A new beginning

For the last 5 years (time flies!), we have been attending Jordan Ridge Elementary. We really loved that school and had a great experience there. However, I felt it was time we returned to our neighborhood school. For my kids, I felt strongly that they needed to be among their ward/neighborhood friends. Not that my kids can't have friends outside of neighborhood and school boundaries, I just feel that once Jr.High and High School roll around, I want them to have good friendships that are easy for me to watch and be a part of. Not that education isn't important, I just feel strongly that friends can have a great impact on educational successes. As a parent we all try hard to make the best decision, but we never really know which way that choice will go. I hope the thought and prayer we've put into this move will serve my children well.

With that being said, there were a few extra butterflies on this first day of school. It's never easy being the "new kid" and Andrew and Sarah really had brave faces and positive attitudes today. I am proud of them for handling this change so well and I hope it continues to be a positive experience for them. I am thankful that there are some neighborhood children in their classes and I hope they will accept them into their circle of established school friends. After kindergarten testing, Jenna will have her "first day of school" next week (waahhhh...my baby!!!) There were so many things I loved about our previous school, but we are looking forward to becoming part this school's community.

By the way...pack an overnight bag

I knew Chad had made dinner reservations and arrangements for the kids to stay at my mom's on Friday night. I was looking forward to a quiet night at a clean home (it doesn't stay clean for more than 10 min at a time) after dinner and a movie. However, Chad had made different plans. As we were discussing the plans to get the kids to my mom's house, he casually said, "You might want to pack an overnight bag." Well okay! I was totally surprised and couldn't wait to hear about what he had planned.

We had dinner reservations at Tiburon in Sandy. It was delicious. I had the lamb and Chad had the roasted chicken. We will definitely go back sometime. Next we headed to the Grand America dowtown. Have you ever stayed here? This was my first time and wow, it is amazing. Our room was just beautiful. It had a sitting area, huge bathroom and a gorgeous view of the east side of Salt Lake. After check-in we headed to the Gateway for to see the movie, "Salt." After the movie, we enjoyed an evening walk throught some of the gardens at the hotel. When we returned to our room, we found our bed turned down with a robe, chocolates and music softly playing. In the morning, we had breakfast on the patio next to the beautiful grounds.  As if this wasn't enough, Chad made spa appointments for us at Sego Lily Spa. We both had 90 min treatments. What an indulgence! This was such a relaxing fun weekend with Chad. I can't thank him enough for going out of his way to surprise and pamper me.

16 years

You think we look a little young when we got married? Yea, I'm pretty sure they checked my birth certificate at the temple. Sheesh, I look like I'm 14! It is so fun to look at these photos and remember how we felt when we were dating and when we first got married. It was wonderful. But, you know what? I wouldn't trade it  for what we have now. Last week Chad sent me this email:

I was just looking at our blog. Sometimes I need to pinch myself that you chose me. I am proud to be best friends with you and can’t believe it has been 16 years. I feel like we have always been together and couldn’t picture myself with anyone else. We have beautiful children. I feel privileged that I get to be their father. Just wanted you to know that.

Love you! Have a great day!

And to think he wonders why I chose him...I can't believe he chose me. 

Don't you just love the old school posing on the photos and wow! what great '90's attire!

Time well spent...

Megan and Cameron asked to take Josh and Andrew camping with them. They don't have kids of their own yet so this is either good practice or good birth control. Well, actually, for the later, I need to give them one of my younger kids. I digress. After picking up some much needed supplies (Pop Tarts), they headed for the hills of Timpanogos and the waters of Cascade Springs. Megan and Cameron didn't take it easy on the boys...they backpacked in for about a mile. As you can see, they found a beautiful spot to set up camp. This was Andrew's first official camp-out and I know he a great time. Thank you Megan and Cameron!

Celebrating the Otterstrom in us

My mom had a strong feeling that she should pull together the "Otterstroms" for an impromptu reunion with her sisters and some of the cousins. In attendance were: my cousins Rick and Ron Otterstrom (My Uncle Tom died young of melanoma) along with their spouses and children, Marylin and Gary with Jen, Becky and Kenny, Aunt Sue, Pat Thiriot (G'ma Ruth's sister) and Carly Thiriot (mom's cousin).  We missed seeing Tom and his family as well as all the Williams cousins. It was wonderful to see them and see how their families have grown. I am so glad that my mom thought it important enough to bring many of us together to remember our Otterstrom roots.

