a ME post!

I haven't posted about me in a long time!  So let's see, I graduated in December, then spent the next 3 months writing my grad school essays and looking for a job.  I found a job near the end of February, working for Youth Corrections.  I do shifts at the youth detention center and at the local youth crisis center.  All in all I like the job.  I work with awesome people, and working with the kids is surprisingly low-key. The hours are random and can be cruddy, but at least it's up to me what shifts I take.  It's only part-time, about 30 hours a week, so I'm still looking for a full-time job in the social work field, but this job is a good stepping-stone in the meantime. (also, this job has a TON of downtime . . . I'm writing this post at work.)
So far I think my kids are surviving fairly well with a working mom.  During school it was hard sometimes when I'd say goodbye to them in the morning, then leave for work at 2 when they were still at school, and not get home until 10 when they were already asleep.  It's better now that it's summer and I can spend the half of the day that I am home with them.  
Natalie is continuing to be the little mama of the house, she's so great about babysitting the kids so much.  It stresses me out a lot worrying about parentifying her, but mostly she likes it.  She's a little homemaker at heart; loves to cook and organize and do fun activities with the kids.  And then of course we do still have a dad at home.  There are quite a few evenings when he's able to help out at least a little bit.
I found out a few weeks ago that I got into my master's degree program, which means I'm starting school again in August! The degree I'm getting is called a Master's of Social Work.  The program is through the U of U (I'm a Ute!  Now I need to hate BYU.) and they do distance ed broadcasting all around the state.  They start every 3 years with a cohort of about 30 students (in Cedar), so I'm feeling lucky that the timing was right and lucky that I got in. Especially since doing this program has been my plan ever since I decided to go into this field in 2009!  The program is meant for people who are working full-time, so it's spread out over 3 years instead of 2, and classes are held Friday evenings and all day Saturday.  I'm super curious what it's going to be like.  I registered for my classes this week-- stuff like human development and social work ethics-- and I bought my books too.  I can't wait to get started!

SUPER tender

This is the movie I made for Jason for Valentine's day.  I'm so proud of it, and he totally loved it.  I'm glad I did it too; it has some of clips of our wedding video in it and the tape it's on is starting to die!  Rescued just in time.

I think it'll show up better on YouTube, so here's the link to it there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDYdVpDoqig&feature=youtu.be

Jessica's Audition

Jessica had the fun experience of trying out for a real play today!  Here she is reciting "Father William"

Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve-Eve activity: Gingerbread houses!  We used hot glue and graham crackers, which meant the kids could do super creative houses:

Jessie's Reese's Factory

Josh's house-- took forever, but totally worth it

Natalie architecturally stunning house 

Missy's house.  Yes, she's still obsessed with the color green.

Mandie decided to build a bridge!  

Christmas Eve in newly-opened jammies!

Some favorite presents......

Mandie-- Sit 'n Spin!

Jessica-- Indian doll!  It's SUCH a pretty doll,
 I was so excited to find it.

Missy's frog slippers

Josh-- Robotic Arm!  He even gets to build it with his dad!

Nat-- Cell phone!  She was completely shocked.  We got her a pay-as-you-go  phone and a bunch of minutes, but after they run out she's responsible for buying them herself.  Perfect plan for a teen, right?





The day after Christmas the kids and I went to Flagstaff.  We got to see everyone but new mommy Kimi and her little fam. We spent a good chunk of time making the video I posted, that was so fun.  We loved having the guys and kids participate too.  I took a couple of the kids ice skating, but I'll have to save that for another post because I can't get the photos to transfer from my phone!

The only other thing I took pictures of was Manda and the kitty.  She spent so much time under chairs and tables and Christmas trees snuggling with Skittles.  It too cute.

Fall Picnic

 This year we kept our pumpkin-picking-grocery-shopping-picnicking tradition alive without going out of town.

We just went to good old Smith's to get pumpkins.  Missy even found a green one!

Then we went in and got some picnic food, and the kids thought it would be great if ALL of them rode on the cart.

We went to Canyon Park for our picnic 

We had our picnic right next to the river bed, and after we ate we went down to play

So here's the big river

And we found this super pretty secret little side stream to explore

Then we went back up and sat on the grass and played at the playground.  It was a perfectly lovely day!

There's a hole in my blog between our beach vacation and Halloween, so here's my attempt to fill it in.  This is what happened in between:

Melissa turned 7!  And Nat decorated her cake.

Josh turned 11!

Jessica broke her arm! (going down our hill too fast on her bike)

Jessica turned 9!

Natalie got an adorable but insanely feisty kitten and named her Bella

We stayed at a beautiful cabin that belongs to our amazing friends and had a picturesque family vacation

Natalie babysat a lot-- our kids and others. 

The kids got to ride a horse!

School started!  Missy 2nd grade

Jessica 4th grade

Josh 6th grade (middle school!)

Natalie 8th grade

Jessica got her cast off!

Mandie started preschool!

Nat turned 13 and had an epic slumber party

Josh fixed the dishwasher

We headed up to the cabin again on the wrong weekend!  It was only October but it was cooooooold!   It was very exciting, but we came home a little early.

My baby became old enough to make her own sandwiches.

 And I went to my last semester of college!  Which I did not take pictures of.  It was a very cool semester.  I got to train a pigeon and design a research study, and I did internships with the local women's shelter and DCFS.

And here I am again at the end of a blog post not knowing how to end it.

Good night, and good luck.

A Letter

For the week after Christmas, the kids and I went to Flag to visit my family. Jason stayed home since travelling tends to negatively affect his health. After being there for a couple of days, Mandie started to miss him a lot, so I suggested she write him an email. She knows her letter sounds and she's getting good and phonetic spelling. I showed her the space bar and reminded her to put a spaces between the words. This is what she typed:

Ilavu imisu iwascriencaz imistu ihavudog imhavenfan lavamanda

(I love you, I miss you. I was crying cause I missed you. I have a dog. (she had just spent her grandma money on a toy dog) I'm having fun. Love Amanda)

Is it not the cutest thing EVER??