Festival Of Trees

Each year an event is held to raise money for the local children's hospital, made possible by people creating very intricate Christmas trees, that are themed. Some trees are large while others are small. There are also wreaths, gingerbread houses, play houses, and so much more. Roadway has the pleasure of delivering all of the trees to the buyers, and they hope that none of the decorations shift or break. The large trees can be so much more, they could also come with a false hearth, flat screen tv, games or whatever might go well with the theme of the tree. All of the trees were just beautiful, even the little ones. I would love a chance to decorate one all in one theme and then see it placed in a loving home or business. Since these are no ordinary trees the prices range from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. Who would not want to support the Children’s Hospital? Ben thinks it would be a great fundraiser for any city.

Play house or Grandmother house?

I'm Dreaming of a white Christmas

I am really hoping for a white Christmas this year. And seeing how it snowed the day we got back from Texas as well as on December 1st I think the odds are in my favor. Although I do think that it has to actually snow on the 25th but I could not be sure. Here are some pictures from the morning of our snow storm, it looks like about 4” of snow and then it proceeded to snow all day and I think the valley got at least 7” so you can imagine how many inches the mountains received. I know all the ski resorts were praying hard to the snow gods to bring it on, considering they have been blowing snow, yikes!

Isabelle loved the snow; Bear was not quite sure what to do. Never mind the fact that his shoes would not stay on and I think he really could not move well; but hey all in the name of warmth. He did have fun on the sled until Isabelle dumped him.

Birthday's

A birthday in December is hard all in it self, but having your birthday on the 24th can be considered even more difficult. With that in mind, while we are all together with Ben’s family we celebrate winter birthday’s now. Three in December, and one for February, which is kind of nice for the kids, but some what unnecessary in my opinion, but hey I did not make this rule to begin with. And usually on birthday party day, we all take in a little bowling, to show off our mad skills at being able to throw a ball down a hard wood floor. People are so easily entertained. Although this year we added another outside “family” member to the birthday party crowd a friend from Church who Bernie and Susie are godparents for. It was really nice to help her celebrate her birthday as well. I’m sure that they will become part of the birthday tradition.

Twilight

Very few books have every really made want to read them again and again, well I have recently read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, and have just fallen in love with the characters and the book. Twilight is the first book in the series and for whatever reason I am completely drawn to the characters and plot. I would recommend this series to all who enjoy reading. The nice thing about these books is that they are a fast read, and can keep your attention from the beginning. The fact that I like these books is kind of funny, because I have waited to read them, since I did not know what to expect. Were they going to follow the same lines as Anne Rice, or were they “cleaner,” since I have heard about them for a long time, I finally broke down and read them. The author is LDS, and so her work has been very big here, and she does not disappoint. I’m glad that I finally started the series and can hardly wait until the next book comes to print.

Texas Christmas

After Thanksgiving on Friday we have our Texas Christmas with Ben’s family. It is a wild day filled with last minute shopping, wrapping gifts and kids filled with high anticipation of tearing into those carefully wrapped gifts the moment it touches their hands. Before we can get to all the excitement of gifts we have to find the perfect tree. Each year it becomes a major production with fifteen people voicing their opinion on the tree they think would be just right. Sadly you can’t make everyone happy. At last we find the “perfect” tree and take the family picture. Now with seven of the kids under four years old it becomes a challenge to make all the little faces look forward at the same time. Which in it self can be very comical, I don’t think it will happen anytime soon that all the kids will face the camera and hold still. Once we get the perfect tree we have to cut it down and bring it home, and decorate it before we open presents. But wait there’s more; we even have to eat dinner before all the mayhem can begin. So after much waiting and anticipation from the kids (read Morgan) we are finally read to get down to business, and this of course leads to a wild frenzy to see what everyone got for Christmas.

Happy Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that everyone had a great day and did not eat too much. As usual we had tons of food, which amazingly enough we only had for leftovers one day. This year we did our standard deep fried turkey as well as a turducken. I know what is a turducken, well it’s a turkey, stuffed with a duck, and a chicken along with tantalizing stuffing of rice and other Creole mixtures. And we even tried to be a little healthier with our sides but it’s hard to do when everything will end up dripping in gravy. While all of our family members were not able to attend we were grateful for those that could make it for the visit and it was a great day. Everyone pitched in to help bring dinner to the table, even the kids had fun helping out, with getting the potatoes ready to cook. Morgan had the best pleasure to figuring out where everyone is going to sit, because when you have that many people there are bound to be logistical issues.

