To Know You Are Loved

Have you ever felt like your food really, truly loves you? I can't recall a time when I've felt that way, except for today. I don't know if this was on purpose by the baker, but my cinnamon roll and I had a special moment when I could feel its love for me - before I ate it :)
Like I said, I don't know if it was baked that way, or if it just happened (it looks planned), but either way, it was yummy and I probably loved it more than it loved me anyway :)

Dear Rain:

Dear Rain,
Do you remember the last time you were here? I was able to go out and find what you'd left me, and my truck looked like this:

When I woke up this morning and heard and saw that you were here again, I was happy and sad. I was happy because I got to go outside and see just how bright and vibrant you made the colors of the leaves:





I was sad because now my truck was "clean" and I like having a dirty truck; it means I do something other than sit home on the couch all day...



However, I quickly remembered that rain+dirt=mud... so I got over my sadness. I took a drive and actually discovered snow on the ground. That, I'm not so fond of; if you can keep the snow in the mountains a little longer... I'd appreciate it.



I do very much also like the fact that it was a full moon tonight and the clouds parted for a time so I could bask in it's radiant glory! What a gorgeous night!!

(I know this one's fuzzy... I need a better night-time camera)

All-in-all, Rain, thank you for coming again. I was able to find some good puddles to drive through and now, Truck is happy again, and waiting for your next return.


Love, Klara

Red Ribbon Week: Day Five

Today was the last day of Red Ribbon Week, Crazy Hair Day. I had tried to faux-hawk my hair, or bi-hawk it (to look like Wolverine), but because of time I couldn't get it to work, so I had a "comb forward" and a "duck tail".

Apparently, the natural curl in my hair is to the right... pretty funny.

I also wore a crown that said "Say NO to drugs!"

Red Ribbon Week: Day Four

Here's the picture for today:

Sorry for the graininess of it, I took it with my webcam. Anyway, today was Sports Day - so we got to wear sports jerseys or outfits. It was a lot of fun to see how many kids play sports on the same teams. I wore my soccer jersey cuz it's the only one I own ;)

Red Ribbon Week: Day Three

Today was Wear Red Day. Since I don't have red clothes, a shirt was brought for me to wear. It is a Boston Red Sox shirt... this morning, I remembered I did have a pair of socks that were red, so I was wearing Red Sox and Red Socks :)

In conjunction with Red Ribbon Week, we had the Bank of American Fork's hot air pig balloon again. It is really fun for the kids to watch it go from deflated, laying on the ground, to all blown up and floating away.

Our school mascot gets to take a ride in the balloon.

Such a great day!
Just say NO to drugs!

Indexing Milestone

In the three months and one day (I started July 18th... today is October 19th) that I have been doing indexing, I have indexed 11,111 names. Don't believe me? Look at the picture! I would imagine that hitting a 'direct' number like this doesn't happen too often - batches are even numbered (20, 30, 50, etc), but there are times when I've only had one name to index in a batch - or other odd numbers.

For some reason, this number excited me and I had to share :) I've averaged about 118.2 names per day. Since I don't index every day, it's about 3703.67 names per month. I'm pretty proud of myself!!

Red Ribbon Week: Day Two

Pajama Day

I opted to not wear my full on pajama outfit today, but wore just the pants. I made these pants a few years back and they are so nice and warm :) The only disadvantage: No Pockets *Sigh

Red Ribbon Week: Day One

It's time again for Red Ribbon Week at the school. Today was Crazy Hat Day, and here's me with my craaazzzzyyy hat ;) Since I took the picture of myself by myself, you can't see all the snakes - it is a Medusa head piece that I wore as a hat.

Larisa was very kind and let me take a picture of her wearing the 'hat'. The kids thought it was great and they started calling me Miss O Medusa. I combined it so they could call me Miss MOdusa (emphasis on the 'o'). It was pretty funny.

While Larisa was wearing the snake hat, I donned another hat... in memory of Plants vs Zombies. I should have had somebody else take the picture while I posed better in true 'zombie style'... but it didn't occur to me. What can I say? Oh well :)

Erosion and the Weeping Rock

Please don't laugh at this story: I wrote it after I had been on a walk in the canyon on May 22, 2010. I don't typically share my writings, and I don't know why I feel to share this now... but who am I to deny a prompting?

Erosion and the Weeping Rock

One look and it captures your eyes. It’s all you can see. It’s majestic and powerful, yet simple and peaceful. You stand in awe looking up at it. Your brain cannot comprehend just how it is made. You reach out and touch it, and some of its power seeps into your body. You close your eyes and let your body continue to become one with it. Its story becomes clear to you:
God made the Earth. He placed the mountains, valleys, and streams. He knew this mountain, would, one day, become a symbol of your life; and that one day, this day, you would realize it and come to understand yourself just a little better.
The mountain is made of all different things, plant life, rocks, dirt, minerals, etc. Together, they make the mountain beautiful.
One day, Erosion came to the Rocks and said, “Why do you just sit here? Don’t you want to leave this life and find a new life, full of fun and excitement somewhere else?” The Rocks looked at Erosion and replied, “We like it here. It is safe. We don’t want to go anywhere else.” Erosion left.
The next day, Erosion came back and when the Rocks saw him, they turned their heads and did not listen. But Erosion was not there for the Rocks. “Dirt,” he started, “what is your purpose here? Don’t you know you could be greater somewhere else?” Dirt replied, “I stay because I like it here. It is safe. I don’t want to go anywhere else.” Erosion left.
For many days, Erosion came to the mountain and asked the different elements of it why they were there and they all said the same thing – that they liked it and they were safe and they didn't want to leave. After every visit, Erosion left without another word.
Erosion didn't come back for weeks. The mountain elements forgot about him. Soon, however, Erosion came back and he was more determined than before. Speaking to the mountain elements he said, “You have forgotten about me? I have been many places and I know that you would be happier somewhere else! This place is dull and boring. If you left, you would have many new and fun adventures! Won’t any of you come with me?” The elements looked at each other, “No, we like it here. We won’t come with you.” Erosion left.
The elements were wondering why Erosion kept trying to make them leave. They knew that together, they made something beautiful and strong. They felt that Erosion was trying to be tricky about something. They made a pact with each other that they would stay together, no matter how hard Erosion tried to get them apart.
Erosion didn’t come back for months this time. He thought that the elements had again forgotten about him. He was right. But since he had been out in the world again, he had some new tricks up his sleeves. He sneaked to the Minerals and told them that he had overheard Dirt saying that it was better than the Minerals and Plant Life, because it was the one holding the whole mountain together. He quoted Dirt as having said “Without me, none of the other elements would have a way to stay where they are! They would all fall off the mountain.” After Erosion felt he had stirred up the Minerals, he left to find Plant Life.
Erosion told Plant Life that he’d overheard the Rocks saying, “Why is Plant Life here? All they do is grow wherever they want! They crack us and grow right up between us!” Plant Life, at first, didn’t believe Erosion. But he continued telling them things and soon they didn’t know what to believe.
Erosion laughed to himself as he left the mountain. He had caused quite a stir among some of the elements. He decided, this time, to stick around and see what happened.
It didn’t take long before the elements were fighting with one another. It seemed Erosion's lies had worked. He smiled to himself. He showed himself to the elements again. “So! I’m still looking for anyone who wants to join me on many new and fun adventures. Has anyone changed their minds?” To the surprise of many, there were some elements that left – in part. Not all the Plant Life thought what the Rocks said was true, and some of the Minerals had talked with Dirt to find out that it was a lie, but there were some that still didn’t believe it. Erosion got his way, and the mountain changed.
This happened day after day, month after month, and year after year. Erosion would come and stir things up, then the elements that couldn’t figure out he was lying would leave and the mountain would change.
Luckily, some things were able to re-grow on the mountain. Life flourished. But no matter how much new growth there was, Erosion was right around the corner to take parts of the mountain away.
Many centuries later, Erosion had taken away so much of the mountain that there were ‘holes’ on its face and you could see into it. Some of the holes would be covered up by Plant Life, or Rocks would move to conceal the spaces. Eventually, only the strongest of the elements remained on the mountain. They knew the truth about Erosion, and they would not be swayed by his lies and deceit.
Erosion, with the help of Wind, Snow, and Rain (whom he also tricked) has been successful in the destruction of many mountains. This mountain, the one you are standing by, is a strong mountain. You feel its power. You open your eyes and see the Rocks crying. Their tears flow down the face of the mountain and drip into puddles at your feet. You look to the top of the mountain and see Plant Life barely hanging on by their roots. You hear Dirt and Minerals losing hold and falling down the mountainside.
In that moment, you realize that the mountain is a symbol of your life. You are made up of many different parts, and many times those parts fell to Erosion and you changed. There are other parts of you that have held strong, even when there was nothing to hold onto. You start to cry as the Rocks are, tears flowing down your face and into puddles at your feet. You drop your head and pray to God that you will, like this mountain, stay strong and not fall to the lies and deceit of Erosion. You feel new growth inside you and you have changed.

Day Three - Fall Break

Technically the last day of Fall Break...

I woke up earlier today than I have the last two days. I watched TV and did indexing while I was waiting for Becky to get off work so we could play again. Sometime while I was waiting, I got a headache. By the time Becky was off work, I felt sick and opted to stay home.
A few hours later, I think I had a migraine... I turned off the TV, cuz the noise was bothering my head, and tried to lay in bed. I could not get comfortable, so I got up and sat in the shower with the water on (I don't have a tub). My head started feeling better, so I went to the store and bought a few things, now I'm home again getting ready for bed.
"Boring" day today, but what can ya do?

