A New Dress

Day 25 - Savannah got a new dress and I got a bargain!! I found this dress for $7 at Walmart! Gotta love the clearance aisle!

A new toy!!!!!!

Day 24 - Our old camera has been terrific, but started acting up about a year ago. It usually took terrific pictures, but occasionally, something inside would buzz and the pictures would turn out extremely blurry. We were really afraid that the camera would completely die at an inopportune moment such as a special family event. Our new camera came today! I look forward to learning all its features. I am particularly excited about the 20x zoom!!!!

A Cup of Sugar?

Day 23 - What would you borrow from your neighbor? A cup of sugar, of course! Not my friend Jen and I! She called to see if she could borrow 2 cups of brown rice because she knew I would have it. I was glad that she called because I wanted to try some of her fragrance free laundry detergent. It was the perfect trade! Here is a picture of Jen with her sweet children. We love our neighbors!!!!

Walmart Academy

Day 22 - Many of you know that Central School flooded in September of 2008 and it is not safe for students to return. Until a new school is built, the old Walmart building has been remodeled to house the 5th and 6th grade students of our district. Today I was the substitute teacher for one of the reading specialists at the school. Some of the students call their school Walmart Academy. There are some drawbacks, but it works great as a temporary school.

Putt-Putt

Day 21 - Kelli and Nathanael have church activities every week . Once a month the boys and the girls meet together for an activity. The boys were in charge of planning and conducting this week's activity. They set up a putt putt golf course. Nathanael suggested the activity and thought of many of the holes. This one was my favorite. The youth had a great time!

Reading?

Day 20 - I think that Savannah may be tired of my Project 365. She did this when she saw me with the camera.

Dishes, Dishes and more dishes

Day 19 - After washing dishes all afternoon, we still had this many left from last night. This is a small price to pay for a great evening with friends.

Dinner for ... 12!!!

Day 18 - We had friends over for dinner this evening. It is fun to have enough matching dishes and silverware for everyone. We also enjoy having a room big enough for such a gathering.

Pomerette Camp

Day 17 - Savannah had the chance to go to a Pomerette camp a couple weeks ago. At the camp they learned a dance and performed it at the high school boy's basketball game this evening. Savannah had a great time!!!

Klondike

Day 16 - Kent and Nathanael went on a winter campout. This year was 40 degrees warmer than last year and the temperature was still below freezing! That tells something about how cold it was when they camped last January!!! I enjoyed sleeping in my nice warm bed :)

Ice & pajamas

Day 15 - School was canceled today for Kelli due to very icy roads. Nathanael and Savannah still had school :( Kelli spent all day in her pjs and she cleaned her room!

Sleeping like a baby

Day 14 - Savannah came home from school and promptly did this. Someone needs to go to bed early tonight!!!

Our little artist

Day 13 - Each month, student artwork is selected for display at the elementary school district office and presentation at the school board meeting. Savannah's art was selected this month. At the school board meeting, she was recognized for her work.

With the help of her art teacher, she talked about her picture. It is a self-portrait on a $100 bill.Showing no fear, she shook hands with all the members of the school board. That is a tough thing for a 1st grader, but Savannah was excited! She didn't express being nervous at all!

Laundry, Laundry, Laundry

Day 12 - Nathanael is working on his Duty to God award. One of the requirements is to learn how to do laundry. I applaud the writers of the Duty to God requirements. Nathanael spent his day off of school sorting and washing clothes. He looks happy about his accomplishment!!! WhooHoo!!!

Icy Tree

Day 11 - It has been very foggy for the past couple days. The fog, combined with below freezing temperatures had a unique affect on many trees, especially those by the river. The trees were covered with ice. We were surprised to see the fishermen on the river. Winter fishing doesn't sound fun to me at all.

A forest of frosty trees

We drove to the Dayton Dam this evening to see how it is looking. It is still quite frozen, but water is slowly flowing. We were amazed to see how thick the ice was in some areas. Compare these pictures with the ones on Day 5 of this blog. We hope the melting process continues to be slow.

