Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Catching Up

Well, it's been a long time since I've made the time to sit down and catch up. Is it really November already? I can't believe how fast the past couple of months has gone. It seems like it was just the other day that we got back from Australia. October brought James's 35th Birthday, a trip to Ketchum and Halloween. For James's birthday, I had about 20 people come over and surprise James after a day of golfing. We had a barbecue and had a great night. The weather turned out perfect. We then went to spend the weekend in Ketchum with James's family and enjoyed another perfect weather weekend. It is always so beautiful up there that going for a walk in the morning is probably one of my favorite things to do. We took the dogs with us and walked along a small creek. We kept the dogs on a leash until we got a way from the creek a little bit, but as soon as we took them off they headed right back to the creek and went for a swim. We can't seem to keep them out of the water. We thought that Halloween was going to be a cold night, but it wasn't too bad. We brought our fire pit into the driveway and handed out candy while sipping on hot chocolate. The kids were able to warm their hands by the fire and we didn't have to keep getting up and down to hand out candy. It was a great night watching the kids and visiting with our neighbors. Next weekend we will be going to Pocatello to watch my nieces basketball games. They play every Saturday, but this is the first Saturday that they don't play at the same time so we will actually be able to watch all three play. We haven't been to Pocatello since May, so I guess we are due for a visit. We plan on going home for Thanksgiving, but I am really looking forward to waking up in my own bed on Christmas morning. Every year we have gone back to Pocatello, but this year decided to stay home. We will miss visiting with everyone, but won't miss the packing of the car, the dogs, and the gifts. I also won't miss traveling that stretch of road from Burley to to Twin Falls. It gets really ugly sometimes and I am thankful that we won't have that stress. Thanksgiving will be a little busy as usual. We will start the day by heading to Twin Falls to have Thanksgiving at my aunts house. She is an excellent cook and I am really looking forward to her turkey and home made rolls. From there we will head to Pocatello and spend the rest of the day with James's family. I have made arrangements to work from Pocatello the day after Thanksgiving so James will be able to spend the day with his family and I won't have to use a vacation day for the trip. James continues to do his Substitute Teaching and is enjoying himself. Although he would much rather have his own classroom that he went to everyday, he is thankful that he is able to work in a field that he enjoys. We are hoping that January brings some job opportunities for him, but will wait and see. We are doing well and are hopeful that the layoffs that are happening in Boise won't hinder his search too much. Either way, we are thankful for those teachers that are currently taking days off so that James can keep working. He has had a job just about every day for the last couple of weeks and has been making some great contacts. We are keeping our fingers crossed.