Snow!

It only happens maybe once a year. When it does it's a rare treat. We got snow as far down as the Halfway Wash of the Green Valley. Hmm, should we call it the White Wash of the Snow Valley instead. Christian demonstrates that he still remembers snow from Cedar City and Provo days. The girls think it's really cool but weren't dressed in winter attire yet.

Jaclyn's 5th birthday

Her princess birthday made by her favorite baker, daddy.

Here is Gabriella and a container to keep her dolls in. I think that her dad was her hero that day.

Here is Sharpay and Kelsi to join her High School Musical collection.

Here is her new Troy Bolton doll from High School Musical.

Ms. Toni and Clyde gave Jaclyn an entire princess collection. Which she plays with night and day and insisted on taking to preschool as her show and tell. The only down side is the many small pieces and the fact that every time the clothes need to be changed she comes running to me. The joys of toys.

Crystal wanted us to take home a Ricky "doll" too. But we decided there just wasn't enough room in the car or on the doll shelf.

Jaclyn wanted an Ariel doll. Aunt Crystal decided that she would her a life size mermaid. As you can see from Jaclyn's expression, she was a "little" excited.

Jaclyn loved her new footie jammies that Grandma and Grandpa Call bought her. She especially likes the pink princesses. She wore them every night for the first week. I finally got to wash them.

Jaclyn and Christian cuddle with Orange at Grandma Paystrup's house.

Christian wins at District Reflections

Christian won for Washington County School District in the Theater category. His entry has also won at regionals, so now it's on to state competition. This photo was taken on Nov. 24.

Jacyln gets ears pierced

A few weeks ago Jaclyn got here little earsies pierced as she approached her fifth birthday. She also got a cute haircut on that daym the 14th of November.

The kids stand in front of the hatchback of our green car, Shade, dress in their costumes for Halloween. Jaclyn went as Rupunzel, Nicole as Snow White, and Christian as Seth from Race to Witch Mountain.

Friday afternoon we had Cub Scouts and built birdhouses. Christian and the other Wolves learned the joys of trying to hammer in a nail straight. The adults did their best, too, but struggled with the nails as well. But we got through it and it was a fun Cub Scout activity. We enjoyed one of the last warm days before it gets too dark and cold for outside meetings.

Decorations from our booth at Lupitas. We had booth #12. Each booth at Lupita's is decorated differently. The little shelves of trinkets hung in the small shop on main years ago when Dave, Jenn, Christian and Nicole would eat there. Jaclyn has no joined the Lupita's tradition.

The girls get oohs and aahs from the college girls. Overall response as the college girls saw them: "They're so cute" and one girl even said "I want to get married and have kids so bad."

Dave says that Utah Shakespearean Festival can tear down the Child Care house they own but they better leave his favorite walnut tree alone. Yes, Dave is a tree-hugger! Literally! Nicole the shutterbug hijacks Dave's solo picture opportunity.

The reflection of Old Main shows up in the stained glass window of the new Education Building.

The new Carter Carillon stands in the upper portion of campus between Old Main and the Education Building. First time I've seen this part of campus since they built the two new structures.

Nicole and Jaclyn show off their spoils -- leaves they picked up from the path to Eccles Coliseum. Nicole is sporting a red shirt to support the T-Birds. Jaclyn decided pink was close enough to red.

Yesterday Jenn and I went back to SUU for homecoming game against North Dakota. SUU topped NDU 35-10. It was a boring game, but the halftime show by the student association was pretty funny and the girls seemed to enjoy it for the most part and made friends with the kids of other alumni. We didn't take any pictures at the game. But there's not much to share with the game. The fun memories were afterward.

We took the girls on a tour of campus and had a blast playing in the fall leaves on campus. Some of the college girls saw Nicole and Jaclyn playing in the leaves and began the cooing saying things like: "That's so cute."

Then we went to my favorite restaurant Lupita's. The best Mexican restaurant in Cedar City in my opinion. It used to be a small mom and pops in a little cottage on main street in Cedar City. Now they've moved into a bigger location by the freeway and bigger, but it still has Lupita's touch. The food was great. The staff was super friendly and Lupita herself was greeting the customers at the cash register as we left. She gave the girls suckers as we were leaving.

Christian missed out, but he was watching Little Shop Of Horrors at Hale Theater with his aunt Crystal. She spoils him, but I understand he had a fun time too. We have a photo of that too.

The kids are ready for church. Don't they look so cute!

New toys

Yesterday Dave bought a laptop. He is really enjoying his new toy. I finally got a digital camera. I feel like I have finally entered the digital age. I can also add pictures to our blog which makes me really happy. I have been wanting a digital camera for several years. I am so excited that I finally have a camera.

An interesting beginning

Well I guess it is my job to give all the details of our lives. Life is exciting in the Paystrup household. School began last Thursday. This is my fourth year teaching kindergarten at Dixie Sun Elementary. Our school changed it's name from Dixie Downs to Dixie Sun this year. We are also beginning an extended year model so life is about to get crazy. I have just completed my ARL so I am now officially a teacher or will be in a few weeks. I am also beginning my ESL endorsement in hopes that I can lane change and make more money.

Christian is 8 and in 3rd grade. His teachers are Mrs. Lopez (Spanish) and Ms. Rogers (English). He is in a cluster group for gifted and talented. He loves to write and is excited to learn cursive this year.

Nicole is 7 and in 2nd grade. Her teachers are Mr. R. Garcia (Spanish) and Ms. Hammond (English). She is really excited because her best friend Sadie is in her class. She is a social butterfly and loves to be the center of attention. She is also a non-stop talker. I can't imagine where she got that from.

Jaclyn is 4 and we are looking for a preschool for her. At the moment she spends the day with Miss Toni. She can say the letters in her name and can identify a question mark and an exclamation mark. She is also looking forward to learning Spanish next year. Her two favorite words are gato (cat) and zapato (shoe).

Dave began back to school at the beginning of August. He is attending Western Governors University (WGU). He is going into Special Education, but first he has to complete his speech class and his critical thinking class.

Squeaky (our guinea pig) spends his days eating carrots, drinking and sleeping. He is four and half years old which isn't bad for a guinea pig.
We manage to keep busy and try not to go crazy. We will see how well that goes.

Under construction

This is the maiden post of our family blog. As you can see it's under construction. Jenn will be joining in soon to add the cute stuff. I'm tech-savvy, but not cute. -- Dave