 months pregnant. You can't even tell. Scary! Look how young we are. We were babies having babies.

I've been tagged again!

Heather Tagged me so....here it goes.

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning B. Each player answers the questions about themselves. C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Grant and I had been married for 7 years. We lived in a condo we built in Bountiful. The twins were 2 1/2 and Bre was 6 years old. I was teaching 2nd grade at Vae View Elementary and Grant worked in the control room at Church headquarters working graveyard. We owned our own business. We were getting ready to build our home here in Layton. Grant and I were the activities chairman for our ward in Bountiful. I played on a volleyball team in the Kaysville city league. I was so excited to start our new adventure here in Layton. I couldn't wait to move into our first new house. It was a dream come true!

5 Things on my to do list today.
1. Get the car safety and emissions tests done and registered. (What a pain!)
2. Go to Austin's basketball game. They only win when I am there. (By the way they won today)
3. Get my house in order after the new carpet was put in.
4. Seal the grout in my tile.
5. Respond on my blog from getting tagged.

Snacks I enjoy
Peanut butter on apples
Chips and Salsa from Chilis
String Cheese
Hot Tamales
Big soft Sweet Tarts
Water with a big slice of lemon in it.

Bad Habits
I'm on the computer too much.
Checking the classifieds on KSL every chance I get.
Always looking for a good travel deal on the Internet.
Sneaking my two dogs in my bed with me to cuddle and sleep with me. Grant Hates it!
Complaining about how short my hair is and how much I hate it.
Feeding my dogs from the table. (Bad)

If I were suddenly a billionaire I would....
Believe it or not I have thought a lot about this. I know for sure I would pay off all of my bills
and put a new swimming pool in our yard. I would also get that huge tub Grant wants to put in our bathroom. I would travel a ton and take lots of people with me. I would probably get my masters in counseling and open my own practice. I would have someone do my hair and makeup everyday. I would have someone clean my house and do my laundry. I hate laundry. I would give money to a lot of needy people. I would want to make a difference with my money. To be honest I have pretty much everything that could really make me happy right now. It just would be nice to not worry about bills and have the piece of mind I wouldn't have to worry about how to provide for my family.

5Places I have lived.
1. Bountiful (Where I grew up)
2. Provo (Went to BYU)
3. Ogden (Went to Weber University)
4. San Angelo (Grant's military training)
5. Layton (Currently live)

Where next....
Well I want to eventually get my masters degree in counseling. I want to help my children become the most stable people possible before they go out into the world on their own. I want to better myself and make a difference in people's lives. I eventually want to travel more than I already have. I want to improve my relationship with my husband, children, family, and friends. I want to learn more about myself and improve on who I am.

5 jobs I have had
1. Meat packing
2. Ob Tech in Labor and Delivery
3. Government Rep for a Cellular Phone Company
4. An assistant to a psychologist in the Davis County School District.
5. Sales (Homes)
6. Teacher ( I had to include this one)

Things people don't know about me
I start my scuba diving class on Monday.
I love to see sappy chick flicks with my husband.
I have big deep cracks in my tongue. It looks like it went through a blender.
I want to speak and understand Spanish really well.
I have a stamp collection
I collect coins

So now I have tagged Jessica Baird, Courtenay (Who misses her husband dearly), Lisa (there is no way she will do it), Becky (Again, because she didn't do the last one), and April (When she gets her blog up and running).