Lost and Found

   Occasionally, our cat, Jewel, likes to go outside. I wish she would just stay inside, but it's hard to deny her of her natural instincts to explore the outdoors. She's wandered off a bit, but has always quickly returned...until last Sunday.
   By the time church started at 1:00 the kids were worried. Unprovoked, Sarah took the initiative to have it announced in primary. I really thought she'd be on our doorstep when we got home. When she wasn't, I was a little worried. We printed up a little flyer with her photo to take with us on our Sunday walk. As we approached the first person we saw, Sarah began telling her about our cat. She could barely get a few words out before she was overcome with tears. That night, we put food and water on the front and back porch just in case she came back in the middle of the night.
   When we woke up in the morning and there was still no Jewel, I knew something had happened. Either she was "gone" or someone had taken her in. It broke my heart when I found Sarah wrapped in her blanket on the front porch calling for Jewel (I snapped the picture from the window). I felt our best hope of getting her back was to take quick action. I posted an ad on KSL and we then printed up some signs and made small flyers. We posted the signs at each entrance of our neighborhood and few beyond. We then taped the flyers on the doors of our neighborhood. By the time we had gotten home, someone had called. They had Jewel! The morning before a family had found her meowing on the back porch and they let her in. The gal that found her said they weren't "cat people," but they thought Jewel was the sweetest cat...even her husband was smitten with her.She said they were going to walk the neighborhood to see if they could find her owners, but who knows if they would have found their way to us. I'm so glad we put out the flyers so we could have her home sooner than later.
   As soon as we got her home, we went straight out and bought her a tag with her name and phone number on it. Lesson learned. Later, we made cookies to take to the family who took such good care of her until we could get her back. We are so thankful to have her home and we are all keeping a closer eye on her...with a few extra loves of course!

It's always fun when...

...friends come to town! What a special treat to have Karen and Diane in town at the same time. We meet at Chili's for dinner where when enjoyed chips and salsa (of course!) and lots of laughing. After dinner, we did some quick shopping. By the time we were done shopping, we were ready for dessert, so where did we go for dessert?? Chili's, of course. It was great seeing our earlier waitress do a double take as we returned for molten lava cake! Even though it was quick, it was wonderful to have a night to reminisce and reconnect.

Been practicing...

Last Christmas, Chad got me a camera. He bought Heather's old Nikon D70. I've been having a lot of fun learning how to use it. However, the more I use it, it's clear there is a lot more I need to learn! There are a few things I've learned so far; good color is hard to get and group shots are much harder than individuals. I have also found (by way of Heather's much needed and wanted constructive criticism) that I tend to shoot really light. Clearly, I need to work on getting a better understanding of my settings. Heather will start spouting off some photog speak and much of it still sounds like a foreign language to me. I have had fun practicing on anyone that will let me. I've about used all the patience and smiles from my own kids and am now resorting to friends! Anyway, here are some fun shots I've gotten over the last two months. This has been a fun, new challenge and I'm looking forward to learning much more.

Happy 3rd(?!) of July

With the 4th falling on a Sunday this year, the celebrations for the fourth were scattered all throughout the weekend...what fun...a three day celebration! We enjoyed most of festitivites on the the 3rd. We headed up to Kaysville for the chuck wagon breakfast and parade. The breakfast is always a great place to see a few old friends. The jets doing a fly-by, the veterans and the firetrucks are always my favorite part of the parade. After the parade, we headed to Dan and JaNel's for swimming and BBQ. That evening, we headed to Sandy for the celebrations there. They have a great event with a parade, live music and booths. Sarah had a great time being front and center dancing in front of the stage. She got to meet the cute, up and coming country singer, Paisley. Sunday included a 3hr walk through neighborhood and we even saw a few fireworks at the end of that long walk (don't you just love summer when all the neighbors come out?) and on Monday, we enjoyed swimming in Provo with Chad's parents. What a fun weekend!

Something that needs to happen far more often that it does: getting all the neighbors out!! Thank you to the Means and Goodners for organizing this. It was so great to see so many of us out there. All were welcome...many came...maybe even more will come next year. Yay, for neighbors!