Halloween

Halloween was really fun this year. It was cooler than last year which was nice and it was on a Sunday which made it different from other years. Brinley has a Halloween party at her school, Drew had a Halloween parade at his school, Danielle went to school as a die (sp?) or in other words one of a pair of dice. Not surprisingly,there is no Halloween parade at the middle school :)

As you can see, Brinley was clearly Belle or "Beauty and the Beast" as she likes to call it. For a while there, she was mixing up Sleeping Beauty and Beauty in the Beast but I think we have it straight now. Hey, these things are important!

Drew was some kind of ninja for school. He was not real excited this year, there was no superhero movie that recently came out and so nothing he wished to be. We ended up just getting him the next size up for the same costume he wore last year. We all attended the Ward Halloween Party Saturday night and Drew ended up switching to be a football player. (Which is what I suggested in the first place, but whatever!) The Ward party was super fun. Dean even painted his head to be the Last Airbender!  Thanks to the Shari and Mark!  They had all the added touches including a special guest entertainer :)

 

Sunday night, we went over to the Jackmans for dinner and Nertz, a super fun card game that the Jackmans introduced us to.  The dinner was yummy and the company was great.  The kids answered the door in their scary masks to intimidate the trick-or-treaters and we had war head contests.  We even had a pinata that Drew had bought with all his super u's from school last year. 

 Dean tried really hard to beat Staci at Nertz.  No Luck, that girl is the queen!  It was a fun night.

Getting Wet - October 2010

The mini muster is a tradition out here. The fire department comes to the school and talks to the kids about fire safety, plus gives them a chance to get wet, really wet, with firefighter games. Drew had a blast.

It also rained this month! The kids get really excited when it rains. Brinley jumped in puddles and Drew went wild on the tramp. Danielle came home from Robotics reporting that the team ditched the computer lab and played in the rain as well, Miss Liberty leading the way. Good times!

Tired...

We work hard and play hard. I guess you have to catch a few winks when you can. The kids love everything they are involved in.  They are doing great in school and their sports.  It's fun to watch, but it's fun to document their down time too :)
P.S. Drew is not represented here, but the kid goes to bed earlier than anyone and sleeps deeper than anyone I know!  When we watch movies as a family, he is the first to fade...

Soccer Season Starts - Sept 2010

This was Brinley's first year and she was really excited until in the car on the way to the game. Then she started saying that I couldn't put any pictures on the blog and that she wasn't going to play as well as Drew and Danielle. Drew wore his green shirt from last year to support her and we all coached (too much) from the sidelines. She had 2 games before the older two started and so it was interesting. About half way through the first game, Dean says, we all need to shut up. He was right. I mean really does she need four additional coaches on the side line besides the person who really is her coach? She is actually pretty good, when she is not watching her legs and how they look when she is running :) Every week I see improvement and she definitely has her brother and sister's aggressiveness (when she's feeling it).

So, two weeks later we were juggling it all: after-game treats, half time orange slices, water bottles, etc. Danielle has her same coach from last year and Drew likes his coach too. Brinley is Fireflies, Danielle is the Beat (again) and Drew is Condors.

Ice Blocking - September 2010

I'm only two months behind :) The Deans invited us to go ice blocking for Bailey's birthday. It was the first time for the kids and they loved it.  They had so much fun.  But first, they went running down the steep hill...

and told some stories...

First we tried it original style...

Then, Superman style...

Wipe outs...some of us did that more than others :)

 

It was a great evening and the kids didn't stop talking about it for weeks!

Brinley's First Day of School

Brinley's first day for pre-school happened the week we were gone in Lake Powell. Jenie took these pictures of her when she took car pool. I am so grateful for awesome friends for me and good friends for my kids that translate into great carpools and fun memories.
Brinley's teacher is "Teacher Robyn" as the kids call her and Brinley loves her and loves school. She only goes twice a week but is learning so much.  She is trying to write everything these days and asks me what words that she sees say or mean. It is so fun to watch her learn and grow more every day, but a little sad too.
She definitely thinks she is the one in charge at school. She and Avery got into a little tiff at one point over the possession over Maverick's scissors. Apparently Brinley thought it was her duty to handle the situation and basically just made things worse. Both girls got their cards changed from green to red.  Gasp! Eventually they did turn back to green and they got some fun sea shells at the end of school like the other well-behaved kids.  It's funny because Avery came over to play that day and the girls didn't say a word about it.

Wish they could just stay young. The whole class is so cute, a great group.

Lake Powell Trip - September 5th to 9th

We had the opportunity to go to Lake Powell with Dean's old friends from high school and their wives. It was super fun and we are so grateful to know amazing people like Cyn and Cam who watched the kids. It was a rough week: CO2 alarm went off, Drew got a major cough and mild stomach flu, Danielle got a major stomach flu. We are great friends, know? Anyway, we are so grateful, it was an amazing trip. It was so relaxing and needed. It took us 8 hours to drive there, but it was actually fun. Hello, 8 hours of uninterupted conversation?  First, here are some scenery shots.