Kids Kingdom

While I was in high school the entire town of Sulphur Springs got together to build a new playgroup for the kids. They called it Kids Kingdom. One of the citizens donated a very large majority of the money for the playground to be built, and it became a reality one weekend with the help of hundreds of people, who volunteered their time. I am happy to say that it is still a lot of fun for kids to play on. Our kids even enjoy it a lot. We try to take them every year we are back in Sulphur Springs and this year was no exception. They all had so much fun playing, climbing, and exploring the “kingdom.” I personally like the rubber bridge that you can bounce across, it is too much fun.

Fish

Fish, fish, fish and more fish, you can never come home to Sulphur Springs without fishing. I was really happy that this year though we had really great weather for fishing. Bear and Isa had so much fun and they each caught their own fish for the first time. It was pretty exciting. I even caught a fish, which really means that I finally had some fun. I usually don’t have the patience for fishing. It was great that the fish were really biting, and let me tell you there were so big fish out there. I think Jodi caught the biggest fish that came out of the water, so bigger ones got away. It was almost hard to leave but we had to get home and feed the kids before long, and even though there were lights, it was getting dark and harder to see where your minnow was going.

In home Compost

Thanks to my husband being a huge dork who watches the History Channel almost as much as ESPN we have now been introduced to a new earth friendly product that I think everyone should have. I absolutely hate to put things in the trash that I know can be recycled or composted, but we for one do not have a compost option. But wait we could have an in home compost machine that will take the majority of food waste items and turn them into great “food” for your garden. Much to my father’s dismay I’m sure I keep becoming more and more green. This in home kitchen compost product is provided by Nature Mill, their web site is naturemill.com, and comes with an air cleaner so there is none of that nasty compost smell in your home. Not only are you helping to reduce the amount of waste in the landfills you are providing your backyard with much needed nutrients that are natural and organic. I will encourage all of you to check this compost machine out and if you get a chance to see it in action on the History Channel you should watch it, Environmental Tech II is the series name, and the next time this series airs is Saturday, November 17th at 5pm. We could all be a little greener.

Gingerbread Houses

We have just seen some gingerbread houses that will put the ones we make this season to shame. But at least we tried, and anyway who has that much time to make such an amzing structure? Yes that is a Dragon.

Corn Maze Fun

We went to our first official corn maze here in Utah. Now while we did not do the big corn maze because the kids are a little young, we did have fun participating in many of the other activities. Since we went after Halloween we had so much fun and practically had the place all to ourselves. But first our exciting tale of what happened once we arrived.

Upon arrival at Cornbelly’s Maze I began the delicate process of getting the kids out of the car and ready for fun. Barrett was still sleeping when we arrived so I left him in the car while I got the stroller out and Isabelle out. Now this is a little different since I usually get him out then Isabelle but change never hurts. Before I started removing objects I placed my cell phone and keys in the side pocket of the diaper bag so that I could put the bag in the stroller. I had the stroller all set up and Isabelle was getting out of the car and I made my way to the front to grab the bag and instead I decided to just take out a diaper and wipes because that would be so much easier. Since I had gotten a bigger diaper bag when Bear was first born and it took up a lot of room. I told Bear I would get him out in just a minute and closed the front door. I walked around the other side to Bear and opened his door. Low and behold it would not open, so I was like ok let me go get my keys from the stroller. No keys!! Where could they be, oh yea still in the diaper bag on the front seat of the car that is now locked with my child still in the car. That’s right I locked Barrett unintentionally in the car. I could not believe I had done this.

Fortunately I was down at the maze with Mom’s Club so I had some people to help me call the police to get Barrett out of the car. After what seemed like forever but was really only about twenty minutes he was out and no worse for the wear. I should have taken pictures of the police officer unlocking the door but then I thought he would think I was crazy, so I didn’t. After he was out Bear was just fine, a little shocked that I left him in the car but he recovered well and had a great time at the Maze. He followed the older kids around great, and they each had so much fun. I think the coolest part was the giant “balloon” they had on the floor, one for smaller kids and one for big kids or adults. Even I got out on this one, I think it was even better than a trampoline; everyone should try it out sometime in their life.

Halloween

Here are a few pics of the kids from Halloween. Once Isabelle figured out that if she knocked on the door and someone opened it, that she would get some candy she was all over Trick or Treating. Bear thought it was great just knocking on the door, but got pretty excited about the candy as well. So you tell the kids not to eat the candy but then a "big kid" Dad eats some anyway. One house gave out Pop Rocks, and he thought that was great, so down one package went.

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?