Field Trip to the Benson Gristmill Pumpkin Walk

A week or so ago, Benjamin's preschool class went on a little field trip to the Benson Gristmill's Pumpkin Walk. I volunteered to go along and help as did some other parents.  All the kids dressed up in their costumes and had a GREAT time!  We saw lots of cute pumpkin displays decorated to a Dr. Suess theme.  There was a craft table where the kids were able to decorate bats and also decorate sugar cookies.  There was a miniature corn maze that they had a BLAST in.  We saved the best for last. Mrs. Jamie took the kids on the hay ride.  We had to wait in line FOREVER!  By the time we got to the front, we decided to sent "one" parent and Mrs. Jamie with all of the kids.  They really liked that. The horses were huge. They were Arabian Draft horses.  Beautiful!  It was a really fun day!  Here are a few pictures I took while we were there:

Ben all dressed up like his cowboy self....ready to go.

All the kids in their costumes.

 

Ben in the corn maze...or should I say hay maze?

Ben at the beginning of the maze....tipping his hat off.

Now he's ready to enter....

Waiting for the hay ride.

In the hay wagon.

Where has the time gone?

It literally seems like yesterday that I just had this little boy?  I have no clue where the time has gone but he's growing up right before my eyes.  He has been so excited to start "real" pre-school that he could hardly contain himself.  I dropped him off to his first day about 2 hours ago now.   I've been excited for him but sad that he's growing so fast. Last year he was able to go to some pre-preschool sessions with friends or at the community center.  It is finally sinking in now that I don't get to go with him anymore. He starts kindergarten next year.  Crazy!
Thirty more minutes and I get to go get him.  I'm looking forward to finding out how his day went.  Mine morning had been pretty boring without him here.  Man, I love that boy!

Last Days of Summer at the Water Pad

The Friday before school started, my sister and I decided to get our kids together for some last minute fun. There is a Water Pad close to my sister's house in Eagle Mountain. We packed a lunch for us all and took the kids. They had a blast. Little Kelvin wasn't too sure about the water. He was more interested in visiting the other people that were there and seeing what kind of food he might find. So cute!!  The other kids had a lot of fun.  I'm so glad we were able to get together and visit.

Camp Moose

This past weekend we went on our Ward Campout up by Coalville.  It was so much fun!!  We went up Friday evening.  After setting up camp and helping another family set up their camp, we had a ward "fireside" with camp stories and entertainment.  Some of the young women in the ward taught us a camp song about a moose. I don't remember the lyrics but it was really cute.  After the fireside with the ward we went back to our campsite and roasted marshmallows. We invited who ever wanted to, to come have some.  We also played Uno attack until about 12:30 a.m..  I think that is the latest (or earliest) my kids have EVER stayed up! Saturday morning we all woke up early. The men in the ward fixed breakfast. As were all sitting around waiting for breakfast, Cameron ran up to me all excited. He told me to "COME LOOK"!  I asked him what I was coming to look at and he told me, "There is POINTY thing over there and its REALLY big."  I was thinking it was some kind of rock or porcupine or something. I decided to go investigate with him. As I walked up to where Cameron had pointed and to where he was now entering, I noticed some BIG horns. At first I thought it was an elk and then as Cameron was getting closer it lifted its head. I promptly told Cameron to come back to me and not get any closer. Cameron had found a bull moose!!!  I have never seen one in person, just pictures.  It was definitely a magestic creature.  For the next couple of hours the moose became the ward campout attraction.  It would run off a little ways but someone would always spot it again. At one point as I was with some other ward members looking at it, it came within feet of us. I so wish I had my camera at this point!!!  I found out that the moose was actually only a couple of years old. I thought the thing was huge but I guess they get bigger! After breakfast was done and cleaned up, Kent was able to go look at the moose. (He was helping with breakfast)  He was able to snap a few pictures from his cell phone. I'm only posting one of them because you can't see him very well in the other. 

