Tingey Tidbits

A day in the life of Andrew- about 23 months old

2011-09-19T22:24:00.001-06:00

I have a great kid and of course I want to remember how cute he is right now because I already have forgotten so much. And I can always use a good reminder of how blessed I am to have this little mister. We'll go through our day today and let you see a little about how adorable he is and what he's up to these days.

8:30 to 9:00- Wake up! Usually he'll just lay in bed and relax or read a book until I come to get him. The first things he asks for are "pancake," "vimins", and for me to sit "down, book." So, we usually read a book while he eats vitamins and then get dressed for the day. He is not too picky about what clothes he wears but he likes to pick out his shoes himself. Although he'd wear his clip on ties everyday if he could. Today he picks the "shine shoes." Since we've been camping at Grandma and Grandpa's he has to ask where everybody is: "Anpa-pane," "Dada-car," "Anee-car," "Anma-seepa." Then I have to repeat and correct, "Yes, Grandpa went on the plane, Dad went in the car to work, Aimee went in her car to work, and Grandma is sleeping. My favorite is when he says in a whisper with his finger to his lips, "Anma- seepa, sshh."

He's a good eater. No pancakes today so we have banana and Crispix with milk. After he's "all done" we have to "wash, soap." He has to have a drop of soap in each hand and if we wash in the bathroom he always asks, "Mama, peepee?"

10:00- Exercise with mom. When it's nice we either go for a walk or bike ride. Today it's a bike ride to the park! He gets sad when we walk or ride by parks or people's playgrounds without stopping. I hear sad comments of, "slide, slide, swing."

He made a friend at the park but the friend had to leave when he left Andrew white knuckled and dangling from the top of the slide. Luckily the friend's mom was there to save Andrew and whisk her three year old away. Andrew kept saying "sorry, sorry" as the boy picked up his tractors and left against his will. With friends gone, Andrew gets tired of the park and since we'd been there about an hour we head home for lunch.

Today lunch is peanut butter and apple with milk. Grandma Sauvageau still thinks he shouldn't eat so much peanut butter since my brother Philip is allergic but Andrew loves it and has had no reactions to it so it's a staple. Plus she doesn't understand how anyone could like that stuff.

If I am across the room while he's strapped into the high chair sometimes he will make a kiss sound, "mmmmm" which mean I'm supposed to run across the room like a crazy person and give him a kiss. Which I don't mind doing!

12:30- Then it's off to quiet time. I read a book and then he has a couple hours where he naps, listens to music, and looks at books. Grandma is worried that he will hurt himself with all those books in there with him so we tried to take all the books out and he just said, "book, book, book," and pointed to the book box until we gave him some. I guess he's just used to running into a book every now and then in his sleep and he wouldn't have it any other way. He loves his books. Today he requested, "baby, baby song," one of his Baby Signing Time cd's. He doesn't sign as much as he used to but his first words were signs he knew, so it's still paying off and if we don't understand what he's saying he'll still sign it. You can see his best friends with him in his crib, Blane, Cocoa, and Roger (or RR as he says) along with his favorite "kees." Even if he doesn't have has favorite friends and blankets he's pretty flexible.

4:00- Yes, four o'clock, I go to peek in on him and he's kind of awake. Monday he usually takes a long nap because with church at 1:00 he usually doesn't get much of a nap if any at all on Sunday. But, he is a good napper all around anyway. He made it through his nap dry so we go sit on the potty. Today there is success! "Yeah, peepee!" We aren't really intensely working on potty training, but when he says he wants to "peepee" or "stinky poop" we let him sit there and see what happens.

Andrew said, "Blane-cheese," so I took Blane's picture, too.

Time for a snack! We don't eat until later at Grandpa and Grandma's so we need a good snack. I'm so used to starting to cook at about five but here I have to wait until about six-thirty to wait for Aimee and my dad. Anyway, today's snack is yogurt, fruit leather, and a couple nila wafers to dip in the yogurt, even though the fruit leather got dipped in the yogurt, too. He hasn't mastered the fine art of getting the yogurt to the mouth without "mess, mess" but he loves the stuff.

Sam came home after snack. That boy loves his "Dada" and who could blame him. He's pretty much the most awesomest, greatest guy on the planet! Seriously! We all play together a little and then Sam wanted to take Andrew on a bike ride so I went to pick some things up at the store. While I was gone they went on their bike ride, played basketball, and had fun outside.

Then time for dinner. He ate lots of cantaloupe and green salad and a little bit of the Spanish rice casserole. After we cleaned up dinner we went on a family walk. Andrew was very ready for his bath by the time we got back from our walk. He loves water and will usually play as long as we let him in the bath. But he recently went though a phase where after he was washed he was all done, luckily he got over that, I like watching him play in the water. He likes to brush his teeth with someone else so whoever is getting him ready for bed or getting ready in the morning gets asked to brush with him, "Mama teeth?" He also likes to pretend to spit out his toothpaste. I say pretend because he's never really spit anything out. Story, kisses, and good night. He would have a million stories before bed if we'd let him. He's already mastered that diversionary tactic to stay up a little later. He loves to kiss between the bars of his crib. Our favorite show, Castle, starts it's new season tonight so we make sure he's in bed by 8:50, which is pretty close to normal.

We love Andrew and are so blessed to have him in our lives. I'm glad we've made the necessary sacrifices so that I can spend my life with him and enjoy this day with him.

What's my password again?

2011-09-19T09:46:00.002-06:00

Well it's been almost two years since I blogged. Many may say it's on it's way out with Facebook but I'm going to start up again now that I have more regular access to internet. If not for the family and friends out their who might read this blog for a more indepth look at our life than I'd ever share on Facebook, than because I can eventually print and bind this. I'm horrible at journal writing. I will be taking it private soon though so send me your e-mail addresses.

He's Here!

2009-10-25T16:55:00.003-06:00

I had contractions all Thursday night. Sam didn't go to classes on Friday and we went around town and got things done. The contractions had only moved to ten minutes apart so we went to my parent's house to see if anything more would happen. After hours of being at ten minutes apart they went down and started getting harder. We went to the hospital and passed their test to be admitted. I got and epidural that didn't work so I went until about one in the morning and then they realized it wasn't working and so they poked me again. I only had to push for a little over an hour. He was turned to the side so the Doc had to use the vaccum to turn him.

Andrew Joseph Tingey was born at 5:08 am, weighed 8.5 lbs, and was 21 inches long.
With the H1N1 flu going around we are only allowed two visitors so only Sam and my mom have been able to come to visit in the hospital.
Sam is a very proud papa and earned his red badge of courage from his brothers because he went through the whole thing without fainting. He said nothing could prepare him for the feelings he felt as Andrew was coming out.
He's a sweet little guy and doing well. As long as you're healthy, he'd love to meet you when we get home!

