Finale and Festivities!

     We finished up our Oregon trip with some fun activities. We took the kids to the local bowling alley but it was a bit busy so we opted for the attached arcade center and they all had a great time playing games and earning tickets for some fun, if not simple, prizes.

The younger boys blew through their $7 pretty quick, hence the sad face on Brock.

    The swimming at the Running Y resort, courtesy of Ann and David, was definitely the best finish to our visit. All of my kids are lovers of swimming/water activities and what could be better then swimming with your cousins!?

Such a fun time!

     Isaac's personal highlights from our trip were the opportunities his parents/dad gave him to drive. We heard no complaining from him nearly all week as long as he got a chance to drive, even if he didn't get to drive 'far'.

Two weeks with a learners permit have added a few white hairs to my head!

    Carter was just mildly excited to get back to school so he could receive these awesome Beats headphones that he won at school the week before our trip. Lucky!

He earned 'pawsitives', which got him in a drawing and his name was drawn for these headphones.

     And to finish off our week we/I celebrated my 43rd birthday! I got a nice gift from my friend and primary president, dinner at Chili's with my most favorite, White Queso spinach dip, YUM! (Oh yeah, Greg was at Chili's too, so two of my favorites. ha ha) Cheesecake for dessert and BEST OF ALL a new cordless Dyson vacuum!!!! Greg, Mark, Kayli and Tanner all generously chipped in and bought this vacuum that I've been dreaming of for quite awhile now. It may have come a day late but it's worth the wait!! Definitely a memorable birthday!

    People!! It's DECEMBER!!! I'm at a loss for how quick time is going lately. We came home from our Thanksgiving trip to a Christmas decorated home thanks to Kayli. We still have a tree to put up and decorate, which will be happening tonight. All the kids are excited and the count down to Christmas has officially begun. It's a good thing our Christmas is mostly about traveling this year because I'm nowhere near ready or prepared to do gift shopping. Time needs to slow down just a little!

Thanksgiving parts I & II

    We had two Thanksgivings this week and both were good fun and good food. First we had an early Thanksgiving celebration with the Kmetzsch fam. Thanks to Justin and Cassity for hosting.

   It was an early Christmas miracle when cute, tiny Elsie let us cuddle her for a minute.

    Then on to our second Thanksgiving celebration. The only drawback is we had to drive all day to get started and we left behind a few of our 'finest' children. (Mainly Tanner, Kayli and Mark are side notes at this point. Ha Ha)

We all survived with only a few squabbles along the way. It was Isaac and his tablet that really caused the most annoyance. I'd post a video to show you what I'm talking about but I don't want to face the wrath of Isaac.

 We spent our fist day exploring the caves. We had a great time and all the kids were good sports! Talk about amazing weather for November!

I can't believe how happy Charlie was to explore with us, especially up and down some pretty steep stairs.

Thanksgiving day was great. Yummy food and good company. Thanks to Ann and David for hosting.

    I got a few people to play my 'wrapped' candy bar game. They may have been annoyed but they were all good sports and didn't cry or throw any tantrums, which was quite impressive considering the speed and pressure of the game.

Tad was the official turkey carver and he did a great job.

So much fun!

Believe it or not, the weather has been so pleasant these crazies actually went on a boat ride. And what's even crazier, David and Dyrin actually did some wake boarding! Fun and memorable!

    I stayed behind and did a fun craft with my sisters. I think they turned out pretty cute.

 We took the kids bowling but it was a little too busy, for us, so we played arcade games instead.

Isaac made his $7 bucks count.

Greg even got in on the action.

This little girl insisted on playing the big kid games, which was pretty silly!

McClane was determined to get as many tickets as possible and came out with a pretty good haul of prizes.

This kid is a gambler and loses every time and then is just bummed the rest of the time.

Carter also made his $7 go as far as possible.

   Not photographed are the many cousins, aunts and uncles we got to visit with up at the ranch. I never can stop visiting long enough to snap a few photos but it was a great time. Our fun time is nearly done and we've really had a great visit. We also have seen a movie, "Wonder" a must see! We hope to do a few more fun activities today and then of course we'll end our trip with a nice, delightful, Sabbath day.The only down side to this visit was the family that couldn't be here but they were thought of often and the kids I left behind were spied on regularly!

45!!!

     Greg is getting so OLD!! (Ha Ha) We have a great man in our lives who takes time to camp with his boys, is the best example of a hard worker, serves so many people and is just the best father, husband and friend.

Sand dunes camp outs are the best.

     Isaac helped one of his best friends celebrate her 16th birthday.

Bobbi and Isaac

    And we all helped Greg celebrate his big 45!

Battery tender, candy and some shorts to wear on the stationary bike.

 

Oh and the much appreciated card and money from the in-laws. He looks puzzled but really he's just annoyed that no ones looking at 'his fish'.

     So that's the excitement from our week. We're all looking forward to the coming week we get to spend with family, it's going to be GREAT!

    And P.S. Isaac passed his learners permit test so he's that much closer to being an independent, driving teenager. Heaven help us!!

A few things

     Not the busiest week but I did take a photo or two. Our cute Smalls finally got a much needed hair cut. You'll see his before photo at the end of this post. He's wearing sunglasses to hide his shame at being so 'disheveled' but in this photo he couldn't be cuter!

