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Monday, July 28, 2008

Dinosaur ROAR!




Over the weekend, we took the kids to the Ogden Dinosaur Park. It's like a zoo with dinosaurs and big playgrounds. They even had two robotic dinos that were moving and roaring at eachother. Jace and Lady were not easily convinced that those dinos were pretend. We also spent a good amount of time in the educational building making dino crafts and playing on the computers. The kids thought it was great--and we thought it was well worth the drive. I'm sure we'll be checking this out again soon!


Carter's favorite dino was the Gigantasaurus (I'm sure I spelled that wrong)--so of course, he needed a picture with it. When no one was looking, Jace climbed under the ropes and got some hands-on experience with these little guys. It was boy heaven all afternoon!


And if you need a good laugh, you just need to picture this next little tidbit. Tim's back bumper got destroyed on the freeway a couple of weeks ago (long story). He gorilla glued it together---not pretty, but functional and only slightly white trash--so he has been checking wrecking yards for a replacement. He found a bumper at some place in West Valley. We stopped to pick it up coming back from the dino park. To start with, we got lost in a not-so-nice part of West Valley. We finally found the place and Tim went in to retrieve our new bumper. It was 100 degrees outside, so I was going to take the kids into the building, but Tim said there were way too many shady characters roaming around. He brought the bumper to the van and we attempted to fit it inside--mind you, we had all 5 kids already filling up the van. We tried the back--not a chance. So Tim hoisted it onto the roof where we tried to tie it down. The problem being, the plastic bumper just kept bending, so we couldn't get it tight enough (and we've already experienced what happens when you get on the freeway with something---like a recliner---not properly tied down). So we took it off, and tried putting it behind the front seats. It fit--sort of. Kenzie and Lady had to ride home with a bumper across their legs and surrounding their heads. From the backseat, you could hear Maddy giggling and telling them they looked like they were in a bathtub. Some days, we are walking a very fine line between trying to save money and looking like total white trash.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Memories

Memories...I hope you will play along.Here are the directions:

1. Add a comment on my blog and leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot just do anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments!

Dinosaurs for your Birthday



On Monday, Carter had his very first friend party. We went to the Dinosaur Museum---taking five 7 & 8 year old boys somewhere like that is quite an adventure. I don't think they walked anywhere--they would stop and look at something, and then run until they wanted to look again. I am so glad I never had quintuplets----that would be insane!

Birthday #8



We celebrated Carter's birthday on Sunday at Grandma's. His birthday is August 1st, but we have family reunions the next two weekends, so we celebrated a little early (Carter didn't seem to mind). We did the usual gifts and cake, and added in a few rounds of the water game. Apparently we need to review the category forest animals with the cousins--we got the expected "deer", "raccoon", and "skunk"---we also got the unexpected "monkey", "giraffe", and "elephant". Who is teaching these kids anyway?

Steelin' the Day Away




Saturday was our annual Steel Days Celebration in A.F. Nicole, Ora and all their kids, along with Lindsey's boys, participated in the big 5K race. Lindsey sat this one out (she's prepping for her 10K on the 24th). Morgan took first overall for the women! She's pretty darn fast! We all hooked up by 10:00 and went to the parade. I'm pretty sure we took home more than our fair share of candy--we'll have taffy until Halloween. After the parade, we went swimming and then back to mom's for dinner and games. It was a fun, crazy, tiring day!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Mountain Men








Once a year Tim and his best friend from high school, John, go a on backpacking trip in the Uintas. This year, they decided to bring along some of the kids. Tim took Kenzie, Maddy, and Carter along for the adventure. They started at the Crystal Lake Trail Head and hiked in several miles to some small lakes. The mosquitos were rampant, and they all had to wear very fashionable head nets to keep the bugs off their faces and out of their mouths. They fished and caught lots of very small fish, so small that they threw them all back. The kids also tried some of that tasty (right!) dehydrated food. Maddy preferred her dry ramen noodles, and Kenzie thought it was all gross--even the ice cream (that tasted like stale lucky charms). Carter stuck with granola bars and candy. The complaining was kept to a minimum, and they all came home ready to go again next year. I will not be joining them--ever!--Camping is great, but I require a few essentials like some type of water (that I don't have to filter) and an outhouse of some sort (it doesn't have to be pretty, but I refuse to dig my own whole for--well, you know).

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Take a Hike!





