April is Over

I am having a difficult time believing that today is the last day in April. One third of the year just passed in the blink of an eye. Life passes all to quickly especially as one gets older. Seven years have passed since we moved to Cedar. Hard to believe. Though times have not always been easy throughout the past 7 years, we have certainly been blessed. So much to be grateful for.

Spring Clean

Had a canoe delivered by Dan today. Looks to be a little bit of a project but should be a fun little thing. The kids are excited about it. I've got to build and install a few seats and there may be some body work to be done. Anyway, free canoe.

I needed a place to put said canoe and so I went to work on the side of the yard between the garage and the block wall. Thought I would put the canoe there but decided it was not a good idea.

I am falling asleep. Must close.

Non Stop

It was a day of non stop action at the Brick House. SUU graduation brings in a lot of people. It starts early and doesn't stop. Even when it seems like it might slow down another wave of people come in. It was a good one. I don't know what to expect tomorrow or in coming days. I hope we can maintain good business flow.

Chilly

It is turning colder again. This is the fun part of Southern Utah. The weather can't seem to decide if we are ready to be warm or if we need to stay cold. We have had days up in the 70's earlier in the month and tomorrow we will be in the 40's. That feels quite cold after getting used to warmer temps. Soon enough things will be plenty warm. 

Night Walker

Got the kids in bed for the most part this evening and then a little after 11 I went out for a walk.  Took a nice little walk down around the block and up around the Stake center, then around the campus of SWATC finally onto the high school track where I ran/walked a good mile along with some stair running.  It was a good outing. I have been listening to general conference talks. Finished the last two talks from Sunday afternoon session and then restarted with the women's conference. I enjoy listening to these messages and being filled with inspiration. It is good to be out walking and enjoying positive and uplifting messages.  It is fairly quiet out there at the midnight hour but I don't really mind. At least I know if I am running at the track people aren't there to chuckle at my stellar frame cruising along.  Anyhow, feels good. 

Not My Favorite

This class is one that I should really be enjoying but it has not been one of my favorites.  The content is good and there is a lot of good information out there but there are some organizational things about the class that just drive me nuts.  I am almost done with the course and that is great. I have one more section to complete in my transition task and am hoping to knock that out in the morning and have the task submitted early tomorrow.  The challenge I seem to be having with the tasks is just how vague the instructions are.  We are being asked to write these official documents related to special education but really don't have much in the way of direction.  I guess I must be a really needy student that wants his hand held... actually I am very independent and don't want to have to set up meetings with the mentors, I want clear and precise instructions that are easy to understand and provide some sort of direction.  As for now, I will just do my best at making up what I think they are looking for and hoping for the best.  With the first task I had zero confidence when I turned it in and it ended up passing. Really hoping the same thing happens here, well the passing.  I wouldn't mind having some level of confidence that I am doing this correctly. 

Transition Time

I have to get back to school work and need to get some classes knocked out. I should have jumped into my transition task today but found myself occupied with other matters. It is just something I am not familiar with so I've got some figuring out to do

Taco Sunday

A little bit of history. When I was growing up there was a time when we as a family would make tacos on Sunday afternoons. It was a great family tradition and are still my favorite tacos. I made some delicious tacos this afternoon. I don't always do the taco thing anymore as it is a lot of work but they are so worth it.

My Goodness

It has been a day. Made some peanut butter fudge cups. It is something I've wanted make for a while. Last month I told the teacher council meeting that I would bring peanut butter eggs to our next meeting as it was originally scheduled on Easter. We changed the date but I figured the treats were still in order. Should be good.

Had Dan and Sam come look at the truck tonight and turns out I need to either replace or rebuild the engine. Sweet! Kind of thought that would be the case. Haven't decided what to do yet.

The boys and I went up to the lake on the hill. Jack drove his RC boat around and Andy went swimming. Well, more like wading. They both had fun.

Time to crash out.

