Swissmas and Temple Square

We don't get up to Temple Square to see the lights very often but this year I vowed to make it happen. We met Craig and Eve in Midway to see the 700 nativities they have on display from all over the world(awesome) and the gingerbread house competition (sweet). We decided to keep up with tradition and eat dinner at the Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square. We go to the Orem restaurant every now and then but it's just not the same. The place was packed as usual so we waited almost an hour and during the wait this little girl was walking toward one of the benches outside of the restaurant. She tripped in just the right spot and went headfirst into the sharp iron leg of the bench. I was standing right there so I helped her up. It took a few seconds but by the time I got her over to her mom blood was squirting out of her head, running down her face and all over her sweater. I felt so bad!!! It took about ten minutes to get it to stop bleeding and she had a huge goose-egg and a star shaped cut on her forehead. And probably a really bad headache to go along with it. Poor girl.

Santa was there so the girls got to sit on his lap but this is as close as Josie would get to him. Maybe next year.

We finally made it out of SF and went to Temple Square that was just packed with people!!! Downtown has changed so much that we didn't know where to park. It took about 30 more minutes to find a parking place and when we got out of the car it was close to 8:00 at night. Now, if we lived in SLC it wouldn't have been a big deal but having to drive 2 hours to get home it becomes a concern. We took a brief stroll through the crowds around Temple Square and headed back to the car because it had started to rain and the kids gloves were all wet from sticking them in the fountains. Lindsey said she had to test it to see if it was real water. Oh,it was real...and cold! We got home really late that night but had a good time and got to feel some Christmas cheer.

Thanksgiving

As you can tell, I'm trying to catch up on recent events from the past two weeks. Three days after Josie's birthday was Thanksgiving so the family got together again to eat lots of food. It was a pretty quiet Thanksgiving. We couldn't go outside for our annual rabbit hunt/target practice because it was about 5 degrees outside...okay, that's an exaggeration, it was 15. So we just hung out at home, played some games, watched movies, went to grandma's house. Kind of like a typical Sunday but without the church thing. Dinner consisted of us, gma and gpa and Dave and his kids although they showed up just as we were finishing dinner and the kids had already eaten.

After dinner we played a couple rousing games of Battleship. Emily and I beat Jaxton and Gpa (without cheating) and then I beat Gpa! That was probably the highlight of Thanksgiving. Wait, I just remembered what the real highlight of Thanksgiving was. I made my own pie crust for the first time ever and it turned out great. However, the process was nerve-racking and I was anxious the rest of the day. At the dinner table everyone was saying how much they were looking forward to eating the pies but I was dreading it. I didn't know if they were going to taste good, if they had cooked all the way through or if the crust was going to be soggy on the bottom. I waited for pops and Davy to take the first bites and they were a hit! Success!! The hardest part though, was trying to get the dough off the counter. Any tips from you pie makers out there?

Josie's Birthday

A few days after Emily's crazy friend party, we celebrated Josie's 3rd birthday. It was a more subdued event but fun just the same. She got little princess dolls, a Dora guitar, some clothes and a book. She hasn't put those dolls down in two weeks! It makes me feel so good to give a gift that gets used a lot. That doesn't seem to happen very often with toys but these are a big success! Yeah!

Emily's 9th Birthday

I haven't posted in awhile because nothing really blog-worthy has happened...until Emily's birthday hit. From then until Valentine's Day our lives will be one celebration after another. So I'm trying to take things one day at a time and not stress out too much. Emily turned nine and what I thought would be a small, simple birthday turned into a weeklong party. It started out with Emily and grandma going out to lunch and a shopping trip on Saturday. Em received a Webkins from her Nana Karen on Tues so her Webkins account wouldn't expire. She was so happy. I can't tell you how many tears were shed in the previous weeks because she was afraid her account (and her pets) would die. Wed. was her actual birthday so we went to dinner and then she got to open her "big" present...Emily the American Girl Doll!


