I'm just venting...

Ok, so this summer when I was sick I apparently got a tax bill form from the Utah County assessors. I never even saw it until a few weeks ago when I was cleaning off the computer desk. I had no idea what is was and actually assumed that it was sent to me in error - I've been in business about 5 years and have never seen a form like that. So yesterday another one was sent by certified mail. Apparently the government NOT ONLY taxes you on your income, but also on all the personal property you own for your business. That's double taxation after sales tax. And they retax you every year for the same items on a depreciated scale. I had NO idea that I had to pay taxes on my preschool property. Somehow I missed the list the first 3 years, but now I have to go through every receipt for the last 5 years and write down EVERYTHING I own for the preschool, when I purchased it and how much it cost. I called to complain/ask about how to do this. She said I had to include everything even if it's primarily for home use, if it was dontated (I have to guess a figure), if I bought it at a yard sale, etc. It really sounds like an unsurmountable task to me. Most of my stuff has been donated, or I owned it before preschool, or I bought it for the family and just use it for preschool, or I bought it at a yard sale or DI or the dollar store (all of which give generic receipts or no receipts.) So anyway, I was ticked off. Luckily Steve agreed with me when I told him about it. (It's great to have a husband who sympathizes with you.) Anyway, am I wrong in thinking that a small home business shouldn't have to deal with this? I barely make enough after expenses anyway! Now I'm going to be taxed more. Plus, I think it's a bad way for the government to want to stimulate the economy - if a business is double taxed for everything they buy and retaxed yearly, they will want to buy less. Anyway, I'm on the assessors naughtly list and I'm sure I'll be audited. But actually I'd be happy to have them figure it out and not me!

Last trimester

Yesterday also started my final trimester! Here I am looking very pregnant and feeling very pregnant. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get much bigger. The funny thing is that people I don't see much are just now congratulating me. Maybe they feel pretty safe that I really am pregnant and not just gaining 40 lbs over the last 6 months for nothing. Here's hoping that the next 3 months go quickly with all the holiday stuff going on! (And here's double hoping that I don't gain another 40 lbs with all the holiday stuff going on!) Baby girl Asp #3 is on her way!

Primary Program

Yesterday was my 4th primary program I've had to write and carry out. (And it SHOULD be my last!) Luckily it doesn't really stress me out any more. We practiced last Sunday and Saturday at an activity. Everyone did great and the program went well yesterday! The Sunbeams and CTR 5 (Emily's class) started out by saying, "I'm (name) and I'm a (characteristic)." Emily went last and said, "I'm Emily and I'm a good swimmer. But most importantly, we are Children of God." Then both classes sang the first verse of I'm a Child of God. Very cute and a fun way to introduce the "I'm a Child of God" theme for this year. Emily did a fantastic job and spoke very clearly and cutely in the microphone. She did pretty well on all the songs too. She sat in the front row and it was fun to watch her. Next year Ella will get to be in the program - scary, huh?

Halloween Party 2008

Yesterday was the annual Asp Halloween Party! It was a ton of work and I hope I forget that before next year! But it was also tons of fun and I'm glad all the Utah county sibs could get together! We started out at the Lehi Legacy Center for their annual carnival and trick-or-treating. I was already exhausted before I got there because of a Primary program practice/activity, cleaning the house, preparing food and activities for the party, and getting everyone all dressed up and ready to go! The kids had a blast doing all the carnival games. I rested while Steve took them around the track trick-or-treating. Emily insisted on doing ALL the games and loved every bit of it. Here's the Wizard of Oz family!We finally got home around 6:45 to eat! Here's pics of the main "curse". Steve BBQed up some wormy burgers and we found some old moldy buns in the back of the fridge. The lettuce was starting to go bad and the worms and flies had gotten into it, but no one seemed to mind! We also served a side of brain! For those that were so inclined, they could munch into some caterpillar cacoons! (Pigs in a blanket.)Lynn brought Werewolf, mummy and ghost poop as well as vampire and ghoul guts as side dishes. (Munchkins and jello!) Paige brought witches brew (root beer and dry ice.) Jill made some yummy brownies with spider web piping on top! Very yummy and very gross dinner!

After satisfying our gross tooth, we got the kids involved in some games. Paige started with pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern. Then Jill played pumpkin, pumpkin, boo and pumpkin "bozo" buckets. I played Halloween cake walk and had the kids make a ghost craft. Then Lynn got all the kids and adults involved in learning a 12 days of Halloween song. Then she gave all the kids glow necklaces and took them on a walk around the block singing the song! How cute!!
If you feel left out, make sure you're in town next Halloween!!