    We finally had a cub scout pack meeting after a 5 month break! I'm not sad about the break but it was good to get caught up with things. And check out the amazing talents of some of our new cub scout leaders, seriously amazing! And after a record 30 minute pack meeting the Bishop has given me permission to hold pack meetings quarterly!!! I've never been happier about my cub scout calling!

Look at the front of the Dot boxes carefully, they actually say "Cubs give thanks."

     These two are my most favorite four year olds!! Believe it or not, 'tiny' Sara is actually two months older than Charlie despite the huge height difference. (I grow mini-giants and our neighbors just grow mini's.)

I bought this cute outfit in a size 5, it was a bit small on Charlie so I bought it again in a size 7 and gave Sara the size 5. It's a little big on each of them but that just means they can be 'twins' for the whole winter. (And for $12 I didn't mind buying this outfit twice.)

Here's our scraggly 'monster'. He's fun!

     So that's our week of fun and photos. Greg's birthday is Sunday and he's currently on a scout camp out with Carter. We intend to celebrate with pizza, peach pie and ice cream, which should be good and easy. (And Greg did receive his birthday card, Mom but he won't open it until Sunday, but thank you in case we forget to tell you later.)

Happy Halloween

   This year we indulged the kids and let them do the Main St. trick or treating here in town a day before Halloween and it was actually pretty fun and who's going to say no to extra candy!?

I'm down to four candy collectors.

     Charlie enjoyed the elementary school costume parade with her best friend, Sarah.

Princess Charlie and Sarah. They high fived every elementary kid who noticed them.

    This is the first time in a few years I only had two kids participating in the Halloween parade.

Two years as Darth Vader, easy and cool!

     This Halloween we varied from tradition and let the kids spend most of their evening doing the traditional trick or treating instead of visiting family and friends for most the night. I think I prefer this new Halloween night schedule. (I got to stay home and hand out candy and mostly relax since we don't get a lot of trick or treaters at our house.)

The princess became Spiderman for a minute. (I should have sent her around the neighborhood twice but she has no 'staying' power!)

A beat up hobo.

    Kayli wasn't about to miss out on the fun and joined the kids trick or treating just as soon as she got home from work. I'm liking this married daughter situation a lot!

'Wendy' and Princess Charlie enjoying a little cotton candy. (Kayli insisted on the costume change from Spiderman back to a princess. It's a good thing Charlie had her princess dress on under the spiderman costume.)

    The night ended at a decent hour and everyone was happy! Halloween 2017 was a SUCCESS!!

I think everyone got just what they wanted. 

     Now let the holiday season begin. Soon we'll be celebrating Greg's birthday, Thanksgiving and then it will be Christmas before we know it! 

(Is it Spring yet!?)

A few fun things and Isaac’s birthday.

     This week my three boys, Isaac, Carter and Isaac had a fall piano recital at the local assisted living center. I'm not going to lie, I was pleasantly surprised at how well all three of them played.

Isaac played a duet with his piano teacher.

Carter's turn.

Brock did great especially for playing in front of a bigger group then he's used to.

    These photos are from a couple weeks ago when Kayli took Brock and Charlie to the American Fork fire departments open house. (McClane was home sick, sad.)

They had a blast!

Charlie always loves spending time with cousins. Cute Elsie was her cousin pal on this adventure.

     And now it's Isaac's 15th birthday. He opted not to have balloons but to get a little extra cash instead. He also requested his own jello cheesecake. Unfortunately the gift he wants is slow to arrive so he's not going to have any gifts to open today but at least he still has something to look forward to in the coming weeks. There's a good chance he'll be going this coming week to get his driver's permit but for today he's just happy to hang out at home and has plans to see a scary movie with some friends later this afternoon.

Thanks for the card and cash G & G Baker!

This was how he spent the first couple hours of the morning, in mom's bed watching the last couple episodes of Stranger Things 2 on Netflix. (I can't believe we finished all nine episodes in less than 24 hours.)

And here's just a small sample of each boys piano recital performance.

     So aside from celebrating Isaac's birthday our weekend has a few other events to enjoy. Greg's currently on a scout camp out with Carter. Charlie has a birthday party to attend for her friend and this evening our ward is having a fall party so it should be a great finish to our week. 

Something to blog about!

     This week proved to be a bit more eventful verses last week. This week, Thursday, we started fall break and with that Greg and I had planned a little get-away to celebrate the end of the irrigation season. We booked an overnight stay at a resort in Midway, The Zermatt, that was pretty awesome. We had a delicious and very expensive dinner, a beautiful drive home and just a great break from reality even if it was brief. (These photos are in the wrong order.)

This was our scenic drive home over Guardsman Pass and a huge reminder of how GORGEOUS this world is!

Our delicious dinner, Chateaubriand, expensive but worth every penny!

Just a glimpse of the resort we stayed at. And some cute, coughing, goats.

    And this past Sunday Charlie got to wear her new dress and was just as cute as she could be.

This is a dress I need in my size!

    We've definitely had a fun week and are especially happy with the break we're enjoying from school and work. And I don't know about you but I'm still wondering where September and now October have gone. And fall may be pretty at first but when the temperature drops, the wind blows, and the leaves fly and clutter up the yard I really start to detest this time of year. Sad but true, I'm already longing for spring!