GUH.


I want THIS. Like Now.


I have no one in my house who will eat it or appreciate it like I will... need some friends to come over and help me eat this....

For my hubby... maybe 2012. :)

see more Political Pictures

Homeschooling

So we've been having a heavy debate in our home this last week about homeschooling. Big D wants to go to public school, and I wanted to keep him home and homeschool him. So we let him choose. We weighed out all of our options, the pros and cons of it all, and I made it very clear that if he starts bringing home ANY bad habits, I reserve the right to pull his hiney out and teach him here at home. We prayed about it. He still feels good about it. I don't feel bad about it. N hasn't really said, but I know he would rather me homeschool him.

My decision to send him to public school is based on several things. First of all, he wants to go. Of course he wants to go! He's seven! He's EXTREMELY social. I won't have any problem convincing Ike that we should homeschool, he's my quiet one. But David goes stir crazy. I know that when you homeschool you can do "even more" with the kids than if they were in public school... but this is what has led me to my Ultimate Decision. I don't know that I can DO MORE with David at home right now. I'm about to have my 4th baby! I'll have the little one right in the middle of the school year! Yes, I could take a few weeks off for him, but what about after. My hands are so full with Sam and Ike also that the idea of going on field trips, or to the lake, or just being able to focus my (much needed) attention on David alone when he's got a problem... will be at stake. I barely have the energy to go out with all three for more than a few hours as it is without feeling the need to CRASH afterwards.
I suppose it sounds like I am justifying my decision but ... well, maybe I am. The idea of homeschooling him right now seems daunting. I have every intention of doing it in the future, but right now have to consider what's best for his education. If that means sending him to public school for second grade, then that's what I'll do.

So's ya know, those who are interested...

I got a call on Monday saying that Mom's headstone is done. I can pick it up anytime. Will not be able to get down there till next week, but I will post some pics (If I can fix the camera that Ike Ike broke... ergh) when I see it.

SO I figure I should post about stuff. :)

I made a slideshow of our trip. It only let me add 50 (FIFTY!?) photos, though I had many, many more! Our last week in UT was very nice. Matt n Connie came down and stayed two nights with us (YAY!) and we were so happy to see them! We went to Temple Square and ate Brazilian the first day. The second day with them we went to Cherry Hill Waterpark and played (fiasco!). We tried sending Ike down a waterslide with myself and Matt on his own tube (idiots shoulda had a height restriction) ... it was worse than it looked and he ended up getting plowed under and then Uncle Matt saved him by pulling him onto his raft. And then Ike ended up head butting Uncle Matt and breaking his glasses!!! And making him bleed!!! Yikes. So Matt n Connie had to spend the evening getting new glasses and dealing with impromptu car repairs (thank goodness for angels!). All in all, it was over too soon but still fun! :)

I rather enjoyed riding the Twin Dragons (or something) waterslide with Sammy. I went down on my back and then I couldn't sit back up. He ended up riding me down the water-slide ala Dr. Strangelove...

Great fun.

Anywho...

Then, our last weekend there, we drove down to Mayfield, UT for N's family reunion on his dad's side. A three day festival of stuffing your face, sweating, and chasing children. Still really fun. I really enjoyed sending time with N's siblings... even camping wasn't so bad!

We drove back up to Kaysville on Sunday and spent the night packing and doing laundry before leaving for Lehi on Monday, where we spent the night with N's awesome grandparents.

Tuesday we left (not as early as we shoulda) and made it through Moab, where we had lunch with N's brother, and the Four Corners. Four Corners was neat but sad. Kind of a flea market around a monument... hm. Cool though.

Wednesday we killed ourselves with over 17 hours in the car. We were determined to make it home that night and not have to pay for another hotel! Though the one we stayed in in New Mexico was an Economy Inn, it had been refurbished and didn't feel creepy at all. Quite nice. And I slept quite comfy with Ike Ike. :)

So we're glad to be home!!

And I went to the doctor and have gained five more pounds. :) That's a vacation for you (and a second trimester...). But it's only 9 pounds total so far.

We also had our ultrasound ... now gender news, still a surprise, but here's some pics!

Baby foot and Baby face. :)

This is chronological from the start of our trip to the end...

Well, we've obviously been having fun here in Utah, seeing as I've been too busy to get on here and update! (Saving that one rant about the HP movie! :)

We've really enjoyed our time here so far and even though we will be here for another week, I think we both feel like it's passing too quickly. It just makes us realize how much we hate being away from any family.

We had Nathan's cousin's wife take some family pictures for us last week. She did an AMAZING job! I love them all... except the darn dog messed up a bunch of them! If we didn't love him so much, we'd have left him home! Probably should have anyway! :)

http://riversedgephoto.smugmug.com/

Click on View Proofs and scroll to the bottom. If you are related to us, you'll probably get some from us so don't order any! We'll be ordering a lot!

