What's up? SCHOOL

Okay, so I was waiting for Charlie to add to our blog, but he says he only does pictures. We haven't been anywhere to take pics, so I guess I will fill in with what we have been up to the past month.
First off, we are both in a new teaching situation this year. Thus, we are busy, busy, busy. I can't believe how much time it takes to set up a new classroom. We both moved to a new room so we spent the two weeks before school started unpacking boxes and figuring out where to put what. We then had a few days of meetings before the start of school. We have had our Back to School Night so I am feeling like I can finally try to figure out what I am doing. I am now an official 4th grade teacher teaching all the subjects instead of just Science. I realize now that I really had the most perfect job before- teaching the same lesson multiple times a day. I had hardly any prep to do. Now I am trying to figure out what to do for each subject each day. Luckily I have 4 other teachers who have been so good to help me out.
Charlie is teaching his first ALL (gifted) class of 6th graders. He seems to take it all in stride and knows exactly what he wants to do. I guess that is what 30 plus years in education does for you.
This past week we celebrated birthdays. Brandon had his 25th and Charlie had his ___ birthday. We went out to dinner two nights in a row.
We tried to pick elderberries up in Little Cottonwood Canyon on Sat. Unfortunately we were a little early and most of the berries aren't ripe yet. We stopped by Charlie's house and picked his grapes. We made juice out of them and still are thinking we will make jelly or syrup.
Charlie is anxiously awaiting the start of BYU's football season. I guess fall is just around the corner.

Bryce Canyon Photos

Mary Ellen at Inspiration Point

Hoodoos

More hoodoos

What a view

Bryce Canyon Half Marathon Trip - July 18, 2009

Mile number " 9" of 13

Finishing my first half marathon...

I made it in just under 1 hour and 50 minutes

Mary Ellen in front of the Bullberry Inn--a cool B&B in Tropic

Inspiration Point in Bryce National Park

Sunday Dinner up American Fork Canyon

Playing "No Peekie"

Enjoying the cool canyon air

After Sunday dinner in the canyon

A "Wicked" Trip to Arizona

We attended the musical "Wicked" at the Gammage Auditorium in Phoenix

It was wonderful!

Nick and Landon catching huge ones at Granite Basin Lake

Storytime with Grammie

Ava and Charlie enjoying ice cream

Andrea, Ava and Grammie

Landon and Ava discover the joys of whoopie cushions

Linsey and Nick provided the whoopie cushion fun

Maddie playing fetch the frisbee

Visiting at Shenna' s house

Ashley teaching Alex how to text...

At Chase Field to watch the Diamondbacks play

Chase Field was awesome

First major league baseball game

Panning for gold at the Museum of Natural History

Grammie and Maddie putting together a puzzle at the Museum

4th of July Happenings

Grandma Jeppson helping Asher.

Trying to stay cool in the midday heat. 

The kids played a fun game called Ladders.  Dan was nearly unbeatable.

Notice Mary's form...

Charlie ran the Riverton City 10K early in the morning.  He came in 681 out of 682 runners.    

This was our campsite on the shore of Jackson Lake at Signal Mountain.

This was our wet cookout in American Fork Canyon with Linsey and Nick.

Here are some photos of recent activities we've enjoyed. Mary invited us over to her house for a great Father's Day dinner. In addition to her great dinner, Dan had brought some German food (specialty cheeses, dark bread and sauerkraut). Mary made some peach cobbler in the Dutch Oven for dessert. After the meal we played a "new" version of Uno together. What a fantastic Father's Day! Thanks Mary, Dan, Brandon and Emmy--I love you. The next photo is a picture of Mary Ellen and Grandma Jeppson fishing at Gooseberry Reservoir on a windy and cold day. We had spent the previous evening enjoying a picnic at Palisade Reservior and we stayed over night at hotel in Manti. The fishing wasn't great but it was nice to be on the lakes and in the mountains for a couple of days. Mary Ellen and I went to Lava Hot Springs, Teton National Park and Jackson Hole for a short, three day, get-a-way. We spent the first night at Lava Hot Springs soaking in the soothing hot water. We then drove a few hours to the Tetons and camped at Signal Mountain. We also took a ferry across Jenny Lake and went on a hike to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. We finished our short trip with a half day in Jackson Hole.

Beginning our blog...

This is our first attempt at blogging--so we'll start with something easy--sharing some of our activities this summer since we've been out of school.  Our first week of summer vacation was spent in Oregon.  We traveled to Portland via the Columbia River Gorge, then visited the Chinese Garden, shopped in the Old Town area, and attended a session at the beautiful Portland Temple.  We then drove south down the coast and stayed at a lakeside cabin in Florence--near the central Oregon coast.  This green and gorgeous area was filled with great sights from old-growth forests to rocky ocean beaches to large sandy dunes. One of our favorite memories will be the rainy hike we took along Sweet Creek.  This three and a half mile round trip through huge moss covered evergreens followed a pristine stream cascading in a series of small waterfalls over boulders and through a fern-filled gorge.  It was a great experience for Utah desert dwellers.