Fall Break (catching up)

 For fall break we decided to find some heat and head south to St. George. To help pass the driving time, we played the abc sign game ( took me back to childhood memories) it got a little competitive with Dad winning, after he stole my sign( Ha ha).

For one of the days we ventured down to vegas to the shark reef exhibit. The kids loved it and Alyssa cought some great pix with her camera seen above.

 Every night at the condo, we would go swimming, one night the kids had a photo shoot, Alyssa being the photographer of course.

Another day was spent at Zions National Park. It was super hot especially for Oct. but we had a great time going on a few hikes, seeing the sights, it really was beautiful.

One of our favorite places to go is the Sand dunes in Snow Canyon. We can usually spend hours there, but this time it was pretty hot, but we were there long enough to do another jumping photo shoot (can you tell what the boys like to do), and dig a hole and bury Cole.

Happy Birthday Josh

Josh is 14!!! wow, do I feel old. His birthday was yesterday, day before Thanksgiving. We celebrated by taking he and a couple of his friends to Tacano's (all you can eat meat) right up their ally. I made him a big pan of brownies, he prefers them over cake. He got his wrestling head gear he'd been hoping for, and of course was spoiled by his grandparents as well with what else, more wrestling stuff. Josh is the best kid, I don't know where the time has gone, sometimes it seems like yesterday that I had a little white feather headed cone headed boy. I could not be happier with the young man he is becoming. I have been a bit nervous being the mother of a teen ager, but I have to say he has truly made it enjoyable, I truely do feel blessed. Happy Birthday Josh!!  Love ya

Fall at the cabin

We made a quick trip to the cabin. The leaves were so pretty, the kids loved raking them up and jumping into them. It brought back my own childhood memories of doing the same thing. I love the Fall feeling, the nip in the air, pumpkins, leaves, etc.

We went on four wheeler ride and found this really cool rope swing, it felt like you were flying as high as a bird (super fun) the kids had a blast! as you can see Josh got a little to brave and scared me just a little

Cole and Josh love to climb and almost made it to the top of this pine tree (yikes) as you can see Cole's loving every minute of it

We stopped to take a look at this amazing view (love it)

Sleeping Beauty

Alyssa danced all summer long getting ready to perform in the Sleeping Beauty ballet, she was in the picnic scene and was also a beautiful butterfly. She did a great job, and I loved the performance. I am amazed by her dedication and hard work. ballet is hard ( I took lessons not to long ago, and I now have a new appreciation for ballet, starting at age 33-34 is a little rough though Ha Ha.) One memorable part of the show was when Zach asked Mark why the Prince was wearing "girl pants"(white tights), he couldn't come up with a good reason, he was probably thinking the same thing.

The Dirty Dash

Mark participated in a race called the Dirty Dash in Midway with some friends at the gym, it consisted of running a 10k through mud and doing different obstacles (crazy) this is what they looked like before the race

This is what they looked like after the race

labor Day

We started out Labor Day bright and early running in the 5k in the morning. This included  Monica, Canyon, Josh , Mark and myself. ( This was a first for me, I hate running) anyway We had all our parents there to cheer us on, it was fun, and Mark ended up winning his age group. Next we were off to the parade, where we have great seats right in front of Mom and Dads house.

The kids are ready for Candy!!!

After the parade we had a BBQ, Which Mark missed because he was at the instacare getting an earbud from his ipod removed from his ear that got stuck at the race. (the strangest things always happen to him)

Do you think they got enough candy Ha

Lucky for Mark, we had another BBQ to go to at his parents house. This kids had a great time riding the horse( we wore him out and G-pa walking around the coral a hundred times I'm sure) and playing  football with cousins.

Zach wants to hang this picture in his room. so cute, I love it

Maui Vacation

Mark and I went to Maui for our 16th wedding anniversary. We had alot of fun and relaxation enjoying the beautiful island. We drove up to a volcano and did some sight seeing, and had lunch at Zippy's (Marks fav. place from his mission) he loves the rice and chili. We drove the Road to Hana one day, and did a snorkel trip to Molokini island, (my favorite) We also went to the aquarium and ate macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi (fish I had craved since the last time we were there) Every afternoon we would walk to the beach and relax, it was truly heavenly.

These were the views from our Hotel balcony

Road to Hana pictures

Snorkeling (We loved the water camera)

Last day, leaving the Hotel