Back to School!

Well, this past week I've started back at school. I'm just taking a few online general classes. Just enough to make me full time. My English class started out without any hitches. I was able to find my assignments and get all the work done that I needed to on the first day. Math was a little more interesting. The teacher uses an alternate website to give the homework and quizzes, so that took some getting used to. In my History class, I was going through the course schedule and noticed that all the assignments due dates were at the beginning of Oct! So, I emailed the instructor to see if that was correct, or if there were other things to work on in the meantime...It turned out that she teaches a 10 week course that starts at the very end of Sept. and the wrong course schedule had been uploaded. My music class is a whole other story! The class hasn't even been opened yet! There are no assignments posted, no quizzes or discussion boards, and no messages from the teacher! I couldn't find any contact information for the teacher, so I just emailed everyone on the class list to see if they were having the same problem or if they knew what was going on. One of them was able to give me our instructors email but he just replied that they were having technical problems and to try again on another day...well, it's friday and still nothing! I think I'm probably going to need to contact the school about it.
Anyway, that was my first week at school...yay!

Football Frenzie!

So, at Aaron's work they were giving away tickets to the Denver Bronco's first pre-season game. Now, I'm not really a big football fan...well, I really don't like football at all...but I figured, Hey, they're free! We might as well go for the experience. We decided to take the lite-rail up to the stadium so that we wouldn't have to deal with parking and getting out with all the traffic after the game. That was the best decision ever! It was awesome to watch all the cars stuck in traffic as we sailed past! Then, when we got there we went up to find our section and our seats. Little did we know that because of the tickets that they gave us, and because Abby was in her stroller, we ended up going through the Club section to get to our seats! It was amazing! We were able to sit at a table and eat BBQ sandwiches while waiting for the game to start! Sadly, once we left that area we couldn't go back in until we were ready to leave, but that's ok! The game was pretty good and we had amazing seats. We had these two seats that were right above the stairway where you come in, so there was no one in front of us or next to us! I was able to learn a little bit more about the rules of the game (now that I had no excuse not to watch!) and I was able to follow it a little better. In between quarters the cheerleaders would entertain, who are (in my opinion) no more than glorified dancers. We left the game a little early while the Bronco's were winning so that we could beat a little bit of the traffic. We finally got home at almost midnight and crawled in to bed! So, all in all a fun experience! It's nice to be able to try new things. Especially when you don't have to pay for it! :)mmm...yummy BBQ sandwich!

Abby eating some of the bread off my sandwich

Enjoying our dinner on the club level!

Abby and I in front of the field

Family Fun

Yesterday I realized that I've been way too worried about making sure the kids have a good time while they're here. For the past year or so we've been having trouble with them not wanting to come and see us, and with the girls especially throwing fits and crying. We've been short on money, what with fixing both the cars and the vacation, and I guess somewhere in the back of my head I thought that maybe if we could afford to do "fun" things that that might change. But last night we spent the night playing Uno and I'm pretty sure they had more fun doing that than when we took them to the circus! And I'm sure they'll remember those times that we've spent together either at the park playing, or working on some project, or whatever, more than the super fun exciting things that we only got to do one time because they cost so much. They love anything that we do together! The funny thing too is that usually with those other, more expensive fun things, I usually get more stressed out either because it cost more than we could afford, or if I think they're not enjoying it as much as they "should" what with how expensive it was and all. By the time we're done I'm usually hanging on by a thread of sanity :). But when it doesn't cost anything but a little of my time, I'm free and easy, just enjoying the ride because it's really not that important. Long story short, I had fun last night playing games with my family.

Camping

Can I just say, I love camping! I love the smell of the trees, cooking outdoors, roasting marshmallows, and even sleeping on the ground. There's just something about it that makes me happy. Maybe it's just that it reminds me of all the fun times I had camping with my family growing up. And I love that now I can share that with my family.
Last night we went on a ward camp out. I picked up the kids early so that we would have time to eat dinner together and participate in some of the activities. The kids ran wild playing hide and seek, and tag, and any other make-believe game they could come up with. We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. We visited with other families and basically just had a good time. And even though Abby decided to wake up at 3 in the morning, and there were trains running all night long, and morning came way to early...I loved it, and I'm so glad we went!

Family Reunion Fun

This past week was a blast as we spent time in utah visiting family. Aaron was able to get some extra time off, so we spent the first part of the week with just our family. We were able to take the kids to the zoo and the park. They had so much fun! And I took tons of pictures!
Then, on wednesday we spent the day with my grandparents. My grandpa took Aaron and Nicolas golfing, and I spent the day with the girls and my grandma while she taught us how to sew a quilt. The girls loved being able to make their own blanket.
On thursday my parents and brothers got there. It was great being able to see them all again. On friday we went to the temple with my parents and grandparents. We were able to take some of Aaron's family names through and get their work done. My mom and my aunt even ended up with sisters, which was fun.
Then, friday night the reunion began. We all had dinner together, played some games, roasted marshmallows, and just got reacquainted. Then saturday we had breakfast, and helped grandma and grandpa with some work around the house and yard. After lunch we took some family pictures, then we played our own version of "minute to win it". It was hilarious watching all our different family members doing such random, silly games :). On sunday we went to church, then had our own little testimony meeting. It was nice being able to hear the testimonies of my grandparents(which i've never heard before), and even my dad, which I only remember hearing maybe once. Then all my dad's siblings gathered around and talked about "remember when's" from their childhood. I loved hearing all their stories.
All in all, a wonderful vacation with lots of fun memories made.