Parks, Train Tunnels and Thanksgiving



November meant fun at the park.  It is always fun to explore new parks and this is a little one we found less than a mile from our house.  Like I said, it was little so the boys didn't last too long here.  But Micah really did love going down the slide.

 



Guy wanted to find an old train tunnel near Elberta.  It took us a little while to find it, but luckily there was another person that we ran in to that pointed us in the right direction.  It was really fun to explore and a fun family activity.

At Preschool, Elliot made this fun turkey hat.  I love his preschool so much and all the fun things that they do.

Thanksgiving preparations.  My mom was hosting Thanksgiving for us and I was in charge of making the rolls.  I loved making them the week before, trying my best to perfect her recipe.

Of course there was our annual get-together to make pies the day before.  Launi hosted at her mom's house and it went great.  Tamara was on bed rest so she didn't make it and Megan had a sick kid so she was only able to come for part of it.  It was nice to actually feel useful at pie night and be put to work.

Thanksgiving day was great.  My mom hosted and had our family over plus Tamara and Brian and Grandpa Choo-Choo.  Tam had to stay on the couch but tried to help out the best she could.  Then we had the Collings crew over for pie.  It was a smallish gathering which was actually kind of nice so we could visit with people.

Halloween Time

Once upon a time, I blogged fairly regularly.  Then, we added a few kids to the family and many more activities and blogging kind of slipped away.  And, if you haven't heard enough lame excuses yet, the reason why it has taken me so long to blog about Halloween 2013 is that all the pictures I took around that time were on my phone and it has taken me this long to transfer them to my computer.  Let's face it, blog posts without pictures are just boring so there was no way I was going to write a post without first getting the pictures.

First things first, a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick up a few pumpkins.  The boys joined me for this and loved playing in the corn.

For school, if the girls want to dress up, they have to dress according to what they are studying at the time.  Ashley was studying the War of 1812 so she dressed as a British soldier.  Her costume pretty much consisted of a red coat that I found at D.I. and a pair of white pants.

Amelia was studying Vikings so we put this little costume together.  I got her the Viking hat from a Halloween costume store then bought a piece of minky fabric that looked like fur and made it into a little vest.  She was so happy with her costume.

Beautifully carved pumpkins.

 Ready for Trick-or-Treating.  Ashley is a ghost, Micah is Cookie Monster, Amelia is a mime, and Elliot is Batman.

 Micah checking out all his candy.

 Amelia loved being a mime.  I was lucky to find some striped fabric to make her shirt out of and got it done just in time. 

 Ashley's ghost costume was just her wearing all white.  I guess it worked.

Look at that chocolate around his mouth, and he was ready for more.  I got this Cookie Monster costume from a friend back when Amelia was little.  She had all of her five kids wear it.  I love going by her house on Halloween to show her my kids wearing the costume.

Elliot checking out his stash.  I love that his costume was just this cape.  So simple for me to pull together.

I took the kids around the neighborhood for Trick-of-Treating.  Guy and I usually trade off but he had an injured knee so I did it.  I actually really love it.  It is extra time that I get to spend with the kiddos and I get to visit with people around the neighborhood.  There is one house that hands out hot scones with honey butter and then next door, you can get a cup of hot chocolate.  Definitely a highlight of the night.

The Zoo & Amelia's 9th Birthday

Amelia loves taking pictures with all of the animal statues at the zoo.  She would probably be happy just doing that and no even seeing any of the animals.

Guy had a biathlon on the morning of Amelia's birthday so first we all did that before we did any other birthday fun.  We took all the kids with us to the biathlon this time and just let them play in the car during it.  Sometimes they came out to cheer or see what was going on, but mostly they just hung out in the Durango with the DVD player.  Once the biathlon was done, we packed up and headed home so that we could unload, repack, and head to the zoo.  We met Grandma Corinne there which is always a lot of fun.

The LEGO animals visited the zoo this summer and would be ending at the end of September so we made it to see them just in time.  It was really fun to go around the zoo and see all the creations.  They also had the splash pad done which was a lot of fun.  I didn't think that the kids would get too wet but I was so wrong.  Ashley pretty much just sat down in the water and played for a while.  It was quite the adventure to keep track of all of them especially once they discovered the slide just outside of the splash park.

Once they were all soaked and we were done with our day at the zoo, we finished off with the elephants and then hiked back to the car.  By some crazy chance, I ran into my old roommate from USU, KristaLyn. It was so fun to see her and chat for just a minute.

Somehow, I convinced Guy to let us all ride the carousel before leaving.  I had told the kids that we would but he really wanted to get out of there.  This was the first time that I have ever taken the kids on the carousel and they loved it.  The train is currently not in service because they are redoing that section of the zoo to be an African safari to open 2014.  A new and improved train will open as well so we will have to ride it then.

We celebrated Amelia's birthday with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Tamara and Uncle Brian.  I was a little unprepared and had to make a quick run to Ream's for a birthday cake.  Amelia loved being able to go into the bakery there and see them write her name on the cake.