On the way up Friday night our van was giving us some problems. It was very close to over heating. Before we left on Saturday I told Kent to check the oil. It was EMPTY!  Kent left the kids and I at camp while he took the truck and went into Park City for some oil.  What an adventure. It delayed us from leaving about two hours. We sadly, ended up missing our nephew's endowment session at the temple. We were really looking forward to making it to that. After we finally got the car in working order, we left camp and headed to my mom's to get cleaned up a bit. When we came back out, the truck had a flat tire. Most of the tire shops were closing up at this point so it was fun trying find someone who would fix it for us. We finally arrived home around 9:00 p.m.!  It was a very exhausting day. I'm glad we got to at least have some fun up in the mountains during the first part of the day!  We are looking forward to next year's ward campout! 

The camp moose. (Dark spot in the middle of the picture)  The ward dubbed him as, "duh Moose"

Hogle Zoo and the 1st day of School!!

Last week, my wonderful family decided to have a last "FUN" get together before school starts. We decided on the zoo.  Mark, Annie, & the girls weren't able to come at the last minute. We really missed them.  Kent, my boys, Stacie and her family, my mom, and I all went.  It was a very hot day but we had a lot of fun walking around the zoo.  Zoorassic Park is going on right now and the kids LOVED the dinosaurs. 

I had to take a picture of this.... This dinosaur is named after my husband Kent....or the other way around.... lol.

This is Kentrosaurus. I thought it was pretty cool that the dino has red spikes as my hubby has red hair.

The 4 oldest kiddos on a dinosaur.

I loved this giraffe!  Isn't he cute????!!!!

All the kiddies except for Sammy and Kelvin.

I wish I would have taken more pictures but I guess I'll blame it on the heat. We all had a very fun day!

For me this summer flew by!  I babysat for the better part of it and maybe that is why. We definitely had a great summer.....definitely looking forward to next!!

Here is the official 1st day of school photo.  My boys were way excited but I think more nervous than they would admit. Cameron was worried that he wouldn't make any friends.  Benjamin was a little confused. He had to put on his school shirt and have one of the juices I pack in the boys' lunch. He also had to be in the picture. He's so silly.  He's enjoying his day with his mom now.  In two weeks he'll be going to preschool 3 times a week for a couple hours. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself when I don't have any kids at home and it's so quiet!! .........Enjoy it. 

Last minute Camping Trip

We haven't been tent camping for quite awhile. I don't think we've ever taken the kids with just.... us (their parents). It was so much fun!!!  We are looking forward to a lot more.  After church last week, we just decided to get some food together, pack up our camping equipment, and go to the local canyon that we live right by. It literally took 5-10 minutes to get to our camping spot. It was SOOO nice and quiet though!  It didn't cost a lot and it was fun to get away.  We invited Kent's mom up for a hamburger for dinner. She stayed while the kids made smores and then left. 

The boys loved the water.  Kent took them down to wash up for dinner.

Who would know such a little boy could get soooo dirty!!

Before bed, Kent took them down to the water in their swim suits to have a little bath.  Benjamin hated it but the other boys enjoyed themselves.

Kent trying to show Ben how to wash his eyes and face in the creek.

Austin showing off his nice ribs! I really do feed him.....I promise.

Another cute pic of Austin

Early on Monday morning, it decided to rain. It didn't stop us from having fun. Of course we were all filthy by the time we went home but that's okay.  Kids didn't feel like eating breakfast in the rain so we made room in the van for them.  They thought that was pretty cool.

Some hungry & WET boys!!

Kent eating his breakfast by the fire.

 

 

After this camping trip, we hope to be a little more prepared for the next one but sometimes those spur of the moment camping trips are the best!!

Swimming Lessons

My boys were able to take swimming lessons for the first time this summer. They LOVED it!!  I hope now that we can continue to go to the rec center so they remember what they've learned.  We will definitely be putting them back in lessons next summer. (hopefully a few times!!)  Anyway, they did really well and learned quite a bit. Benjamin was in the Preschool/ Beginner class. They were so cute to watch!  His teacher recommended that he take the class again before he moves on just to get him used to putting his head under the water.  Austin and Cameron had the same teacher. They were in the Level 1 class.  Both boys did great. They will be moving on to Level 2 next year. 