It was the typical family picture taking experience... child cries (one guess who) cause he doesn't WANT to wear those clothes, doesn't want to get his picture taken, other child wiggles and will NOT hold still (one guess who), dog messes up photos and climbs into pond (after we gave him a bath) and comes out all muddy, and finally wiggle child gets 4 bee stings, mom yells at dad, dad yells at mom. And then we go watch fireworks! :)

We've had fun with cousins and eaten lots of good food. I came to Utah having only gained four pounds so far this pregnancy, but I may go back having gained double that! Sushi last night. Yum. Wanted that. The boys have really been enjoying it too but the late nights have taken their toll as well. We have taken a bunch of pics but I probably won't post any till we get back to Tejas. Don't really wanna go back to Tejas. I'm enjoying this weather too much... (for one reason!)...

And will someone please shoot Lavender Brown?

OK OK!!!

I haven't posted about anything significant in a LONG time. Like really long. Whine whine whine!!!! But I'm feeling better now so I will post about something other than my grumbles...

First of all, I still haven't put up any o the pics from David's Cub Scout Camp, but they are on the other computer at home so it'll have to wait...

Second, we are (obviously) in Utah now! It's so nice to be here and see the family and hang out! It was a heck of a drive to get there though! Sam has an internal clock which goes off around 11 hours... so that's about how far we made it each day 11-12 hours. The first night we stayed in Clayton NM. Yep. Not much there at ALL! But they had an awesome state park with a beautiful lake and decent campsites so we put up our tent and grilled tin foil dinners and enjoyed the cooler weather! It was really nice!!!

The next day we made it to Vernal. We had planned to camp again at Dinosaur Nat'l Monument but Nathan's aunt invited us to stay with her and the idea of a bed and a shower were just too inviting!! So the next day we went to Dinosaur and then headed to Kaysville. We got in Thursday night and hung out with the fam for a bit and Nathan's sis cut my hair. (I LOVE it! It needed it so bad and it's what it's cut like I wanted!) She did a great job! It was also our TENTH anniversary, but we didn't celebrate much on the road. So yesterday, friday, we spent the early part of the day playing on the trampoline and slip n slide, then Nathan's mom watched the kids so we could go out. It was SO nice! We went to the Rodizio (which I had been waiting for) and ate SO MUCH! N was cracking me up with... "Ooo, that's what I want" pointing at the meat guys as they passed! :)

Then we finally saw Half Blood Prince. I have so many mixed feelings about the movie...

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

(If you haven't seen it, you may not want to read ahead.....)

First of all...

It was a really good "MOVIE". Very enjoyable. The funny parts were very funny. The scenes that actually were WERE taken from the book were done VERY well (Ron in Love, Ron Poisoned, Aragog's funeral, Katie Bell, the (FEW) memories... and most of the scenes with Slughorn, and some decent Quidditch shots YAY!) I enjoyed these parts. And the acting in this film was VERY good! Rupert and Emma have finally learned how to act! (And they finally gave Hermione bushy hair!) Everything else made me mad.

N kept saying "it's BASED on the books" but to me, that means you try to stay true to them, not go buck wild with artistic license!!!!! They whole first 45 minutes of the movie were, while well done, not NOT NOT done the way the book intends. Switching out characters, screwing with and adding new scenes. SO many new scenes were added and they didn't add to the plot development any more than if they had used the direct scenes from the book!! Hello!! Why burn down the Burrow!?!? Random!!! I knew it was coming, but that didn't make it any better. I was left frustrated.

And now, Snape. Was. A. Pansy.

I don't know if this was the script or Rickman's interpretation of the man, but it was painful. I had to look away during two of his scenes. I was really REALLY mad about the portrayal of Snape (YES, I know I'm biased) but seriously... HEY, Rickman, don't emote or anything!!!!! None of his usual spit and attitude. Even the sectumsempra scene! Harry was a punk that could have killed Draco and they totally let it slide!!!! And I wanted us to see the wounds on Draco. OPEN THE DAMN SHIRT!!! We should see how serious it was!!!! And while I really DO NOT like Gambon as Dumbledore, I did tear up in the cave scene but was not emotionally invested enough in the tower scene. He died. I was like 'meh'. And it seemed like Snape was like 'meh' also!!!!!! No struggle in his face. It was over so fast!!!!!! I was so MAD!!!! If you're gonna make a freaking 2 1/2 hour movie, make it count!!!!!

Other than that, and tho it doesn't sound like it!, I DID enjoy it. I immediately told myself that it was a loose interpretation and more like a Fan Video, so that I could enjoy it more. It helped but there were still lots of things that made me so irritated!!!

And with that, I leave you.

Will try to update again soon!

OH!!! And so many moody shots of Draco... Aaaaaand cut to another shot of Draco brooding. While I thought he did a good job, who they heck came up with the line, to Dumbledore, "I have to kill you or Voldemort will kill me!!!" WHAT?!?!?! I kept waiting for him to say "will kill my family!!!!!" BAH!!!! And Narcissa wasn't blond enough. And "DON'T CALL ME COWARD!!!" WHERE was that!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!!! And more fighting at the end after the Tower Scene....um, no, we had to burn down the burrow instead ?!?!??!?!

Shoulda been called Harry Potter and the Teenage Crushes...

Again with the updates!

Ok. Went to the PT again today. Not a rotator cuff injury... a "bulging disk" in my neck. HA!

*sigh*

Life is good.

Update...

Lucky me gets to have a root canal tomorrow. Yay!

Oh, yeah. Happy Fourth!