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The Wonders of Electromagnetism

I posted a few days ago with a video of Julie working hard blowing insulation into the attic.   We finished the project the next day and I noticed in the daylight something I had missed during the dark, electromagnetism at work!

 

I find physics to be fascinating, and watching these pieces of insulation defy gravity and “jump” up onto the hose was cool to me.  I have nothing profound to share about it, just that I thought it was neat.

 

Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as I did.

 

My thoughts and prayers to you in Houston and the vicinity!

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Obligatory School Photos

Summit Academy School Photos

As an apparent obligatory event, here are the school photos of the kids on their first day back this year.  They are all attending Summit Academy schools this year.

Caitlin on her way to 10th grade at SAHS
Joshua is going into 7th grade in Independence, Bluffdale
Kristie is going into 6th grade at the Bluffdale campus.
Charlee is going into 4th grade.
Nikki is going into 2nd grade.

Andrew will be starting Kindergarten next week, but you don’t get a photo of him since his first day hasn’t come yet.   These kids were all super excited to get started with a new year, new school, and new friends.

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An Exhausting Week

Life is exhausting.

Nothing out of the ordinary this week, just life being life.  But I’m beat!

We do have internet now at my parents place, so that’s good.  We now have access to the outside world.

The kids are all in school and doing fine.  We are getting into the swing of things here and are making adjustments to make things easier.

We still only have one shower for the 12 people living here.  That will be a construction priority as soon as we find time to do some construction again.

After the kids left for school, Julie and I worked today on the parking situation.  We got the pile of green waste picked up off of the driveway, moved the swamp cooler, pulled the tractor out into the field, moved a pile of pallets, moved 2 boats away, loaded up a trailer full of trash, and swept the entire parking area.  5 hours of work later and we can now park by the garages again!  Hopefully the motorhome will be moved soon to make it even easier.

I’m toying with the idea that Julie is a futuristic cyborg with a limitless energy supply.   That woman never stops and I don’t feel like I get to either.   She can go forever, but I desperately need some down time!  Life is exhausting!

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Changing Schools – Again!

One of my favorite persons that I’ve met since coming back to Utah has got to be Les Hamilton.  We were in the same ward for a few months before a split, and have only talked a dozen or so times.   But every time I talk to him I like him even more than before.  He happens to be the AD at Summit Academy High School.

Good To Know

A few weeks ago I wrote about how we had gotten the kids all ready for school.  Well, last week Les shared a post on Facebook that Summit Academy High School was still accepting applications.   I had known that Summit was the closest school to my parents house, but I thought there was no way we could afford it.

When Les shared his post, I contacted him and told him I would like to consider it but that I was worried about cost since I’m a disabled vet who just lost everything.

Turns out I’m an idiot (no shock to the rest of you, I know).   Summit isn’t a private school…  it is a charter school.   No tuition!!  There is no reason my kids couldn’t attend.

Changing Again!

So I got online ASAP and put in applications for all of my kiddos.  They had room for all of them but Andrew, the one going into kindergarten.  They were reasonable enough to tell me that if I registered the others that they would “make room” for him.

So now the kids are all changing schools again.   It’s been a pain in the “lower torso” to take care of the withdrawals, fees, new schedules, and uniforms.   But I think the change will be a good one.   My kids are now attending Summit Academy schools in Bluffdale.

First Day

And this morning, despite the headaches and current life turmoil, we were able to successfully get the children off to school.  I think they were all even wearing clean clothes!

Nikki was nervous about the new school.  She really thrived at Central Elementary in PG.  She’s a bright little girl and I’m sure she’ll thrive here too.   Josh wasn’t interested in classes but more excited about Cross Country and Volleyball that both start after school today.

Caitlin just wants to find people she knows.  Kris and Charlee and excited to find friends too.  They all are looking forward to a great school year!

And so are we!!

Funny side note.   I called and withdrew the kids from the public schools.  The people who answered were all nice and polite and said it was no problem.

They all said they needed to note where the kids would be attending.  When I told them Summit, they ALL became much less polite, and borderline rude.   One of them asked the new school, and when I replied with “Summit Academy” I got back, “Summit?!  OK, got it” and she hung up on me.

I know there is political tension between public school advocates and advocates of other options.  But this was my first taste of it on a personal level.  I was a bit surprised at first.

I understand that public schools don’t want to lose the money that comes with each kid, but apparently they don’t understand that they are also losing the COST of the kid and the needed effort/energy to care for him/her.   But since they (and almost everyone else) focus on money…