Baby Showers

2009-10-21T15:24:00.002-06:00

I'm so lucky to have tons of people who are looking forward to the arrival of our little guy. I had four very fun showers. The Egnew side of Sam's family, the ladies at work, the Lubeck family, and some gals from church. Having all the baby stuff around the house sure makes it look like another little person is going to be living there. I've loved having him in my belly, especially when I can feel him grooving in there but I'm very excited to meet him and get to know the special little guy inside of me! Thanks again to all the friends and family who love an support us. We love you!

Shout out to the McClellan's

2009-10-21T15:14:00.002-06:00

Our bestest buddies the McClellan's moved to Arizona. These pics are from moving day. I didn't feel like I was too much help but I took the kids for a walk and got them out of the way for about an hour. Evie was very excited that she got to stop as often as she wanted and look at whatever she wanted instead of having to keep walking. Every garden had "pumpkins" but we had to talk about how really some of them were grapes and tomatoes and other produce. And we saw the ducks which she loved until them wanted to be her friend, then she was out of there.

We will miss all the fun games and the treats that always accompanied them. And there aren't that many people that you can just stop by any old time and do any old thing and have a great time. And of course we will miss playing with Evie and Sulli while their mom and dad took a break from them.

I guess everyone has to grow up sometime and we are very glad that Mike got a good job but they are irreplaceable and it will be along time before we find friends even close to as cool as them!

Winner and still champion!

2009-10-21T15:04:00.003-06:00

Sam was able to compete for the fourth time at the state bus roadeo. It was held in Park City again this year. It was my Friday off so I was able to spend the day shopping a the outlets while Sam went to training and took the written test portion of the competition. Sam's buddy David was able to check out his friend in action Saturday morning. Sam was very nervous as usual. He did a great job on he cone course but was still very unsure of his status. He was glad that he got all of his points on the passenger assist, which he'd never done before. And the bus inspection went well, he even found the bomb. As they announced the winners at the awards luncheon Sam, who plays only to win, was nervous as third place and second place were announced and it wasn't him. As the returning champion he thought he would at least place. Then he was very relieved to find out that he had one first place again. So now we have more money, another beautiful plaque, and a trip to Long Beach next spring! We still think it's funny that Sam, who only drives 18 hours a month, beat all the full time drivers but, when you've got skills, you've got skills!

We love Grandma Tingey

2009-10-21T14:23:00.003-06:00

We knew we were going on to be leaving early on a Tuesday for our Nauvoo trip so we had planned to go down on Monday to visit Grandma Tingey and spend the night at my parent's house. We got a call from Sam's mom that Grandma wasn't doing well so we were glad that we had planned to go visit her.

Sam's brother, Josiah, was able to go with us. It was difficult for me to walk into her room and not see her as bubbly and happy as she had been when we had seen her just a month before. Sam's Aunt Mavis said to just chat with her. I thought she might like some music, too. Joe and I tried to get her organ working while Sam talked with her but we weren't very successful. So, we just stood by her bed and sang hymns to her for awhile. She opened her eyes and showed interest in our singing. I'm not much of a singer but I think we did well. Once our voices were to tired to continue singing we sat down next to her bed and talked. It was much easier to talk to her when she was awake and making eye contact. She even chuckled as some of our attempts at funny stories and jokes.

Then came a moment I will never forget. It was getting late. Josiah needed to start driving back to Provo, we needed something to eat, and the pregnant lady needed to use the bathroom so we were getting ready to leave. We told her we were going to leave and she actually talked back and asked if we were really leaving already. Josiah and Sam took their turns saying good bye and I was the last to say good bye. I said, "Bye Grandma, love ya!" And as I turned to walk away she stretched out her hand, waved, and said, "Love ya, bye!" I knew that would be the last time we would be able to talk to her and I'll treasure that moment.

While we were on our trip, my mom's birthday actually, we found out that Grandma finally got to go back to be with Grandpa. She had a beautiful memorial service that was attended by many of the people who loved her and I know many more wished they could have been there. Sam's dad even was asked to speak and did an eloquent job. Sam also had the honor of being a palm bearer a the services. With well over 300 descendants it was a privilege.

Sam will always remember her viewing the night before. President Monson was able to come and soon after he left Elder Perry came. Sam is not one to go up to general authorities from the church. He just lets them do their thing but Elder Perry came right up to Sam and asked if he was a Tingey. Sam said he was and Elder Perry told Sam he was too short to be a Tingey and that he needed to eat more so he could grow tall like a Tingey. I think it's a very amusing anticdote.

I know I've only been part of her family for a very short time but I love her very much. She's so talented, willing to share her life experiences, and love of life. I learn so much from her. Now I only hope one day that I can have a daughter and give her Grandma's name. (Which Grandma said was okay as long as I didn't use Fransis as her middle name) It would be a hard legacy to live up to but a beautiful one.

Nauvoo Trip

2009-10-21T13:44:00.005-06:00

We went with my family on an awesome trip to see Nauvoo and the surrounding areas in August.
I know I'll mess up the order on things somewhere along the way so I just give a run down of some of the sites we saw. This sign is from the outside of the Truman museum. I really like the era of history during which he was president so it was very interesting. I probably could have spent the whole day there. While in Independence we also visited the visitor center and the sites of other churches.
I think that the Liberty Jail was my favorite of the church history sites that we went to. It seemed a little more personal and less of a destination spot. There was a real sense of reverence there. But of course after the fact as we were taking pictures outside Sam and Aimee were ready to get some wiggles out, or bounces out I guess.
We visited Mark Twain's home town and some of the sites that were inspiration for his stories. This is the Tom Sawyer house and the white picket fence and the might Missip is just a stone's throw down the street.
And no Sauvageau family vacation would be complete now without our tour guide Sam with his trusty old books and maps to help us find our way and to know what we've found once we've got there.
I was glad to find out that in Adam-ondi-ahman they raise cattle, potatoes, and corn. So, steak and potatoes with a side of corn on the cob is a celestial meal!

We also visited Farr West on the way to Adam-ondi-aham.
I know the computer doesn't like to rotate my pictures but this is the outside of Carthage Jail. It was definitely a solemn place and it was a rainy day which added to that atmosphere. It's hard be in a place people you revere died for what you believe.
Nauvoo was a fun place to go around from house to house and see what life was like during the mid 1800's. We also were able to go to several fun productions that volunteers put on. It's just amazing the size of city they were able to build in such short of time. And as you walked down Parley's street to the river and looked back it would have been tremendously hard to leave such a beautiful place even if they would have known that they were on their way to the desert of Utah.
To end the trip we went to St. Louis. I hadn't been there is years so it was fun to visit again. Their temple was beautiful and we were able to go up into the St. Louis Arch, too. Sam had never done that before and with all his new engineering knowledge he found it even more fascinating.

There were times when I was feeling very hot and pregnant but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined and for the most part the family was pretty understanding. They took way more potty stops than they would have liked to but me and and bladder sure appreciated it!

Thanks again Mom and Dad for a wonderful experience that we'll remember forever!

