Summer Fun and Fixin' Up!

Well, I am in the throws of remodeling the lower half of my tri-level home. We have lived here for 11 years and had new carpet and paint throughout when we moved in but the boys were especially hard on the basement area (as a testament I've used more patch for the walls down there than in the entire house!). So I bribed my daughter Tiffany with some free babysitting if she would come over and help me get started on the painting. We did the basement in a light brown, the guest bathroom I painted pale aqua and did the cabinetry in black with all new rubbed nickel fixtures and a little glass shelf on the wall. It looks really good with new rugs. Now I just have to get John to finish the backsplash (travertine tile) and the bathtub tiles (that may take a few months- hehe)

We bought wood for several of the bedrooms and some old metal lockers on ksl for all of John's biker stuff. We will put that in the basement at the entrance so he can store his stuff as he comes in with bikes. (It's better than having them hanging all over his office :) not so cute!

In between painting we ran off to St. George to go see Tarzan the musical at Tuacahn. It is such a beautiful red rock, outdoor amphitheatre that we love to make a yearly date. We picked a really beautiful night to go and the weather was wonderful. The hotel had a pool and we even brought our little black and white Boston Terrier, Brucie with us. He loved the adventure there.



 We have also gone biking and motorcycle riding at Bear Lake these last few weeks when we have had a weekend where John nor I had duties at church. I have to get a sub when I miss teaching the singing to the kids at church. John teaches and does financial clerk duties for our church so he is missed more than me when we ditch out. But sometimes my Bear Lake cabin calls to me. I love the serenity there.

                                                                                        Johnny and Pattie at Tuacahn

 I love feeling peaceful and waking up to the birds and ducks on the pond in front of our cabin and the sun and beautiful view of the hills and the lake. Our kids came with us and we had fun boating, eating, playing board games, riding our "hogs" and playing with the grandkids. Here's Josie hangin' with mom and dad.


The family all playing on the beach at Bear Lake July 2010



Grandma and Grandpa Moss had a fun pool party for memorial day, the "pool opening" weekend and everybody in our entire Moss side of the family was there. Boy have our families' changed and grown! Most of the kids are married now and the ones who aren't are all in college and dating or are having families of their own. So many little babies! My littlest grandbaby was born just after that on June 15th and was a tiny 6 pounder. My babies were tanks! Never that small! Her name is Josie Erin Moss, and she is a living doll. We went to the hospital and had fun taking lots of pictures.

Proud Papa

My son Jeffrey is such a proud papa, he's already taken 400 pictures and his camera was full by the time we arrived at the hospital. He told me, "Mom, didn't you ever think about raising an olympic champion?" (Like all it takes is deciding!) He has olympic plans for Josie I guess. Too cute!

Josie & Grandma

Father's Day was a fun day. We had all the kids over for hamburgers salads and chocolate cake. John got a new BBQ and all the tongs and stuff to go with it. We will bring the new one up to the cabin later. But for now back to work on the paint and carpet and wood floors. I think I've bitten off more than I can chew for now. Just finished one of the bedrooms, tan paint above the chair rail and chocolate paint below.

 The cabin like theme of the room is turning out really cute!The new lighting in all the rooms is looking really good. I love LOWES for lighting, I can always find a deal there in the clearance section. John pulled up the carpet and put down wood laminate floors and I painted the walls and chair rail and trim. Boy is that a totally BORING job! Yuck. Now I'll put up the pictures and put the new bedding on and take another picture when I'm all done.

 You can barely see the little Pottery Barn glass shelf we bought right above the toilet roll holder. So cute! The molding around the mirror we made out of regular crown molding painted black and cut at a 45 degrees on the corners. It turned out really nice too. Now we only have to finish tiling around the soaker tub. Since I can't do that myself so I'll probably have to wait months for that to get done. I think I have painter's hand now because my arm is numb from the roller. But the house is really looking good. Next on to my new CRAFT ROOM!
 My goal is to finish the brown "Cabin Room" by July 2nd so we can go have some fun for a reward! boating and jet skiing here we come!!!



Cute Johnny with the kids riding the toys behind him...



Tiff, Gary and the Girls riding behind the boat... Doesn't  Megan look happy? Hmmm



Schooooool's OUT for Summer!!!

Well, here it is the start to my 15th summer off of teaching school. Everybody always said, June, July and August are the best reasons to become a teacher. I don't really believe that. There are soooo many great reasons to become a teacher. One of which is seeing the accomplishments of your students at the end of 10 months of your slaving away. You can look at kids reading who didn't know how to read beforehand and say to yourself, "I did that!". And it is absolutely true.

You can look at chicken scratch scribbling from September and look at full and entertaining paragraphs printed with precision in June and say to yourself, "I did that too!" and it really rocks. It is THE most fulfilling part of teaching for me. But there are many more reasons why I teach. I love the little love notes I get periodically from little 6 and 7 year olds. Some of them are so precious to me I've kept them in a box for years. I bring them out when I've had a particularly hectic day. And somehow, reading them makes it all better. Kinda like old birthday cards from your own children make the bad melt away and the good rise to the surface.

I love decorating my classroom and introducing new science units on frogs, volcanos, space, you name it, I love teaching it and learning more about it. I love doing art projects like stained glass window butterflies with karo syrup and solar systems out of air dry clay and scented markers. And I really love singing with my class on my autoharp with percussion instruments and doing the end of the year musicals. Oh, yeah, teaching rocks my world. But just like football season, there needs to be a time of rest and rejuvenation.

I'd like to help new teachers with their questions and qualms about entering the new world of teacher education. I have a Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction, and 2 year Endorsements in Reading, ESL, Gifted and Talented Education and soon to start a Math Endorsement. I minored in music and have created and sold my paintings and art for years. I've presented at State and National conferences in Differentiation in the Classroom. I've been a School District Science Trainer. I love being an elementary teacher because you get to play in all the elements, science, math, writing, art, p.e. and music, not to mention all the language arts.

But alas, now I'm going to focus on remodeling den and basement, adding a stacked rock wall fireplace and handmade mantle. I'm redoing one bathroom, painting and carpeting several rooms in the house and getting back on my exercise program, biking 3-4 miles a day. And hopefully I can stop baking cookies and cakes all the time so I can lose a few pounds! I'm welcoming a new grandbaby in 2 weeks to my oldest son and his wife, (their first!) and a wedding for my youngest son in about 2 months in St. Louis. Hopefully we can enjoy a few quickie vacations in between! Have you ever heard of Tuacahn in St. George, Utah? It's a wonderful outdoor theatre showing broadway musicals (Tarzan the Musical) in the desert against the red rocks. Very cool! Well, really hot actually, but awesome entertainment value! We have to bring our doggie on the adventure and rent a hotel with a pool and visit the outlet mall of course. So here's to a grand summer vacation!