Highlights from New Jersey

In no particular order-

-Getting to NJ and getting hugs from a cute little girl.

-Karleigh telling Clay to "try better next time" after he forgot to bring snacks with him to the airport.

-Watching Karleigh introduce herself to a goat. "Do you want to know my name?"

-- playing princess Anastasia with Princess Cinderella- we went to balls, tea parties, and a circus with a dozen miniature ponies.

-Karleigh proposing and marrying Brody in her princess dress and crown.

-Seeing where Clay worked, and realizing it is a HUGE hanger of historical significance.

-The beautiful country of New Jersey. I've never even thought that they lived in the country. It was absolutely gorgeous.

-Painting Easter eggs with the family.

-The zoo- face painting, animals, otters and weird giraffe/zebra/antelopes

-Watching The Tudors with Ness- I may be addicted now.

- Running through two terminals to MISS a plane.

-My seat cushion being "Missing" on the flight home

-The woman next to me announcing that she had to go to the bathroom "really bad" but couldn't because her zipper was stuck.

- The woman next to me showing me her stuck zipper, and again telling me how badly she needed to go. (Just thinking about this makes my eyes water because I'm laughing so hard on the inside.)

-Helping Karleigh learn to swing

- A really good lunch- haven't had a burger that good in awhile.

Update

Since it has been months... here is a quick update on the James family.
1. Our house is still on the market. It has been so long, sometimes I forget about our new house that is waiting to be built. Then, we drive to Eagle Mountain, and I remember.

2. School keeps us both busy- Andy attending and me teaching. Andy is in his final semester of film classes, so there is more "shooting" and "editing" and "capturing" than I've seen in awhile. It is constant. I've got plenty of papers to grade, and I watch DVD's of old teen dramas.

3. Andy's films took prizes at the film festival- 5th festival in a row! 2nd place comedy, and 2nd place overall. Two different films. Not bad.

4. I'm coaching distance track again. My kids are doing well. I'm proud of them, and feel much better about myself as their coach.

5. Three kids have broken their wrists in connection with me in the last couple of weeks. A girl and a boy fell during track practice. And, a girl in my class fell while working on a project. Strangely- I've only been present for the girl at track- the other days I had substitutes.

6. Our dogs continue to drive us nuts.

7. We still don't have children. I'm not pregnant.

8. Life is good.

New Jersey

Wow- as someone I love pointed out- we aren't so good at the blogging thing. But, currently, I am in NJ with my fam. My niece and I spent a good part of the evening playing princess. We road a carriage to the ball, which crashed twice (silly horses!) before finally deciding to walk. We got locked into a room, twice, and had to use the magic key to get ourselves out. Dancing and tea were quite wonderful.

It has been a fun few days. I even got to paint Easter eggs with my niece, which is all I really wanted to do while I was here.

Selling our house

Our little house is up for sale. Why? No real reason except we want to move. We discussed it a few times in the last year, but always resolve to stick around a little while. Then, we went to Eagle Mountain, and we both got pretty excited. We found a builder for our new home, the area we want it built in, a lender to give us money for it, a place to live while they build it... all in a matter of two days.

Then, we had to put our house on the market. Now, we are sitting and waiting. It has only been two days, but waiting stinks! (They said 6-8 weeks is average. I didn't think that was bad... but honestly!)

It has been a wonderful house. Not large, but nice. We definitely aren't sad to say goodbye to it, but it has been good to us. We are very excited to start the next phase of our lives... as soon as this place sells.

Back to School

Wow! This week is killing us both. I started back to school on Monday. You'd think I'd be used to the energy it takes to teach- but I'm not. I'm exhausted. Completely. It is rather sad actually. Of course, it doesn't help that the Olympics are on, and I'm a huge fan of the event. All the teachers at the school walk around saying, "Can't wait for the Olympics to end so I can get some sleep."

(Example: I'm currently watching the final of the men's beach volleyball. It is after 11. I know who wins. I still can't go to bed.)

Andy also started school this week. Classes began on Wednesday. He's taking a film class, bio, math, and design. This is the first night in awhile that he's gone to bed before me. He's usually staying up while I'm passing out. Who would have thought sitting in class would take so much out of you? (I guess I should sympathize with my students more.)

Benson Mill- Tradition Continues?

Last night my dad, mom, sister, and I went to the Benson Grist Mill in Stansbury, UT for their annual play. The did Annie Get Your Gun. It was a typical Benson performance- wonderful talent, bad sound, too many bugs, roasted almonds and seats that are slanted so you constantly slide forward.

It really was a lot of fun. However, as I looked around, it made me a little sad. The usually sold-out place was barely half-full.

Was something else going on in town? Are people not fans of Annie? Or, is it getting too expensive to take the family to these events?

Family Camping '08

Folks, CJ & Levi, Andy and I went camping. The area was gorgeous- hills/mountains, meadows, streams & lakes. Not to mention, their were four wheeling trails everywhere! There must have been a hundred people on them, but it was rare to actually see someone on the trail.

Everyone loved riding- even a few dogs got the chance. This is my dad with Spud.












Mom got on too. I don't think I've ever seen her on a four wheeler before. She loved it! We got to see a lot of deer in the meadows. One night I saw five different ones- including two fawns.

We took all the dogs over to the lake. Gus (far right) was the only brave one at first. We'd toss a toy way out in the lake, and he'd go get it. The other dogs waited on shore, then helped him bring it in the rest of the way. Poor Gus! Eventually, Cooper (the lab) started following
him out pretty far. Lady and Jackie would only go a few yards off shore- not bad.