the firs thaeksgiving

I substituted the other day in an elementary class. The teacher had asked the kids to write a story about the First Thanksgiving story. They were to write everything they could remember from their memory. She didn't want to prompt them--to see what they would write. Well, I got to see the stories. They were VERY funny. i am including a couple of excerpts and their interpretation for your enjoyment.

pepil Were vare sick an thaeksgiving the bate the pepipl had yosd to get thar the frst blding maed was the hsbitle. and an thacksgiving thar at tror and cron thar was no maspatacts now ham now now pampen ip I fill sad for theme. the gams thay plaed wreling tag and reng awand the wises dock gosh. and they plad pris tag. and flag tag. and they hept the sicd. they fed in the sck thay gave the sicg watr they coot for the gicg they hape tham to now wrr to go the bacrr and tak a sow drou bath they pond the nels in thr spartime they plad gams and weh to the batheroom I am so happ that I did not hetto. that so they hapt the git that wre sige they mad srrievt rbut that was sick sarf so haw nou how the strai so god biy to you.

Did you get that? Here is what I could surmise: People were very sick on Thanksgiving the boat the people had used to get there. The first building made was the hospital. And on Thanksgiving they ate turkey and corn. there was no mashed potatoes, no ham, no no pumpkin pie. I feel sad for them. The games they played wrestling tag and ring around the roses duck goose. And they played price tag and flag tag. And they helped the sick. They fed the sick they gave the sick water they got for the??. They help them to know where to to the bath and take a shower and bath. They pound the nails in their spare time. They played games and went to the bathroom. I am so happy that I did not have to. That so they helped the........so now you know the story so good bye to you.

Here is another cute sample:
Along time ago ther wor the firs Thanksgiving ther wor no bolons no cake but ther wr trce pepol dans an cheldrens laft and evrebode had fun. ther wr pepol that danst ol togeter. the chelren playd tog thei had fun and pepol helpt mac fun so the can eat. pepol colrd and playd actevedes and thei had fun pepol werd grese and mans wer teng elegent. and pepole raid horses and the ende en selabraided.

In other words: A long time ago there was the first Thanksgiving. There were no baloons, no cake, but there were ?? people danced and children laughed and everybody had fun. There were people that danced all together. The children played together they had fun and people helped make fun so they can eat. People colored and played activities and they had fun. People .......... and people rode horses and they ended in celebration.

This made my day. Hope it makes yours, too.

Phillip

On Sunday Phillip told me that I had tied his shoes too tight and that it was squeezing his foot guts out. That made me laugh because I don't get too many cute kiddo comments anymore. Then tonight he told me that the hat he was wearing is too tight and that it is squeezing his brain out. I asked him where his brain was coming out of. He said "Mooom, it isn't reee-al."

McDonalds LOSES!

I heard the most offensive ad on the radio tonight. It was an ad for McDonalds. The commentator stated that no one understands something, something about healthy eating like McDonalds. The ad went on to say that they wanted to make sure that people would have a good experience there and would want to continue to come there and to bring their kids there for years to come. Then it said that this is why they are revamping their menu . They are including things like chocolate tipped radishes, and that is why they are making their chicken nuggets in vegetable shapes, and their fries to smell like fruit: to give the impression of healthy eating--so that kids will get the taste without the high cost. REALLY! REALLY? If I can find the script I will post it. McDonalds: You are LOSERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOUR 2010 ASU MARCHING BAND!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=985132564381

You can follow this link to see Regan's first Marching Band performance at the ASU game against Portland. She said that the formations weren't any specific shape, just cool designs.

Just Joking

Carrying two dead raccoons, a buzzard tries to check in at LAX for the red-eye to New York. "Sorry, sir," says the ticket agent. "We allow only one item of carrion."

From an article on the Woolacombe Bay Hotel in Devon, England: "Their three-night Christmas break includes a packed program of family entertainment, a crèche, excellent cuisine, and a visit from Satan." 

I think the Discovery Channel should be on a different channel every day. 

-- Comic Craig Sharf

 

The Lion King

Pride Rock

Older Simba and Nala

When the play began Rafiki was singing. As the music continued, animals came onto the stage and a lot more animals came down the aisles and up onto the stage. Phillip was sitting on the aisle and could have touched them. The singing was great. I really was impressed with the way the scenery was simple but encouraged you to use your imagination like you did with the actors and the costumes. The scenery didn't detract from the rest of the play.Can you tell that I REALLY liked the play?? I am so glad that we got to see this. Thanks to Steve's parents for taking us!

The Lion King

We went to the Lion King at the Capitol Theater tonight. What a memorable experience. The costumes were the most incredible I have ever seen. I loved how the actors incorporated themselves into the characters. More to come . . .

