Skyler's First Band Concert

Skyler gets better and better on the flute everyday.

Sibley has her first loose tooth!

Sibley wants me to type the following caption for her picture:
Sibley lost her first tooth. (This is going to be for the picture of my lost tooth.) I am very excited. I think that I might lose it at school. That's all.

A Tribute to the Late Todd Slade

*****R.I.P. Todd*****
Todd Slade
2007-2008

A Flute Concert

Thanks!

I just wanted to thank all of you who have supported Skyler in her Scentsy fundraiser and her banana bread sale. She has raised nearly $100, so she is almost halfway to her goal. I have already entered in your Scentsy orders, so those of you who have already placed an order should get your package in a couple of weeks. For those of you who haven't placed your orders yet, there is still plenty of time. I will not close the fundraiser out until the last day of September. Thanks again for your support! We love ya and you're the best!

Our New House

I'll add more later. I've got to go teach special ed today. Just try to ignore the cat in the flower bed!
Okay, so here's the scoop. Those of you who thought you were getting rid of us will be disappointed. We are selling our house and renting this one until the Jarvis' new house is finished and then we will be moving into their old one. So we are still staying in the same ward and at the same school. We wouldn't have it any other way. We love where we're at. The rental is less than a mile away. These are some things I am looking forward to:
1. being within walking distance to the Wallentine's (They'll probably be sick of us after a week.)
2. a huge front porch, on which to eat, visit, entertain all of you, rock in a rockin' chair, etc.
3. a grassy yard
4. a huge kitchen pantry
5. new carpet and tile
6. a 2 1/2 car garage (Bryant might actually get to park in the garage with me now for the first time ever!)
If only it had a pool!

Skyler's Fundraiser

This year Skyler has an incredible opportunity. The 5th graders in Arizona public schools go to Oceanography Camp at a YMCA camp on the beach in San Diego. They ask that each child pay $250 toward their costs. We had a family conference and decided that Skyler needs to try and raise some of the money herself. She ordered a fundraiser kit from Scentsy. If anyone would like to place an order, then Skyler's email address is blueskyler23@yahoo.com. I would be glad to put a fundraiser catalog in the mail to you. There are car candles, room sprays, warmers, plug ins and bars in the fundraiser catalog, as well as 20 scents to choose from. These all make excellent gifts, and there is something available in every price point. The car candles are $3, the room sprays are $5, the plug ins are $15, and the warmers are $30. Each bar is $5, but that is an incredible value, since each bar has a burn time of 480 hours.
Oops! The room sprays are $8.

My Birthday "Daycation"

This is what I think about turning 31!










For a 31st birthday gift, Bryant took me on a four hour train ride through the Verde Canyon aboard the Verde Valley Railroad. The canyon is only accessible via this train or horseback. The scenery was absolutely incredible. The pictures really don't do it justice. Next time we go, we'll definitely take the kids, but will just ride coach instead of first class.


The train winds along the Verde River, which is usually bright green with algae, but was brown because it was flooded with monsoon rain waters yesterday. There are several eagles' nests along the way, but we didn't see any eagles. We did get to see the remnants of the Sinagua civilization, a native tribe that lived in the area around 1,000 A.D. This is the picture with two old adobe walls and an opening in the middle. It was amazing to me that they would climb up such steep embankments to get to their homes. I guess that gave them a good vantage point from which to spy invaders though.

And, y'all know me, I don't meet a stranger. I made lots of friends on our trek. I will add some pictures and tell you about some of them.





This is Perkinsville, where the train turns around. All there is is a ranch and the teeny tiniest depot I have ever seen. The ranch was beautiful and so were the horses.


Do I really need to put a caption under this picture? Sweet mullet, right?

This is my brother from another mother, Gordon McGowan, of the Scottish McGowan clan. I mistakenly took a Korean War Queen's Army tattoo for a WWII Merchant Marine tattoo and that is what got us to conversing. Their insignia is very similar. Anyway, he is a cute, fiery old Scottish man who still plays the bagpipes twice a week and wears his kilt to formal occasions. I asked him if he knew any Moorheads in Scotland. (My mother's mother was a Moorhead.) He said no, because the Moorheads in Scotland are rich and the McGowans are a poorer clan. By the way, his neighbors come out to hear him play the bagpipes and he tells them to go back inside their houses, that it's not a "bloody concert"! (There were a lot of senior citizens on the train. I'm sure it was fun for them to reminisce about train travel. Most of them took a nap on the way back in to the station.)

We also drove through Sedona after our train ride. It was really pretty too. It reminded me a lot of the St. George area. Anyway, thanks for a great birthday present, Bryant! And thanks for babysitting, Gwen!