Benjamin walking back to the "kiddie pool" with his class after lessons.

Hard to see....but Austin is in the background getting ready to get into the pool.

Cameron with his arms out...

This is looking at Austin and Cameron's class. You can kind of see their heads.

This was the last day of lessons. Cameron and Austin are talking to their friend. Their teacher is in the bottom left of the picture.

Benjamin waiting patiently on the stairs until it's his turn to swim.

Bugs and Rainbows!

Yesterday I decided to take my kids to the park for a play date with some other ladies in my ward. They had tons of fun. They discovered an area that was infested with snails. They found snail, after snail, after snail. At one point, Austin had ten in his hand that he wanted to bring home. Cameron had 5 or 6 and Ben had 1.  I think between all the kids there, they had over 30 snails on the table.  I tried talking my kids into returning the snails to their home where they would be more happy multiplying and replenishing the earth but they wouldn't go for it. So, I told Austin and Cameron they could take home 2 and Ben could bring his 1 home but they were not allowed to take them in the back by our garden.  So...fast forward to early evening....as I'm finishing up with dishes, I look out my window and I see my boys creating this thing.....They say it is a snail playground.  What I would give for their imaginations...

And....here are some of the other pics at the park.....(I promise...I made my kids wash their hands with SOAP and WATER!!)

Escargo anyone????

 

 

 

 

Austin has always had a fascination with certain bugs. He believes grasshoppers are his friends, he likes snails, etc. Well, he went working with his grandpa today and found an injured butterfly. He immediately rescued it and has given it a name.  He lets it crawl all over him and whispers to it.  Here are a few pics of his new buddy.

You can't tell because of the size of the picture and it's shaded but the butterfly is on his face as he is reading his book.

Pretty butterfly

Last but not least, the other night Cameron comes running into the house and says, "Quick mom, come look."  I was busy at the time so I told him to take my phone and go take a picture of what he wanted to show me. (I did not ask him what he wanted me so badly for) After he came back with this FANTASTIC picture, I was ashamed that I didn't take the time to really go see what he wanted to show me.  Definitely a reminder to me to really LISTEN to my children and that NOTHING is more important than time with them...not even laundry!  So, here's the picture that Cameron took, all by himself and his mommy thinks it's BEAUTIFUL!!  Thanks Cam for "catching" a rainbow for mommy. It really made my day.

Marshmallow Roast

This past weekend we had planned to go camping with our good friends but plans fell through.  So.....we decided to just take a ride up the canyon Sunday afternoon, take stuff to make smores, and have us a marshmallow roast.  It was a pretty drive and the kids had a blast. We are definitely going to have to do this a lot more often.  My goal is to do some sort of (cheapish) activity with my kids every weekend until school starts.  Last night they had their first experience at a drive in movie theater. It was a spur of the moment idea but my Mother in Law and I decided to take the 3 boys (Kent is out of town). I'm glad we went. The two youngest quickly fell asleep but Austin loved it.  I haven't been in probably 20 + years so I had forgotten how fun it is. I didn't get any pictures of the movies last night....(shame on me) but I did take pictures of our marshmallow roast up the canyon.

You can't tell because the pic is so small (argghh!) but Kent looks like a chipmunk.  Cheeks full of marshmallows.

Cameron & Austin sharing a rock with their grandma.  Yes...Cameron is cross eyed....on purpose!

Austin fixing himself a smore with grandma watching.

Austin eating a smore. He wouldn't look at the camera so I had a hard time getting a good pic of him.

Kent roasting

He looks like he's going to puke but he really isn't....he just has his mouth full.  I think this is what you get when you "try" to smile with your mouth full of marshmallow.

driving home in Tooele. Thought the sunset was beautiful!