Happy New Year, 1967

When my grandpa died in 2007 I packed up a couple boxes of things from his house in St. George when we were cleaning it out and getting it ready to sell. About three weeks ago I was finally able to bring myself to go through the things I brought home. Among them were some pictures and papers that had belonged to Grandpa's older sister, Jeanne. I found a letter that Grandpa had written to Jeanne. My dad told me that his best guess for the year was 1967. Discovering this letter was like getting a present from Santa. I loved reading this little snapshot of my dad's family life and wanted to share it with my family and friends.

I wanted in include a picture that related to the letter and the closest thing I had was a picture of my Grandma, Carm, and my Aunt Shelly standing outside Molly Greens at Brighton Ski Resort in 1965.


Jan. 5

Dear Jeanne and Scott,

Now that the happy, joyful holiday season is over and things can get back to their normal frustrating conditions I will pen you guys a short note!

Did Santa get down to see you? He made a good stop at our house and everyone was happy. The boys got spider bikes and cowboy boots and Shelly got a suit, ski parka, and a pair of heels. Carm got a three-piece suit, boots, and a few blouses. I got some after-ski boots and two new suits.

Most of our Christmas this year went for one big family present and Santa had one hellava time getting it out of his sack! It was a regulation size pool table. Instead of our kids bumming the streets we make them go downstairs and play pool. Does that sound right? I can envision the near future when Carm will be sharking me a fast game for the grocery money. I can see it all now- I come home from a hard days work to a cold, dark kitchen and the sound of clicking pool balls floating up from the basement tells me that Carm and the kids are involved in a big game that starts with a capital "P" that stands for pool!

We have also passed a milestone in the boys' upbringing. As you probably knew, they got a Deseret newspaper route several moths ago. It wasn't too bad while the weather was good, but the first time they had to run it in the snow it lost some of the thrill. It wouldn't have been so bad, but it was too stretched out and took them almost two hours each night. They had to go up to the Villa theater to get the papers and then it covered an area from 13th East to 23rd East and from 33rd South to almost 39th South. Whenever they had to collect we would take them in the car and we were probably using more gas money than they were making. Anyway, last Sunday was their final delivery. On Sunday they delivered the Tribune. As you know the Tribune is a MORNING paper. Like 4:30 a.m. morning! I would take them in the car on Sundays and as we generally go out on Saturday night, I was pretty well shot all day Sunday!

Jan. 15

I just found your letter in my desk and decided I better get it in the mail. I spent last week in IBM school on a "Fundamentals in Programming" course. So I didn't get too much done around the office. We have been skating a couple times and skiing once and the weather was real good for both.

I got the license plates for both cars and the trailer last week and so we will be ready to go anywhere as soon as the weather breaks. Shelly will be able to get her "learners" permit next week and her drivers license the first week in February. She is pretty excited about it all. She is home sick today with a cold but is getting better.

This brings you guys up to date on our news. So drop us a line and let us know how things are working out down there. If we go to Lake Tahoe this summer we will dash over to see you.

Love, Robert, Carm, and the kids


I hope everyone has a happy New Year!

Happy Christmas!

From Ian, Cara, Aven, and Grace

Christmas Dress

When my Aunt Ann was here in November, she bought Aven a darling dress. The best thing about the dress? It has little Scotti dogs sewn around the hem, and since dogs are currently Aven's favorite thing, it's a winner. Enjoy a cute picture of Aven by our Christmas tree:

Also, enjoy Aven's current favorite video from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. We watch this video at least twice a day but she never seems to get tired of it, and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm not tired of it either:

December so far . . .

I've already posted about visiting Santa and partying with friends, but here are a few more things we've done during this very busy, fun filled month:

Aven and I went to the Festival of Trees with my mom. Aven loved the Elmo tree.

We went on a carriage ride downtown with Ian's parents and brother. Aven loved seeing the horses and the lights downtown.

After our carriage ride we walked through Temple Square. Aven was most impressed with the fountains. This kid loves water.

Aven "performed" in her daycare Christmas program. Here she is as a darling reindeer.

When I say she "performed", what I mean is that she didn't cry as much as she did during her Spring program. She stared out at the the audience like a deer in the headlights until she spotted me, then she started crying.

Zoo Lights! We went to Hogle Zoo to see the holiday light display. It was really a lot of fun. I highly recommend it to anyone with kids. In the above photo you can see mine and Aven's silhouette. We had to choose between silhouette pictures or flash pictures that completely washed out the lights- oh well.

I can't believe that Christmas is in 6 days! It's been an incredibly fun holiday season so far. Having a child has made everything seem magical again.

Christmas with the Kids

I am grateful that my three best friends have kids. It makes getting together super fun. Tonight, we had a Christmas party for the kiddos. My very brave friend Natalie volunteered to host the party since she has the largest house and more toys than any kid could ever hope for. Aven is the youngest, but she still managed to get involved in plenty of the action:

She wasn't thrilled about my insistence that she sit on the bed with all the other kids for a photo. Sweet little Gwen was nice enough to hold her while I took the picture.

I loved seeing the two girls at the party playing with a big bucket of plastic bugs and snakes.