Finally, on Friday, we had a friends party and invited 8 crazy, screaming girls over to celebrate by making pizza's, decorating cupcakes, playing games and watching Toy Story 3. I'm pretty used to the screaming and laughing with three girls and their friends but I have never heard that much high-pitched screaming and complete chaos in my life! Emily thought it was great. Next year...I'm shooting for low-key.

Love Note

Lindsey got this letter from a boy in her class yesterday. Her first Love Note!

Dear Lindsey,

I thenck you are beautiful and I Love you and i thick you are vere vere ckeut.

From,

J.(name withheld)

Are you serious?

Okay. I know it's been awhile since I last updated my blog but almost two months have gone by? Seriously, I thought it had been just a couple of weeks, maybe three. I'm a bag blogger! Well, here's a little of what's been going on since Aug. 31.

Mark's bro and sis came from SLC and Phoenix, respectfully, with their daughter and son, respectfully, and met us at Lake Powell over Labor Day weekend. It was just like summer...hot during the days but it cooled off so nicely at night we could actually sleep. We had a really good time waterskiing, wakeboarding, kneeboarding, riding waverunners, tubing, cliff jumping and swimming. And of course we hit the marina for ice cream and carp feeding.

A couple weeks after that we headed north for a trip to Lagoon during Frightmares. It's always been fun to take the kids there even when they were really little but this time was especially fun because Emily is tall enough to ride every ride. I was amazed when she got on The Rocket rides, Blast Off and Re-entry. This is a 217 ft tall tower that shoots you up in the air at 4.5G's. The re-entry is a 200 ft free fall. The last time I rode that ride I thought my entire stomach was going to come up my throat and I screamed so loud my voice was gone the rest ofthe day. Then she rode Wicked which again, shoots you straight up in the air only to drop you straight down the other side. She's a thrill-seeker! Yeah!

Josie had so much fun riding the kiddie rides and Lindsey was able to ride most of the rides. In a couple of years she will be able to ride all of them. That's going to be really fun. I miss my kids being little but it's sure fun to do big kid things with them.

This is a picture of Lindsey picking out her pumpkin at the local pumpkin patch.

That brings us to last weekend when we headed back to Lake Powell for one last trip of the year. It was Fall Break so we got a long weekend and the weather was beautiful. The water has started to cool down but it was still swimmable, the water was smooth and the sky was a deep blue that you'll only find in the fall.

We took a couple of friends this time and had a blast. Emily and Lindsey both got up on the kneeboard behind the boat for the first time. It was really funny because they were both pretty nervous about starting in water but as soon as we put the boat in gear, they popped up and got onto the board. It was the funniest thing to watch...the boat was barely moving but I guess it was just enough to get them up.



This picture is of a tarantula we found crossing the stream in Moki Canyon. I've never come across one of those in Lake Powell.

A couple days later was my dad's 71st bday and now it's time for Halloween. The fun never stops!

The Last Hoorah!

The last hoorah before school starts back up began on Friday with a trip to the pool with a bunch of moms and kids from our ward. It was a ton of fun as the mom's showed off their long-suppressed tricks on the diving board. I wish I would have taken my camera for proof but trust me, it was hilarious and the winners of the competition were:

Longest Dive goes to Marni (her facial expressions won this event for her).
Best Cannonball goes to Teresa and her sychronized diving partner, Dallin.
Best Back Dive goes to Amber...what form!
Best Toe Touch goes to Jana...STRETCH!
Highest Butt in the air goes to me...the pike will do it every time.
Best Flip...can't remember.
And Rebecca won the award for holding out the longest...15 years!!! Hopefully,it won't be another 15 years before she goes off the diving board again.

That night we took off for the mountains and the cool, crisp air. We rode horses, Mark went on a mountain bike ride and the kids just played and played.

 

This is me riding "Roy" on top of the world. What a view!

 

Josie and I went for a short ride. She loved it.

 

Today was the first day of school and here are Em and Linds in their first day outfits. The drop off went well...no tears...much better than last year. Both girls really like their teachers and they're willing to go back tomorrow. Phew!