July

2009-07-29T14:07:00.004-06:00

July went by way to fast! But I've got some highlights from the month. Mostly the ones I have pictures for.The first of July was Aimee's birthday so my aunt Janet arranged for a spa and lunch day for the girls. Aimee and I had our first pedicures. I liked it but Sam does a pretty good job, too. Sam's mom, Renee, was in town so she helped celebrate Aimee's birthday.That night we went to dinner and the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. Sam's brother Josiah drove up from Provo with a friend to come with us.While Renee was here we also went to the Northern Utah Parade of Homes. There were lots of beautiful houses and some really expensive and ugly ones, too. It was fun to look for ideas but I really was glad to go home to my house, it's great for us!
Sam and I have had red, white, and blue pancakes every 4th of July since we've been married and Renee was able to share in this much anticipated tradition with us. We also had a BBQ with my family and went to fireworks with them at my old high school.
We went up to Rexburg to attend the wedding of one of Sam's old roomates, Yanni. It was an action packed day for us. We ran into a cat on the freeway that did more damage than you would think a cat could do. It cracked the front fender and tore off part of the rock guard under the car. We were able to see lots of people we love while we were in Rexburg. Sam saw some of his other old roomates. Our bishop from our student ward was at the temple, too, along with our "grandma" Patty. We were also able to go to dinner with Shawnee and Dustin, some of our favorite cousins from my side of the family.
We stopped by the bookstore while we were in Rexburg to get Junior a t-shirt. The one we purchased was just a generic one, but we also liked this onesie that they had for sale.

Pioneer day was another fun day for us. Most of the activities for the city were in the park that is just over the train tracks from our house. Basically in our backyard. Sam and I were in the doubles bracket of the horseshoe tournament. We were up against some tough competition! There were a couple beginners like us but most of the teams had been competing for years. Luckily the teams we played were good sports about completing against a pregnant lady and her hubby. That took most of the morning. Then we watched the parade. We were surprised to see real floats amidst the traveling billboards that are usually in parades. Later Sam was in the pie eating contest. He choked, literally. He had too much in his mouth to swallow and keep working on the next part. Sam's brother Chris, Becca, and Will came up for a BBQ that afternoon. I'm so glad that Junior will have Will to be buddies with growing up. (and in case you are wondering our kid's name it's really going to be Junior but my mom doesn't like it when I just call him the kid) I hope we can be great parents like Chris and Becca! They are so good with Will. After they headed home that night we went back to the park for a concert by Peter Brinholt and then walked back to watch the fireworks from the comfort of our beautiful backyard!

Well there's July in a flash! But it was great while it lasted!

Family Fun

2009-06-16T13:23:00.003-06:00

Sam and I spent a few days back in California to see family and his youngest sibling's graduation from high school. The whole family was there. Nobody is on a mission or out of the country right now and that hasn't happened in awhile. We drove on Thursday and got to his brother Abe's house in time for a family BBQ. We stayed at Abe and Christy's and hung out with them Friday morning before the graduation. Sam loves to play with all of Nathanael's toys and as you can see he doesn't seem to mind when Sam is around to play with him. Christy took me shopping to hunt for baby boy things. She looked at baby girl things with hopes that her baby which is due at the end of the year will be a girl.
Friday night was Nick's graduation. His class broke with tradition and had it outside which was very pleasant considering the fair weather. It was interesting to me because I graduation with about 600 other seniors at my high school. His class had 80 graduates. Graduations are at the bottom of Sam's fun things to do list but he bore the burden well in support of his "little" brother.
On Saturday we all took a trip to the train museum. It was an adventure with the bunch of us but I think everyone had an enjoyable time. Sam loves trains and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get out his wooden train set and put it together in the next few days. We were able to ride on the train in this picture. Sam pulled the emergency break and gave everybody a good laugh when the conductor told him he'd have to get out and walk back to the station.

My oldest nephew, Wesley, has always loved Thomas the train and the other kids seemed to share his interest with the toys they had out to play with in the museum shop. Christy and I were very hungry so we left before the others. Nathanael was heart broken that he had to leave the trains. As he fell asleep on the ride home he kept repeating, "the train, the train..." and other ramblings about the trains. Once he was jolted by a bump opened his eyes and asked about the train before he settled back down.Sam joined us again that afternoon and we went into Berkley to some parks. I thought it was a great afternoon and all the boys had lots of fun on the playgrounds and going down the huge cement slide. Nathanael says the funniest things. On our way to find a place to eat, after we had been to the parks, he was saying how much his tummy hurt and he needed some snacks. Abe gave him some fruit snacks but that wasn't enough and he said he needed more. I don't know if I was supposed to or not but seeing as I am always prepared with snacks for myself these days I got a granola bar out of my purse and his eyes lit up as he proclaim, "Ooo, she's getting out a snack!" Oh, the mood swings of a toddler. From near death with hunger to elated in seconds. Another great one was Sunday night when Abe was trying to get him to go to sleep he told his dad, "I don't need to sleep. I'm happy!"

Sunday we went to Sam's branch for church. My niece Cali was blessed and it was great to see the men in the family surround her to help with the blessing. Since I work the kids at our church it was different to sit through the adult meetings. After church was had family pictures in Tiffany's backyard. Then we had chicken curry that Renee made for us all. The "boys" went and played bat golf and the kids ran around having a great time with each other. Then we said good by to everyone and went back to Abe's. He made us pizza for dinner and let Christy rest. He does a pretty good job taking care of things when she's feeling sick from the pregnancy. Hopefully she will be done with all of the that soon. It sure makes me grateful for how easy I have had it with my pregnancy. The boys took it easy and watched a movie and the girls turned in for the night. We left Monday morning and were able to tag up with Sam's brother Josiah as he drove to school in Provo and we dropped off a package to Sam's brother Chris in Salt Lake as we made our way home since he took a plane to California.

I am so glad that I married into a family that has accepted me and that I love being a part of. They are great and I'm grateful that we get to see each other. Some more often than others, but we have a good time no matter how long it is between visits. Love you guys!

Family Picture

2009-06-16T13:21:00.000-06:00

It's a....

2009-06-09T19:59:00.003-06:00

BOY!

He gave us a very clear shot, first thing, that he was a boy! My sister-in-law Becca will be very excited because she just had a boy and now he is going to have a boy cousin close to his age. And most people guessed that it would be a boy, except Sam. Well, bring on the blue and the baseballs, here we come!

