Summer craziness

Wow, I can't believe that is has been a month since I last posted. Time sure flies. Tim and I had a fantastic and very relaxing trip to Colorado and since he has posted the pictures from our trip, you can go to his blog to see what we did.
Today is rainy and cold. We are having unusual weather for Utah in June. We have had a lot of rain and snow this year and yes while it is good for the draught that we have been in these past few years, I can honestly say that I am ready for some summer heat and sunshine! However, living up in Suncrest, you don't get the summer heat that you get in the valley which I know I will appreciate later.
Ben and Grant have officially been out of school for three days now and so far everyone is having a great time. I have been keeping the kids rather busy and entertained. I am kind of a mean mom in that I have been making them do an hour of school each day. Research has indicated that children loose two to three months of progress in reading and math over the summer. Math has been challenging to Ben and so we are doing fun activities so that he can better understand what he is having trouble with as well as reviewing things that he all ready knows. Grant is participating aswell but he suffers in handwriting so that is his big hurdle. As far as reading goes, they are both fantastic readers and are well above grade level. Anyway, those of you with children, here are a few link that may be helpful to you while working with your children this summer. These are free, online, educational, games that so far my kids have loved.

www.funbrain.com

www.coolmath4kids.com

www.factmonster.com

http:// nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/grade_g_1.htm

www.aplusmath.com

www.aaaknow.com/grade2.htm:

Enjoy!!!!

Another Long Walk

This is Lone Peak from behind. We walked the 2 mile walk home :). Maisy was exhausted at this point but I still could have kept going. Wink, wink...

Hey, look it's the Suncrest Market!!!

This is the cute little market by our house and were the bus stop lets the kids off. Grant and I had a nice little picnic lunch at the park this afternoon and we went to this market to get sandwhiches.

Our Street, that is Utah Lake. On one side you can see Provo, on the other side you can see SLC

This is my DREAM HOUSE. It is for sale. Tim and I have been inside it for an Open House and it was incredible!!! Who knows, maybe when Tim gets his raise in July... probably not likely, but we all can dream.

This is the view from my dream house. Pretty nice!

This is the back of my dream house. The deck at the very top is part of the master suite. How nice would it be to wake up in the morning and step out on your own private deck!

This is another incredible view of Utah Lake and Utah Valley

Today, it was a lovely day up here in Suncrest. The weather was perfect and mild. I decided to walk to the bus stop were Grant gets off the bus. It is probably 2-4 miles depending on the direction you take. I decided to go the long way today with Maisy. I took a few pictues along the way. I am reminded how fortunate we are to live in such a nice place. Even in the winter life up here is good.

Birthday Party

Grant on our way home from church

My niece Krya the actress!!!

Callie

Brynn and Andrea

On Sunday we had our Donaldson/ Lythgoe birthday celebration. Since we have a few birthdays in April and May, we decided that it would be fun to combine them. Doug's, Brynn's and Darrin's birthdays are in April, and Grant's is in May. Tim and I decided to have everyone up on Sunday for dinner. It was fun. We BBQ'd hotdogs and hamburgers, had cake, and talked for awhile. It was definatly great seeing the Lythgoes again. I love seeing the girls. They keep getting bigger each time I see them and they are so fun to get to know. Kyra is a wonderful big sister, Callie is so sweet and smart, and Brynn is so cute and creative. I love her fire hydrant obsession. They are great girls and Andrea and Darrin are both really fun to talk to. It was a fun Sunday!!!

My Walk with Maisy

At Tanner Park about 9:30 a.m

Don't let her innocent face fool you!!!

One of my favorite places in Salt Lake

Bridge to Tarabithia

At this point, I needed to go to the bathroom so we didn't linger here long.

New Camera

For our anniversary this year, Tim and I bought ourselves a new camera to take on our honneymoon trip to Ouray, Colorado. We will be staying in a very luxerious bed and breafast in the honeymoon suite. Even though we have been married for eight years, we have never really had the chance to go on a vacation and call it our honeymoon. Now that he had built up vaction time and I am done with classes, we are going to take a five day trip. Marge and Doug are going to come our house and watch the kids while we are gone so we are greatful for their help. They truly are wonderful grandparents. My kids have been so blessed to have such wonderful grandparents on both sides. Tim and I are also very lucky. Anyway, enought of the rambling, and check out some of the pictues that I have taken !!!!

