Wasatch Integrated Waste

(P.S. I took a bunch of pics, but they all turned out pretty blurry. Sorry!)

Another field trip today! Today I got to go with Kiera's class to visit the Wasatch Integrated Waste facility in Layton. Yep, the dump. But man, it was so interesting! It was disgusting and disturbing, but it was inspirational in a way too.

This facility was built in the mid-1980s and is the only one in Utah - the next closest ones are in California and Oregon. But this place is where all our garbage (that isn't recycled separately) goes. It services the entire Davis and Morgan counties, with the exception of Bountiful City. We saw lots of garbage trucks dump their whole load onto a big concrete slab, where a bulldozer pushed it into a huge "holding area." This holding area had tons and tons of garbage piled up. Then we got to go to an observation area on the upper level of the holding area and watched a guy control a massive "claw" that "fluffed up" the garbage (so it wasn't compressed), then dump it into a huge funnel. (P.S. This claw can pick up over 1 ton of garbage in each scoop!) After the garbage goes into the funnel, it gets incinerated at nearly 2000 degrees. Any by-product gases produced during this process are filtered and treated before they're released into the air again. During the incineration, large containers of water are boiled, creating steam. Some of the steam is transported to Hill Air Force Base where it is used in some way, and some of the steam is used to turn turbines, which creates electricity.

Anyway, after the ashes are cooled, a huge magnet extracts any remaining metals so they can be recycled. Then whatever is left over is taken to the landfill, where I'm amazed at the steps they take to control the amount disposed. The landfill offers compost, household hazardous waste recycling, electronic recycling, even a "Give and Take" area kind of like the D.I., only free! The "little" amount that can't be minimized any further is put into the landfill. The landfill is lined with plastic and covered with a big tarp-like thing so nothing leaks into the groundwater and the noxious gasses aren't released into the air. In fact, they have "vacuums" that suck up any methane gas that might be released. So at the landfill, we didn't see any garbage at all - it was all covered! When the landfill reaches its capacity (they estimate about 25 years), it will be covered over with dirt and grass will be planted.

So yes, visiting the facility was stinky and gross. But it was also fascinating to see what actually happens to our garbage. Did you know that each person produces about 4 1/2 pounds of garbage each day?! And this facility receives over 1000 TONS of garbage each day. Wow. The facility personnel emphasized over and over how important it is to reduce, reuse and recycle. We've all heard it so many times before, but it's simple. If we do those things to the best of our ability, it makes a big difference - not only for us but for generations to come.

Seeing this made me sooooo grateful that Centerville (and most other cities in Davis and Salt Lake counties) offers curbside recycling. I'm also so excited to have Centerville offer "green recycling" soon (I'm still trying to decide if I want to do that or finally get a compost going in our own yard). And I'm glad to know that what little garbage we have that can't be recycled is being used to create something good as well!

Preschool / Theater Room Update

I know you've all been waiting with baited breath to know how the preschool / theater room is coming along....

Sweet Quentin has been working so hard and has taken several days of vacation to work on the space. I think he's been trying to get the room as far done as he can for Kiera's birthday on Friday. She's having her friends over for a movie party and he thought it would be cool to have the theater room and theater equipment set up. Yep, it would be cool. But I'm afraid it's not gonna happen by her birthday.

Quentin finally has all the "behind the scenes" work done. He framed "boxes" to hold the speakers in the wall, did the copper pipes for the future drinking fountain, ran the HDMI lines and monster cable, and put in the insulation. It's now all ready to be buttoned up with sheet rock. The sheet rock has been bought and is patiently waiting to be put up. Soon.

But Quentin has not only been busy with finishing the space, busy with other life things, busy with yard work... Now he has a new calling - executive secretary - so he'll be a little busier than busy!! But it's getting there. I'm so proud of all the work he's done - he's worked so hard! And he's so anxious to get it done! He told some friends last weekend that he was pretty confident that he could sheet rock, mud and tape, paint, and have carpet installed by this Saturday. Um...I think Quentin lives in a different world sometimes! But it WILL get done eventually - and it will be SOOOO nice to be able to enjoy it!

Every Day is Earth Day!

The second grade classes had an "Earth Day" program yesterday. Kiera was so excited but a little nervous because she had a part to say. But of course everything went a-okay! I'm amazed how much these 7- and 8-year-olds know about recycling, conserving, and taking care of the earth. I know people are focusing on being more "green," and I think the new generation is well-prepared to continue and expand the efforts of taking care of our beloved world!

Springtime Musings...

Isn't it ironic that the prettiest, most mild times of the year also go by the quickest? And when the flowers are in full bloom, it gets windy and rainy and hammers the fragile petals. Just some things I've been noticing lately. So I thought I'd snap a few shots of our pretty yard so I can remember!

