School programs

Sharing some videos from the boys' school Christmas programs...  (about 13 minutes total to watch all) we just got the parts they are in, not the whole program. )

Andrew's class did speaking parts about the miraculous birth of Jesus. 

Dave was in the Band concert.  He's a little hard to see behind his music stand, but is just to the left of the band director's left arm.

10 days 'til Christmas!!

I can't believe it's December 15th already.  The kids only have three more days of school left until they get a 2 week break. The weather has been fluctuating here lately from the 50's down into the 30's. We got some snow starting last night and I guess it's supposed to accumulate quite a bit in the next couple days. I finally got packages sent out to our families this past week, and so pretty much all that's left for shopping is to finish up the kids.  I did some baking today and both boys have had a chance to pick out gifts for each other and for Jake, so Jake's turn is coming soon to take them out to shop for mom!  Jake and I have gotten to that old age when we would rather just pick out what we want, to heck with being surprised!, so I think we might go out shopping for some clothes tomorrow afternoon.
   Gifts from Grandma arrived yesterday, and are under the tree, so I'm trying to keep the boys from snooping too much before Christmas :)  Jake was given booze as a gift from his school board president!  Guess he realizes how stressful his job can be!
  Andrew had his school program last Wednesday and Dave has a Christmas concert Tuesday for band.
We'll try to share some video later on...

Here's a couple pics of our holiday season thus far...

Our Tree

Jake and the boys at Christmas Village

  Andrew being silly at the Christmas Village

 Dave is cheesin!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, yesterday was December 1st, so the Christmas season is in full swing.  I have been looking for gifts when I'm out and about and yesterday we got the tree and some decorations up. 

Here's Gert looking super cute in her Christmas bow!

Me & Jake

Got the idea off Pinterest for a cute picture by wrapping the kids up in lights... Didn't quite get the effect I was going for, but it's still kinda funny.

More pics to come soon.....

October ~ November

Wow, things have been busy and I didn't realize I hadn't posted anything in 2 months!  

In October, I was able to take a few days off work and go with Jake and the boys to Breckinridge, CO for a Lutheran educator's conference.  The boys and I spent a lot of time hanging out by the (indoor) pool while Jake was at meetings.  We also did some browsing around in shops and got to go out to eat several times.  It was a beautiful drive, with lots of variety in the landscape.  

Here are some pics on the way there and back...

Following the time away, we were busy with work and school.  The boys had a good trip to a new dentist-- no cavities.  

We had our first snow in October.  Melted away pretty quick and got warm again, though.  Here's a picture of the snow out in front of the school early in the morning.

We had a pretty good Halloween. Dave was Bart Simpson, and Andrew was a Zombie.  I turned 33 at the end of October, as well.

In November, Andrew got to go to a classmates' party at a place called Airborne, which has all kinds of trampolines and ball pits to jump in.  Work has stayed pretty busy for me, as well as Jake with lots of things going on at school in the Fall.  Jake turned 36 this month and we celebrated with dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  He also got to fly back to Ohio for a few days to play trumpet at a friend's wedding and met with a realtor about trying to get our house sold.  Dave had a fun school project creating a board game with a group of boys in his 6th grade class.  Both boys also participated in the Social Studies Fair at school on the 15th.  Each student in the school chose a historical figure to represent and made a poster and dressed the part.  

Today, we celebrated Thanksgiving at home.  Jake was in charge of the turkey and I made the sides. The turkey ended up taking a little longer than planned to cook, so we ended up eating a "vegetarian" meal, and had turkey about an hour later!  Lots of leftovers to work on this week!  I missed my Aunt Debbie's homemade crescent rolls. We played Dave's board game after the meal.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

from us

Birthdays and Saturdays

Last Saturday, Andrew celebrated his 9th birthday at a place called Classic Fun Center.  A couple friends from school joined us for the afternoon party, with skating, scooters, arcade games, and fun.  It was a pretty good time.

Andrew "scootering" around the track

Andrew and friends

The rest of the week was busy with school and work.  I was helping to cover for a couple nurses on vacation, so I kept extra busy, which should make for a nice paycheck.  Friday night, Jake and I even snuck out for a quick dinner date.  

