Aaaand now summer is almost over

How can it be? Last summer felt long to me -- maybe it was the transition from the brief Utah year-round-school summers to the steeped-in-agricultural-tradition long summers of Minnesota. Maybe it was because the kids hadn't made as many friends last year as this, so I felt more pressure to entertain everyone. Maybe it was because we backloaded a lot of our traveling to August. But this summer? Zipped right by. I feel a little panicky about it, actually. Not ready for school to start (for me or for the kids) or for seminary, either. But it's all good. And I love fall.

So, in the spirit of being panicky and behind regarding teaching at IHCC and getting my home study seminary stuff up and running and getting the kids' school shopping done, etc. etc., this post will focus on only two things.

Thing #1: My Trip To Utah, By My Lonesome

It was wonderful in every way. The solitary plane ride. The hanging out at my Mom and Dad's clean, quiet house and spending time with just the two of them. The wonderful night at Sundance with Tony and Cindy and Denny and Mom and Dad. Once again, we sat up on the hill:

The Segullah retreat was fabulous, as always. I love those women so much and I'm so lucky to have them in my life. And this year we got to stay at Senator Bob Bennett's house (his daughter is a Segullah-ite and an altogether intelligent, hilarious, big-hearted, sharp-witted person). In fact, the Senator took this picture of all of us in his back yard:

A few of my favorite Segullah sisters are missing from this picture (Kelly! Michelle! Melissa M! Melissa DB! Sharlee! Jennie! Shelah! I could go on . . . ) but still, it was great to have so many excellent friends all in one place.

I also enjoyed hosting my very last Irreantum contest committee meeting. I think I've been in charge of the contest since 2006. Six years! Hard to believe. I've read a lot of great literature, and even more not-so-great literature, but overall it's been a privilege. And hanging with the contest committee folks always makes for an excellent evening. I'll miss it.

It was a wonderful, restorative weekend all around.

Thing #2: Back To the Working World

So far this week has been a bit of a whirlwind of faculty meetings. Monday about did me in, sitting in the same airless room hour after hour, watching Powerpoint presentations on sick leave policies and learning at least half a dozen acronyms: SAAP, ARP, SAP (yes, there are two SAPs, it's just one has two As), and already getting sucked back into whispered faculty gossip about things like who got which office and why it's unfair. Oh, the drama! (Actually, it really was unfair, but didn't impact me personally. I just got to commiserate, which is always the best role.). Unfortunately, I lost one of my classes -- the online one -- due to low enrollment in the online sections overall. My section was full, but a full-time person's was not, so I had to give one up. The nature of adjuncting: it's extremely unpredictable.

The good news is that here in Minnesota, adjuncts get treated very well. It was news to me until yesterday, but turns out that if you teach a certain number of credits (over 5, which basically means two classes) then you're treated just like a full-time faculty member, salary and benefit-wise, just on an adjusted scale based on your courseload. So I get placed on a salary scale just like a full-time person, and if I teach a 60% class load, I get 60% of a full-time salary. And I get retirement, sick leave, all that too (adjusted, of course). Blew my mind! This is probably one reason why it was so hard to get an adjunct job in MN at first: they're actual JOB jobs committed to hiring and retaining good teachers instead of the ridiculous minimum-wage, we-just-want-a-warm-body-in-the room deals that you find in Utah. Hopefully it'll stay that way here in MN, but if Wisconsin is any indication, it will depend on who wins our 2012 elections. And that is all I'll say about that. :-)

Anyway, I *think* my other two sections are safe (you never know until pretty much the day before school starts, truly, which is always the hard thing about teaching part-time no matter which state you're in). After sitting through all these mind-numbing faculty meetings, I'd BETTER get my two sections.

And that is it for now. More updates on the kids next blog post. Big 16th birthday on the horizon! And new schools for Wyatt, Jonas, and Elise! So much change. I'll keep you posted.

Summer Fun Part Three Part Two: More Utah Trip!

