Mid-December

Hi Friends!

Life just keeps happening! We are plugging away in our new, much different life. It has been a very emotional month for me, particularly. Recently, my mom had a very minor stroke - no permanent damage - but it did keep her in the hospital for about five days. She is back home now and taking a few well-deserved weeks off work. So, the library, her tutoring students, and the school district will miss her! I miss her (and Daddy), too, and am eager to have them move out here as soon as they are able.

There's not much news, so I'll keep this post short. But, know that we are thinking of all of you often and miss all of our good friends very much.

Lots of love,

Sharon

Thanksgiving Weekend

Hello there friends! November 28, 2008

It’s Friday morning, and I am sitting on the couch having coffee, still in my jammies. Dave had to work today, unfortunately. The kids are off doing their own thing (Sarah on the computer, Brian watching cartoons). Oscar is sitting on my lap after having finished his breakfast. Mante is trying to figure out if he wants to eat or not, and Cooper is guarding his bowl for fear someone will come and snatch it away if he lets his guard down!

Since I wrote last a few weeks ago, we’ve gotten settled in to our cute little house. It looks like a barn ~ bright red with white trim. Although it is very different from our Colorado house, it is very homey and we are feeling like we fit well. Here are some pictures of the inside & out.

The house has 3 bedrooms & 2 ½ bathrooms. The master is on the main floor, which my knees appreciate. The main floor also has an office, the kitchen, laundry, and a dining/family room. Upstairs is just the kids’ bedrooms and a bathroom. Down in the basement, which is unfinished, Brian’s drums and the other musical instruments are in an area, and then another spot is set up with our basement furniture & the TV with PS2, rock band, and stuff. The back yard is really little (about the size of our front yard in Colorado) and doesn’t have a fence yet, so the dogs are going for lots of walks and Weenie has to be leashed when we take them out so he doesn’t bolt. This morning, we’re taking them to the dog park so they can run around.

We also had Halloween since the last letter. Brian’s school had a Fall Festival, which was really cute with Monster Bowling, Donut Eating Contests, and a photo op. Here’s the picture they took of the kids:

Sarah dressed as an Indian Maiden for trick-or-treating, and Brian was some dead guy with blood in his skeletal chest. Of course. I was a hippy with a blonde afro wig. I dressed up at work and was one of probably 100 out of 1,200 who did! Next year I’ll know better. Dave was just Dave.

It’s nice out after having about a week of snowy weather. A couple weeks ago, we had about 4” of snow in the valley and up to 4’ in the mountains. Then, it rained a lot down here, but kept on snowing higher up. And, then we got a week or so of temperatures in the 60s’, and now it’s cold and cloudy. The mountains are just spectacular with all of the deep snow. Things in town haven’t turned brown yet, so it’s a really nice time of the year.

My mom and dad came last weekend to visit! They stayed at my aunt’s house, but spent lots of time with us. We had an early Thanksgiving on Saturday night at our house with my mom & dad, aunt & uncle, cousin Jerrick and his girlfriend Sierra, and other cousin Alicia and her two little ones, Ashleigh (10) and Jackson (5). Dave deep-fried a turkey and we split up the sides. While they were here, my mom and dad looked for a few housing options, as they hope to move out sometime after winter. My mom also turned in her application with the local school district to be a substitute teacher. It was so nice to see them! It felt like it had been so long.

The big news is . . . Dave got a job! He’s been there two weeks now. It is as a service advisor position at an independent repair shop in Sandy (about 15 miles away from the house) called McNeil’s Auto. They have just one shop now and are hoping to open a second one in April in Riverton which is the neighboring town to where we live. The intent is that he will be ‘groomed’ to be the service manager at that new store when it opens. He’s really excited about it. The two weeks prior to starting that he painted the inside of his parents’ house, which I think he enjoyed being able to do for them.

Unfortunately, his mom fell about two weeks ago and broke her hip. She had surgery to repair it and, thankfully, it wasn’t as badly broken as they thought. She had to get three screws put in, but didn’t have to have it replaced. That’s good, since the other hip is already artificial! She was up and around for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, using a walker to get around. Since she has had cancer three times, has a bad heart, and has osteoporosis, they didn’t expect this good of a result. So, we’re happy.

The kids and I went to see a community theater production of Peter Pan earlier this month. The elementary schools here are year-round, so when the kids are ‘off-track,’ meaning they don’t have school, there are lots of different activities and camps for them to go to during school hours. One of those is a theater camp at Brian’s school. The lady who was running it was so successful that she started a Community Theater program, too. That’s what this production was for. Brian hopes to do the theater camp during his next off-track break, which is in February.
He’s off-track now, which worked out well with Dave not having been working the first two weeks of it. Now that Dave’s back to work, though, Brian has been home alone. It was interesting to say the least! He did well, but is bored out of his mind and actually excited to go back! He starts again on on December 8th. So, he started school, went for two weeks, is off for four, goes for two, then Winter Break starts for everyone and he is off for another two! Then, after the new year, he will be on for 7 weeks, off for three, through the end of the school year, which doesn’t end until early July. Weird! He started drum lessons again, which will be good for him, and I’ve given him a book report assignment to do while he is off-track. (I know, I know. It’s just me.) Other than that, he’s just being a goofball!

Sarah is LOVING her pony, Fransesca. (Pronounced with a sss, not a ch.) She’s a good little horse. It’s working out really well to keep her at my aunt’s house. Winter hasn’t really hit yet, so she is still able to ride a couple times every week. We have looked into a local Equestrian Center where, for $60 a year, she can have full use of all of their facilities including indoor and outdoor arenas, a race track, hot walkers, and round pens.

My work is going really well. It’s still a little unchallenging, but I guess that’s better than being overwhelmed. My boss and the other people are really nice, and the building is really beautiful and well-appointed with a catered cafeteria, fitness center, big glass atrium in the middle, walking paths all around the facility, and a lake right behind it with hundreds of geese.
Well, I’d best get off my big butt and get going! I hope to hear from you soon. I miss you all so much. It’s really weird being here without all of you. Please write or call soon!

Love,
Sharon