A Return to Ref Cliffs

We made a trip down to Red Cliffs today. It is a place that we as a family have enjoyed over the last 7 years. We have been a number of times and wanted to get out and enjoy a hike and climbing around today. We had a good time out there and then ran down to St. George for some In N Out, a visit to Dan and Amy's for some fun times, a Costco run and then Natty drove us home. Great day.

Washing Dishes

The dishwasher on the schedule tonight was sick and had no one to cover her shift so I ended up going in and washing dishes tonight. That could end up being the worst nightmare for our shift leaders and managers. I just rolled with everything the way they normally do it. I find that everyone is happy to dump 100% of their dishes on the dishwasher so they can bail out as soon as possible. For the last almost 4 years I have requested and asked that the cooks set up the triple sink in the back and wash their own dishes. They washed a few pans an hour and a half before we closed and that was about it. Then they dumped all their dishes on me. Yep, well, we are going to lay down some expectations. I did the dishes and cleaned the station exactly as I expect it to be done and was there for three additional at least 2 and a half more hours than the cooks. Things need to change and so I will make some strong recommendations. I'm sure a regular dishwasher would have been much faster than I was but I don't know that they would have been quite as thorough. There was certainly some scrubbing that took place on some things that may never have been scrubbed. Well, I am pretty tired and ready for some sleep. I could have done more dishes when I got home but I decided I'd had enough dish washing for today. Perhaps tomorrow we will revisit that.

Really, Really Want

I have the Spice Girls running through my mind at the moment. I have just spent an entire day working on a task for school. I had to develop or write a partial IEP for a case study. Anyway, I am sitting here, completely burned out on the process and wondering if this is what I really, really want to do?  I realize that this is my first IEP and I am trying to meet the requirements of a task so I am overly concerned with the entire thing, but seriously, is this what I want to be doing?  I don't know how much of the work is spent developing an IEP?  It is burdensome with some of the things you have to do. Okay, have to keep it in perspective that this was a first time for me.  The other thing I need to keep in perspective is that I have not been a huge fan of the structure for the SPED classes I have taken thus far. Well, I should clarify, the online SPED classes.  I thoroughly enjoyed the class I had at SUU.  Things are different online and though I quite enjoy online school there are some things that are a bit more difficult.  My big fear right now is that I have not interpreted certain parts of this Task appropriately and will come up short on my submission.  That is weighing on me at the moment.  Well, it was a struggle  Glad it is submitted and will hope for the best. If it is a failures hopefully the fix will be minor.  I have to move on to another one and am really, really wanting to avoid that for a bit.  Thinking I might need to take kids hiking tomorrow just to get away from this table and computer for a while and to give the kids something fun to do during spring break.  Must sleep now though and that is what I really, really want. 

Goodnight Music

Andy sleeps in my room on a regular basis. By regular I mean just about every night.  Anyway, he won't come upstairs without having me come with him. I usually sit in the room with him while he falls asleep. He usually requests that I turn on some music. Our playlist for the tablet is the Garth Brooks station and we enjoy it. There are some good tunes. Anyway, must close up and see if I can get some serious sleep. So tired right now.

Tape and Paint

Today I put off writing a task that I am not enthused about and so I spent time taping and painting. It is a primer coat so it is a lovely grey. Anyhow, I am completely beat. Tomorrow I must get some serious work done.

Easter 2017

We've had a fine Easter Sunday. We did our traditional Easter candy hunt where I hide candy in various parts of the living room and they go around and find it. Pretty much just your basic candy hunt. I was getting ready for a meeting before they got started and when I came down Andy let me know I did not do a good job hiding the candy. He was right. Anyway, had a fine day. Went to the folks for dinner. I attempted to make a few fruit salads but something went down hill.  Oh well, Peeps salad and creamy peeps salad was made. It was strange. We did have fun though. We had a good time with the folks tonight playing the stinky pig game. It was great and we had lots of laughs. Grateful for family and the time we have to spend together.

