Yeah - that's us. My oldest is 10, and my youngest is 5. The amount that gets where it needs to be goes down exponentially as the child gets younger!

I LOVE this book! It has seriously changed the way I go about my daily life, and what I teach my children. For a long time after 9/11, and then Elizabeth Smart, who lives in my city, I lived in a lot of fear. After reading this book, I learned how to deal with situations, to trust my gut, and to be more confident.

My 4 ds are all sick today, and I have done laundry literally non-stop today, run from room to room to check, soothe, clean up, etc. So I'm here for 5 minutes of sanity, trying to make a list of things on the bright side. Want to help? Here's what I have so far: *I only have 4 kids, instead of 8 - or 17 - who are all sick at the same time. *It's warm enough today that I can open all the windows and get a little fresh air moving through. *It seems to be only a 24 hour thing. *As twisted as it sounds, they all got sick at the same time, rather than spreading it out over a 2+ week period. *I have been able to watch movies I haven't seen in years, like "Cheaper By the Dozen," that I got for free from my lovely library. *One week from right now (hopefully!), this will all be one of those story-topping memories like, "oh yeah, once all four of my kids were sick at the same time!" Add as you wish, and wish me luck tonight (DH comes home tomorrow so the cavelry is on it's way!) Suzanne

My 4 ds are constantly eating, and I'd like to steer them toward healthier snacks. We stay away from any kind of "junk food," but I'd like to encourage more natural foods - fruits & veggies, or such. What are some of your kids' favorites?

Funny you should mention your daydream about your dream house/kitchen. About 3 years ago, I started designing plans for my dream house. I actually have it all drawn out to scale now on graph paper, and have everything decorated in my mind. It has helped me get through many a long baseball game/ piano lesson / 6-year-old screaming tantrum! Even if it never gets built (which it probably won't), it's still fun and it's free to dream!

June is a great time to come: don't worry about hot and muggy - this is a desert - it never gets humid here! Temps in June will be in the 70s-80s - just right! We have a huge list of fun things and activities we do nearly every year, so it depends on how long you're here and what types of things you're interested in. Here are some highlights: Kenecott Copper Mine: the largest open-pit mine in North America (the world?). It's truly huge and has an interesting little visitor's center. Temple Square: Even if you're not LDS, the architecture is beautiful, as are the gardens surrounding everything. Thanksgiving Point: Just south of SLC, about 25 min. from downtown, has a very neat dinosaur museum with lots of interactive things, like a huge sand/water area where you can learn about erosion hands-on, an area where you can "dig" for your own bones, and tons of life-size dino skeletons. This is the Place Park: Not only the monument where the mormon pioneers first came into the valley, but also a pioneer village (think pioneer version of Williamsburg, but smaller) where you can participate in pioneer crafts, activities, etc. They have families who volunteer to come live as pioneers for the day- they make food, weave, create, etc. It's pretty cool. Mountains: Go up to Snowbird ski resort (June may still be a little chilly so bring a jacket) and take the Tram to the top. The Tram holds about 75 people, and has amazing views. You can either hike down (takes about an hour), or take the tram back (no shame whatsoever in that!) Or, drive up to Park City (about 30 min. from downtown), which has lots of fun little boutique shops, art galleries, restaurants, etc. At the base of Park City Mountain Resort, there is an alpine slide, zip line, horseback riding, etc. - all lots of fun. Discovery Gateway: This is a very fun, new children's museum in downtown Salt Lake, at the Gateway mall. Mostly for the younger crowd (although my 10-year-old still loves it), lots of hands-on, fun, educational stuff. There's also a planetarium at Gateway, and we're looking forward to expanded exhibits! If you're in town either on a Thursday night, or a Sunday morning, go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert. They practice on Thursday nights, and perform on Sunday mornings - free for both. As far as food, lots of variety, so it depends on your budget and taste. Apart from the regular chain restaurants (Chili's, etc.) there are a lot of really great local restaurants downtown. Some favorites include: Settebello (authentic Italian pizza), Market Street Grill or the New Yorker (fresh seafood/ steaks etc.), The Happy Sumo (sushi and Japanese), or The Metropolitan (gourmet everything - pricey, though). Hope this helps!

Just a smidgen of bloblessness around here today: attended three soccer games, and one baseball practice, did weekly shopping, weeded entire front yard (it's not really *that* big), put down weed prevention stuff, made dinner, and now I'm in my jammies and it's not even 8:00 yet! I love spring!

I'd love to answer any questions you have! The other posts were pretty accurate - more expensive housing east of I-15, but generally better neighborhoods, with a few pockets west of the freeway further south, like South Jordan, Herriman, etc. Overall, commuting from anywhere in the valley isn't that bad (relative to say, California), and like anywhere, different neighborhoods have different feels. Good luck!

I bought two 20-lb. bags of sticky rice at my regular grocery store today - they were $17.00 each! Also, they were the last two bags of sticky rice in the store. Our family goes through about one 20-lb. bag per month so I'm a few months ahead now.

I'm an attorney. DH and I have our own law firm - just the two of us, which works really well for our schedule as far as flexibility goes. I used to do estate planning, but now do only mediation, which I totally love, and do only about 4 hours a week.

