29 New Third Graders

We started school yesterday and it really was a great day! The past few weeks I have been worried about starting school because I knew I had some really tough kids and I really just loved loved loved my kids last year. Well... it turned about to be so wonderful! I have so many cute and good kids that I already love so much! It is completely different from last year- last year I had 19 boys and 11 girls, this year, 19 girls and 10 boys. I know its horrible, but I really preferred my boys last year :) I haven't even really had the chance to miss my kids from last year because most of them are in my room or hugging me at EVERY chance they get! I only have a few pictures, but I just thought I would share with you how cute they are...

A Summer Full of Work

Well, I go back to school on Thursday and the kids come back next Wednesday. I have been working at the school all summer and here is the final finished product.

The Oregon Coast

Midway through our trip in Washington, Steve and I headed off by ourselves to the Oregon coast which is about two hours from where his family lives. It was the most gorgeous drive and so different from Utah- it is definately the greenest place on earth. Here are some of the views we saw on our drive up there.

You can barely see it, but this is the bridge that you cross to leave Washington and go into Oregon.

The Columbia River that is the border of Washington and Oregon.

We stayed in a little town called Astoria- its right on the river and only about 20 minutes from the beach. Our hotel sat right on the marina and you could sit out on our balcony and watch the boats come in and out. After we settled in and took a small rest, we headed for our first stop Seaside Beach. As you can see the day was cloudy and it was cold, like on 60 degrees. I think I was expecting a beach like Mexico- hot and dry and everyone hanging around in thier swim suits. Well, although gorgeous, the Oregon beaches are much different. It was chilly and windy and I was absolutely freezing and seeing as how we live in Utah in 100 degree weather, I brought NO warm clothes! So Steve and I went into town and stopped at a tourist shop and bought me some sweats and a sweatshirt. Here are the pictures from Seaside...

As you can see, cold and cloudy!

Me, freezing, trying to gain warmth from the warm sand.

So we decided not the spend the majority of our time at Seaside because it was way too touristy with too many people. So we headed south to Cannon Beach. By the time we reached Cannon Beach the sun was out and so it was warmer, not warm by any means but warmer. I still got lots of good use out of my new warm clothes. It was so nice just to relax and lay around the beach for a couple of hours. Steve bought a kite and unsucessfully tried to fly it for about an hour. He also was in the water, pretty deep too, but he was definately the only one in it! After the time on the beach we went to dinner at a place called Mo's- the restaurant is world famous for its clam chowder. I hate the stuff but according to Steve it was really good! After dinner, we headed back to Astoria- but not of course after stopping back in Seaside for a visit to the outlet stores there! Here are the pictures from Cannon Beach...

Utah looks nothing like this, beautiful isn't it?

Up & Away to the Northwest

Last week Steve and I flew to the northwest (Washington & Oregon) to visit Steve's family for the first time since our wedding. We left last Friday and returned yesterday. The trip started out bad- first, Steve was late coming home from work and therefore we were really late from leaving for the airport, second, I haven't flown in two years and apparently you aren't allowed to take lotions, gels or liquids in your carry on bag that are bigger than travel size. Well, to say the least I had to throw away at least $50 dollars worth of products that I had just bought! The trip quickly turned around when we realized that the tickets that Steve's dad had got for us were first class! I don't think I will ever be able to fly coach again. We got all the drinks and snacks we wanted, pillows, blankets, tv and movies on our own personal television screens, we got to move to the front of lines and be the first to board and leave the plane! This is definately the way to fly!

Steve in the Vegas airport during our layover.

The first two nights we stayed at Steve's parents, then we went to the Oregon coast to the beach, and the last nights we stayed at Steve's sister and her husbands.

Steve and I with his aunt Carol.

Steve and his older sister Jen.

Me and Ashley, Steve's niece (who I guess is mine too) looking at pictures.

Overall, it was a really fun trip and we were grateful that we were able to spend time with Steve's family.