Other July Happenings

We began our Anniversary celebrations by going to a Styx concert on July 20th. They came to a little outdoor theater here in Layton. We had no idea that we were allowed to bring our own chairs, so we were one of the few sitting on a blanket. We purposely sat right behind the aisle to help with this problem, but it was difficult to see at times. But it was a great concert! They still sound really good and still rocked out and got really into the music. I was impressed because they are getting up there in age! They didn't sing Mr. Roboto, but they did sing Sail Away and some other goodies. There were also a few songs that I didn't know. One of the guitarists was actually a local guy but the others were all part of Styx. We had a great time!

The 24th of July was pretty chill. My family wasn't getting together and Nate's parents were gone so his family wasn't getting together, so we decided to go to Boondocks as a family and play some arcade games. Logan really loves doing those games and he's getting pretty good at a lot of them. He goes with his dad sometimes too when they do their every other month one-on-ones. But mostly we just had Kylie pretend because she didn't know she wasn't really playing. For dinner we did a little BBQ on our George Foreman because we don't have a real BBQ.

That weekend Lindy, Nate's cousin's daughter, Facebook messaged me and said there was a job opening to work as a part time 2nd grade teacher with her. She doesn't want to work full time since she has little kids. It came as a surprise because I was planning on just doing my usual substituting once or twice a week. She said I would work mornings, she would work afternoons, and we would switch off on Fridays. I said I would think it over. I talked to Nate about it and that first day we were both leaning towards not taking the job. I just felt extremely nervous thinking about being a first year teacher and I wasn't sure I wanted to be away from my kids that much. But we prayed about it that night together. Nate went to work the next day while we both mulled over it separately and I asked my family for their opinions and when we came together again, we both said we felt like it would be the right thing to apply for the job. We were struggling a little with our finances. We can always pay our bills, but we weren't able to save anything. I have to admit that it was weird to get a confirmation that it was the right thing to be away from my kids more. I had grown up thinking that being a stay-at-home mom was best. But it is only part time. I was still really nervous about it. It would be easier to just keep doing what I was used to doing, but the right thing isn't usually the easier thing. We asked Nate's mom if she would be willing to watch the kids and she said she could. They work at the temple on Wednesdays though so we decided Nate would have to work 9 hour days and take a half day on Wednesday to be with the kids in the morning. So I contacted the principal and applied. Less than a week later, I got a call to come in for an interview. I was very nervous about the interview because I hadn't interviewed for a job since Infocision, which was about 5 years before. After the interview I didn't feel like I had done a great job but about a week later, the principal called and said I got the job! Kind of nerve racking since I didn't have a lot of time to plan or set up the classroom and I have never been there on the first few days of school. I was searching Pinterest like crazy for ideas!

For our more official Anniversary date, my parents watched the kids here at our house. They also watched Caden while the Hancocks went to Lagoon. So that worked out nicely for them since we live so close to Lagoon. We went to The Leonardo in SLC. It's a sciency museum and was really quite fun. When the kids get a little older and can appreciate it more, then I think we will take them. After that, we walked around Salt Lake a bit then walked to an Italian restaurant called Canellas for dinner. It was yummy. Then we went home. It was nice to have a day out.

This is a bad picture because we were in a room where all the walls were mirrors.