We buy as much as we can from Costco, because it's less expensive and the quality really is great. Actually, most of the things we eat and use come from Costco! Some things on our regular rotation: Milk (way cheaper than grocery store at $5.00 for 2 gallons) Butter Eggs Yummy Pugliese crusty bread Regular everyday sandwich bread All kinds of meat and seafood - ribeyes, ground beef, salmon (Their meat is very high quality because they have such high turnover and volume) Frozen chicken breasts, also frozen salmon fillets Fresh fruit and veggies in season Frozen peas and corn Fresh grapefruit in snack packs Cheese - our Costo's cheese is literally half of what it is at the grocery store. All paper products - T.P., napkins, etc. Cleaning supplies - Tide, dish soap, shampoo, hand soap, Windex, 409, Clorox Rotisserie chickens - so cheap and convenient when you need something for dinner! Basically everything! They also have a lot of really good prepared food for quick and easy dinners, or if you're having a party, like meatballs, tamales, soups, pesto-sundried tomato-cheese dip, etc. I love to browse the area where the prepared stuff is and try new things. I've never had something that was icky.

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions...ts/B192878.PDF

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B192878.PDF After reading through the actual ruling published by the 2nd District Court of Appeals for California, I have to respectfully disagree with Gothic Girl - the attorney in me reads that the court has basically said that unless a child attends during the day a public or private school, or is tutored by someone with teaching credentials, they are in violation of California law. I'm not sure how homeschooling works in California, as far as umbrella schools, and the R-4 filing, but the way I read it is unless you have a California teaching credential, you can't be homeschooling your child. The Court of Appeals did send the case back to the trial court to determine what facts applied to this specific family and their children, but the underlying thing I see is that this court has basically said you can't homeschool unless you have a teaching credential.

Please, please, please, do not put wallpaper on every. surface. Especially not the ceilings! Our last house had approximately 3800 sq. ft. of wallpaper on every wall, and every ceiling. Really, really, really bad ugly 1950s, 1960s wallpaper.

My kids are in 4th, 2nd and 1st grades, with one who will start K this fall. They all have spelling words they need to study every day, and a few minor homework assignments here and there, but like someone else said, if they are just busywork, we just don't do them. We're pretty structured, in that we start homework at 4:00 sharp, and everyone is usually done by 5:30 at the latest. Everyone does a Saxon math lesson, and the younger 3 have a set of phonics books they are working through by reading aloud to me. My oldest son reads for about 45 min to an hour every day, books that have a purpose, whether history-related, or classical literature. We afterschool from the first of November to the end of March, then homeschool-lite in the summer (June, July, and August), taking the other months off due to busy schedules with soccer in the fall and baseball in the spring.

Because it's super easy: Cut leftover ham off bone, soak white beans overnight. Add in crockpot or soup pot on stove: Ham White Beans Chicken Broth A little water Sliced carrots Sliced celery Sliced onion, or onion flakes A little thyme Maybe a bay leaf if you have it Cook until it starts to smell yummy, or you are hungry, whichever is most convenient to you.

We had this massive storm move in so fast! When I left at 11:15 to pick up my son from a thing, the roads were clear and dry, and by 12:30, when we got home, we had about 5 inches of new snow and literally couldn't see our neighbor's house across the street. The plows hadn't hit the freeways yet and I was so thankful to make it home without incident. It was pretty scary there for a while! I was so glad to have all my little cowboys home, dry and safe with me!

The LDS church has announced tonight the death of the prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley. He was 97 years old and lived an amazing life. So sorry to hear of his passing.

Kristiana - I'm in SLC, too.

1. The sun is out today for the first time in over 2 weeks AND, it's like 25 degrees today! (we've been in the teens or lower for about 3 weeks) 2. Grateful for an internal medicine doc who understands how desperate I am to rid myself of this horrendous sinus infection, and prescribed me antibiotics (maybe I'll actually even sleep tonight!)

Here are three of my favorites: Salmon Satay: 2 T. Rosemary 4 cloves garlic 1/3 c. dijon mustard 1/3 c. white wine 1/3 c. lemon juice 1/4 c. oyster sauce (find in Asian section) 1/4 c. honey 2 t. Asian hot sauce Mix all ingredients together in large Ziploc bag, marinate salmon for about 30 min, then cook at 300 degrees, for 18-22 min. Scottish Salmon: 3 T. dijon mustard 6 T. finely-grated parmesan 1/2 lemon juiced 6 T. flour salt and pepper Combine Parmesan and flour. Coat salmon with Dijon then dredge in the mix. Pan fry, broil, or grill 8-10 min. at 400 degrees. Salmon with Easy Blender Hollondaise: Place 4-6 oz. pieces on foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 18-22 min. (Yes, just the salmon, with nothing on it at all!) Top with easy Blender Hollondaise: 1 c. butter, melted and very hot 4-5 egg yolks, room temperature 2 T. lemon juice 1/2 t. salt 1/4 t. Tobasco Add egg yolks, lemon, and salt in the blender. Turn it on and off a few times. Then turn it on high and pour in the hot butter. You will know when it's done, because it will change consistency and become thick. Serve over cooked salmon immediately. YUM!

I'm a semi-lurker. I've been coming to these boards for about 4 years, but don't post very often. I'm kind of a shy personality who rarely speaks up in large groups, so I guess that's consistent here, too.

We are former homeschoolers, who currently afterschool. I have 4 boys, in 4th, 2nd, 1st, and preschool. We do 1 lesson of Saxon Math every day after school, a phonics reading program with the younger ones, history-guided reading with the older ones, and SOTW at night. My kids' school is good, but not great, especially in math. My 4th grader basically does nothing in math at school, which is why we do Saxon. He's about to finish 54 in a few weeks. PS seems to be working well for us right now, although I certainly have days when I wish we were homeschooling again. I loved being in control of what my kids were learning, and how their time was spent, but we didn't have a lot of support, nor do we live in an area with lots of kids. Basically, the only source of friends for my kids is through ps, for better or for worse. I've been on these boards for about 4 years now and love that I've found a group of parents that have similar approaches and passions about their children's education