Present time! We did a gift exchange for the kids. I believe everyone was quite satisfied. Aven got a really cute pony that makes horsey noises and also works as a flashlight.

Then came the fun part- decorating sugar cookies and eating them. Aven was mostly interested in eating the m&m's and frosting off her cookie. By the time she was done she had chocolate frosting smeared all over her torso, arms, and face.

Partying with the kids is always fun, and even though I'm usually so beat by the time we're done that I'd like to lapse into a coma for a couple days, I can't wait to do it again.

Visiting Santa

I decided to take Aven to the mall to see Santa after school yesterday. The mall near her daycare had a "natural " Santa, so I was excited to pay way too much for a low quality picture.

I thought that Aven would be okay being near Santa as long as I was holding her. I was wrong. Despite weeks of reading Christmas stories, playing with a little stuffed Santa toy and talking about how great Santa is she was terrified when we got near him.

The scowl on her face was the result of two very energetic photographers jumping around, playing peek-a-boo, and waving around stuffed toys and squeaky balls. She was previously screaming and squirming to get off my lap, so trust me, the scowl was as good as it was going to get.

Oh well, maybe next year she'll be more willing to sit with Santa and crack a smile.

Happy Thanksgiving . . .

. . . from our expressive little eater:

Snow Day

We had our first big snow storm of the year and I couldn't wait to get out and play with Aven, Grace, and Ian. We went over to Liberty Park to romp around. Aven wasn't too thrilled with the snow at first, even though she had spent a better part of the morning with her face pressed up against the living room window staring longingly at the white stuff. She got pretty upset the first few times snow got on her boots, but she recovered pretty quick. Her biggest frustration was walking in it. It was hard enough for her to walk in stiff boots and puffy snow pants on the sidewalk, but adding the challenge of 5 or 6 inches of snow just made her mad. Things did improve, however:

Once we got her sitting in the snow she had a pretty good time. She even helped me push the big snowman ball around a little bit.

Silly smile.

Aven's first snowman. She was pretty upset that we had to leave him at the park, but eventually we got her to say "buh, buh" so we could go home.

Job Description

At a recent faculty meeting my principal mentioned that if people knew our actual job descriptions nobody would enter the teaching field. Since then I've been thinking a lot about what my real job description is. I've tried to think of things that I do daily or at least multiple times a week.

First, I'll start with the parts of my job that I expected when I decided to become a teacher:

• Developing curriculum and planning lessons
• Delivering instruction
• Managing behavior
  
• Grading assignments
• Attending faculty meetings
• Being assigned to a variety of committees

Next, I'll list things that are an integral part of my job but really don't have anything to do with the previous list:

• Triage nurse. You can often find me cleaning and bandaging cuts, looking at swollen eyes, rashy skin, and even occasionally extracting a finger from someplace it shouldn't have been stuck in the first place.
• Counselor. I deal with my fair share of tearful girls who have just been dumped by their boyfriends, or shunned by their former BFF's. I also watch for and report and suspected abuse that might be happening to a child outside of school.
• Nark. If you come to school high as a kite and reeking of marijuana I have to report it to the vice principal. I also have to report any rumors I hear about who smokes cigarettes or chugs Nyquil.
• HVAC technician. I work in a 52 year old building with no air conditioning and only 1 boiler. I also work on the 2nd floor where the heat tends to congregate all year long. I am constantly trying to keep the temperature of my classroom comfortable, even if it means opening my windows during a blizzard.
• Mediator. Between feuding kids and sometimes between a parent and child.
• Shameless self-promoter. I teach art. If kids don't sign up for art I don't have a job, so every year during registration I send letters home, hang posters in the halls and, beg, and plead for students to take my classes.
• Psychologist. Somewhat related to "counselor" but this one is more about observing behavior and figuring out why a kids acts the way he does and figuring out how I might be able to get through to him effectively.
• Decorator. Creating decorations for various school assemblies and functions. If my esteemed art professors from Westminster knew that I use glitter on regular basis they would take away my art degree.
• Special ed. teacher. This is one of my favorites. Sometimes in a sea of regular kids I get to work with some of the sweetest kids who are in a special ed. classroom all day with the exception of the hour they get to spend with me. I always look forward to seeing these kids because they can really brighten your day and change your perspective on life.

While I could go on I feel that this list should give anyone who is not in the teaching profession an idea of how much teachers do beyond their scope of employment.

On particularly challenging days I stand in the hall during class change with my next door neighbor and we chant "we love our job, we love our job" over and over. Sometimes you need a reminder.

18 Months

Aven will be 18 months old tomorrow. Every parent I know has told me over and over how fast time flies once you have a baby and I have found that to be absolutely true.

Seeing her reach new milestones has been particularly fun. Her language development seems to be on the fast track with her new favorite word being "ammals" (animals). She is also really into doing stuff by herself like feeding Grace pup corn treats in the morning and pushing the button that unlocks the main door at daycare.

While Ian and I suffer from our fair share of toddler drama we mostly have a great time playing with our silly little girl.

A couple of recent pictures for your enjoyment: