Miss Ella and the pink jeep

Around Christmas time Anja started asking her daddy to buy her a motorized pink Cadillac. It was a cool $350 bucks, he said no. She tried papa, he said no. She even tried grandma and she said no. So she waited and finally, this summer she got her wish-- thanks to aunt Kristin and a very generous cousin Nadia who was willing to pass on her favorite pink and purple Barbie jeep.

So when I go out to work in the yard, Anja and Ella (formally known as BeBe but has been renamed Ella for the past six months) follow me out, get strapped in and make the rounds. Anja feels so grown up and cool. Good thing she has a cool aunt!

Being the oldest child, there are plenty of baby pictures of me at my parents house so I have a pretty good idea of what I looked like as a child. This morning I put Anja's hair up in braids and when she turned and looked at me I had to do a double take-- I could have swore I was looking in a mirror 33 years ago. I had to look twice to see if Amy Robinson was standing behind her. I know there is some Coombs in her, but right now it's all Bywater, for good or bad.

Can you shop like this??

It was a wonderful grocery shopping week. I love double coupons!! I spent $55 and saved nearly $100. Who says grocery shopping isn't fun?

Summer Bowling!

During the summer months we try to get playgroup together to enjoy some much needed fun. Bowling is one of the traditions we've started. Playgroup started with just eight kids--Carter was the oldest (he was in kindergarten)--and has grown to a whopping 19 kids! Boy, do we know how to make babies or what? Really--we added a few babies but we also added a few new families. Hormones can't take all the blame.

These are the "original" play group kids. Most are too old now to "play" with us every week because they are in school now. So, it's a treat when most of "old" gang can get together for a bit of bowling fun.

Linzey Gill and Alex Ray were only 18 months when we started play group. Now they are the "big kids" with kindergarten under their belts.

Eden Twitchell was the youngest in play group-- she was a newborn! She and Anja have become great friends.

Update on meeting

Thank you to all who attended our neighborhood meetings. There was a lot of information. Here are a few points:
*7000 South will be the first part of the development built.
*Constructions to "punch through" 7000 South will start in 60-90 days.
*Construction vehicles will access the area through the neighborhood and U111.
*SLCo is the decision maker on this project, not WJC.
*County has the ability to make changes.
*UDOT is expected to purchase land for Mountain West Corridor that will go through the middle of this development.
*Building will begin regardless of UDOT plans because UDOT has not purchased the land, yet.
*First apartment phase is scheduled to open in 14 months.
*Children living in the development would attend Falcon Ridge Elementary school.
*Children would access school by crossing railroad on foot, no bridge, no crossing guard.

What can we do?:
*The developer said the county has not received any negative comments on the plan to connect 7000 South or concerns over children's safety on this road. We need to organize phone calls and emails to the right people to voice our concerns. Please check back in the next day or two and we will post the appropriate contact information. If you are willing to help us make phone calls, please email us at westjordanneighborhood@gmail.com

Annexation into WJC:
*Will not affect this development.
*Residents can petition the WJCC to pay for annexation if more than 50% sign a petition stating they want to annex into the city.
*Taxes would stay about the same (exact numbers aren't available until July 1)
*Utilities would stay the same with the exception of snow removal and garbage collection (addition of a green container)
*We would gain representation.
*We would loose county snow removal.

What we need to do...
*we need someone to make phone calls and help gather information from the city. If you are interested in helping, please email us. If you would like to help collect signatures from your neighborhood road, please email us at westjordanneighborhood@gmail.com

Wear your lipstick proudly

I read a lot. I read because words are powerful. I read books about women who are courageous, women who are strong, women that are real. This is a book you need to read. This is a book I hope I never can relate to. Breast cancer struck my aunt, in an ugly, horrible way. Because of when it hit, I am now at risk and so is my mom and my sister. Unfortunately, one out of every eight of my girlfriends will get breast cancer. It's a sad reality. This is a book you need to read so when one of those girlfriends gets sick you can be the one to help her inner cleavage show (read the book you'll get it). You need to read this book so you'll know why you need to be the one who is part of her boob mafia. You need to read this book so you'll know what to say, so you can be her girlfriend, her Amazon fighter, her advocate. You need to read this book so you'll know why to wear lipstick to her mastectomy. Words are power.

Swimming Lessons

The first official day of summer break found us in the Taylorsville pool. Unlike most years, it was a bit cold! The kids didn't seem to mind the weather and loved the pool. Swimming lessons are a bit of an insurance policy to me. My kids love the water and lessons give me the peace of mind that they can swim. Anja moved to the second level this year!

Carter and Nadia both have gills...

Neighborhood Meeting

If you haven't heard, there is a huge neighborhood meeting about 612 apartments being proposed in our backyards.. go to the blog to get the scoop. We're also annexing into WJC. If you live by me and had to pay the SLCounty police services tax--this means YOU are part of the annexation process!!!!
http://www.westjordanutah.blogspot.com/
Don't sit and let someone else decide what happens in our neighborhood, school and 7000 South. Get involved. Just show up to the meeting, that's a start.

The dance performance

I wish I could get the dance to download but the file is too large and without Rich here, I don't know how to shrink it. So that will have to wait. Until then, here are the pictures from that day..

Anja is on the end...
Waiting for the music start!

Stretching before the performance.

Fourth grade field trip

Anja and I decided to tag along with Carter for his final field tip of the year at This is the Place Monument. It's one of our favorite places to visit over the summer. This was a bitter sweet day for Carter. It was his second to last day at Monticello. Next year he'll be attending Falcon Ridge and although it's a good thing, it's still hard to say good bye. The best part of being with older kids is how little work it involves. I wasn't worried about one of them falling off a cliff or getting bit by a rattle snake. It was a relaxing day.

Touching livestock... as much as I'll ever do.

Carter and Anja on the train.

Carter, Canyon and Jaxson Fox

Pioneer dancing

First Grade Field Trip

Tyler Perry, Spencer Bigelow, Drew Williams, Connor Huges, Jensen Coombs, Holden Warner, Brandon Limb and Dean Smith.

The week before school got out I headed out to the copper pit with the first graders. I've lived in Utah my whole life and have never been there. It was fun to see the pit up close and hear the propaganda. More importantly, the boys had a blast! We will miss this group of boys over the summer. Jensen is lucky to have so many wonderful friends. There's not one of them that doesn't pull awesome grades. They are good for each other and I love having them in my home.

Only in Utah

This is the view of my backyard on May 27, 2010. We got 3 inches of snow that morning. Love Utah's crazy weather.