Time for Tape

I had a few things going on today with work. Helped get a delivery put together and dropped off this morning. Then I went and picked up fertilizer and weed spray. I got my sprayer and shot the weeds in the parking lot and rock beds at the shop. Lovely. Hope it works. It was an off brand but the chemicals were pretty much the same as the name brand. I shot weeds at my house as well. I also put down the fertilizer. Outside of the little projects I worked on the truck. I have it sanded down now and it has been washed. Ready to tape it and shoot it with primer. Lots of work to do but it is a fun project.

All 5

I took the basic Praxis exam today. I don't know if that is the right description but that is okay. It was a 300 minute allotment of time to complete a reading, a math, and a writing examination. I tried. The reading and the math went well enough and I was easily above the cut scores on both. The writing was more difficult. I ran out of time at the very end of my final essay with one word and one period left to write. That was a bummer.  Well, hopefully there is enough points to get me through it.  So anyway, 5 hours is a long time. Glad it is over.

Prepping for Torture

Tomorrow I have a very long test awaiting me.  I am taking the Basic Praxis exam which I am hoping isn't very difficult. Anyway, they say it is 300 minutes.  That is 5 solid hours.  I have been preparing today, preparing for torture that is.  5 hours of testing just sounds miserable  I will do my best and hope to perform well.  With the cost of these tests I can't afford to miss anything. 

Holy cow, I am tired and really need to rest before I enter the field of battle.  And so I close 

Thirteen

My first born son is officially a teenager! How does this keep happening to me? I am not old enough to have a teenager and now I have two and another one not too far behind. I guess it is ok since they are pretty amazing people and I love my life with them.

It has been roughly 10 years since we came to know of Jacks special needs. The last 10 years have been quite the ride and we have learned so much. I see the young man before me now and feel so blessed to have him in my life. It is amazing to watch him and to be his listening ear when he needs one. There is so much information in his head and it seems to always be at the forefront. He always has some thought or some design that he is developing right there waiting to come out.  I don't k ow how many garden railroad designs he has walked me through. Perhaps my favorite is the backyard monorail system. 

If a question were to arise as to the perfect breed of dog for children, Jack will have an answer that will probably include a variety of options. 

Anyway, I am grateful for my children. I am grateful to watch my children grow and hope I am teaching them in ways that are pleasing.

So Judgemental

I was asked to participate as a member of a panel of judges in a lip sync competition for the youth activity tonight.  It was a great time.  I was there with Kaden Leko and Doug Corry, two upstanding fellows.  We surprised both the young women and young men presidencies by inviting them to come up and lip sync a song we selected for them.  Pretty fantastic stuff.  They got us back at the end by surprising us with the song Kiss the Girl from the little mermaid to lip sync as the final number.  I thought we did a fine job pulling it off. Really everyone did a great job and it was a lot of fun to be there participating with the youth.  Natty and Jack both had fun and Andy came too so he wouldn't have to be home alone, I don't think he had as much fun and kept begging for me to take him home. Poor boy had to suffer through the festivities.  Anyway it was a good time, fun to be with the youth. 

Rookie Mechanic

I am a rookie when it comes to auto mechanics.  I have very limited experience but that is not allowed to stop me.  I enjoy learning a little hear and there and don't mind getting my hands dirty.  Today I managed to get the broken flanges replaced where the exhaust pipe attaches to the exhaust manifold. It was a bit of a process and I had to learn how to do a few things I hadn't done before but I got through it and got the exhaust put back together again.  Fantastic.  I am definitely a rookie mechanic but I enjoy it. 