Students soak up many wonders of Great Salt Lake
By Wendy Leonard, Deseret News
Published: April 19, 2008

The salty and sometimes stinky Great Salt Lake became umpteen times more interesting to a couple dozen North Star Elementary School students and about 13 Westminster College graduate students who just completed experiments on one of the state's wonders.
"It's an incredible and unique ecosystem out there that is so unappreciated in the state," said Carolyn Jenkins, professor of Westminster's Elementary Science Methods course. "Most people only know it smells."
As part of a continued collaborative effort by Westminster College, more than a dozen graduate students, all hoping to become teachers, worked with 29 fourth-graders to answer some innovative questions concerning the Great Salt Lake, "to help them gain an appreciation for that wonderful body of water," Jenkins said.
Using scientific experimentation, students answered questions concerning the life-span of brine shrimp, salt water and sand temperatures, salinity, rocks and sand that form from waste, salt crystallization and much more. For most of the students, their favorite part was not visiting the lake in early March but working through the questions and determining how their hypotheses affect everyday life.
"It would take 10 years for the Great Salt Lake to freeze, and the temperature would have to be below freezing for a long time," said Owen Lopez, 9. He said human sweat also contains salt, which helps regulate body temperature. He said learning the hands-on way is "way better than reading a book."
The semesterlong project included two field trips to the Great Salt Lake to provide the Title I school kids experience dealing with practical science and high-tech scientific equipment, property of Westminster. The grad students gained experience in working directly with youths, "learning how they learn," said Brittany Donaldson, originally from Texas.
"They were very into what we were doing," she said. "It was neat seeing them connect it to their lives and building upon what we already knew." The direct focus and individualized attention is unusual for a public school setting.
"We don't have that at our school," said North Star fourth-grade teacher Terry Olsen. "I couldn't keep them in their seats as we started crossing the causeway." The individual attention Westminster's students gave the fourth-graders and the engaging equipment, he said, "changed the way they look at science and the Great Salt Lake."
The massive body of salty water, Olsen said, fits directly into North Star's social studies curriculum, in addition to the scientific study of Utah's forestry, desert and wetlands.
"We went into the water with boots. It wasn't blue, it was all white," said 10-year-old Easter Simbe. She discovered that the water and salt evaporates into the air, making it cooler very quickly. "It's a lot of fun to learn about new stuff," she said.
"Now we know not to live on the shores of the Great Salt Lake," said Jodi Anderson, a Westminster grad student who assisted Simbe and science partner Aylin Gutierrez.
The myriad discoveries were presented via student-made posters that lined the hallway at Westminster's Malouf Hall on Wednesday.
"They don't know it but we had as much fun as they did" learning about the Great Salt Lake, Anderson said. "It's a huge part of our state, and people take it for granted."
E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com

March 24, 2008

Today was out departure out of Salt Lake City. We headed out about 7:15 am to Phoenix. From Phoenix we flew into Mexico City. From the plane, Mexico City looked a lot like Southern California. It is a huge city and I never realized it. It was very green and certainly nice to see trees again. The airport was interesting. It was really big and busy with a lot of people running around to get where they needed to go. I felt confused and slightly out of place not knowing how to speak Spanish. McDonalds threw me for a loop. I was a total Gringo and didn’t get something local. I am kicking myself for it now. The car ride to Cemal was bumpy and maybe a little nauseating but all the while it was scenic and incredible. The weather couldn’t have been any more perfect. It was great to sit in a car and open the windows and not get hot. The driving out here is a little different then it is back home. There are not very many stop lights and everyone is a tad bit assertive when it comes to getting to where you need to go. I had to hold on a couple times and I felt nervous that we would hit someone. We sure did come close a couple times. It appears that a lot of people walk around. I see a lot of people on the street and it is nice to see that. You don’t see that very much in the US. I haven’t seen one fat person here. Maybe it is all the walking. The center here in Cuernevacca is a lot nicer then I thought it would be and everyone seems so friendly. Dinner tonight was fantastic and it was fun to sit down with everyone and talk. I am certainly exhausted and I am ready for bed now.