THE VIEW OUT MY BEDROOM WINDOW...

KASIDEE LIKES TO COUNT THE TULIPS...

These Are The People In Your Neighborhood...

Does anyone else think it's kind of strange that the elementary schools (at least ours) wait till the last 6 weeks of school to do most of their field trips? Between Kiera and Makenna, they have 5 field trips scheduled in the next month. Crazy but fun I guess. What else are you supposed to do with a bunch of kids with spring fever anyway?

Yesterday I got to go with Kiera on her little "community field trip." We walked to the bus stop, caught the UTA bus (they donated a bunch of passes to the school), went to the Centerville Fire Station and the Centerville Post Office. It was a short trip but interesting. I still am fascinated by how the postal system works so efficiently. I think it's pretty cool. And while I've been to several of the local fire departments, this was the first time I'd been to the Centerville Station, so it was neat to meet some of the people that would help us if our cat runs up a tree - if we had a cat, that is.

Anyway, it was a fun morning and I love being able to spend some one-on-one time with my girls, even if it's with a bunch of other giggling kids!

WAITING FOR THE BUS...

CHECKING OUT THE FIRE ENGINE...

TALKING WITH THE POST MASTER...

KIERA AND ASHLEY...

Beaver Dam

There are certain blessings and certain curses to have "inherited" a house with 10 apple trees. When we first bought this house we thought having that many fruit trees would be great. And in lots of ways it is. We love the fruit and we love the border the trees create on the back of our property. But then we realized how much work they are. The first year, we learned how to prune them, we sprayed them every 2 weeks like recommended, we pulled off 3 small apples off the bunch of 5 so that the remaining 2 would grow big, and we tended them carefully only to have a harvest full of wormy apples. So the last 2 years we pruned them but that was it. No more thinking about it till Fall - and the apples were delicious and worm-free, even without spraying them.

Anyway, I got off on a tanget (I sometimes do that!) This year, knowing that we had to at least prune the trees has been on the back of our minds for months. But Quentin has been a little preoccupied with finishing the preschool/theater room. But we heard that last weekend was the last weekend for pruning fruit trees - otherwise it would be too late. So for Family Home Evening last night, we all got out there and got to work. Quentin used the reciprocal saw, I used the big clippers, and the girls gathered the branches and made a beaver dam. They had fun! And we even tied in a lesson about the Olive Tree Parable. And 3 hours later, it was finally done. Except for getting rid of the branches that are now strewn all over our grass. We missed the city "green waste clean up," so we'll have to load them onto a trailer and haul them to the dump. Fun. But at least the pruning is done. For this year.

Preschool vs. Daycare

In the last couple of weeks, I've had several friends and family members (ALL MEN!) enthusiastically say to me, "Hey, congratulations on your day care! That should be fun!" Day care? DAY CARE?! Hmph! There is a big difference between day care and preschool. It's not just babysitting, it's teaching. It's somewhere I can actually apply principles from my degree that I worked so hard to earn. It's inspiring young little minds and promoting social skills. It's applying child development and psychology theories and preparing these cute little people for their years in kindergarten and beyond. It's preparing an enriching and structured environment where learning on many levels can take place. It's not even comparable to babysitting/daycare. Just so ya know!

Sweet...

Just to report on our anniversary yesterday.... Quentin had the day off, but the day was interrupted with taking kids to school, picking up carpool at 11:30, then picking Kiera up from school at 3:30. So we sort of felt "on hold" to go anywhere for very long. We thought about going out to breakfast, but we didn't think about that until everyone had already eaten breakfast! But in between our "normal day," we decided to go to 7000 South to check out the World Market store. (Isn't Quentin so sweet to go along with me to do "girly" things?) I had seen the ads for a few months but had never been to a store, so we decided to check it out. We both really liked it - it sort of reminds me of a Pier 1 store. The thing we had wanted to get there was sold out, but it was fun browsing and going somewhere new, even if it was just for a little while.

We ran a few other errands, then were happy to meet the Johnson family at Olive Garden for dinner. April 15 is also Grandma Johnson's birthday - and yesterday was her 88th! It was fun to eat a yummy meal, be with family, and watch the girls be silly with their cousins.

So...I don't know if anyone else has thought of this, but don't all anniversary gifts seem "girly?" I mean, how sentimental and romantic is a power tool? The gifts that are sentimental or romantic or MEANINGFUL seem to lean a tad to the feminine side. That's why, while Quentin is always so "gifted" with his gift-giving, I have a hard time finding something meaningful that doesn't scream "GIRLY!" But I was excited to find something cool this year. I have always admired those "hidden letters" and made the girls an ABC book last Christmas using hidden letters around our home. Anyway, I thought of using those same letters to spell out our last name. How cool is that?! But when I went to Roberts to see if they had an eight-hole frame, I found a whole endcap with frames and letters - just what I wanted! So yay! Check it out:


And Quentin, as usual, was so sweet and thoughtful with what he wanted to give me. Quentin told me that a couple of months ago, Nikki had emailed him a gift idea from Etsy that she thought I would like. He agreed - he knew I would love it, but he wanted to make one for me instead of buying one. He went to a bunch of stores, got what he needed, had the girls help him, and then he gave me this...


