Remembering my Aunt LaVonne

LaVonne Stewart Wallace 1925 ~ 2009 LaVonne Stewart Wallace-our devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend-passed away on August 28, 2009, surrounded by her loving family. She was born on February 1, 1925, in Fairview, Utah, the third of four children of Arthur and Vera Peterson Stewart. LaVonne grew up in Fairview and married her sweetheart, Paul Kimball Wallace, on December 4, 1946, in the Manti Temple. Paul and LaVonne enjoyed a wonderful, full life together until the day she died. They had six children, 15 grandchildren, and 11 great grandchildren. LaVonne loved to cook, to take walks with her sister and husband, and to root for the Utah Jazz. She embodied the highest qualities of friendship, blessing her friends through constant service. She belonged to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. She also relished holiday celebrations, selflessly devoting countless hours to preparing each detail of those celebrations for her family's enjoyment. How we will miss you until we see you again! LaVonne is survived by her loving husband, Paul; her children Stewart (Georgianna), Clark (Ellen), David, Peter-deceased (Julie), Michelle Bills, and Matthew (Cindy); and her sister, Bonnie Plant. She was preceded in death by her brothers Farrell and Garn; her son, Peter; and her great-grandson, Beck DeGraff. Her family thanks the medical staff at Harmony Healthcare for their great kindness. Funeral services will be held at Kenwood First Ward, 3080 South Kenwood Street (1765 East), Salt Lake City, Utah, on Tuesday, September 1, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. Viewing Monday, August 31, at Wasatch Lawn Mortuary, 3401 South Highland Drive, from 6-8 p.m., and on September 1 from 9:45-10:45 prior to the funeral services at the church. Interment: Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.

Age is just a number

How old do you think I look in this picture?

(I think I look about 12.....I was 28....it is a goofy picture)

A quote

"But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal." [President John Kennedy, September 14, 1960]

I heard this quote tonight during a special on Ted Kennedy, and after a semi-rough week with a very large class at school, it reminded me why I work where I work, and why I work a diverse and at-risk population. It is not meant to be political, but rather a reminder that we all live in a community and we are all responsible to make this country a better place in any little way that we can. It was also amazing to me that this quote is nearly 50 years old, yet very timely in the present time.

First day of school

Dalan has gotten up with me on the first day of the new school year to take my picture. He is so good to humor me in all my wacky ideas. Here are the pictures from the present school year, and pictures from school years past.

Jessi, 2009-2010 school year.

Jessi and Dalan, first day of school...2009

Jessi, 2008-2009 school year.

Jessi and Dalan, first day of school...2008

Jessi, 2007-2008 school year

Showing off my new lunch box.

Now, just wish me luck in surviving the school year while facing huge class sizes!

Living the vida loca!

In addition to going back to work, and renovating parts of our house, this week has been full of completely random and crazy things happening all around me. It has been one of those weeks that you could never predict would be so out of the ordinary.

First of all, I was walking Piper one evening this week, and got followed/stalked by a car. It totally freaked me out, and I am pretty sure that there was a high probability I could have been kidnapped/raped/murdered/etc by the person in this car. I called my mom as it was happening, and I don't know if this freaked them out enough to back off, or if I just wasn't the person they were looking for or if they really weren't following me at all (which I think is unlikely, but I am hopeful that it was big, strange coincidence). Either way, it freaked me out, and made me upset that something like that happened so close to home.

Then, last night I went down to the Gallivan Center with a group of friends to see Iron and Wine. The plan was to go to Gracie's after the show, so I parked near Gracie's, thus having my car close at the end of the night. Well, we went to Johnny's on Second instead, so Nghia and Randi gave me a ride to my car when I was ready to leave, as members of our group were still staying at the bar. When we got to the parking lot in which my car was located, we found it surrounded by a dozen cops and marked off in caution tape. I spoke to one of the officers, and he explained that there had been some gunfire after a concert at another bar, and some cars had been hit by bullets. My car luckily escaped any bullet wounds, but Amy's car was not so lucky. I called her, and she and the rest of our group headed over from Johnny's to inspect the damage. One bullet had entered Amy's car through the head light and then through the air filter. I feel really bad about Amy's car, but I am so glad that none of us were in that parking lot when the shooting occurred. Scary stuff.