Day Two - Fall Break

After some strange dreams (yes, multiple dreams) last night, I got up this morning and was able to spend the day with my friend Jamie. We ran errands that needed to be done, and one of them was to get pumpkins for a Primary Activity (for her ward) next weekend... nearly 60 pumpkins! We went to the store, and got lots of strange looks, but we walked out with what we needed :) We took the pumpkins to her house and set them up to await their fates in a week...

We finished the errands, then ate yummy egg tacos (breakfast burritos minus meat and potatoes). Then we played a card game called Quiddler. It was a lot of fun! It's a good spelling game...

After the game, we jumped in the car and drove to the movie theater. We went to see 'Salt' - I'd never heard of it, but we watched a preview and it looked interesting so we went to see it. We got there a few minutes after it started and to our dismay, we were "front row Joe's"... the theater was PACKED! This is the fourth movie where I've seen it from the front row. So far, it's the only movie that has not made me sick sitting in the front row - but I still don't like the front row at all!

It was a very interesting movie. I'm still not sure how I feel about it... I'll have to watch it again with the proper distance from the screen to see if I can follow it better and catch what I missed the first time. (For your useless knowledge information, the other three movies I've seen "front row Joe" are: The Matrix, The Mask of Zorro, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End).

A very successful day two of Fall Break, I think :) Can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store.

Day One - Fall Break

Great fun today! I got together with Becky and her family. We met at a bowling alley, and we were each a different ice cream flavor... Chocolate Chip, Cookie Dough, Strawberry Cheesecake, Neapolitan, Karamel Sutra, and Phishphood (which kept looking to me like 'priesthood' - it was funny)

At the end of the first game, Phishphood won!!
(That's not me)

Chocolate Chip!

Cookie Dough

Strawberry Cheesecake

Karamel Sutra

Phishphood
I didn't get my picture taken... not sure why, but oh well.
At the end of the second game, I was again defeated by Phishphood...

After lunch, we took a drive up 056. Such a pretty evening! The colors are really popping.

Sun thru the trees

Of course, the best part of going up the canyon is finding the mud puddles!! :D

This is the cleanest part of my truck...

Yep, mud on the inside of my door... that's what you get with open windows. Hahaha!!

I don't think I've ever taken a picture of the top of my truck

Seeing this made my night... mud splatter in the bed :)

We ended the night by playing Frisbee, in the dark... because our Frisbee was lit up!
It was a lot of fun, however challenging to aim just right.

I don't know what tomorrow has in store, but I'll be sure to take pictures, or post about what I do... just because it's fun :)

Miss Cami Larsen

We have a new principal at Alpine Elementary: Cami Larsen.

It has been an adjustment for everyone (Miss Larsen, teachers, faculty, staff, kids, parents), but we love having her here and she loves being here!
She is getting to know the kids by name - that's a big task - and is doing a great job!! In a candid moment, I caught her playing on the swings... the kids thought it was awesome :) She is often found outside during recess, meeting the kids and playing with them - jump rope, football (even tho she claims she's not good at it), swinging, even Frisbee (if I remember correctly?).
She always takes time to talk with people and loves meeting parents, and hearing new ideas for things. There is so much more I could write, but I don't want to embarrass her any more than I already have ;)
This week was Principal's Week, so the PTA got the kids to write notes to her on hearts - then 'heart attacked' her office! What a fun activity it was!!

Miss Larsen, We love you and are so glad you came to Alpine!!!

Free Photography Sitting

Hey!
You or anyone you know interested in winning a free photo sitting??
Here's how you enter:
Submit a funny photo of yourself, your kids, or your family - make sure to add a caption, by midnight tonight to jao.photography08@gmail.com Voting will take place this week on Facebook!

Pass word around quick!

So Bugged

I am seriously so bugged by this... and this is not the first time it has happened!! At the end of August, I went to the store and bought two new pair of shoes. Within two weeks, the inside of the heel of one of the pairs had fallen thru. I should have caught the hint and took them back. I didn't. Today, I wore those shoes with the fallen heel, and soon discovered (thanks to all the water outside from the rain) that my feet were getting wet. I looked at the bottoms of my shoes and to my dismay saw this:

Two very large, extensive cracks. I am beside myself. I don't know what the deal is, but every new pair of shoes I buy is 'broken' in one way or another within two weeks!! I blame it on my weight, others blame it on the shoes "they just don't make shoes like they used to!" I am getting sick of having to buy new shoes all the time! I don't have money for it. Not one pair of my shoes is in perfect working order. I don't know what to do.
I'd love to go barefoot, or wear flip flops, but with winter approaching, that is not something I can do safely. *Ugh.