Dashes of our Lives

This weekend has been our Stake Conference. I enjoyed the messages that were shared. One of the talks from the adult session last night was a message about the dashes of our lives. The sister talked about how in family history work we have birth dates and death dates that are separated by a dash. The dash represents our lives. What do we do with our dash? She shared a story about a young man in our Stake who recently died after a couple of battles with cancer. She talked about what he did while fighting this disease. A few years ago when he first battled cancer he worked on family history and found 350 names that needed their work done. This time around this sister shared the story about helping him to complete the temple work of these 350 names. This was a huge under taking in a very short amount of time and involved family and friends helping to complete 1800 to 1900 ordinances. This happened during January of this year. Since that time this young man has passed. How amazing that in the time he had while fighting cancer, he accomplished so much. She talked about what the reception must have been like in the Spirit World from those whose work he did. It was a powerful message and invites us to ponder what it is we are doing during our dash and to make sure we are doing those things that matter most.

Prom time

Natalie went to the prom today. She got some help on her hair from Amy and then Laci Faye came and did her makeup. Really nice of both of these ladies. She looks pretty dang good. Anyhow, sounds like she had a good time.

Passed

After being suddenly ill last night I woke up this morning still mildly nauseated. After a few hours that passed. Speaking of passing, I took my test this morning and passed that as well. That was a relief. It was a tough one but that part of the class is done. Now I have two tasks to write and they don't look easy. I took a look at the math portion of the basic praxis and it doesn't look too bad. Hopefully I can get ready for that test and pass without much trouble.

Suddenly

After scripture and prayer I was making lunches for the boys and then planned on doing some additional studying. I have spent much of the day studying. Anyhow, I suddenly felt sick and that was totally unexpected. I'm feeling pulley and that is not favorable. I have decided to forgo more studying and will go to bed instead. Hopefully I will avoid singing praises to the porcelain throne.

Morning Walk

Took a walk up to the temple this morning. It was a beautiful day for a walk and I really wanted to get out instead of running on the elliptical. I even received a compliment from my phone for getting so much exercise today. Thanks phone.

I am beat but that isn't because of the walk. It is just late and I have been straining my brain. I didn't get to the assessment yet. Still studying. Hopefully tomorrow.

Info Overload

I'm not certain how many pages I read today. It is hard to count on an ebook when you just keep scrolling and aren't turning pages. That and we don't go through chapters in order. Suffice to say, I have read a lot. I have taken several pages of notes and I have no idea what I need to focus on for this assessment. I'm going to try to be ready for it tomorrow night but that might be pushing it. I've got two tasks to do as well for this class and want to try and pound those out so I can be done and studying for the praxis next week.  Feeling overwhelmed.

School Day

Got a little deeper in my psychoeducational assessment class today. It is an interesting class. I took the pre-assessment and passed so they have unlocked the assessment but I don't feel ready for it yet. My goal is to take that by Wednesday evening. Hopefully I am ready for it. Lots to go through still. I also have a couple of tasks as part of this class. I need to be moving on it quick so I can get through it and on to the next. I also have to get ready for the praxis next week. Lots going on. Gotta get it done

Concluding Conference

I enjoyed General Conference. There were excellent messages shared. I look forward to reviewing the messages again as i strive to improve and draw neater to the savior. Anyhow, loved the messages

Prophet of God

President Thomas S. Monson was the first speaker in the General Priesthood Session of Conference this evening.  He spoke about charity. There is just something special about watching him stand to address the church.  He is old and frail but he is the mouthpiece of the Lord and I felt confirmation from the Spirit as I watched and listened to him speak.  It was short but it was powerful.  The other portions of conference that I was able to watch or listen to were great.  I am looking forward to the Sunday sessions and learning more from the leaders of the church. 

I do need to mention that in the Saturday Afternoon session my sister Laura was in the choir with her daughter Shey.  Naturally, Shey is my niece.  We were all excited when we saw Shey on the TV, singing in the choir.  We did not see Laura  We tried to catch her but didn't have any luck.  In fairness to the cameramen, I was out helping Dan load a motorcycle and moped in the back of his truck and was listening over the radio.  When I got home and had a chance to watch the choir it was the last song. Shey made the big screen a couple of times but Laura was no where to be found.  Next time Laura.