Fall Fun

October in Utah is a pretty exciting time. There is always something to do; a festival, carnival, trick or treating or just some witchy fun. We have picked out our favorite pumpkin, and carved them, we played and had fun at the Scarecrow Festival, and so much more. Barrett and I went the other day to check out the Witches that flew in to Gardner Village, a little shopping village close to where we live. It was a lot of fun to see the witches and try to find them all on the list. Bear really had fun getting out and looking at the witches up close and personal.

We even enjoyed a Halloween party with MOM’s Club, where all the kids dressed up, played games, and went on a trick or treat parade. They had so much fun! But wait there’s more, I keep telling Isabelle that we will get plenty of candy but she just seems to want it all now. Oh well I’m sure that Halloween Night will prove to be fun and full of junk. What more can you ask for.

Sink or Float

For Christmas Isabelle received a new magazine just for kids her age from Aunt Penny. She was so excited to get something in the mail just for herself and just loved the magazine. There were so many great ideas for projects and things to do that we just did not know where to start. So of course we had to read the whole thing in one day. The part that really excited her was the page on water, and the things you can do with it. With that in mind we did a little science experiment to see what toys we had that would float and what would sink.

I had Isabelle go around her playroom and pick out some toys. Then we went up stairs and filled up the sink with water and put them in one by one. I had my own thoughts about what would sink and what would float. The one item that sunk that surprised me was the waffle ball, it went right down. She had so much fun playing this game, and now knows a few items that will sink and float.

Our Silly Family

For our Christmas card this year I thought I would try to include a picture. It is really hard to get two toddlers to sit still for pictures with an actual photographer, but when you add in Mom as the photographer and object, it beefs up the challenge just a little more. So I thought I would show off some of our more funny pictures, at least funny to us. You never know what you might get when you mix kids and a camera. Plus add in a one year old who just wants to explore and get away from Mom and Dad. Don’t forget about the two year old who has to pick every flower within one hundred feet of where you are sitting. Needless to say we will have to try again. Maybe we’ll recruit someone to come along and hold the camera. Even with all of our challenges I still think we have some really cute kids!

Prayers Needed

I just wanted to send out a note to all my friends and family to send some prayers to a family from my MOM's Club. They have recently lost their three year old daughter at Lake Powell. During their vacation this past weekend, she and her brother were playing on the dock and she disappeared, this was on Monday. They were not wearing life jackets and she fell into the water and drowned. The authorities were able today to retrieve her body from the water. So I just ask each of you to send a prayer to her family during this tragic time.

Quick Update

I have finally finished the kids’ costumes. What relief for some reason I was worried that I would not have the time. Now I am glad that I did them when I did. Either way, we think they look too cute! Isabelle is a monkey and Barrett is a lizard.

We went to hunt for the perfect pumpkin the other day. Bear really just wanted to pick them all up. But he always seemed to go for the biggest one. Isabelle just wanted to run around. So mom pretty much picked out the pumpkins.

Then for playgroup this week, we all brought our pumpkins along to carve and make funny faces out of. Bear really thought it was great fun pulling out the stuff. Isabelle thought that it was messy but wanted to help cut out the face. We had so much fun with our friends playing in the muck.

Funny Boy!

Yesterday I had to take out the car seats for a Girl Scout field trip so I decided to wash the covers and let them have some fresh air outside. In true Barrett form, he climbed right into Isabelle’s car seat to finish his lunch. He thought it was great to see the seats outside of the car. Both kids enjoyed sitting in them, on the deck and in the kitchen the next morning.

Here are some of the fall colors we found on our color drive this past week. We had to go during the week, because last weekend it snowed and it is supposed to snow this weekend as well.

Oktoberfest

We went up to Snowbird, one of the ski resorts, for Oktoberfest over the weekend. We had a pretty good time. One of my friends from MOM’s Club went as well. Their kids are about the same age, which is great, because everyone has somebody to play with.

While we were up there we enjoyed, the music, food and of course the beer. Plus they had all sorts of activities to do with the kids or as adults. Ben and I tried to win tickets to ride the tram up to the top, by dancing with an egg between our foreheads. It was pretty funny; we made it until the very end. It was between us and another couple, and we had to do the chicken dance. Once we started to move a little more we dropped our egg and won a back scratcher.

Isabelle that thought was pretty cool, but I was bummed we lost the tickets. Oh well maybe next year. Isabelle and Barrett both really enjoyed the music and dancing. Plus Bear really liked the food, but when has he not liked food?

Roadway Family Day

Since becoming the Director of Regional Operations for the Salt Lake City Roadway terminal, Ben has tried to make some great changes. One of his major changes is having a family day given to all the employees by Roadway. This year he had to change venues because so many people were planning on attending. So instead of being at the terminal we went out to a local park and had a great time. Ben set it up so that there was going to be catered Polynesian food and dancers. I think that everybody had a great time. He even gave out Roadway t-shirts to all the kids who came. I think that was the best part. Ben put in a great effort to make everyone feel welcome especially the kids. He really wanted to show off what a great place his people worked at.

