Lil' Dean Fam

Bees used to really scare me. For many years I said that I was allergic to them. I got stung once by a bee when I was a child and the infected area was really swollen. I guess that's why I said I was allergic. I'm not sure if its really a legitimate allergy or not. In more recent years, I've become a little bit more interested in bees and honey-making. Reason being; I teach heredity to my fifth graders and one of the mini-units I teach is all about bees. We discuss what they do (inherited behaviors- instincts) and how they help the food-chain. Did you know that over 1/3 of every bite you eat is benefited by insect pollination? Anyway, I've done this unit for 7 years now and I feel like I know a lot about bees but have never really had any hands-on experience unless you count using glitter as "pollen" and making paper-flower-offspring! :) Anyway, Dad decided this year to take on a new hobby or project for the summer and fall. He got the idea of harvestin...

So my boys were playing around one day while we were off track. I noticed that when Evan laughed I could see his teeth. He has four teeth. I swear to you that 2 weeks ago a fifth poked through the surface. It has not returned since. Anyway, some cute pictures of Evan laughing. Was trying to get a cute shot of Evan through the railing but didn't turn out as well as I'd like. Both boys playing together. Me & my Ry. So Ryan was TOTALLY teasing me with this little noise maker. He thought it was so funny to put it in all of the shots I was trying to get of him. I was highly annoyed and the more bothered I got by it, the funnier he thought it was. After a long winter, I am so happy to retire this Spiderman shirt. It was a really cute gift from Grandma. A three piece outfit of shirt, jeans, and a matching blue hoodie. They've made more than there share of appearances on the blog. He wore this shirt as often as I would let him. This day he wore it actually ended up ...

Mother's day this year started like many days have started this year, one of the boys woke up sick. Ryan came into our room at about 6am with a fever. We decided we wouldn't attend church that day. We had a nice morning at home and since we didn't have to rush of for 9am church, Colin decided to make us "cheese eggs". They were really yummy! Colin was really great to me all day and let me pretty much take it easy. It was awesome! Colin got me an awesome gift this year and I have no idea how he even came up with it! :) He got me a gift card for a spa treatment. I had a facial and a pedicure just yesterday, it was awesome and Ryan has told me a thousand times how pretty my toes are. The boys got to feeling better and so we went over to my Mom's house for our Sunday Dinner. I got my mom the 10 Virgins book she'd been wanting and a black cami. I think she was happy about that. She's a great mom. My mom is such a hard worker. She is always really busy ...

This isn't a post about motherhood. My 8th year diabetic diagnosis anniversary was a couple of weeks ago. I've been thinking lately of how that diagnosis has changed my life. I think maybe I'll just write it out in list form so that it isn't a mumbled jumble of thoughts. These are in no particular order. Diabetes has changed my life in that, it has: - made me have to go to the doctor a lot more I see the doctor every three months. I have to have my A1C taken every three months when I visit the diabetes doctor. I have to have "routine" (as in routine for diabetic) blood work at least every other year. I have to have a foot exam at least every year. I have to get a flu shot every year. During my pregnancies, I had to visit the diabetes doctor more frequently, every three weeks on average. I had to see the ObGyn more often than regular women. I also had to see a specialist at least once or twice per trimester. During the 4 weeks of pregnancy I had to ha...

Today marks my last day EVER that I will be off-track :( I've really been quite okay with the fact that my school will be switching to a traditional schedule next year, but now that I'm off-track I realize that I'm really going to miss my breaks. This has been a good break but it has been WAY TOO SHORT. We only got two weeks off-track and because I have to work the last day I'm off-track I technically only had a 9 day break. 13 days if you count weekends. That. Is. All. Definitely not long enough. I go back for the longest haul of the year. 9 weeks in a row usually isn't bad but when you teach from May 4 to July 2, it's kind of a big deal. The kids will do well until testing is over, if I am lucky, and then it's a cat-and-mouse game trying to convince the students to behave and perform well when they come to school. Luckily, we'll be doing some really fun projects and going on some fun field trips so hopefully we'll all survive the 9 weeks. I had som...

The day before we left California, we decided to go to the beach. For some strange reason, the weather was unusually HOT, I mean it had been above 90 degrees for three days in a row. I left Utah the week after straight 35 degree weather. I packed no shorts or Capri's for myself. I packed long-sleeved T-shirts and pants for the boys, I packed VERY warm "Utah Jammies" for them as well. I brought sweaters and sweatshirts. I did bring some shorts for the boys, thank goodness. Anyway, I was ill-prepared for 98 degrees. Anyhow, I called my cousin's wife Tessa and asked if she wanted to hang out. She has a boy named Brady who just three months older than Ryan. They had not really gotten a chance to play together so I was thinking we should do something before we left. She suggested going to the beach. As I said, I wasn't prepared for the hot weather, let alone the beach. But, one quick trip to the Wal Mart and I was all set. We had a great day at LaJolla shores. It was 7...

My Grandparents; Edwin & Veva Clegg on their 60th Wedding Anniversary. My Grandparents were celebrating their 60th Wedding Anniversary this April. It jus so happened that I was tracking off on the day before their party, so for me the timing couldn't have been better. Ryan rode down in the car with my parents and little brother on Thursday night. I worked all day on Friday and Jess drove Evan and I to the airport that evening. Friday night we had the party! It was a lot of fun and I was glad that I got to go. The only grandchildren that weren't able to come were my sister, Jess and Mikey. Jess had Emry just a few weeks previous and Emry was still on oxygen, not to mention only a couple of weeks old. Mikey had previous plans to attend a race. The party turned out really nice. Marsha and Jean did the flowers for the tables. The food was catered by a local taco shop. Mike & Robin did the drinks. Michelle and I helped put the video montage together. A few of us...