After dropping me off, Nghia apparently made a "wide right turn" and was pulled over by one of the police officers from the crime scene. The officer reportedly thought he reeked of alcohol (probably due to the fact that someone had spilled a beer all over him at the Gallivan Center) and made Nghia do the field sobriety test, and take a breathalyzer test as well. He only blew a 0.01 as he had only had two beers over the course of several hours, and was sent on his way without any further consequences. Not even a ticket for the "wide right turn."

So, if random crazy things happen in groups of three, I think my friends and I are done. Thank goodness! I prefer the quiet life...I am not up for livin' the vida loca.

Fireplace fun!

The insurance company is replacing all of our floors downstairs due to the leak....yes! We will be picking out new floors sometime in the near future. Dalan and I decided to do some additional renovations downstairs while the house is torn apart. First, the fireplace surround, and then the downstairs bathroom.

This weekend we decided to start things off with a small project and replace the tiles around our fireplace. They previously were a ceramic tile in a mauve/rose color that we did not really like, and looked quite outdated. We decided to replace them with a natural stone in a neutral tone.

We found the tiles that we liked, and got to work. We ran into some problems immediately. The tiles around the sides of the fireplace were not true 4 x 4's, although that is even what they are labeled at the hardware store. They are in fact 4.25 x 4.25, and Lowe's and Home Depot do not sell any of the natural looking stones in that size......grrrrr! So after accidentally buying the wrong size, we ended up finding some at tile discount store in Draper that we really liked in the right size for only 50 cents a piece. Getting the tiles cut correctly for the floor was a bit of a pain, and after two additional trips to Lowe's, we finally had everything all lined up and ready to put down on the floor. I love the result. It looks so much better, and I cannot wait to get the new floor.

The mauve tiles...last Christmas....I forgot to take "before" pictures.

Bye, bye old tiles!

Dalan surveying the damage!

Just concrete!

Oh no! They are the wrong size!

Almost done! This is the best pictures of the colors!

All done, just waiting for the rest of the new floors!

Should have followed directions

Ali found these instructions on how to make easy cotton skirts forever ago, and we have been meaning to get together and make them, but have never made the time. So, before I go back to work, and Ali goes back to school we decided to just do it already. Ali came over with her sewing machine, and off we went to pick out fabric.

The instructions said to measure your waist and then get double or triple the amount of fabric. We went with double, and after we sewed the back seam together it looked like we could hula hoop in the amount of fabric we had around our middle section. The instructions and the amount of fabric we had just were not making sense to me, so I decided to ditch the instructions and go off on my own, after all, I have made our Halloween costumes for the last several years just from the ideas in my head, why would my visions of my new skirt not work too? So, I reduced my fabric to about 2/3's of what I originally had, and started sewing, all while Ali diligently kept to the plan the instructions laid out.



Then I started having trouble with my sewing machine. It is the problem I have with the bobbin from time to time, and I have always blamed my sewing machine for the errors. However, tonight after getting frustrated with my machine, I went to use Ali's and had the same problem. A problem she has never had. Apparently, it is one hundred percent a user/Jessi error. So, the stitching on my skirt turned out to be super sketchy, and due to my not following the steps in the correct order, next to impossible to stitch up over the elastic. It is does not flow the same way as Ali's due to my fabric reduction. It looks super frumpy.


The moral of the story, follow the directions and you get a cute and wearable product. If you don't follow the directions and sew like a blind little monkey, you get a piece of garbage skirt. Oh well, we did have fun, and bless Ali's heart, she really did try to save my hopeless little skirt. However, after showing Dalan and my parents, it truly is going into the trash.