Isabelle and Barrett had a great time. They played games, ate food and made some new friends. It was pretty exciting to watch and see everyone outside of the facility. I think they all really enjoyed what they did. I hope that Ben saw and felt their appreciation even if it was not spoken.

Ben evne got to try out a little "crazy chicken" dance. He was not so sure as what to do but it was pretty funny to watch. He kind of just stood there and looked silly as people were shouting at him to move in a circle. Afterwards he came home and said Isabelle is not going to learn how to hula becuase it is too suggestive. I had to laugh.

Meal Time Prayer

I was not sure how the video would come through, I'll have to work on getting a better picture. I thought she was too cute!!

Red Butte Gardens

No Butte's here! But there are gardens of all kinds!!

Since Ben had the day off and the gardens were free we decided to go and visit the arboretum. It was very nice and all of the flowers were just wonderful. Isabelle had tons of fun playing in any water that we ran across and the kids really enjoyed feeding the fish. Bear could really see all of the fish in the water and was just point, signing and saying fish all over the place.

I really liked the herb garden, Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs and they had some wonderful bushes there. Plus they had flyers on hand to tell you more about the different types of gardens that you can make in your own home. We really enjoyed the one flyer on xeriscaping, we hope to do that with our next home for the area in which we live. Always try to be a little greener.

Hogle Zoo

Our playgroup went to the zoo today. Although a little small, still very entertaining for the kids, Bear just loves to see all the animals. He really sits up and tries to climb out to get to them. I let him walk around the reptile and bird house so that he could have a better experience; I think he really enjoyed it. The animals were all a little more active today, which was great, because then the kids got to see them when they weren’t sleeping. A good treat, especially when you go after lunch. Plus it is still a little warm so who wants to move around when it’s hot.

Ground Breaking

When we came to Utah we did not have a specific church to go to so we looked around until we found one that we liked. Only to find out that there is going to be a new Catholic church built very close to where we lived. After going to the new church for a year, they have finally had a ground breaking ceremony to celebrate the building of the school. The plans are to build a new school K-8th grade and then once funds are raised to build a church building. We are very excited to be apart of such a new process and growth in community. I can hardly wait to have the church built and see the project to the end; I just hope we will be here long enough to experience that.

Meet the Teacher

We are going to try Isabelle out in school two days a week this year. I have been very reluctant in this move but I think it will be the best for her. I think she will be more challenged at school that she would be at home, she seems to get bored with me, but I don’t know. So on Tuesday we went to school to meet her teacher. She really seemed to enjoy it a lot and I think she will do great. Unfortunately she won’t be able to officially start until the end of the September; the school wants her to be two years and nine months, so we will still be working at home. I figured that on the off days we would still work at home on school to help reinforce what she is learning and maybe pick up other sections that she might be missing. It should be pretty fun and a great new experience for each of us.

Our Visit

This past week was great, Mom and Dad Libby came into town for a short visit and the Usana Convention. The kids had a great time with Oma and Poppa, and we a little sad to see them leave. Some highlights from our week:

We went hiking up to Cecret Lake, near the Alta ski resort. Isabelle did a great job, she hiked up and down all by herself without being carried. And that was in sandals no less. Bear did great too, he rode in the sling and even fell asleep on the way home.

They went to the farmers market and picked up some good looking fruit, veggies and bread. Isabelle just loves the farmers market, she gets so excited to go. We even went to a birthday party. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast.

Then we had the annual Usana Convention. This was my first time going but Mom and Dad had been before. It was amazing I met tons of people and am really excited to be involved with Usana. I really want to help people live better, healthier lives, all around. I can hardly wait to share our experience with everyone. Our business is growing and will only get bigger.


Mom and I had a chance to take some pictures with some very influential people in Usana and the industry. First with Tim Sales, who has done an amazing job at helping millions of people grow and understand our industry. Along with Dave Wentz the President of the company, he really does an outstanding job.

All in all we really enjoyed our time spent together, and hope to be seeing more of each other soon, as our businesses grow and build momentum.

Our Family Day

We had a wonderful day as a family on Saturday; we tried to keep pretty busy with lots of fun stuff for the kids and the adults. We went down to Thanksgiving Point to check out the Animal farm. We let Barrett walk most of the time and he just loved it. He would walk up to the fence to check out the animal there and then back away quickly if they go to close. He really only ventured a touch if Ben or I were close by.

Although he and Isabelle both rode the ponies, and just loved it, Ben walked with Bear and Isabelle rode by herself. Ben said that Bear hung on pretty well, all by himself. So Ben just acted like a spotter incase Bear decided to make a quick exit. I’m not sure which animal the kids liked the best, but I’m pretty sure they both loved them all.


It was a special day, so they actually brought some of the animals out for the kids to touch. They were able to see and pet a rabbit up close and personal, a calf, and of course the ponies. Most of the animals if they were close to the gates would let you pet them. One goat was out for a lot attention so Bear gave her a quick kiss. It is just amazing to see them discover new things especially as they get older and more interactive.