National Bus Roadeo in Providence, RI

2009-06-07T21:05:00.004-06:00

Since Sam won the state bus roadeo by a landslide he had the opportunity to represent Utah at the national roadeo in Rhode Island. So he got an all expenses paid trip. My dad gave Sam another ticket from frequent flyer miles for his birthday so I could go with him. We rented a car there and I had to pay for my food but it was a very inexpensive trip. This first picture is of Providence. They light bonfires down the waterway.
We went up to Boston on Friday to see the sights there. This is on the campus of Harvard. I don't think anybody could pay me enough to go there. And it was the most expensive place to park the whole trip.
Okay, so this monument it's really sideways, it's just an optical illusion. But, this is Bunker Hill. Sam loves history so we went to lots of historical sites.The boat is Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution. Sam says, eat your heart out Abe!This is the sight of the Boston Massacre. The pregnant lady wanted to massacre the people of this part of Boston because there were no public restrooms. We went to CVS Pharmacy, McDonald's, and Wendy's with no luck. We had to drive out of town a bit to a Target to find a restroom, boy do I love Target!On Saturday we went around Providence to see the sights. This is a hysterical sight in the middle of the city. It's a nice little park but we could never find out anything about the actual significance.We visited the campus of Brown University, too. I wouldn't mind going there. I really like a t-shirt they sold. It looked like a typical Harvard t-shirt but in small print under Harvard it said "because not everybody can go to Brown."This is Sam's game face for the actual bus roadeo. He was by far the youngest contestant, and the best looking. You can see the bus he drove in the background. He usually drives a 35 foot transit bus and the competition was in a small paratransit bus that he is not used to at all. So, the cone course didn't go so well, but he did awesome on the written test, bus inspection, and wheelchair assist.Sunday we were finally able to go to the Boston Temple. We had tried unsuccessfully for a few hours on Friday to find it. The GPS didn't show the city that it is in, which ended up being a city big enough for five freeway exits. Technology, got to love it. But we did find a Bishop's Storehouse in the city the GPS thought the temple was in. It was great because even though it was Sunday the pregnant lady didn't have to go to a store to go to the bathroom because I figured where you have a temple you have a stake center. And luckily I was right. Behind the temple was a nice little path through a wooded area that went straight to a church building.The temple was not far from Lexington and Concord so we were able to see more places where history took place. This is the sight of the shot that was heard around the world in Lexington.Monday we went down to the coast at Newport. It's where the tourists go in Rhode Island. And if you need a spoon for your aunt it's one of the only places in Rhode Island that you can find one. Then we had to head back to the airport to return the rental car by noon. Then we switched flights so we could at least be in a little bigger airport in Atlanta. We waited in Atlanta until our flight at nine-thirty. That was delayed so we didn't get back to Logan until two in the morning. It was a good thing that no actual learning was supposed to take place on Tuesday in my class and it was just a clean up day for the end of the year because I was one tired teacher! Oh, and to add to the drama our luggage was stuck in Atlanta for another day. But all in all it was a great trip!

Teddy Bear Picnic

2009-06-07T20:50:00.002-06:00

We had a teddy bear picnic day at school. I've done it the last few years but this is the first year all the other teachers did it with me. The kids all brought one of their favorite stuffed animals and we did an afternoon of activities with them. We also at lunch in our classroom for the picnic part. The other teachers are not as brave as me on that part, their classes still ate in the lunch room. We introduced our friend to the class. They loved my bear Buddy. My favorite introduction was a girl who said that it was the only thing her mom would let her bring because it was from DI and if it got lost or dirty it didn't matter. Most of them brought ones that were special to them. The story about the dog picture is that a girl came to me and asked if she could have some paper from the recycling box and I said sure, what are you doing with it? She said that sometimes her dog has accidents when he's inside for a long time, so she was going to put the paper on the floor by her desk for her dog to sit on in case he had an accident. I read them some of my favorite teddy bear books and they requested Buddy read most of them. They liked my animated voice for my toy bear. For the last forty-five minutes of the day we had a read-a-thon in our classroom and they read to their stuffed friends. It was a very fun day.

A little poem

2009-04-12T20:51:00.004-06:00

There once was a boy named Sam,
who sometimes acts like a ham.
He met this girl named Laura,
and said hey, I really adore ya.
They were married on 5-5-05
and their love is still so much alive.
Then after a year, not more,
they wanted a cute thing to crawl on the floor.
After waiting and waiting three years
and after many days filled with tears,
they are happy to say the wait's over.
Yes! A baby will come in October!
I came up with this poem in the shower one day as a way to tell family members that we are expecting a baby. Renee said she wanted a copy so I told her I'd post it. I apologize if we weren't able to tell you personally but we'd still like all of you to know our good news.

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T20:38:00.005-06:00

We had a super Easter. We went to church and since we both work with the little kids we got to see them on a sugar high. After church we went to my parents. We still got to die eggs and go on an egg hunt even though the youngest there was 23. Sam didn't die many eggs growing up or have a very intense egg hunt so we're still teaching him. Don't they look ravishing in their aprons? And those mugs are sweet! They are the official egg dying mugs. And I won the egg hunt. I found 22 of the 80 eggs and raked in $15.25! Then we had a scrumptious Easter dinner complete with deviled eggs just like Grandma Lubeck would have made.
Then my family gave Sam his birthday presents. His big present from my parents was a bowling ball. So he officially is part of the Lubeck family. And also in Lubeck style my mom got a good deal on it with the help of Grandpa, who was more than happy to help with anything that had to do with bowling. Speaking of Grandpa, he got Sam a bowling bag for his ball. Philip got him the fifth season of the Cosby Show. And Aimee got him the gospel art picture library to help him teach the songs to the little kids at church.

Spring time fun in first grade

2009-04-12T20:33:00.005-06:00

We had a great spring party with crafts, games, and of course treats. My room moms did a great job. And I'm going to have to remember how to decorate those cupcakes like bunnies, way cute!

Visiting Will

2009-04-12T20:33:00.004-06:00

We have another cute little nephew via Becca and Chris. You can't see his little shirt but it says, "As a matter of fact I was born yesterday." Not the best pic of the two of us but the battery was dead in our camera so we were lucky to get this but it's enough to show Renee that I was able to hold him!

Ice skating field trip

2009-04-12T20:31:00.001-06:00

Sam and Aimee were gracious enough to give up some of their spring break to come on a field trip with my class. After skatinge we ate lunch in the locker rooms at the rink. My parent volunteer was fun. She told the kids not to put their food on the benches becuase you never know how many naked hockey player's bums had been on them. After skating we went to Willow Park, but it was raining so I didn't get out the camera.

Cricuit

2009-04-12T20:30:00.001-06:00

Renee bought a Cricuit but wanted to know better how to use it so she's been letting me use it so I can teach her some tricks. It has come in handy for many projects at school and my bulletin boards have been the envy of all the teachers!

Sonora Grill update

2009-04-12T20:29:00.000-06:00

Sam and I were finally able to go to the Sonora Grill and now we can personally vouch for their food. It's great and we can't wait to go back again.

Sonora Grill

2009-03-09T15:02:00.003-06:00

Hey you northern Utah people, some of our old neighbors opened a new restraunt by the Solomon Center. (Which is by the Ogden Temple) They are doing an "Ultimate Blog Giveaway." Check it out at http://thesonoragrill.com/blog/wordpress/?p=350. They also have a free meal on your birthday and anniversary deal that is on their website, too. (http://www.thesonoragrill.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74&Itemid=40)

Skiing

2009-02-28T18:03:00.003-07:00

Take a look as Sam's sweet technique! And look at those trees whiz by in the background. I think it's pretty good for his second time.

