Saturday Yard Work

We had a beautiful day today. We spend the morning preparing a bed for some raspberry bushes. It's not quite time to plant yet--a few more weeks--but we ordered some plants and bushes through a catalog yesterday and thought that since it was such a nice day today we would work in the yard.
Kennedy and Tristan enjoyed playing outside. Kennedy has her own garden tools and enjoyed digging in the dirt with us. Tristan, on the otherhand, looks at the dirt and thinks, "buffet". When will he stop eating dirt?

Weekly News

My internet connection hasn't been working well so I missed a few posts but here is a quick catch up.

Preschool here is pretty crazy. Some people start sending their kids to preschool at age 2. I think that's a little early and couldn't let my Kennedy go that soon. She has enjoyed going this year, however. This is her at the little school she goes to. It's not far from our house but she won't be going back next year.

There is a really good school downtown that so many people want to send their kids to that the school has to do an admission lottery. Kennedy didn't get in last year. We tried it again this year though and got in. The lottery is kind of stressful because there are some intense parents there. In years past people have had multiple family members come to draw more numbers for one child. I don't think that happens anymore.

I'm excited for Kennedy to go to this new school next year. She is a bright girl and I think she will be more challenged there.

The other night we were sleeping soundly when in the wee hours of morning a loud chirping alarm woke us up. I immediately knew it was the smoke detector. I sent Chris running down the stairs to check things out. Meanwhile both kids woke up and my heart was in my throat! Nothing like a potential emergency to keep you from going back to sleep at 4 a.m. Obviously nothing was wrong. We don't know why it went off though.

Digital Scrapbooking

The last few years I have tried to make scrapbooks for my family. I have one for our family and one for each child. The past year or so it has become overwhelming and a task I did not want to take on. I knew there was something like digital scrapbooking but it wasn't until very recently that I looked into it. Now that I have a computer that can handle all the photos, downloading and web surfing I decided to give it a try. It helped that my computer came with the latest Photoshop Elements program.

With the help of my friend, Alison, I was lead to a website that guided me through my first tutorial. Tonight while my hubby was sitting on the couch watching the Duke/UNC basketball game I worked through this tutorial and made my first digital scrapbook page. I know it's not much but it's a start. I'm so excited. I hope I can keep up with the scrapbooking now that I have a novel way to do it.

A Tribute

Last week three couples from my home town were on vacation in California. They were together in the same vehicle when a semi truck ran a stop sign and crashed into them. Three of the six were killed (story). One couple was my dad's niece and her husband and another woman, April, was a dear friend who influenced my life greatly. It is a tragedy for the whole town. All three will be missed. April was my drill team advisor in high school. I received word this week that someone was collecting tributes from all of April's former B-Steps (that's what our team was called.) Here is my contribution and also a picture of our team. Unfortunately April is not in the picture.

(That's me front row, third from the left)

Few people hold as dear a place in my heart as April Yardley. She is a legend in the history of Beaver High School’s drill team. It was my privilege to be part of that history. Her last year as the B-step advisor was my first year on the team and one that I look back on with the fondest memories.
It was never my intention to become a B-step. I had very little dance experience, less than most of my friends who tried out, but I was coerced into trying out regardless. In spite of the lack of experience I made the team. April always made me feel like I belonged there and that I could be as good as anyone else. Little did I know that the experience would be the highlight of my high school years. I made friends and had experiences that I otherwise would not have.
Like I said, April is a legend and she also had a reputation. I was a little nervous about how practices would go and the pressure I would feel. However, in no time at all I learned to love, respect and admire April. I often think of my time on the Drill Team and my thoughts always include April.
Not all my memories of April are from my one year working with her on the Drill Team. April believed in me and encouraged me to do other things. Because of her I tried out for Miss Drill Team Utah and Miss Beaver County. I then went on to participate in the Miss Utah State Fair and Miss Utah pageants.
To me April was more than just a drill team advisor, she was a mentor, an example and a friend. I am so glad I had a brief moment in time with her. She was a wonderful person.