Back from Butte

Well I spent a week in Butte where I was doing training for my new job with AltaCare. It seems like it will be a great company to work for. I am excited to get into the schools tomorrow and start working with the kids. I have a meeting right away in the morning to transfer some cases over to me from the middle school program. Than I will be busy setting up the therapy rooms and making phone calls to set up parent meetings. I am excited and nervous at the same time. This is probably the most challenging thing, I have ever done in my life. I am excited about working with the kids, hoping that my therapy with each of them makes a difference in their lives. I am nervous about all the paperwork and work that I need to do.

When I was in Butte it actually was snowing there! I am so not ready for winter yet. It is hard enough to believe it is already the end of August and school has started. Jerad has his first football game this coming Friday in Livingston. He is pretty excited about football and sports this year. Having that year off with his broken humerous was pretty hard on him. It really made him appreciate things he couldn't do during that time much more.

So next weekend, we take Megan to Billings for college. She is all packed and ready to go. She is pretty excited about it. I will post more about it next week after we get back from dropping her off next week.

Deep in Digi class layouts

I am taking an advanced digital scrapbook class online. These are two of the layouts I made during that class!!

So do you have olympic fever? I am loving watching the olympics. The swimming has been awesome.

So I only have 2 more days before my job ends and I am busy getting ready for my new job. I have been spending the last couple weeks getting ready with lesson plans and stuff to be ready for the kids. Next week I am off to Butte for training all week.

:( Laptop

Well my laptop has died. I took it into the computer shop and they said I might as well just buy a new one because it would cost more to repair than the cost of a new one. I am so bummed out because I use my lap top all the time. I love sitting and working on my digital layouts with it. I am lost with out it and probably will be picking up a new one next week. I don't know if I can make it without my laptop. I figured I would be using it all the time in my new job so I have my case files with me and I don't have to run back and forth between the two schools and can work on my files at home.

We got home from Billings earlier today. Just great to go up and spend the night taking in the fair there. We got up this morning to go to the farmers market. It was great. I got to eat a crepe. Hummmmm heaven. We did a little shopping and headed home.

The end of summer

Wow it is hard to believe that I only have about a week and half before I start my new job. I am getting really excited about it. I did go to the schools this week to check out my "room". The one is going to be a big storage/old classroom in the basement. It will take some work to get it feeling bright and cherry to work with it. I am excited to see what I can do to turn it around and make it a fun place for the kids to hang out. The other school the room is really more like a closet that we will be in. It will have a table and chairs, but no real room for floor space to play or anything. I am going to have to be creative in figuring out what to do with the kids there because the space will be really tight.

I am looking forward to building the program and really hoping that it makes a difference in the lives of these young children. I am glad to see that some of my parents are pretty excited about the program and the good it can bring to their family.

This week I am done working, have to burn up some more of my vacation hours. We are off to Billings to the Fair! The kids have concert tickets to Puddle of Mud and while they are doing that, Sam and I will be sitting in the beer booth having some fun listening to the Bad Larry's. I can't wait to walk around the fair and just enjoy some time together as a family. The older the kids get the harder it gets to have that fun family time together. Hard to believe that Megan leaves for college in just over 3 weeks.

Anyway even though it is only Wednesday, it is going to be a great weekend. Well I am off to get some stuff done around the house and have some play time.

It's Here!!

My New Kitchen Aid

I a so excited my new kitchen aid mixer is here. Amazon was having a one day sale last week and so I treated myself for my birthday and anniversay with this baby. I have wanted one my whole life. I have longed and dreamed about the day I would own one. Well today is that day and I sit here at work. It is all unpacked and sitting on my table just waiting for me to come home and play with it this afternoon. Oh man I can't wait.

I have been on a mission this year to really work on doing the majority of my cooking at home and from scratch. It has been going really great. I have taken to making bread at home now. Each weekend I make 2 loafs of bread. Since I work full-time during the week I do a lot of planning and even some mean prep on the weekend. If I can get somethings prepared and put in the fridge or freezer to pull out and throw in the over later in the week.

I really have enjoyed trying new recipes and getting creative with my menus. We are all eating healthier now that we aren't just opening boxes of hamburger helper. I can't say I notice a difference in my food bill because we just buy different foods. No more prepared food but more fruits, veggies and meats. I can say I have noticed a big drop in our costs for eating out. We just don't do it very often any more. We tend to enjoy grilling and cooking at home. I have taken up canning again and have been freezing and canning beets, and making jams.

I do have to say my favorite thing now that I am in the kitchen is having Sam there helping me cook. It is great when the two of us are working side by side preparing and cooking meals. So enjoyable!!

Madison

This was a great 2 page layout I made with some pictures of Madison taken when i was in Wisconsin.