Me and Sulli

2009-02-27T08:46:00.003-07:00

Our friends, Mike and Shay, had a new baby on Wednesday. His name is Sullivan Michael McClellan. He is just as handsome as his sister was cute when she was born!

Happy 100th Day of School!

2009-02-05T15:45:00.002-07:00

Today was the hundredth day of school! We celebrate all day long. We practiced our sight word flash cards for 100 seconds. We made 100's Day glasses. We arranged sticky notes that I had numbered from 1-100 and randomly handed out to them. We counted backwards from 100 on our way to music. We wrote about what we would do with $100. That's one of the funniest things to read. In their minds you can buy cars, plasma TVs, houses, and just about anything with only $100. They each brought a collection of 100 things that we did math and writing activities with. Lots of them had tasty treats that they shared with everyone. They learned about adjectives and listed as many as they could about their collection. One little buddy was very upset because he only has 80 more days in my class. I tend to agree with him because this class is so great and these 100 days have flown by!

Well that's annoying!

2009-01-28T14:19:00.008-07:00

My cousin Shawnee tagged me to list some of my pet peeves:

- When people save a row of seats for people who aren't even there or let people cut in front of you in line.

- When people are rude to presenters like correcting papers at facutly meetings, sewing during conferences, or balancing your check book during church. Teachers are bad at this. They won't let their students do it, but for some reason they can.

- When people put their feet on furniture.

- When people drive everywhere and idle their cars forever. There's a guy who idles in his huge truck for about half an hour everyday waiting for his kids just outside my window at school and lives a couple blocks away. And then we have red air days and they complain about kids not being able to go outside and play.

- When people don't recycle, where facilities exist.

- When people don't use what money they have wisely like when people buy their food with food stamps on one transaction and then beer and junk on the next.

- When people are so lucky to have kids but work more than is necessary to comfortably provide for their family and the kids end up lower on their priority list than they should be.

Sam could probably tell you more things people do that bug me but these are a couple I could think of.

But, I know I need to be more patient and kind to others, because I would like them to do the same for me. So, my new tag is to list ten nice things people have done for you in the past week.

1. Sam helps me correct tests.

2. A friend at work sided with me.

3. Kandyce drives me to work on Tuesdays.

4. Brandee lets me help her with her kids at church.

5. A student said, "You are the bestest teacher a kid could ever ask for!"

6. Everyday my students tell me how nice I look, even on school t-shirt day.

7. Sam goes to school and work to help provide a wonderful life for our family.

8. Aimee watched a movie with me.

9. Sam helps with chores around the house.

10. Shay let me play with Evie.

So I tag: Debbie, Tiffany, Kristen, and Shawnee! (I think they look at the blog the most)

Pie Eating Champ!

2009-01-27T15:00:00.002-07:00

We have some over zealous friends who celebrate National Pie Day. They invited us to their festivities. Everyone brought a pie. I made Oreo Creme Pie. It must have been okay because there was none left. There were over 60 pies. There were contests for taste and appearance. And there was a pie eating contest for the adults and the kids. They were pot pie sized pies filled with pudding pies. The object was speed and the plate had to be clean. Sam was a rookie, but came through in the end. He had a unique technique that made him victorious. He lifted the pie by the crust, tilted his head back, and let it inch into his mouth as he swallowed. His plate was by far the cleanest. It now hangs on the fridge as a treasured momento. He also got a groovy t-shirt. His sister Angie would be proud to know that her brother's ability to "hork it all down," like the gingerbread man of their youth, finally came in handy!

We are a happy family

2009-01-10T09:23:00.005-07:00

"I love mother, she loves me. We love daddy, yes siree; He loves us, and so you see, We are a happy family."

Since Sam and I have started working with the young primary kids at church the primary songs, I seem to be bursting out in primary songs. This post and the last two posts are tributes to three such occasions of spontaneous singing that are captured on film.

I looked out the window...

2009-01-10T09:21:00.005-07:00

"I looked out the window and what did I see." A beautiful doe looking back at me!

Once there was a snowman...

2009-01-10T09:14:00.003-07:00

"Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman. Once there was a snowman tall, tall, tall.

In the sun he melted, melted, melted. In the sun he melted small, small, small."

Happy New Year in California

2009-01-09T19:32:00.005-07:00

The week after Christmas we were able to stay with Sam's brother Abraham, Christy, and Nathanael in the Bay area. Nathanael definitely is one of the cutest little kids ever and we love just hanging out with Abe and Christy.
Christy and Nathaneal took us to San Fransisco to explore the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. I love flowers so it was a perfect outing. They also have a train that the boys loved watching go round and round.
This is Sam and Nathanael watching a "Signing Time" episode. Nathanael loves it and has convinced his uncle Sam that when he gets him some cousins they should learn to sign, too.
New Years eve we stayed at Sam's mom's new house in Rio Vista with Nathanael while his parents chaperoned a youth dance. We had a belated Tingey Christmas with even more fun gifts! There were also festivities at the the branch building next door. The next day the boys played games and we spent the day with the family.
This is Sam jealous that Nathanael was hanging out with me.
Sam being the bridge was one of Nathanael's favorite games, along with chasing the laser pointer, playing ball, and just running around.

We are so lucky to have both sides of our family be so willing to be together when they can and we love them all!

Christmas Dinner

2009-01-09T17:19:00.002-07:00

My aunt Patty finished an update of her kitchen for Christmas and let us all come to her house for a scrumptious dinner. You can't get much better than turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy! We had a tremendous amount of snow fall Christmas day, but everyone made it to and from the party safely. Another party with fun, food, and family!

Presents! Presents!

2009-01-09T16:51:00.003-07:00

We all must have been very good this year because Santa dumped his sleigh at the Sauvageau's. It was a great to spend the day with family. We got mostly snack foods in our stockings instead of candy which was a nice surprise. My big present was a new microwave and we got at least a hundred little presents. Now we just have to find places for all of our treasures. Dad's big gift was a Wii gaming system, Aimee's was a laptop, Philip's was a camera, Sam's was new steel toe boots, and Mom's was tickets to Dancing with the Stars. Mom's favorite gift to give was new BROWN shoes to Sam. He'd never had brown shoes because he didn't have a brown belt, so he got one of those, too. Mostly she liked the story behind getting the shoes. I went with her and we asked for his size. The guy came out and asked if they would work and I said I think so, let me try them on. The look he gave us was classic! Sam and I wear the same size shoes which comes in handy for buying new shoes and getting awesome reactions from male shoe salesman. Mom about dies laughing every time she talks about it. But, sure enough they fit me and Sam just fine!

Christmas Eve Extravaganza!

