Festival of Trees

We went to the Festival of Trees on Saturday. We were planning on Bret being with us, but he took off for the Cougar game in San Diego at the last minute,so it just ended up being me and the kids.

Grandma and Grandpa Z had never been

to the festival, so we talked them into tagging along.

We loved having them with us!

Shawn could tell something fun was going to happen.

What a smile!

We all did a bunch of stuff in the kids corner . . .

life-sized bubble, sand mix, reindeer spoons,

and Tyler even talked to one of Santa's elves.

Grandpa and Shawn were so brave to wait for the activities to end.

The gingerbread houses may have been

our favorite things at the Festival!

Jenny and I are ready to make a tree

for the festival next year. Is anyone else in?

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let is Snow!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We woke up this morning to snow, snow, snow!

The kids couldn't get their snow clothes on fast enough.

So today, we are deep in Hot Chocolate,

Snowflake making,

and staying inside with lots of

Christmas music and decorating.

What a fun day!

Fall Leaves

We get back from story time today and Katy says to me,

"Where's the rake Mom?

I'm gonna rake those leaves."

So I handed her a rake and off she went.

The next thing I know, she's ringing the doorbell

telling me to come check out her work!

She was ready to make the big JUMP!

Shawn couldn't stand to just watch so he jumped in too!

. . . Nothin' better than
playin' in the leaves!

My Prediction Was Right!

Knowing that Wednesday was the last day of school before Fall Break, I got up early that morning to get my orders done so that we could be ready to go to Wallsburg the next morning. Needless to say, I was still doing them when the kids got home at 4:00 and I still hadn't even showered! YIKES! So Bret calls around 5ish and says he has been invited to go to the Jazz Game (GO JAZZ!) and I say go for it! "I'll just have the kids help me clean the house (which was a total BOMB!) and then we can stop at the grocery store in the morning before we head up to Wallsburg." Great Plan!

So I feed the kids and we have a big POW-WOW about what everyone's assignment is for cleaning the house. And then we are off! By now it's about 7:30-7:45.

At 8:00, Katy decides she's going to run around upstairs with her eyes closed . . . she trips on a blanket and cracks her forehead on the corner of the desk in the girls' bedroom.

I took one look at it and knew this was a real wammy! I knew I couldn't fix this myself, so I packed all four kids into the car and we head to the emergency room. They gave her a cotton ball with some numbing medicine right when we got there but . . . Bret comes home early from the game, my mom comes to get Jenny, Tyler and Shawn and then Bret and Katy and I wait in the emergency room for 3 HOURS to be seen. WAY TOO LONG!

SO . . . as stated in the title "My prediction was right" that Katy would someday be my emergency room child. But she was indeed the bravest of them all. The doctors thought they would have to sedate her to stitch her up, but she held so still they didn't have to. So at 12:30am (over four hours later) we finally walked out of there with 9 cool blue stitches! ( and several more on the underlayer).

We love you Katy! We are so lucky to have you, but next time please remember to run with your eyes open! Once we got to Wallsburg we were immediately in heaven and could finally relax. The first day, since we got up there a little later then planned, we took it easy. We fed the fish . . .
played with Maddox . . .

and did a little R&R!
Saturday morning we headed up to Park City to ride the Alpine Slide and do a little shopping. The Alpine slide was closed, but it was the last day to ride the Alpine Coaster. I was just as fun and way faster. If you haven't been on it we would highly recommend going next year! IT'S FAST!




After all the Wallsburg fun you've got to soak in a warm bubble bath. Shawn has never seen so many bubbles. He was in heaven!
On Saturday, I headed down the canyon for my sewing class, and Bret hung with the kids. When I got back Bret headed over to Roland's cabin to help with a little plumbing problem. Roland wanted to pay us back for the help, so he offered for us to play on his new toy. We couldn't let that offer up . . . so we headed out that night on "THE RANGER". Bret wrapped us all up in blankets and we headed up the canyon. IT WAS SO COLD! But so fun! We saw so many beautiful leaves . . . nothing beats being up in the mountains with your family. Thank you Bret for the fun idea!

We had so much fun this weekend! Thank you Tom and Gwen for being so generous in sharing your house with us. We had so much fun together watching shows, going for walks, riding "THE RANGER", feeding the fish, petting the horses, cooking good meals at night, having hot cookies and milk, and sleeping all together in the loft!
Our family is Blessed!

Halloween Fever

We are so excited for Halloween to come! Not only is it one of the funnest holidays, but it's also Shawn's big day! We can't believe he is going to be ONE!

The Thompson are coming soon too and we're planning a rip roarin' Halloween party! I don't think that day can come fast enough.

Here are a few Halloween tunes to help you catch the Halloween Fever if you haven't gotten it already!

We love you all!

Happy Halloween!

Field Trip Day at Thanksgiving Point

We had another fun field trip with Miss Angie's Preschool!

We went to Thanksgiving Point and saw all the farm animals!

Katy's started it off right with a pony ride!

Then we were off to Feeding the Goats!

I have to say that Katy is my bravest child

when it comes to a lot of things, including feeding goats.

I was a little nervous myself, but not Kate!

She jumped right in there and loved it!

This is Katy's best Friend at school -- Daniella!

Since I wasn't paying attention . . .

we missed the class hayride.

Lucky for me, Daniella said she would go on the hay ride again with us

so Katy would feel better about missing the whole thing.

Thank you Daniella!!!

We even got our own private ride!

YEE HAW!

After the hayride, Katy begged me for more money for animal food, but I was out of change. Katy was extremely disappointed. But this didn't stop her from getting more food. She just walked over to the vending machine and started picking up all the little corn pieces that people had dropped on the ground. She ended up with a pretty good handful. Way to go Beana!

This time she fed it all to the cows!

Shawn, of course, loved the day especially kisses from Kate!
But not so much the picture taking on the Sheep!
and he wanted to feed the goats himself . . .
and maybe take a picture or two!
But his new favorite thing to do, that drives mom crazy,

is stand in his stroller. What a monkey!

Hiking to the "Y"

We were so lucky!

This morning Bret got us all loaded up

and took us to hike to the "Y"!

This was the gate at the bottom of the trail.

We couldn't wait!
I really thought I could carry Shawn, but Bret said no way! Luckily Grandma and Grandpa Z were willing to watch him for a couple hours while we went on our big adventure. After a few switchbacks we were all panting like mad dogs and Bret said, "Aren't you glad we don't have Shawn?" I had to admit that carrying Shawn wouldn't have been very easy.

After about an hour hike, we made it to the top!

The kids were so excited!

Once we came around the corner and we could see the "Y", there was nothing stopping Tyler.

He was the first to touch it!

It was amazing up there!
The weather was perfect!

We couldn't have asked for a better day!It was so fun to be together!. . . laughing, talking, sharing water, taking breaks to rest, listening to Bret's stories . . . It was great!
Once we got home, Bret and I felt like our muscles had all turned to Jello. We were tired and ready to sit down and watch the cougar game. The next thing we knew the kids were asking "Can we go out and play?" and they played all afternoon!

Hiking to the "Y" was so fun . . .

it was something we will

always remember!

Thank you Dad!

You are the Best! We love you!

Latest Blogger!

Bret has joined the blogging world!

http://bretsblurps.blogspot.com/

And I have to say . . . Check it out!
I know it will "out shine" mine any day!

Laguna Beach 2007

Our Laguna Trip this year was so fun!

Thank you everyone for the fun times!

We love you all!