The County Fair

We went to the Davis County Fair on Thursday. We went to see Sydney's photgraphy entries, watched some dogs compete to see who could jump farthest into the water and watched a hypnotist. Two of Meredith's friends went up on stage for the hypnotist. They were really funny! The hypnotist told them that they were the world famous butt drummers... Too, too funny!

Exotic Waterfall

Sydney got third place on the rock/tree pic and second place on the waterfall pic. She took the rock/tree pic in the Grand Canyon and the other pic on ASU's campus. She digitally edited the waterfall pic.

Lovin' College

So, for those of you who don't facebook, just a little update on Regan. She loves college life (one week so far).  She loves her dorm room and likes her roomie. So here are some of the things she said this week:

Monday: sore muscles. drenched in sweat. drinking like a camel. marching band was AWESOME!!!! :D
Tuesday: got monsooned out of tonight's marching band's rehearsal. haha walking there was not the most fun thing in the world, but luckily there were some very nice band members who gave me a ride back :)
Wednesday: should be finishing up my stuff for school tomorrow and going to bed . . . haha today was AMAZING!!!! haha i know i've said that the last few days, but seriously it was so awesome! the Fall Welcome Assembly was so fun!!! :D I LOVE ASU!!!!!!
Thursday: first day of college classes. who knew life could get this good? no wonder everyone says it's the best time of your life. can't wait for the football games and getting to play in the marching band for them! :D
only has two classes tomorrow, haha. guess i have plenty of time to do homework and practice :) lol i could get used to college scheduling.
Friday: not sure yet. We already sent her a care package. She left her lyre home. (clip used to hold music on your instrument) left most of her reeds home. Didn't take any pontail holders. So I went and bought her some ponytail holders and a pan (we didn't send her with any!!!) and mailed everything to her today. So the postman told me that I could pay $47 to mail it overnight, or $11.57(?) to get it there by Monday. I said "I am NOT paying $47. Send it Priority mail.

I am really worried about her and the heat. Apparently she has to walk an half hour to get to the practice field. She said that it is somewhat uphill. The other day she said that she was dizzy when she got there and was dizzy at times during practice. She says that they give them plenty of water breaks, but it's the heat that worries me. She thinks I am worried needlessly. But I told her--Yeah, but why are we still seeing football players die from heat exhaustion?

I'll try to keep everyone updated on Reg.

All moved in

We took a three day trip to move Regan into her dorm. She got to move in ahead of most other kids because she had to be there early for band camp. We moved her in on Friday the thirteenth. :) All her stuff completely filled up the van. We laid the seats down and took out one of the chairs in the middle! But it all ended up fitting in her small dorm room. It was 115 degrees that day in Tempe. See--

Look how hot!

Here she is with most everything in including a fridge and microwave.

Almost there

Mostly there

She is standing in front of the fridge. She is happy, but we all shed some tears when we parted. It is hard, but I know that this is what parents are supposed to do- let their children go.

Regan goes to ASU

Regan is going to college on Thursday. Tonight when we got together with Steve's family, they gave her a little Sun Devil Survival Kit. Steve's sister got a little photo journal and put in some pictures of Regan and the family. she also gave each of us a piece of paper to write a note on. I have really tried to avoid thinking about the fact that Regan was going to be far away, but tonight it really got to me and I was just sobbing. I think that the next two weeks are going to be harder than I anticipated.

Phillip's car is red and on the white track.

We took Phil to our troop's Pine Wood Derby on Wednesday. He was so excited to race. There were a variety of car designs out there including one that had to do with the movie "How to Train Your Dragon." Steve had looked up tricks and helps on the internet to get your car to go faster. Unfortunately we did not apply these correctly to the car, for poor Phillip's car came in last every time down the track. He was surely disappointed, as was Steve. But we told him that Dad didn't win in his first Pine Wood Derby but that he did much better the next year. So we will try to do better next year.

"Doggy Blessings"

Whenever Steve finds dog poop in the house he often says, "Oh look, another doggy blessing!" Well, there is usually nothing remarkable about dog poop. Unless you have a dog who eats things other than his food. Milo eats his blanket. Milo also eats plastic flip-flops. They are a favorite of his. So the other day when Steve found another multi-colored poop in the house, he said: " Milo processes more plastic than a Mattel factory! He's a one-dog recycling factory!" Needless to say, all within earshot were bustin' a gut.

Recently, he has figured out how to move the baby gate out of the way so that he can get downstairs. He likes to chew up Meredith's ipod earphones, get into the trash, and poop downstairs. So today we found two big piles of poop downstairs. I guess we are going to have to rig up something better than the baby gate. The problem is, he can get under the gate when we install it how it is supposed to be installed on the rail. So we just lean the gate against the rail. Now he paws the gate until he can fit through the crack. Stupid dog!