It rained one day and everyone else, coming from Utah, was so disappointed.  Dean and I thought it was amazing.  There was an incredible rainbow that day.  It was awesome.  On the rainy day, the guys climbed half way up the cliffs behind us and pushed rocks over the edge.  Guess they never really grow up do they?

The girls?--Lots of playing cards and eating, and talking, and eating...But the rest of the days were sunny, perfect temperature and weather.  It was great.  Dean got to play the Mattssons' favorite Lake Powell activity: catching footballs from the waverunner!

Clint and Linda and Dean and I went on a waverunner ride and saw some amazing canyons and unbelievable rock.  I love Lake Powell's scenery, there's no place like it.  We forgot our camera, but Clint sent us these.  It doesn't do what we saw justice, but no matter what, you would still have to be there to get the full effect.  Every morning I would wake up and look around and just marvel at how beautiful our spot was.  Every night Dean and I slept out on the deck on the warmer nights and just lay looking at millions of stars, almost 3-dimensional looking.  The trip was full of lasting memories of good times with friends and amazing images.  Thanks JD and Sarah!

First Day of School

We had to squeeze out every last bit of fun and relaxation before school started. Below are pictures of our last night before. Brinley was going through a flashlight phase that week, sorry about the odd props.

Drew's first day of third grade! His teacher is Mrs. Mendoza. He is having a good year so far. At back to school night, he and Dean were the closest guess to how many lollipops were in the big jar! Drew got to take it home the next week. We have a lot of lollipops right now :)

Danielle's first day of middle school. I said a lot of prayers, but I didn't need to worry. She is doing great. She likes her pre-algebra and earth science teacher the best.  She is enjoying meeting new friends.

As you can see, Brinley didn't start school the same day. But I thought she looked still so summer-y I had to take a picture of her. One last hurrah. She started pre-school with "Teacher Robyn" the next week. I missed her first day because we were on our Lake Powell trip. (next post) She loves pre-school, loves the teacher and all her friends in there. It is a nice feeling when all your kids are having a great school year.

Utah Week - August

We left for Utah on a Sunday and were able to stay at Micah's parents house that night in St George. It was so nice of his parents. Micah and Katie met us there late that night with Anna. Here is a picture of the girls the next morning after the Lewis' had fixed pancakes.

We left the next morning and caravaned to Utah County.  It was so nice for me, because I didn't have to think, I just followed Micah and Katie :)  After getting to my sister Amber's we met up with Katie's family that night up the canyon.  I love that you can get away so easily in Utah.

Tuesday morning we got up and went to see my dearest and oldest (not age, just time) friend, Sonni, who lives in Lehi. I love her so much, I don't know what I would do without her. She got out all our pictures from BYU and we told stories to the kids. We always talked about the day that we would hang out with our kids. It was so fun to see her and I am excited she moved to Utah this spring because now I know I will see her at least once a year. Next we went to see Danielle's oldest friend (in time) in Holladay. They have known each other since they were two, and it was great to watch her and Laura hang out again. Bonus: I love her mom Michele and it was great to catch up with her too. Then we headed up to Nana's house in Farmington and had dinner with my brother Alex and his kids.

Wednesday night we hung out at Grandma and Grandpa's house, Nana came along.  We had dinner and played golf, our favorite card game.  The kids got to spend time with their cousins who live in Farr West.

Thursday morning we got up and drove to Park City to stay at the Homestead with Amber's family.  We started out the trip by renting some ATVs and exploring some of the trails.  We were so ready!

We drove up to this view!  We did notice the clouds but thought it would pass over...

Ya, not so much.  We got out to make sandwiches and it went form sprinkle to down pour pretty quick!  We all jumped into the only vehicle we had with a roof.  It will pass over soon, right?

 

Wrong!  We ended up hanging out in the restrooms for about an hour.  We were chilly but the kids found ways to pass the time.  When I look at the pictures now, I can't help but smile :)  Paul did Star Wars raps for us.  They were hilarious.  Go to atom.com and see.

The way home was rough.  We said a prayer and when the rain let up a little, we went.  It did stop raining about 5 minutes after we left, which was good.  We realized quickly that we were so blessed that we waited.  We saw a lot of this on the way home.

We never saw this on the way up the trail, but we saw this about three times on the way home.  It was crazy!  My sister Katie was texting me on the way back and I was trying to text her back while wiping the mud splashes off my phone from the deep puddles.  The kids were cold and Amber and I kept laughing.  But some how Brinley fell asleep on the way back.

We made it.  We were exhausted but had an adventure we'll never forget.  Clearing trees along the way...

We came home and the kids swam and went into the sauna to get warm!  After a good night's rest, we went to the Park City mountain resort.  A mountain slide, a mountain roller coaster, and all kinds of other activities.  Katie and her girls joined us.  It was a beautiful day.

The next day, we went to Ogden, and after lunch with Grandma, celebrated Drew and Uncle Marc's birthday at Toad's. It is a place we went last year that has everything you can think of: laser tag, go karts, you name it!  The kids had a blast. Drew won 200 tickets!

The next day we headed home. We went to Apple Valley Ward for church and saw all our dear friends there. We love going there and remembering. We made it to Las Vegas that night. It was a roller coaster ride of a trip but I am glad we did it.