2009-01-09T16:01:00.002-07:00

One of my favorite family traditions is the Lubeck Christmas Eve party. This year is was even on Christmas Eve which made it that much better. We each got to share with Grandpa our love for him and Christmas feelings. I talked about loving to listen to the Chipmunk Christmas record in his basement and watching the Alf Christmas special with Philip. I also love how each house in the Lubeck family has the same ceramic nativity that the ladies made together years ago. This picture shows a bunch of the people at the party in their prize hats from the annual bingo game, my favorite Christmas Eve party tradition. We also had a Christmas challenge game which had many different and funny challenges to win more prizes. I won a stained glass bee that my aunt Janet made for my Elvis impersonation of a Christmas song and Sam won Legos from his challenge. It was a night of good food, fun games, and time with some of my favorite people in the whole world!

Baby it's cold outside!

2008-12-18T16:13:00.004-07:00

Last week you could have walked around without a coat, but for moring recess it was a whopping 2 degrees outside so we stayed inside, but the kids didn't mind. I happened to have my camera at school and took a picture of what one of my students wrote on their little white board at recess. It says, "I like Mrs. Tingey and Sam he is SILLY." I tend to agree. My students love it when Sam comes and they think he's the coolest things ever, except for the weather outside of course.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-18T16:00:00.002-07:00

Over the past month we have been studying the winter holidays of Kwanzaa, Hanukkah , and Christmas. Here are some of my kids with a few of the crafts. A dreidel for Hanukkah, a mkeka mat for Kwanzaa, and an ornament for Christmas. They feel so smart when they go home and tell their parents things they didn't even know about these holidays. December just needs to be a little bit longer so we could fit in all of my holiday crafts, books, and games. They are excited for Three Kings Day and Chinese New Year when we get back from the brake.

An unforgetable graduation day for Aimee!

2008-12-18T15:37:00.004-07:00

Saturday was quite the adventure for us. Sam woke up early to go get a doorbuster deal at Shopko. While he was gone it started to snow. By the time my fam came by to pick us up and go meet Aimee for her graduation, there was at least a couple of inches of snow. On the way to get her we had a close encounter with a fire hydrant due to the snow. Miraculously we didn't hit it. Outside of the graduation was soggy but it was a short and sweet graduation so nothing to complain about there. Sam and I kept things interesting by kissing every time Aimee looked up at the fam. There was a nice luncheon after put on by the alumni association. Then the WHOLE family went microwave shopping. Sam and I have had a small microwave given to us by Dustin and Destry for our wedding. It cooked most things fine but it has a thing against popcorn and takes up valuable counter space, so Mom wanted to get us a new one for Christmas. Anyway, we got one and went back to install it before dinner. While installing Sam had another near death experience by touching some live wires while we were taking the old hood down. By the way, does anyone need a hood? Luckily he was able to pull away quickly. Next we took Grandpa to the Gosner cheese factory for some squeaky cheese and inexpensive end cuts. We then went to dinner at a little China bistro and Sushi bar. Philip warned the waitress of his nut allergies, but to no avail. Moments after eating a shrimp cooked in peanut oil he was downing some Benadryl to fight off a reaction. Not much longer after that we were shoving our food in boxes and on our way to instacare. We got Philip taken care, the microwave completely installed, sent the family on their way, and went to bed. It was a day we will not soon forget. Congrats Aimee!

Black Friday

2008-11-29T12:09:00.003-07:00

Sam was my victim, I mean shopping partner, for the very early morning sales on the day after Thanksgiving. We went to Target, one of my favorite stores ever, to be there when they opened. We didn't get what we woke up so early for because an associate pointed us in the wrong direction and by the time we found where them they were all gone. Bummer. But it was fun being with all the other crazy people in line. We talked with a nice kid in front of us most of the time. There were some rude people, like a group two ahead of us who let ten other people in line about ten minutes before the store opened, but for the most part people were crazy but civil. Then we went across the street to the mega flannel sale at JoAnn's. Sam was in the cut line with our fabric for at least five hours. All the ladies thought it was so sweet of him to get up with me and help out everybody any way he could. I went to a couple of other stores while he waited for our fabric to be cut. But now you can bring on the nieces and nephews because I have enough fabric to make blankets for the next eight or so new babies. Sam was a brave little soldier and I am very lucky to have such a great husband for all the things he does for me.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T12:06:00.002-07:00

Once again Mom made a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, but how could you go wrong when the meal includes potatoes? We have many things to be thankful for and if you are reading this you are one of the people in our lives that we are very thankful for, our family and friends.

Weclome Isabell Avery Loder

2008-11-29T11:58:00.002-07:00

Sam's cousins Kami and Jackson are now very proud parents to one of the cutest little girls I've ever seen. She was born a week ago. Sam and I were able to see her on Wednesday after the Egnew family pie night. Sam's mom likes to tease me about always being one of the first to see new little additions to the family, but when they are as cute as Isabell why wouldn't you?

The Big Hunt

2008-11-29T09:19:00.003-07:00

Don't stand in the way of Sam and his tree or it might get ugly!

Here's a group with their prize trees. Look at the branches on those babies. I don't know if I've ever seen trees as nice. Some of those beauts have to be at least 100 points! Boy are we great hunters!

Another fun Lubeck family tradition is the Christmas tree hunt. We all drive up to Flaming Gorge, get our permits, and find the perfect place to hunt. My cousin Shawnee and her Dustin made sure Grandpa didn't get lost again this year. But we did loose my uncle Bill and aunt Leslie for awhile, while they had some alone time in the woods. It was good weather. No snow, but that made some better trees more accessible. Nobody got sick or hurt like has happened in the past. I think I was the only one with any injuries. I got the saw stuck in my hand when Sam handed it to me in the sleeve, but I wasn't aware that the sleeve had an opening. Then we all went back for dinner to a diner near the dam. And a good time was had by all!

29 Sure Looks Good on You!

2008-11-29T09:05:00.002-07:00

It was my aunt Janet's 29th birthday again and as usually it was a great party. Janet plans for her birthday and Christmas Eve all year and they are no doubt the best parties of the year. This year she made some changes to the usual tournament games we play. Every one earned points from playing games like darts, pinball, ping pong, and foosball. You received more points the better you and your randomly chosen partners did. Then for every five points you earned you received a hoppy toss to drop down the plinko board. At the bottom of the plinko board were stacks of money from $1-5. I didn't earn as many points as Sam, because he's got more skills, but I did end up with more money than him!

The results are in...

2008-11-12T16:18:00.002-07:00

For those of you that have been wondering, Sam found out last night that he won third place in the costume contest at work. First place went to Joker and second to Daisy Duck. But, I'll still take the free $25!

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T14:54:00.007-06:00

This Halloween was great, I had no school! I did have to spend ten hours doing parent teacher conferences the day before, but it was great to have a day off. We didn't get to wear costumes to school but Sam wore his Dumbledore costume while he drove the bus Friday morning. Every year the bus drivers have a costume contest. Sam won third place two years ago as Cinderella's stunt devil and first place last year as Frankenstein. He got $35 for the third place win and $50 for the first place win. Hopefully he'll place again this year. The best thing is that my aunt Janet has an almost endless supply of great costumes so Sam just borrows them from her. I guess you could say she's got costume skills!