It's a bit strange blogging about our family Utah trip since I just got back from my second trip to Utah this summer (all by my little ol' self, but more about that in another post). But, yet again, I'm not quite as current as I'd hoped to be keeping up this blog and need to deal with the backlog before I can deal with the frontlog.

Not that our Utah trip has been relegated to backlog status. No, no. It was a wonderful trip, one I'm still happily remembering. Besides, I have some great photos to share!

First, there were a few more pictures of my birthday party that I forgot Andrea had sent along. (Thanks for taking them, my friend!) I'm glad to have them since Forrest's family, Calvin J., and my Grandma and Grandpa Hiatt are featured:

Grandma and Grandpa Hiatt (I must say -- my kids are so lucky to have such healthy, fun great-grandparents), and T-Bone and Eli.

Mindy, Enzo, Barbara and Chelle. Oh, and my dad too, of course. 

Look how nice my mom was! Putting up decorations even though a horde of family was set to descend on her house that very day.

Cute Jane and Forrest's "eat-these-instead-of-the-cheesecake-kids" cupcakes.

Calvin J! And his grandma, of course.

And now, picking up where we left off last post, the whole fam damily headed up to Bear Lake to stay in condos and have a little fun in the sun. Although ironically (in the Alanis Morrissette "it's like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife" sense of the word), during one of Utah's hottest, driest summers in years, we managed to have our fun in the sun during one  of the only rainy weekends of 2012. At least so far. But we DID get enough sunshine for boating, playing in the sand, tennis, volleyball, and jumping off water trampolines. We just had the extra good fortune of watching a few movies and playing some games of Ticket to Ride while we dried off as well.

Without further ado, the pictures!

Hangin' at the playground

Cute nephews digging in the sand

Another cute nephew, dug into the sand. And also my son is drowning him in Coke.

Cute nieces feeding seagulls.

Grandma and Grandpa on the Jet Skis

Andrea, kicking back, looking lovely.

Big Kids

Medium Kids

Little Kids (looking big, hauling that cooler)

And speaking of looking big, Grandma and Grandpa rented a boat, but when Forrest went with Grandpa to check it out, he (and the boat people) talked Grandpa into an upgrade. Apparently this boat is 10 times as awesome as our boat (if the purchase price the boat people told us is correct, and if it IS correct, I truly don't understand how or why anyone would ever spend that much on a boat, but there you go). At any rate, it was a great big powerful boat, and it was a ton of fun to fit 18 people inside it. Legally!

Forrest tried hard not to lust after this piece of machinery, but I could see it in his eyes.

Jack, Macy and Wyatt, tubing it up

Lolo and Leesee

Amy, Dave & Kids

Jonas, Brandon and Reagan. Jonas was a little cold.

Ethan, giving wake surfing a try.

Even though we had fun on the boat, I think the water trampoline was the kids' favorite thing. Big thanks, btw, to my zoom lens for these shots:

That's Brandon, upsidedown

And Jane, taking a flying leap

And then Ethan dragging Brandon off the trampoline. I also heard he delivered a karate kick to Brandon's chest that sent him flying. Hey Ethan: you've grown like 6 inches in the last year. Be careful, dude.

We also enjoyed a few outdoor activities. A little volleyball:

And a little tennis. (Sorry so blurry -- my camera didn't like the action shots at night.)

And when the day turned from this:

The view from our room

to this:

The view from the pier

We all dashed inside and did this:

I love it when Ethan notices I'm taking a picture. 

On Sunday, a professional photographer came and took our pictures. We haven't gotten the photos back from her (although I can't wait to see them), but here are a few we took while we were waiting. Small disclaimer: the place we're standing isn't the best. Too much mud in the background. The official photos were taken in a better spot. But I was glad to have a few photos snapped without our own camera.

We had so much fun at Bear Lake -- just the perfect place for a big family like ours to gather and reconnect. And even though there were a few rain showers and the great and terrible stomach bug of July 2012 decided to follow us north, we still had such a fabulous time. Thanks so much, Mom and Dad, for creating so many great memories for our family. We love you!