A cute, trendy necklace, huh?!

But check out what's in between....


Like 3 little peas in a pod! How sweet is that?! He said he had thought about giving it to me for Mother's Day, but he wanted to give it to me on our anniversary because our eternal family began on our wedding day! Awww.... How blessed I am to have such a sweet, thoughtful, sentimental, kind and gentle man!

Happy #13!

Today is our 13th Anniversary! And SIXTEEN years to the day we met! Wow! I've almost known Quentin longer than I haven't known him!

I am sooooo lucky and blessed to have Quentin in my life. He is genuine, thoughtful, positive, happy, sentimental, wise, hard-working. He is aware of what I need and is so giving. I still find myself amazed at how responsive he is - he'll step in when I need help without me even having to ask. He has made my life and my little world so happy! He is an amazing daddy. The girls just love him to pieces and are so lucky to have such a kind, gentle, fun daddy who would do anything for them.

Here's to having our 13th year be our luckiest one yet!

Trip to St. George / Las Vegas / Mesquite

Last week was Spring Break, and we've been planning for a few months to take a trip. Sunny Southern Utah was calling to us, so we left Monday for St. George, then stayed in Las Vegas Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, went to Mesquite on Friday and headed home Saturday. Corbin, Nikki and kids were also vacationing in Mesquite (we stayed with them in Nikki's parents condo on Friday) and we were able to meet up a few times.

We had a lot of fun! Of course Las Vegas has a lot of junk, but we focused on kid-friendly attractions - there sure are a lot of family things in Vegas! And it made us all grateful to live in UTAH where smoking is not allowed in any public building and gambling is illegal. It's kind of nice living in "sheltered" Utah!

So here's a quick run-down of all the fun we had (mainly for journaling-sake, but in case you care too)!

MONDAY
* Left home around noon and got to St. George around 6:00 (with a few stops in-between).
* Had dinner at Cafe Rio, one of our favorite restaurants. I heard Utah's governor proclaimed that day as Cafe Rio Day - and the St. George location was the first one!
* Makenna and I browsed at the Outlet Shops while Quentin, Kiera and Kasidee hung out in our hotel room.


TUESDAY
* Had breakfast at the hotel.
* Met Corbin, Nikki and kids at the St. George Temple.
* Toured Brigham Young's winter home.
* Checked out an inactive volcano and in-the-ground cave (Nikki and I and a few of the kids hung out at a park while Quentin, Corbin, Kiera and Marina went exploring a little more.
* Headed to Las Vegas and got our hotel room in the Excalibur.

ST. GEORGE TEMPLE...

VOLCANO...

CHECKING OUT A CACTUS...

EXPLORING OUTSIDE THE CAVE...




WEDNESDAY
* Quentin and the girls swam in the hotel pool while I basked in the warm sun!
* Got roped into a Timeshare presentation - but it wasn't worthless. The girls thought the "bus limo" ride was awesome, we got lunch, got some "insider" advice on what to do in Vegas, and a no-pressure tour of some condos. Oh, and we got free tickets to the aquarium, worth about 56 bucks. Score!
* Went to M&M's World.
* Walked "The Strip" - saw the Luxor pyramid, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, rode the huge Coca-Cola bottle elevator, etc).
* Saw the Fountains at Bellagio. How cool is that?!

EXCALIBUR HOTEL...

M&M's WORLD...

FOUNTAINS AT BELLAGIO...



THURSDAY
* Toured the Ethel M. Chocolate Factory.
* Went to M&M's World again - Makenna decided on a stuffed M&M character for her souvenir.
* Met Corbin, Nikki and kids at the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay.
* Checked out a free "Lion King" exhibit (pretty lame, actually).
* Hung out in our hotel room for some much-needed R&R.
* Went to Freemont Street for their 8:00 "show." Got there at 8:05 and missed the whole thing.
* Saw the volcano at the Mirage and the Bellagio Fountains again from the car.

CACTUS GARDEN NEAR ETHEL M. CHOCOLATE FACTORY...

SCOOTERING ON THE STRIP...

KIERA (BLURRY-SORRY!) IN FRONT OF A TANK OF JELLYFISH...

FREEMONT STREET...