On Monday morning, Papa and Grandma took Kenzie, Morgan, Hunter, and Brit hiking in Pleasant Grove Canyon. Maddy didn't want to hike (big suprise there). The cousins all enjoyed the 1.5 mile adventure, complete with rattlesnake. Yep! That's right--the snake pictured above is a 14 inch rattler. Good thing Papa noticed it's tail before one of those kids tried to make it a pet! They played in the waterfall and Kenzie tried to bring the whole mountain home in her backpack. We now have a very full bucket of rocks sitting in the garage waiting to----I have no idea---- but Kenzie sure enjoyed picking them up. Thank goodness for grandmas and papas!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Where is the miner?





Since Tim is finally spending a little time at home, we decided to take the kids to the Kennecott Copper Mine today. You never know how an "educational" outing will go over, but the kids were thrilled! (Lady got on board once she realized there was not going to be a creepy mining guy running around like she has seen in Scooby Doo.) The dumptrucks looked like tiny little tonka trucks, and Jace could have watched them forever. Carter and Kenzie thought the display with microscopes and minerals was "amazing" (Kenzie's description). Of course, no trip is complete without inspecting every inch of the gift shop for the best and cheapest souvenir. We came away with a bag of rocks (everyone got to pick their four favorite stones), a very fake but very large gold coin (Carter was willing to spend his own money for that little trinket), and some crystal-ish key chains (the girls want to hang them in their windows and make rainbows with the sun). All in all, a great way to spend the morning!

Protecting the Young





While we were on campus, we came across some baby ducks. Much to the dismay of the mother ducks, Jace and Lady just couldn't resist getting as close as possible. And since I didn't have any stale bread handy (imagine that!), Jace decided to throw grass at them. Those poor mama ducks were quacking up a storm--Jace is probably lucky they didn't come after him. This duck pictured above finally took here babies and made a beeline for the pond. Jace chased them all the way!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Cougartown. . . at home






We finally finished the floors in the new office this weekend--Hooray! Now we need to add some fun stuff, so we took the kids down to BYU to take pictures for the walls. We are going all out with the BYU theme--I'm even working on painting a "Y" on the wall. Anyway, here are some of my favorites. Let me know which ones you think are good enough for framing. I'll post some pictures of the basement when the rest is finished (carpet comes in Saturday, and then we'll be done!! ---except for the bathroom, but who really needs one more toilet to clean?).

Friday, July 4, 2008

Cul-de-sac of FIRE!











The famous Stadium of Fire slipped just out of reach this year with the whole Miley Cyrus thing, so we had our own Cul-de-sac of Fire. Lindsey, Nicole, and Grandma came up and joined with all my neighbors for a little Independence Day Celebration. (Most the hubbies were down at Nicole's cabin putting wood on the ceiling.) As you can see, the kids loved it---except for Jace and Ryker. They kept their ears covered all night, and Ryker must have asked a dozen times if he could just go home. We made it home with all appendages in place and no one was bleeding or burned, so all in all, I'd have to say it was a success.

The kids got an early July 4th on Thursday. Mike, Di and their 5 oldest came down from Idaho. We had a BBQ and then Mike entertained us with some not-so-legal fireworks. When he purchased them in Idaho, he had to sign a waiver that he would not set them off in Idaho. I'm pretty sure that meant they weren't legal in Utah, but that was beside the point. The kids thought they were the coolest fireworks ever. Mike taught the kids a much needed lesson about reading the instructions and making sure the right end of the firework is pointing up (you know, the end where the label reads THIS END UP). When you launch the firework upsidedown, it breaks the launcher, sends the kids running, and gives the wives a near heart attack. Thanks for the entertainment Mike!

Callin' it a day


The fireworks were mesmerizing to the point of exhaustion--at least for Maddy. It is 11:30 p.m. right now, and Lady and Jace just came downstairs asking for granola bars--seriously?! Go to sleep!

. . . the ghost of Lady Jane. . .


I was attempting to take pictures of the kids doing fireworks. I have no idea how this picture happened, but I'm pretty sure if Lady was a ghost, she would look just like this!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Surprise!



You know those mornings when you just can't quite bring yourself to get out of bed? Today was one of those. My kids had been waking me up on and off since 7:00, and I managed to pull myself out of bed around 8:45. During my moments of consciousness, Jace had been showing me pictures he was coloring. When I was fully awake, I was surprised to find that he had carefully lined all the pictures up on my floor---and he was pretty darn proud of himself.


And by the way, the underwear only attire he is sporting, is his latest fashion discovery. He puts on pjs every night, but by the time he goes to sleep, he is down to just underwear. He thinks he is "so cool mom!". Lady refuses to be anywhere near him until he puts on clothes because "that is so gross mom!" Kids!!
Oh--I have also recently noticed that the time for my posting is off by an hour--but I haven't figured out how to solve that one.