We had more trick-or-treaters this year than the last two year's. Here are some of the cutest ones that stopped by. Sam's cousin Lisa brought her four girls over. Hannah is the tallest witch, Aimee is the other witch, Chloe is the princess, and Holly is the cute little poodle. Our friends Mike and Shay brought their little monkey over to visit. Shay has a bun in the oven and Mike is an OBGYN.

Happy Birthday - Texas Trip

2008-11-01T13:30:00.017-06:00

For my birthday my dad sacrificed some of his frequent flyer miles for Sam and I to go visit Sam's brother Brady and his family in Huston, Texas. Thanks again Dad. We left, finally after two hours of delays, on Thursday morning. It was great weather in Houston while we were there so the "weather delay" for the plane was a mystery. Brady and I have the same birthday so when we got back from the airport their house had a big birthday banner and balloons for the both of us. Brady opened his presents and then we went out to a fun BBQ place for dinner. It was in a gas station and we ate off of parchment paper instead of plates. It was really good food! I brought Wesley and Aubrey a new book to read for every night we were there. Wesley loved having his uncle Sam read him the new books and pretty much play what ever he wanted to play and I had fun being Aubrey's friend. Wesley thinks I'm okay, but Sam is much more fun than me. Brady liked having his little brother there, too. They even got out the little cars and talked all about them. Debbie and I just laughed at our grown up little boys and their toys. On Friday we went to the Blue Bell ice cream factory. Their saying for their workers is, "Eat all you want and we'll sell the rest." Not a bad place to work. It was a gorgeous drive, through the fields and ranches north of Houston, on the way to the factory. Friday night I went with Debbie and some of her very nice friends for a girl's night at the Cheesecake Factory. Debbie even had the waiters sing happy birthday to me. I was in heaven with cheesecake and ice cream! On Saturday it was Aubrey's birthday. We had pumpkin pancakes and Aubrey had a birthday candle in hers. She got lots of fun dress up things and a beautiful Sunday dress for her and a matching one for her baby doll. The neighbor boy was over and he liked playing dress up with Aubrey's new things, especially the high heals. Then we went to see the Houston temple. It is unique and the grounds are beautiful, I loved it! Then we went on the battleship Texas. We were very privileged to meet some of them men who were stationed on the ship during WWII that were there that weekend for a yearly reunion. It's not a job I would have enjoyed so I'm glad they were willing to make that sacrifice for us all. Saturday night Sam's cousin Micheal and his wife came to visit and we had homemade pizzas. Wesley was not happy to see us go, especially his buddy uncle Sam. It was a great trip. Thanks again to Brady, Debbie, Wesley, and Aubrey for letting us come and being so much fun!

Field trip!!

2008-11-01T13:10:00.004-06:00

We went on a field trip to a gymnastics center in Brigham City on October 13th. The kids had a ball! The bottom picture was their favorite part. There were two trampolines in a row and then a big foam pit that they jumped into. They rotated through five different centers in the gym. Then we ate lunch at a nearby park. I had some tired out little friends by the end of the day. My mom was able to come and watch the little kidwinkles with me and they thought it was cool to meet my mom.

Happy 60th Birthday Dad!

2008-10-08T20:51:00.005-06:00

Yes he is 60, doesn't look it, but he is. He even road his bike 60 miles today to prove it. We also had an open house for friends and family. It was really fun to see everyone from Pleasant View and the fam is always a kick in the pants to be around. There were sixty candles on his cake but have no fear our volunteer fire fighter was on had in case an incident did occur. I had come down for about four Saturdays and went through every picture at my parent's house, and if you know my dad there are a lot of pictures. I scanned them into the computer and uploaded them to an internet program where I made a bound picture book for him with pictures from the last 60 years with everything from family vacations, marathons, family fun, to the growing up years. It was a really fun evening. Sam and I were really glad we could make it. My dad is great, I'm glad he was born, I'm privileged to be his daughter, and by the way I was his favorite birthday present. Love you Dad!!!

Front Runner to Pleasant View

2008-09-27T20:05:00.005-06:00

For those of you that don't know Sam is not my only relative who is a transit junky. My brother Philip has had bus routes memorized since he could read and has been writing the Utah Transit Authority since he was about nine. He has been on the planning committee for the Pleasant View Front Runner station. The grand opening of the station and the inaugural train run was this morning. I came down to have my free ride on the train with my brother and mom. And a fun time was had by all.

2008 State Bus Roadeo

2008-09-20T20:01:00.003-06:00

I am married to the best bus driver in the state of Utah!!! And for those of you that might be wondering just he did find the bomb this year. This is Sam's third time he's gone all the way to state with his bus driving skills. The first time he took fifth, then third, and now first. He was sweating it out to the very end especially when they were giving out the awards and the guy he thought would win took third. Then it was time to announce the winner and I asked him to get the camera for me from under his seat. He asked what I was going to do if he didn't win and I said I'd just take a picture of a very sad Sam. But I got to take a picture of the winner. Now he will compete at the national bus rodeo in Rhode Island next summer. Funny huh, a "road"eo in "Road" Island. Okay so it was funny to me. This year the state competition was in Park City, Utah. So regardless of how he did we got a free weekend at a hotel in Park City and our meals were taken care of. And I got to spend some time at the outlets and go to the Spa ala Lubeck in Morgan and have my aunt Leslie cut my hair. Oh, something else memorable happened this weekend. I took off my first day ever on Friday. I only missed one day of school from the time I started kindergarten until I graduated from college and I've only taken half of a sick day since I started teaching. After the competition we went to Salt Lake and visited Sam's grandma and his brother Chris and his wife Becca. We love having family close even if we don't visit them as often as we could. Then we went to have a celebratory steak dinner at my parents house. It was a really great weekend.

Handy man Sam

2008-09-20T19:56:00.002-06:00

Um, yeah, so the other day I was doing laundry and cleaned out the lint trap. There was a pen that I had rescued from a pocket sitting on the dryer. As I returned the lint trap screen to it's spot the pen caught the edge of it and went into the lint trap. This is Sam rescuing the pen. Taking the dryer apart was not exactly what he had planned for the evening, but my hero came to the rescue and saved the day! This is just a funny glimpse into our everyday lives.

Digging up them holes

2008-09-06T19:23:00.002-06:00

Today Sam got to play in the dirt with my uncle Shane at my aunt Janet's and uncle Shane's house, in Mt. Green. Shane is building a man shop in their backyard. More fun projects for Sam and Shane in the near future. Sam got to yet again prove that he has skills!

Nevada Trip

2008-09-01T13:38:00.013-06:00

We went on a two week trip to Nevada with the Sauvageau family, minus Philip. The main purpose was to attend the wedding of my cousin Besty but we went on lots of fun adventures before and after the wedding. Unlike with our family reunion, I did not forget my camera so I have more than enough pictures to share.