Cayden

When I was in Green Bay a couple weeks ago, I got to hang out with my nephew's kids on the 4th of July. Debbie and I took them to the park for the afternoon. We had so much fun playing and taking pictures of them. This is just a fun layout I finished up tonight. I was taking Jessica Sprague's Now We Are Rockin' class. Of course I got behind and am just playing catch up but that layout was perfect for the pictures of Cayden.

Summer is flying buy

Seriously where has the summer gone. I can't believe we are already into the end of July. Last week was party week at our house. I had my birthday on the 19th (ewwww 41) but the day was great. I got some stuff done around the house and than hubby took me over to Dickinson to eat dinner, do a little shopping and go watch the races at Southwest Speedway. It was a lot of fun and just a great evening.

Than on the 22nd we celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe we have been married 19 years already. Next year for our 20th we are going to take a trip together. We aren't sure where yet but we are kind of in the middle of starting a new chapter in our lives and it is just great getting to spend time together. For all of our marriage we have always had kids running around and traveling with us. Now we are about to be grandparents in February, our middle daughter will be leaving town in just a couple weeks to move off to college. Our youngest will be a junior in high school this year and really doesn't like to travel or do things with us. It is great just getting to hang out with Sam in the evenings when the kids are working. We usually eat dinner together and just visit and catch up on our days.

I already know I am going to enjoy this new chapter in my life. I love spending time with Sam and just enjoying the relaxed lifestyle of not having to run around after young children, being able to just head out of town together for an evening or weekend. I have to say through all the difficult years with little kids, jobs and everything else in a new marriage, I never imagined it would be this great after being married so long. I am loving it.

I am back!!

I drove out to Wisconsin and have been spending time with my family for the last week and half. It was a great visit and I really needed the time with them. My dad had his surgery to remove his last leg. I didn't think I would get to see him before the surgery because it was scheduled for Wednesday, July 2nd but than it was postponed because his blood sugars were up over 550. So I drove out there and got there with several days to spend with my dad before he had his surgery. He was in the hospital while they worked to get his sugars down and under control but it was still great to get to visit with him before the surgery.

He had his surgery on Sunday, July 6th at 8:00 am. The surgery went really well. I am not sure if he realized what life would be like with no legs. I know he was just glad to have it gone so that the throbbing pain he was experiencing would stop. He seemed to be a little depressed after the surgery but was recovering pretty well. He ended up getting moved down to the rehab area so he could begin working to build his arm muscles up and progress in learning to care for himself and hopefully reach his goal of going home. On Wednesday evening he ended up having another stroke and being moved back to the hospital. He is still currently in the hospital and is slowly recovering. Hopefully in a couple more days he will be moved back to the rehab part of the hospital where he can work on learning his skills.

The ultimate goal is to have him able to take care of himself and able to go home by himself in a couple of months. His doctor thinks he will be able to have prosthetics for both legs and walk without having to be in a wheel chair. We ended up moving him out of his trailer because he would not be able to get into the bedroom or bathroom with a chair at all. So if he didn't have his legs on all the time he wouldn't be able to use the restroom. We discussed it with him and decided it would be best to look for an apartment once he is ready to come home.

While I was in Wisconsin it was great to spend time with my aunts and uncles, my sister and brother and my dad. I even got to meet my nephews 3 children and hang out with my niece.

Birthday Boy

Hard to believe my little boy is 16 year old now. Wow it seems like just yesterday we were having little kids running around our house. Now I have a 21 year old, 18 year old and now my baby is 16. I just don't feel old enough to have kids that age. Jerad's birthday was a great relaxing Sunday. I made a bunch of cupcakes and decorated them for him instead of a cake. We seem to eat cupcakes up, but cakes tend to sit and go to waste. We went out shopping and got Jerad a new CD and he got to spend some money at Kmart. Than his dad made him his favorite dinner of baby back ribs that had marinated in bbq sauce all day and than cooked really slow on the grill for several hours. Oh they were melt in your mouth good. It was great to sit and have a family dinner today.

Amanda had her first ultrasound today. Her due date is set for Febraury 11, 2009. Almost 8 weeks along already.

I am heading off to my dad's house on Wednesday, they have moved his surgery up to Wednesday. I won't get to spend a couple days with him now before he has surgery, but I will be there to visit with him and hang out with my sister cleaning and organizing his house for him.

The good thing is that strawberries are ready for picking and door county cherries might be ready by the time I am ready to come home. Oh yummy, I am hoping to bring home several gallons of cherries and strawberries to make some jam and jelly. Oh and I can't forget to bring home some cheese curds for the family. My kids can't wait and even my neighbor loves them. He is in his 80's and use to work in WI back in the 50's. He loves it when I bring home goodies!