Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Report Card Time!!!

(yummy Krispie Kremes!!!)
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Tyler... 6th Grade
Reading "A"
Writing "B"
Math "A"
Science "A"
Social Studies "A"
Received all "4's" in the Skills and Behaviors for Successful Learners
-Made Honor Roll!!!
-Was invited to be in the Einsteins Eagles Math Club... an elite math club where the participants are picked by their AIMS scores from the previous year, and then are further narrowed down by behavior and attitude. He is super excited to be a part of this special club!
-He is a joy to all his teachers... and he gets all their jokes! He must have his grandpa's sense of humor!!!
-A couple funny little tidbits...
1- during reading time, he will cross his legs and put them on the wall, with his tushy up against the wall and just lay there and read along with the book being read aloud.
2- one day while standing in line Tyler took off running, so his teacher just watched him to see what he was doing. he ran to a piece of trash on the ground and picked it up and ran back to the line. what a good little scout I have!
What he wants to be when he grows up: a zoologist/working with animals
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Maddy... 3rd Grade
Reading "4"
Writing "4"
Math "4"
Social Studies "4"
(btw... "4" means "A" in her grade)
-straight "A's" YEA!!! (honor roll material!!!)
-very successful in her academics!
-loves to read! so much she is reminded a lot during school to put her book away and keep on task. while it is probably not so good that she doesn't focus when she needs to, I love that she enjoys reading!
-needs to learn some organizational skills... her desk is awful!
A couple funny tidbits...
1- she is always taking off her shoes in class and is constantly being reminded to put them back on. so she has to wear tenny runners daily now and we will work our way back to allowing her to wear her flip-flops again
2- she likes her pencils sharp... so sharp she is constantly sharpening her pencil. crazy girl... her teacher doesn't want to take it away b/c if she does Maddy will get up and sharpen her pencil at the class one and that one makes noise...
What she wants to be when she grows up: an artist
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Macee... Kindergarten
She doesn't get grades per se... but Macee is growing and developing in Kindergarten this year.
-Her teacher has seen a marked improvement since her first few weeks.
-She would get sad and want her mommy all the time.
-She rarely wanted to go to school in the beginning, but now looks forward everyday to the next day of school.
-She doesn't get as tired anymore, for the first bit of school she would come home and fall asleep at least 2 days a week.
-When going into Kindergarten, she didn't know very much. She didn't have the preschool experience Maddy and Tyler had received and I'm not the mom who teaches that to her kids at home... just didn't really cross my mind. But anyways, she has improved quite a bit since the beginning of school. She knew very few letters going in and now can tell us what they all are (but 2... Y and something else), but I know she will do great!
-She is a caring little girl and is a good friend to all the kids in her class.
-She really loves to be read to! Story time is one of her favorite things at school.
What she wants to be when she grows up: a ballerina

Friday, October 8, 2010

So Sad... A Well-Known Landmark is Down!


I just got this e-mail today and it makes me so sad.
I remember this "dive girl" sign from my early days
Tuesday's weather brought on her demise.
I haven't driven by yet,
but now I have to go see for myself!
Do any of you have memories of her???

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

I love storms!!!



I'm so glad I decided to go out front and look into the sky, because if I had passed up the opportunity, I would've missed this beautiful/frightening cloud formation! It was very eerie to watch it roll in. It was fast moving! I had never seen anything like it in all the years I have lived here! Notice the bottom of the cloud formation? There are wisps of clouds hanging down. We had "tornado-like" weather. While there were no tornadoes, there were a fair share of microbursts, which to us Phoenix people, is very similar to a tornado.
We had storm after storm roll in yesterday. I missed the first one b/c I was at work, but I was here for the others. It was crazy how fast the storms would blow through, then it was sunny and all of a sudden it was dark and another storm came in! I love crazy weather and this is now at the top of my favorite storms. I'm sad about all the damage that occurred (downed power poles, downed trees, awnings blown away...) but nature in its fullest sure is beautiful!
Below is a video of the rain. Right at the end was a flash of lightening. The kids got scared, so we headed back in!

Friday, October 1, 2010

The picture I begged for


I asked for one simple thing...
A picture of Chuck and Billy in the Canyon.
Chuck didn't do it for me.
I was upset.
I didn't ask for a souvenir from Phantom Ranch
I didn't ask for a rock
All I wanted was a picture...
Well, he redeemed himself...
when he went back in to finish w/ Billy.
Lucky boy...

Rim to Rim 2010

Chuck hiked the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim (North to South) on September 25th. We drove up to the North Rim Friday (the 24th) and stayed the night so the hikers could get an early start the next morning. I was the driver this year and I thoroughly enjoyed the job. My job entailed dropping off the hikers at the trailhead and meet them on the other side (south rim) and drive them home. It made for a very long day, but it was so neat to be there when Chuck came out of the canyon!

Beware... lots of pictures!!! Captions will be below the picture.

We stopped at the bridge by Lee's Ferry and
walked out on it and took some pictures.
Me and my love!
Colorado River is behind us.
The North Rim view
Trying to get a pic of us w/ the Grand Canyon behind us.
Right where the shadow is...
that is where the hikers hike through.
The sun setting at the Canyon... so pretty!
The group. 9 hikers, 1 (very important/needed) driver
heehee... I make my job sound so important!
Here goes the sun
People taking pictures of the sunset
Going...
Going...
Gone!
540 am at the trailhead!
Headed off in the dark!
I decided to go to a view point and see the
canyon just before the sun came up.
It was so pretty there!
The Lodge at the North Rim.
There's the trailhead!
I took this picture as I was driving towards the South Rim.
The South Rim... the one I've always seen!
I think it looks different than the North Rim.
The difference I see is more open canyon on the South Rim.
See the Trees??? That is Indian Gardens.
Chuck called me from there around 1220pm
saying he was on his way up!
Closer view of Indian Gardens and the trail.
I saw little dots hiking down there.
So I pretended one was Chuck!

If you zoom in you can see Chuck on this last stretch of trail.
He has on a red shirt, tan shorts and his Indian Jones hat!
I guess it is switchbacks for quite a long ways at the end...

As I was standing in an archway on the trail
waiting for Chuck, this sign was right in front of me.
I'm terrified of heights... I stood next to the
mountain wall & wouldn't go any farther down...
I was dizzy and anxious
I felt like gravity was pulling me towards the edge
...to fall in the canyon!!!
Now that cleared up in my mind that
I am definitely terrified of heights!
Here he is just coming around the corner!
Still coming!!!
Finishing 1 hr faster than last year!!!
9.5 hours this time around!
That's 24 miles of Grand Canyon!
Down and up...
and he's SMILING?!?
Must be because he sees me!!!
Look at that sweat!!!
His motivation to get to the top!
Mint Chocolate Chip Icecream!
That's my pretzel on his lap
and icecream in his other hand...
I didn't eat lunch!
He is A-MAZING!!!
Billy didn't take his hiking poles
and someone mentioned Billy's legs were cramping,
so Chuck went down to share his poles!
He was worried. What a great man I got!
(or maybe it's just he's CraZy!!!)
My absolute FAVORITE brother...
in the whole entire WORLD!!!
Good job Billy!
All the Hikers... back safe and sound!
A reward for the boys!
Thanks mom for the shirts!
They deserved it!!!