FRIDAY
* Quentin, Kiera and Makenna swam in the hotel pool while Kasidee and I packed up.
* Checked out of Excalibur Hotel.
* Went to Hoover Dam.
* Got to Mesquite, had pizza, and the kids and dads swam in the condo pool.

HOOVER DAM...


DADS AND KIDS...



SATURDAY
* Packed up, cleaned up, and left around noon.
* Stopped at Cove Fort for almost an hour.
* Got home by 7:00 - unloaded car, vacuumed and washed van, had dinner, baths and bed. Whew!

COVE FORT (VERY WINDY!)



Now...we just need to rest up from our vacation! :)

Happy Easter!

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. It's a wonderful time to remember what our Savior has done for us. I am reminded of the quote from Martin Luther: "Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time."

A week before Easter, we took the girls to Temple Square to get some pics of them in their Easter dresses....








Our Easter day was fun and relaxing. We enjoyed watching Conference, visiting Quentin's grandma in her new home, and being with the Johnson family at Kerry and Joey's cottage - where we had dinner and the kids got to run around the gated/locked storage unit yard and have a gigantic Easter egg hunt!

SOMETHING FROM THE EASTER BUNNY....


WITH GREAT-GRANDMA STEPHENS....


AT THE JOHNSON EASTER PARTY....

Let There Be Light!

It's been a gruelling 3 weeks. Quentin has worked on the electrical for the preschool/theater room every single chance he got. He worked 16 hours on Saturdays and most weeknights after work for about 4 hours. Whew. But it's done - finally!! He ran into quite a few "snafoos" (I have no idea where he got that word) and had to improvise on a few things. He ran 350 feet of wire, and now we have 8 recessed lights, 6 outlets, lines and boxes for 7 sconces, and lines and boxes for the projector, subwoofer, speakers and theater system. Yippee!

Quentin had to turn the power off a couple of times yesterday. The last time was around 8:00 and it was off for a couple of hours. The girls thought it was an adventure, since it was starting to get dark around that time. We got out our lanterns and lit some candles. Kiera said, "It's like Christmas and we're poor!" And Kasidee kept singing "Happy Birthday" to herself over and over. But the girls and I had fun playing My Little Pony and reading stories by candlelight. They were all asleep by the time Quentin got done, but they were so excited to see the new lighting in the room this morning. It's starting to look like a real room rather than a shop/storage room! Next up: Mounting the speakers before we sheetrock around them, and putting in insulation on 1 1/2 walls. It's coming along, slowly but surely!

Tooth Fairy

So...the Tooth Fairy came last night. After going out for ice cream to celebrate and then getting ready for bed, Makenna got a little wishy-washy. She wanted the Tooth Fairy to visit, but she also didn't want to give away her tooth. So she wrote a little note that read, "I want to keep my tooth please." She put her tooth in the little tooth box Granny gave us and put it beside her pillow - not under it. Oh, and she left her water bottle lid off in case the Tooth Fairy wanted to take a swim. When Kiera woke up this morning (Makenna was still asleep), she came in to my room and said, "Mommy, the Tooth Fairy didn't come. I didn't see anything by the box." I found out later that Kiera had placed 5 of her pennies by the box because she was afraid Makenna would be so sad that the Tooth Fairy didn't leave anything. Little did she know that there was a silver dollar under Makenna's pillow! How lucky is that?! Makenna got to keep her tooth AND got a silver dollar! She must be a pretty special girl!

April Fool's!

I don't really like April Fool's Day. I feel like I'm on guard all day, and I'm always at a loss on how I can "get" people. Sometimes I can think of something good, like telling Mom last year that we decided to cancel our trip to Disneyland because we couldn't afford it, or the year I was expecting Kiera and we told our family just weeks before the due date that the doctor had made a mistake and found out it was a boy (after the nursery was finished and the pink clothes were bought). But mostly it's a rather dumb "holiday." I think, anyway.

But today was kind of fun. My mom dropped by with an "April Fool's Gift," some straws she found that are about 2 feet long! The girls have had a blast with them all day! See??


Then this afternoon while I was putting groceries away and the girls were playing in the playroom, they all ran upstairs yelling, "Makenna lost her tooth!" I knew what was going on and said, "Ha - I gotcha. April Fool's, right?" But guess what - her tooth really did come out! She bit into a cookie and it came right out - she thought her cookie had a seed in it! So...it's Makenna's first "Lost Tooth." I can't believe how big she's getting! And isn't her new smile so cute? (She had to change her clothes before she'd let me take her picture - she said she needed to look different because she had a different smile!)


This evening we were able to get Quentin really good, thanks to Kiera's idea. Quentin has been ordering things for the "Theater Room" and we've been receiving quite a few packages lately. One came today and Kiera had the idea of emptying the box, filling it up with toilet paper and paper towel rolls, then re-taping it. Quentin was totally shocked - and we all laughed for a long time!