Catching Up

So I haven’t written on my blog in 3 months. This has been due to being very busy and then very lazy. :) Also, not having a camera has been a downer. Every now and then I use one of the kids, but it just isn't the same. Maybe a camera is in order for Christmas...

Here’s a not so brief update on life since mid-August.

August-mid-October was the busyness of getting everything ready for a new year at the studio and starting school with the kids. 

The days just blur together during this time.

Zachary is preparing to take the GED. In Utah you now receive a diploma when you have passed the GED so we decided that was the best route for him to go. He is also working on his Eagle Scout Project (with plenty of encouragement and help from mom and dad). 

Isabelle is attending Open High School of Utah, which is an online charter school. She just completed the first quarter and did very well.

All of the kids (except for Zach) are participating in a homeschool co-op this year. We have a group of families who get together once a week for a couple of hours. The kids are divided up into age groups and the moms teach whatever subjects they choose to the kids. The girls love this and look forward to it every week. It is one more thing for me to prepare, but the benefits are worth it.

The end of October- early November was super busy with Zach’s birthday, Halloween, Claire’s birthday and preparing to go to Oklahoma to visit family. Between these activities I also had a lot of other obligations to get through before heading out of town and of course those all kept us running.

November has been a break month in many ways. I got a couple of trips out of town, plus Thanksgiving break. I’m finding it hard to motivate myself to get back to work 

(and start preparing for Christmas!).

We spent a wonderful 10 days in Oklahoma during November. Visiting, playing, relaxing, eating good food and shopping. It was a very nice break. We had some family pictures taken while in Oklahoma and hopefully I will be able to post some of those soon. We also got to experience our first earthquakes. Who would have thought we'd have to go to Oklahoma for that! Justine also came to Oklahoma to see us. It was great to see her (it had been over a year) and we have missed her greatly and wish she would come back home to stay. Emma was super sad that Justine wasn’t coming home with us and it 

broke our hearts. 

The week after I returned from Oklahoma I went on a sister’s trip with Toni and Cindy. We stayed in St. George and had a nice break. We stayed up late and slept in, had yummy food and went to Las Vegas. We saw the Hoover Dam and then we attended the show Ka by Cirque Du Soleil. It was amazing and hard to put into words what was involved in this show. 

During our sister’s trip we also went and saw Breaking Dawn. I admit it. (If you didn’t already know). I am a Twilight fan. Love the books and the movies too. Yes, all of the movies definitely have their cheesy parts, but I can overlook those because I like the story (and Robert Pattinson). :)  Breaking Dawn the book was my least favorite of the books, but after seeing the movie I have a new appreciation for it and would like to read it again soon. 

Speaking of books, the last couple of months I have been on a reading binge and have greatly enjoyed it. If you are curious about what I have been reading you can check out my Goodreads page (see the link on the sidebar). Last year I found that I could note when I read each book. I have found it interesting to go back and look at what I’ve read this past year. Some months have no books (these are the very busy months) and then I will plow through 4-5 books to make up for it. 

I can only stay away from books for so long!

In the last couple of months I have also started watching several TV shows. We have not had TV reception since the change in reception 2-3 years ago and for the most part it is pretty nice. We don’t have to worry about what the kids are watching because they just watch shows that we own or get from the library. But I recently found some shows I can watch online and have spent too much time doing so. Here is what I have been viewing lately and why I am wasting my time doing so:

The Biggest Loser- This is the first season I have watched this show. I love seeing the hard work these people are putting into changing themselves. As I am trying to motivate myself to start making similar changes in exercise and eating habits it is a good reminder of the positive effects of making those choices or the negative effects of not doing it.

The Amazing Race- (First season of viewing this also). I love seeing the places they visit and the challenges that they have to do. 

Good entertainment and a bit educational too.

Survivor- (Also my first season of viewing). I really don’t have a good reason to watch this, except that 2 Mormons from Utah are on it this season and I wanted to see how they handled it and of course I need to see it to the end.

Once Upon a Time- A cool new fantasy story. 

So far so good.

Bones- Over the summer I got hooked on this series. It has been on for 6 seasons, but I had not watched it until this year. I can't believe what I was missing! 

Love the mysteries and love the characters.

The Office- The new season minus Michael Scott is certainly different. The shows are hits and misses. I have loved some and others not so much. It will be interesting to see if it lasts past this season without Steve Carrell.

That is life up to now. Time to get started on Christmas!