Odd news day

A sample of the bizarre stories I found linked in the sidebar on the Tribune's website today:

Man goes nuts on vending machine, gets arrested

After stabbing friends in WVC, drunken man has a beer outside

Man kicked out of concert starts nearby field on fire

New homeowner finds stolen car inside garage

Perfume bottle goes flying in on-the-road assault

The golden thread that runs through nearly all of these is that they happened in West Valley City.

Willard Bay

We decided that since yesterday was the last day of our summer break, we'd finally make the trip to the beach we'd planned on all summer long:

Not exactly a pristine, white-sand beach, but it did the trick.

Just Two More

Two (2)--Let's say that again---ONLY TWO more semesters and we are DONE with school for a while (until we get inspired to earn our masters). I can't believe I only have to register one more time for classes. It will be such a great feeling to have a degree in hand, finally, in May. We still have a lot of work before graduation, but it is a short time.

This summer semester was pretty tough for me. I thought it was going to be harder, but turned out alright. I did not get the grades that I think I earned, but I didn't get any Cs which is great. I finished with four As, a B (which would have been an A if I would have studied more for the final), and a B- (I didn't put too much into this class, so I guess this is appropriate). Tyler always tells me to just pass the class, but I really believe that I have to earn an "A" to feel like I've learned and mastered the topic. I"ll just have to get over that, because with a calling, family, internship, and part-time job, I realize I can't do it all. I can just do my best.

Wish us luck for our last semesters. We have just four more days until we disappear into our books again and are pretty much oblivious to rest of the world. It is terrible, I know, but it is for just TWO more semesters!

5 Years

Five years ago today I came home from Russia:

Update

Finals week means that the blog isn't getting much love lately.

We're finally getting some produce from the garden, which this week meant our first salsa of the season:

Look at the tiny onion. How sad! None of our onions are going to do well. Onions are my favorite thing to cook with. Lots of flavor. The zucchini is finally slowing down. Good thing for Tyler.

Rachel spends most of her time lately drawing, coloring, stickering, making things out of pipe cleaners, etc. Crafts are her thing right now. I need to think of some creative things for her to create.
We are also working on identifying letters. She is pretty good with A,B,C, and D. The most frustrating part is when you know she knows the letter, but she refuses to tell you. She is crazy. She'll tell me when she wants to tell me. This is one idea we had to help her with her letters. It was only a dollar at Dollar Tree.
Rachel has been pretending to be a kitten lately. It is starting to get old. So, Tyler is trying to get her to be a bunny instead. Bunnies don't talk or meow! So far, Rachel likes the idea.

Stepping with the Oldies

So, Wednesday is my last day for my Step and Abs aerobic classes for the Summer semester. Classes start again when the Fall Semester starts. I learned so much about the body and how to teach people to move their bodies in ways that improve their posture, appearance, and health. The majority of my students were college age women with fairly fit bodies. Today, however, as my class began, a wonderful 61 year old man walked in beaming with excitement of the idea that he was starting a new adventure. I could read on his face that he was so proud of himself for trying something new. I immediately thought, "Shoot! How am I going to modify this routine so I don't send this man to the hospital." For those who don't know, step aerobics is kind of like dancing on stairs. It is high intensity with fairly low impact. Anyway, I started with the very basic, basic steps and showed the rest of the class how to increase intensity with add hops, arms, and jumps. All the while, I kept my sweet man at the basics. He struggled so much with coordination, but he smiled the whole time. He thought he was on top of his game, but in reality, he looked like he was a lost chick from his mother. Still, he kept going. We did lunges, squats, and push-ups. Every time, I thought he was going to pull something due to bad form, but his smile never disappeared from his face. I was so impressed with his outlook and courage to come into a dominate young female class and do his best. It was so fun.