Our week

Last Thursday night we went to Cornbellys to celebrate Lynn's birthday. We'd never been there before, but had a blast! They had so much to do and we didn't even get to the "big kid" side. Here's some of our pics.

Emily on the themed tire swings.A darling playhouse - I would LOVE one of these for our backyard and preschool!
All dressed up and ready to jump in the princess jumphouse.
Our family in the pumpkin carriage.
Milking the cow.
Driving the tractor.
They loved this slide!
Playing the the cornbox.
Corn angel!
Racing ducks in the water gutters.
On the hayride.
Cow train.
Then on Saturday we celebrated Karyssa's birthday at the McDonalds in Provo. They'd recently renovated and the kids loved it!

Ella's reward for earning all her marbles (our new incentive program) was to go to the park. It may be one of our last times this year. But the kids did have fun catching falling leaves!Here's our community helper fieldtrip pics from last week. We went to the fire station and post office. Don't the kids look cute in their preschool shirts?

The Magic is over...

Well, not for me and Steve - worried you didn't I? Anyway, yesterday at library time, the teacher had a Magic Big and Small machine. She put in a regular sized set of dishes and turned the crank and POOF... they magically turned small! Then she put them back in, turned the crank and POOF... they magically turned huge! Emily and Ella were having the time of their life. All the other moms there were chuckling at them at how involved they were interacting with the teacher. Well, that night they were telling daddy all about it at dinner and convinced me to make one for them. They were just so cute asking even though I knew it would ruin it for them.
So here is our creation - just a bit smaller than the teachers. I got out 3 sets of dishes - from the dollhouse, from the play kitchen and regular sized dishes. I put them all in the big and small machine and showed them how it worked. They played with the dishes for a little while, then started putting in other objects and were SORELY disappointed when they didn't ACTUALLY change size. We had to tell them to use their imagination and eventually they got back into it. They would crawl in themselves, have their sister turn the crank and come out small or big. I'm glad they eventually had fun with it, but they sure were disappointed that it wasn't actually magic. It's just so cute to think that they actually thought those dishes were getting bigger and smaller at the library!

Emily's Halloween concert

Emily's choir performed for the first time last night. They got to sing before the Sleepy Hollow production at the amphitheater across from the temple. Here she is with her friend Bella before the performance.The pictures I took when she was on stage turned out pretty dark, but luckily it looks better on the video camera. (Unfortunately, I have no idea how to post videos.) They did a fantastic job singing their two songs and Emily was totally in her element! Definitely the cutest one there!!

Snowy Day!

We woke up to snow today!! I was shocked and the girls were excited! I let them get all their winter gear on and go out and play for a few minutes. They had fun until I went in - they sure do like an audience! It melted by the time church was over, so I was glad I'd let them play. Good thing I got out the winter clothes yesterday and Steve changed the furnace filters and cleaned out the vents!

On Friday, we had our friends, the Lights come to visit. I used to babysit the girls about 2 years ago and it was fun to see them again! I watched the girls while Ben and Carolyn went to a wedding. I don't know how much Emily and Ella remember them, but they had fun playing together!
This week was Emily's first school conference. The kindergarten teachers did more of a walking report card and we walked around to different stations and Emily would show us what she was learning. I already know what Emily knows and she's known all those things since she was 3. But I was glad for a few minutes to see Emily in her element and chat with the teacher a bit. Emily is loving school though and is very excited to be reading and writing. Yesterday, she was upstairs writing words in a notebook and needed to spell the word "cow." So she turned on the TV to a show called Word World that she knew had cow in it. Pretty resourceful, isn't she! We went to celebrate after the conference and got our last (and first) ice cream cones of the season.

So I've been enjoying watching Steve's shopping abilities lately. About 4 weeks ago, I did the grocery shopping and it wore me out for the rest of the day. I complained to Steve about it and he offered to do the grocery shopping from now on. So the first week he came back with bag after bag of goodies!!! So after I chewed him out and wrote a more detailed list the next week, I sent him out again. This was in the morning before General Conference. That day he came back with nothing because he was fed up with the checkout lanes! Yesterday he tried again and was perfect! Good thing I didn't give up on him!

Poor Steve is sick today - the last in our family to get it. Probably from the trauma of shopping yesterday. Guess it's a good day since I got him to do household chores yesterday and tomorrow he should be able to return to work!