Saturday, after some much-needed cleaning around the house, we grabbed our water bottles and headed for the hills!  We explored the Alta area, which we had not been to yet.  Very pretty- as you can see some of the leaves are starting to turn.  

A great view, windows down and Dave Matthews Band on the radio...what could be better?

(Well, maybe less arguing from the back seat.)

We covered about a mile of a trail, then stopped to play in the creek for a while.

Good practice for Dave, who is going to spend four days away at Camp Perkins with his class in a couple weeks! 

Fall is my favorite time of year, so I am loving this weather lately!  

:)

Back to school

Well, it's been a busy last couple of weeks I guess.  School started on August 22nd.  The boys have done fairly well getting ready in the mornings, with a couple exceptions when we were running a bit behind.  Andrew is well-known for his stalling tactics.  (He also uses these for homework and bedtime).

Here they are heading out the first day of school...

They were pretty anxious about the first day, but I think things went better than they expected.  Luckily, it was only a half day, which allowed it to be less overwhelming and they pretty much just got their supplies put away and learned the class rules.  They seemed pretty happy when I picked them up and had no homework on day 1!

P.S.-- I can't believe I have a 6th grader!!!!

(I just uploaded this pic by accident, but isn't it a gorgeous picture?!?!  Pretty sure this is the view from the school parking lot, facing west towards the mountains.)

Moving on, 

We went to The Living Planet Aquarium, just down the street from us last weekend for a Saturday afternoon activity.  Here are a few pics...

Jellyfish are so cool

 shark in the touch tank

 the penguins were so cute!

Pirannahs!!!

So, today is Labor Day.  We didn't do much earlier this weekend. We have been dealing with some "tummy troubles" around the house this past week.  (I will spare you the details on that) ! 

Andrew's birthday is tomorrow.  He will be 9! Since his birthday falls on a school day, we decided to let him do some gifts today.  Dave chose a DS game for him that he has been wanting, and Jake and I decided to let him pick out 2 hermit crabs at PetSmart, since he's been really wanting to get some as pets.

Here are some early pics...

Lego Batman DS game

reading Dave's card

Opening the box with a "How to care for Hermit crabs" sheet. He knew what this meant!

This is Jack the crab.  Joe is hiding behind him in the grayish shell.  Jack is really a climber and already changed shells within 30 minutes of being in his new home!  

This is their crab habitat.  I'll try to add some better pictures soon.  :)

So, we have quickly gone from one cat to 4 pets now!  I think we are running an indoor zoo!  Dave says he wants a hamster.  Luckily, his birthday is quite a while from now!  

Check back soon!

The Rogers' Zoo

Getting into a new routine...

Well, I've been orienting to my new job for a week now.  I'm going to be working as a field nurse for a home health agency in Murray, UT.  Everyone I have worked with so far has been really nice.  I think I am going to enjoy it.  Jake is busy in the school office getting ready for next week, and having teacher meetings, working on things like class schedules and budgets-- fun stuff like that.  The boys are (reluctantly) adjusting to a routine, going to be at a reasonable hour and getting up in the morning and leaving.  They are spending time at Kid's Place (at the school) while Jake and I are working.  The good thing about my job is I will not have to work weekends, except for occasionally taking call.
   
Gertie and Eddy have had no close encounters and so all is well in the animal kingdom.

School starts next Wed, the 22nd.  I don't have to work the 20 or 21st, so I'm hoping to come up with something fun to do with the kids.

I have a few new pics to share.  Last Saturday evening, we went to see the "balloon glow" in Sandy.  There were several hot air balloons stationed near city hall and they were lit up at dusk. I guess they had flown them early that morning, as well, but we weren't able to see that.  They had a live band playing some folk music as well.

Hot Air Balloons

Settling in...

Since most of our unpacking is done, here are a few pics of our place.  We are currently renting a townhouse, waiting for our house to sell in Ohio.

living room

dining area

finished basement- boys game room

boys' room

boys' bathroom

small deck off dining room