We were able to go visit the Reno Temple after we had an adventure trying to find it. The GPS didn't know where it was.

We were able to visit lots of family on our trip including my mom's aunt Lucille and Sam's aunt Barbara. Aunt Lucille told us lots of stories about all her traveling adventures and showing us her pictures. Aunt Barbara's garden was in full bloom and we enjoyed the fruits of her labors, home grown peas!The Hot August Nights car show was going on while we were in Reno. There were neat old cars everywhere. This isn't a classic car but we drove by it and I really liked it. And at night some of the cars would cruise around the hotels. It was especially enjoyable to look at the cars at night because it was so much cooler.
It was my mom's birthday on the 7th of August. Hermans Hermits was in town for the car show so we went to his concert for mom's birthday. He was one of her favorites as a teenager. So we got to jam out with "Henry the 8th" and all his other hits. I gave my mom a really cool toilet paper roll dispenser. She was fascinated with them at this year's parade of homes, so I got her one and as you can see she liked it!
We spent most of a day in Virginia City, an old silver mining town. It was similar to the old part of Park City.
On 8-8-08 we went to Besty's wedding festivities on the beaches of Lake Tahoe. It was windy but very beautiful.
These three great looking guys are my uncle Ted, Dad, and my uncle Dan. Betsy is Ted's daughter.

The bride's immediate family: Ted, Audrey, Besty, Paul, Brooke, Carly, and Jeff.
The rest of the night was spent on the Tahoe Queen river boat. On our way out of the dock we got stuck on a sand bar. We all had to get on one side of the boat to see if that would help us dislodge the boat from the sand bar. It worked! It's one of those things Betsy will always remember about her wedding day. There was good food, fun, and family. It doesn't get much better than that. Oh, and when you're sober it's kind of fun to watch the drunk people be silly.
Then we spent a day driving all the way around Tahoe and looking at it from all the different stops along the way. We then went to Carson City and did laundry. Hurray for clean underwear! We also we to church in Carson and went back to Reno to visit family some more.

Then we spent several days in Yosemite National Park. We had lots of fun climbing on the granite domes and following lots of trails. Unfortunately the waterfalls were more like rockwalls but the visitor center had a really neat movie that let us see the waterfalls. One of my favorite locations was the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias, those trees are awesome.

We finished our trip at my uncle Ted's house in Tonopah. We had several nice barbecues and made smores. We visited an old mine and the city museum. Uncle Ted teaches math at the high school and Audrey is the librarian there so we visited the high school. Sam felt icky and slept most of one day.

There are plenty more pictures and stories to tell so if you want to just stop by our place just about any old time and have a gander.

It was a very successful trip and we'd like to end with a shout out to my folk (and Betsy for getting married) for making this trip possible for us. Thank you!

Back to School

2008-08-28T16:25:00.003-06:00

We are on day six, only 174 more school days until summer! Just kidding, I lucked out and I have a pretty good class this year. I have twenty-four little darling and Sure there are a few that need a good look every once in a while, but, especially compared to last year, this is a good class. I forget how much they don't know when the start first grade compared to when they finish the year. Mrs. Tingey- "Okay guys put your folder in your desk." Student- "Teacher, what's a desk?" I am also very luck because Sam is able to come and help in my class again this year. He started school again on Monday and will be very busy this semester. He is starting his master's program this fall. We got back from a fun vacation to Nevada just before school started but apparently my card reader only works for my old camera and not my new fancy dancy camera so pictures from our trip will have to wait.

Family Reunion

2008-07-30T16:54:00.003-06:00

Well, we must have been having too much fun at family reunion to take pictures, because when I connected my camera up to post something on what we did last week I only had about five pictures. Anyway, last Thursday we went down to the thriving metropolis of Antimony, Utah for the Bill and Sylvia Tingey reunion. There were a little over two hundred people there. It was so much fun to see and talk to everyone. This is my third Tingey reunion and I think I'm getting the hang of it. Sam was mister popular and was even in three of the eight skits put on by the clans of the aunts and uncles. I was even thrown into the fire and participated in one of the skits. The Doug Tingey family skit was a favorite, an ode to Bazooka Bubble Gum. A few other highlights were horseback riding in the rain and the kid's carnival spearheaded by Sam's mom, which had an Olympic theme. This picture is of Doug and Earl doing a rope pull at the Olympics. I'm pretty sure Doug won. The biggest highlight was for Sam and I to be together after being apart for almost a month while Sam worked with his dad and hung out with our California family. Sam's brother Abe, who's family shared a room with us for the reunion, said that there was a little too much smooching and cuddling with us back together. Someone made the comment that Sam and I must have fun everyday of our marriage and I'd agree. Some of our little friends we've made in years past even remembered us now that they're all grown up. Sam was able to continue an aggressive game of tag that was put on hold for two years after the last reunion and has been put on hold again.

FYI

2008-07-01T21:48:00.003-06:00

I just want you all to know I already know that I will not be as dutiful as some in keeping our blog current. The biggest reason is we don't have the internet at home, but I'll do my best to remember to add a post when I have free time near a computer with the internet. During the school year I also plan to have a blog for my class so I'll have to remember to keep this one up, too.

Henry is here!

2008-07-01T21:34:00.003-06:00

My newest nephew, Henry Call, was born on Saturday, June 21, 2008. Sam and I were able to go up to visit the new family on Monday and Tuesday in Idaho. (We stayed at my cousin Shawnee's apartment with her new, and very cool husband, Dustin.) I was his first aunt to visit him and so I think that puts me at the top of his list! He is a cute little kid and I'm glad to have a nephew close enough to spoil every once in a while, a least until he moves to Oregon. I can't wait to see him again in just a few weeks!

Grandpa's 80!

2008-07-01T21:19:00.004-06:00

June 22, 2008
It was my grandpa's 80th birthday so on the 22nd we had a big party for him. About six months ago he came up to me and said, "Hey, you know I'm going to be eighty on my next birthday and I want a big party with lots of food and all my friends there." I told him I'd see what I could do. This was news to my mom and her siblings so we've been working on his party ever since. It was a success, with lots of food and lots of friends and family.

My grandma's sister Lucille came from Reno for the occasion. I was able to spend Friday and Saturday before the party with her. I love to be with her because she reminds me of what my grandma was like. Her long term memory is as sharp as a tack. She wrote a three page letter to my grandpa reminding him of funny times. Every time she would think of another story she would tell me and then go add it to her letter. A fun time was had by all!

My class

2008-06-18T21:24:00.003-06:00

Since these little guys are the inspiration for my new blogging skills I figured they should be the first picture. This is my class from last year. I'm starting to miss a few of them already! (But not too much.)

I'm a Blogger

2008-06-18T19:57:00.000-06:00

I've been going to lots of conferences for work this summer and they talk about how to use blogs in the classroom. So, I figured I'd better learn how to do all of this before I create one for my class. Wish me luck!