As the sun was going down, we made our way over to Sandy, UT for the first annual Balloon Festival. We thought the kids would like to see the balloons all lit up at night. The gas that helps them fly lights up the inside of the balloons pretty well. We actually arrived there a little early and had a chance to watch most of the balloons go up. It was pretty cool. Isabelle really enjoyed running around and acting like a kid. Both kids were real troopers and stayed up pretty late. I think I liked the colors of the balloons the best.

Flaming Gorge

We just had a great weekend camping and boating on Flaming Gorge. It was really nice once we got there. We carpooled with Casey, who was bringing the boat along, and had a little bit of trouble with a tire on the boat trailer. We got into Evanston, WY at 7:30pm about and did not leave there until around 11:30pm. The boys had to repack the bearings on the one tire and hope that we would be able to make it to the lake and back home. Needless to say we finally made it in, and had so much fun.

We did not camp by ourselves but in a big group, which made the trip even better. With so many people around, it made it pretty easy to watch the kids. Plus they mostly wanted to stay by everyone, in stead of wandering off. Bear and Isabelle got so dirty, it was nice to get them in the water to help clean out their finger nails and wash some of the dust off of them. Although, they would be dirty all over again shortly after they got back on shore, guess that is just how things go.

Isabelle and Barrett both went on the tube, behind the boat. Isabelle was not a big fan, and kept saying Daddy, stop! Daddy, stop! Bear on the other had feel asleep. He was so tired, that the movement put him right out. You would never have thought that he was on a tube riding the waves.

Missy and Jory came along, and so did Missy’s sister Christy and her family. We played games, talked, and had wonderful camp food. The first night we cooked dinner we all had to do something different because the wind had picked up a lot and we were not able to make a camp fire, but somehow everyone managed to eat and like their food.

The kids, and Casey went out early the next morning to try to catch some fish. They weren’t able to be very big ones, but had a fun time catching the little fish. The kids were all asleep so Ben and I did not go on the fishing trip. It would have woken them up for sure.

I got to ride on the tube by myself and had a ton of fun. I was thrown off twice into the water before I got tired. The last time I was tossed Ben said I caught some serious air, and went round and round in the water before stopping. It was a great ride. Too bad Isabelle did not like it better, maybe next year. Ben was the same way, he had a blast going out on the tube, and was tossed around by the boat all over the water. Overall it was a great weekend and we had so much fun.

Eating What?

Barrett has brought putting things in his mouth to a whole new level. He really wanted to be just like his big sister and paint, so I thought I would let him have a try. True to form he decided that seeing what the paint tasted like was a much better plan. Although he did get some of the paint on the paper, he still ended up wear a good amount of it on his clothes, face, legs, and hands. He was too cute! I even brought out the step stool for him to stand on, well that was too much work, he had to sit down in order to create his masterpiece.

Then once he decided that he was done, he felt it was necessary to go around the yard and pick up all the pieces of fruit that he could find that had fallen on the ground. And it does not matter to him how they look, green, eaten by bugs or birds, he takes a big bite out of anything. You would really think that we just don’t feed this kid. But I promise we do, it’s just that everything has to go in his mouth.

While the kids were playing outside I left the back door open so that I could hear them and they could come in if they wanted to, while I was making some brownies for tonight. After I was done, I thought I would let Isabelle lick the mixing “spoon.” She had chocolate all over her face. I could almost not believe how messy she had gotten. But shortly after wards, once she was done playing and painting, she came inside to use the restroom, and washed her self all up. She had to first come back down stairs to get the step stool and carry it back up to the bathroom herself, but she cleaned up her face and hands. I was so surprised, when she came back down with a clean face. That was pretty refreshing.

Purple Gloved Dinning

Isabelle is so silly, she decided that she needed to wear one of her snow gloves to eat dinner last night. She had a pretty interesting time trying to grab a hold of the fork with her mitten on. But I think that she did manage to get some food into her mouth while still wearing the glove. Then since we were taking pictures of her, she decided that she needed to take some pictures herself. With Ben’s help she took a couple of snapshots of me. They were not half bad, considering she is two and half.

Aviary

Yesterday was Pioneer Day and the aviary was open to the public for free. I thought that since Isabelle just loves birds we would go and take a quick visit. She really enjoyed seeing all the different types of birds and sharing them with her brother. I thought for sure by the end of our trip Bear would be singing bird but he has not. He really liked it none the less, I think he would have been happy to get out and walk, but with just one of me, that would have been kind of hard. We did get to see some birds up close during the bird show. We saw three types of owls and a hawk, both kids thought that was great. It was kind of sad the hawk had broken his tail and could no longer fly, he lost all steering power. It reminded me of the red tailed hawk that we saved when we were living in California, in the High Desert.

The only challenge with our trip was that we arrived just after the parade was done and we had a horible time finding a place to park. It was so crazy busy. Plus the park was host to many other wonderful activities as well. So people were not leaving very quickly. Add to it that you could not park in the usual spots, it was a challenge. We finally made it in and the kids just loved it. Isabelle let me know when she wanted to go home so we went. Our birder day was over, until the next time.