The HISTORY Fair

So Sydney entered a History Fair as a project through her SEM. She took First Place at our school History Fair. She and two other kids projects went on to district History Fair. She just learned her results. You can receive either a Superior, Excellent, or Good. Three judges judged her project. She received a SUPERIOR! YAYAYAYAYA! She does not move on to state, but she is okay with that being that this was her first try at it. I really hope that she does this again next year. With as good as her scores were, and the feedback she got, I think she could continue to do really well. WAY TO GO SYDNEY!!!

ASU here I come!

Just a little update on Regan's college situation! Well, Regan was accepted into ASU's School of Music. The School of Music gave her a scholarship of $1500 per year. That is in addition to the $10,000 academic scholarship that she received. So we are signed up for an orientation, housing and meal plan. Regan also found out just this morning that she was accepted into the Berklee College of Music in Boston. I think that she had kind of given up on them because she had not heard anything back. But unless she gets a full ride scholarship, she
                                        can't go there--tooooo expensive.

NICE!

I am just so proud to tell everyone that Regan was voted Nicest Senior Girl by the students of her graduating class. I told her that that was a great thing to be voted. Hair and lips will fade, but being nice will last.

These Is My Words

 

We just read this book for the book club that I am in. I REALLY liked this book. I don't usually add fiction to my book collection because I don't usually read it again. This one is different. I intend to read this one again! I will try to purchase this book at some point because I liked it that much and I would like my girls to read it at some point. I guess there are a couple of books after this one, but I haven't read them yet. I'll update when I do.

Cake Wrecks

My brother introduced me to a hilarious blog. If you would like weekly entertainment, please go to this blog: www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com. You see what the title suggests. And boy are there some doosies. Have fun!

Hey Gebs cousins--Syd and Phil got to help knock out the wall in the closet of the computer room at Grammy and Grampy Gebs' house. I think they had a lot of fun. But they were warned that they cannot ever make holes in walls unless they have permission from their parents!!! You can see all the progress Grandpa has made in building the loft. We are all looking forward to the finished product!

Arizona State University

So we went to ASU this last weekend. We went for Regan to audition for their music program and be considered for music scholarships. Wouldn't you think that if you are in Tempe that it would be a nice little break from the Utah weather??? But Noooooo. We had to take the longer route because the storm that was coming through was going to put down 4 ft of new snow in Flagstaff. So that was a nice little 3 day trip with 13 hours of driving each way. It is a good thing that we enjoyed ourselves so much at ASU. It was cool, but not downright cold.

ANYWAY, Regan auditioned with a professor who is world renowned and travels on the weekends to other countries to play concerts. "Oh yeah, I'm just heading to Prague for the weekend... I'm just going to Brazil next weekend..." He was a great professor. He personally auditions the kids and then gives them feedback and makes recommendations. He was very personable. You know, that is a surprise sometimes for people who are famous to be so personable to us little people but he was wonderful. So Regan's audition went well, but they encouraged her to start out and get her undergraduate degree in Music Education and then if she wants she could go into music performance for her Masters degree. She is taking this into careful consideration. [We had already made that suggestion, it is just more powerful when it is someone like him-like not you parents :-)]

She also received a letter confirming that she has been awarded a scholarship. (academic) But they didn't tell her how much-they said it could be anywhere from $4,000-$15,000. They invited her down to a "Sun Devil Day" in February to find out what her scholarship would be. She asked if we thought we could go back for that. I looked at her like she was crazy. Another 11-13 hour trip just to find out the amount? They can just send us another letter!! Our trip was enjoyable despite the time in the car. I got to visit with several of my relatives and that was fun for me. We were just glad that I had downloaded 5 episodes of 60 minutes onto my itouch. That kept our minds busy for a good amount of time. (Thanks Aunt Laurie for letting us sleep at your house!)

To Facebook or Not To Facebook . . .

I have been thinking a lot lately about whether to get a Facebook account. I like the idea that I can get on and find out what my girls are up to or thinking. (Or what their friends are up to or thinking) I want to try to blog more, but I feel like I have to have a story. Facebook seems more like you just write little updates or post your thoughts-it seems different from blogging. So . . . what does anyone else think?

Haiti Earthquake aid

I am so impressed with how many different countries I have read about who are helping out in Haiti. I have read of Pakistani soldiers, Belgian search and rescue/first aid, Brazilians, French, Canadian, Australian, the UK, Spain, Israeli rescuers, German, Chinese, and Mexican. Bill Clinton himself worked to physically unload and deliver aid that he brought aboard his own plane. I know that there is a lot of criticism right now about getting aid there, but I believe that the world is trying and putting forth an effort. They are bringing much good to people who had so little in the first place and then lost everything.  I just want to applaud all of the people who are helping.