Looking toward the dam
Notice the thickness of the ice!

The Ugly side of snow

Day 10 - The new fallen snow is beautiful! After a week or two, it turns into a mucky mess and it isn't so fun. Even our sledding hill looks sad. Come on Spring!!!.

No picture!!!

Nothing of note happened today and I didn't get a picture. At least I didn't get to September with a perfect streak! That would have been painful. My Project 365 will just stretch further into 2011.

Clean living room!

Day 9 - The Living Room is back to its pre-Christmas state. Whoo! Big accomplishment! In a few days, I'll post pictures of the other side of the living room. All the Christmas boxes currently reside there.



Day 9 - The living room is restored to its pre-Christmas state!! Whoo! Big accomplishment!!!

Pizza Night!!!!

Day 8 - No explanation needed here! Everyone is really happy!

Taking down the lights

Day 7 - We had a warmer day today! The high was around 24 degrees which is 20-30 degrees less cold than it has been. Kelli and I took advantage of the "heat wave" and took down the front porch Christmas lights. The lights are in a pile in the living room, but at least the neighbors can't see them. Putting them away is for another day.

First Grade

Day 6 - I help in Savannah's class every other Monday. This is a picture of Savannah with her teacher, Miss Stevenson. She loves her teacher and is having a great year!

Frozen Fox

Day 5 - North of Ottawa, there is an ice jam in the Fox River. Several homes along the river have flooded and families have been evacuated. We went to look at the Dayton dam which is a particularly icy section of the river. During the summer, we enjoy canoeing home from this spot. The river has started to flow again. Thankfully, so far, it is a slow thaw.

To give you an idea of how high the river rose, this site shows a picture of the dam in warmer weather: http://pages.ripco.net/~jwn/daydam.jpg.

The dam is in the distance.

Homes across the river.

Information sign.

Notice how high the line for the ice is. I think that frozen flood waters are all around this tree. During the summer, this area is a pretty, green, grassy area.
No fishing? No swimming? No diving? No problem!!!
Looking northward

Happy Anniversary!

Day 4 - Kent and I went out to dinner this evening to celebrate our 22nd anniversary. Our anniversary is on January 8, but we couldn't go last night. Our wedding was originally scheduled for January 9, so it seems fitting that we would celebrate on the 9th. Kelli took our picture before we left for dinner.

Alvin!

Day 3 - Savannah really wanted to see Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. Tonight I took her on a Savannah/Mommy date. It is a cute movie, right on a six year old's humor level. I tried taking a picture, but it wasn't working so well. A lady offered to take this for us. It is a much better picture than the ones I was getting by holding that camera out at arm's length.

Ottawa from the sledding hill

Day 2 - I enjoyed taking pictures today. This is my favorite! We got about 6 inches of snow overnight and school was canceled! Hooray for a Snow Day!!! I took the kids sledding this evening. We have a fun sledding hill that overlooks the Illinois river. This picture was taken from the top of the sledding hill at 6:14 p.m., just after it got dark. I used a setting on my camera that I have never used before. It is called High Sensitivity. It is used to shoot without flash in low-light to reduce blur. I am very please with how it turned out!!! I think that Project 365 is going to be great! I hope to learn a lot about photography.

Happy Campers of IL - Project 365 - Our year in pictures

Day 1 - We still have our Christmas lights on the house, so I thought it would make a great first picture. Notice the UofU and BYU flags. Kent got the BYU flag for Kasey for Christmas. I think that half the present was him being willing to put a BYU flag on the front porch.
Kelli is reading her scriptures right after school today. It was about 14 degrees outside when she got home from school, so she was cold!
Nathanael is reading the newspaper. He probably started with the comics.
Each day, Savannah writes her spelling words 3 times each. She does a terrific job on the Pre-test each week, so she gets a challenge list. This week's words are: cooperation, rehearsal, citizen, extinct, environment, and individual. Pretty good for a 1st grader!!!