Sewer * Eli * Pumpkins * ONC

I need to play catch-up once again. I just can't blog about everything when it happens! Right after the "fabumouse" party we needed to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful day, so we went hiking up Mueller Park. It was so gorgeous. It put Chloe in the fall mood, and she started thinking about pictures. I didn't haul my camera along because I really didn't think I needed more pictures of us hiking, but then I kind of wished I'd had it so we could just get our family pictures done. Oh well! So, the following Monday the girls and I went out to do some pictures. We didn't go back up to Mueller, so we didn't get all the beautiful colors, but Chloe got her leaves. Sophie hates having her picture taken, so this wasn't even about her -- but she still ended up in a few shots. Crazy hair and all! Then that evening after Brandon was home we all went out so I could get a family photo for our Christmas cards.

For our field trip this week we got to go to the sewer! That was really amazing. I know you don't believe me, but it was. The guys who gave the tour really loved their jobs, and did a lot to show the kids how practical science can be. And I was impressed at all the crap they do to our... well, crap... to make it safe to go back out into the water cycle.

Thursday we invited Eli over for a sleep-over. I didn't really have much planned to do with him, but turns out there was no need to. The girls just wanted to play and they had a great time together. I thought he might get a little bored, but he never did. That night we took him to the city's pumpkin walk. Sophie had entered a pumpkin. We had fun seeing pumpkins from several of our neighbors.

Sophie's Entry -- it's a frog, in case you couldn't tell:

So, Friday afternoon we had to take Eli home. We were planning to do their family photos when we got there, but as we started to head out Shalee noticed I had a flat tire! Since the kids were all ready we decided to just go ahead and do pictures as planned, and worry about the tire later. Once we got done doing pictures Jason helped me get the spare on. That was no easy chore, but he did it.

As we're out there working on the tire, Chloe comes up to me and says, "I hope I didn't cause this."
Me: "What, the tire?"
Chloe: "Yeah"
Me: "Why do you think it's your fault?"
Chloe: "Because I prayed for it."
Me: "WHAT? You prayed that we'd get a flat tire?"
Chloe: "Well, not exactly. But I prayed that we'd have to stay here longer."

Oh, the faith of a child. She got what she prayed for! We ended up staying about 3 extra hours. Shalee ordered pizza to keep everyone happy. I had two tire places turn me away because they didn't have enough time to help me before they closed. Good old Walmart came through, though, and we were able to get back home safely.

Saturday we went up to Ogden to explore the Ogden Nature Center. I think we went a little too early, because it was really cold that morning. We packed a picnic and ended up taking a service road that I'm not sure we were supposed to be on to get to the picnic tables, but after lunch it warmed up and was much nicer. I wish it was a little closer so we could take advantage of it when the weather is nice. It reminded me a lot of Indiana. They had a lot of birds on display like we saw in Ft. Collins, but inside they had this itty-bitty saw-whet owl named Gidget. She was so cute! I think I have a new favorite owl. I took too many pictures again, so I'll just throw them into a slideshow for anyone interested in viewing them.



Sunday we carved the remainder of our pumpkins. The girls actually worked on them while I made an apple pie. It was Brandon's birthday dessert, but since we'll be busy tonight we thought we should go ahead and have it a little early.

Now I'm on my way to go take pictures of the girls in their Halloween costumes. Stay tuned!

Fabumouse Cheesecake Party

I know you're all dying to hear about Saturday's exciting event. Well, this is how it goes. Sophie likes to read these Geronimo Stilton books (about a mouse). One of them has an outline at the end of it for how to hold a cheesecake party. Geronimo is not a normal mouse in the sense that he doesn't like cheese, but cheesecake is completely different (I agree!) Sophie set to planning this party right away -- only I made her complete several requirements before she could actually have it. She made the guest list, sent out the invitations, planned all the activities. I offered to make the cheesecake because I'm really good at that :) And that was about all there was to it. It was a pretty simple party. She actually had over-planned things, so I told her to prioritize the activities and just see how many she could fit in. Chloe was a huge help. She offered to do face painting for all the guests as they arrived and were waiting for everyone else. She also made the pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game. Her art skills are really improving lately, and she can draw pretty much anything. She drew an Eeyore for this game -- and just so happened to also be the winner.


They played a game of hot potato, and Sophie wanted to use an actual hot potato. Our neighbors supplied the potato, since they just happened to be digging theirs up the day before our party and Sophie mentioned to them that she could use one (they actually gave us several that I used for dinner too). Then we got to eat cheesecake!


Afterwards we went outside for a game of three-legged race. Brandon and Chloe were partners, and Mr. B, being a little over zealous, ended up tripping and hurting a rib pretty bad.


There was only time for one last game, which is the only game suggestion that came out of the book, and that was where they picked a category and a letter of the alphabet and then had one minute to come up with the most answers that applied. I'm still not sure how I got suckered into letting her do this, but she did have a good time.

Group Shot:

And one with silly faces:

Now, I hope this is wasn't a big let-down after the way I built it up the other day, but Sophie was just so excited about this party for weeks. This was a highlight for her, and we love her so much!

Lots to Do

I feel like this week has been a whirlwind. We had something planned every single day, but it made it really fun. I got so mad at Sophie one day when she told me she was bored. How on earth can you be bored when there is so much to do? The truth is, she is so focused on Saturday (tomorrow) that she isn't living in the moment. But you'll have to wait until after Saturday for me to write about that exciting event.

Monday we didn't really have anything planned other than FHE that night, but Sophie was in charge of treat and we ended up having to go to three different stores to get all the ingredients. That's what happens when you try to eat healthy. I should have just gone straight to Whole Foods because I know they'll have everything I need, but I was trying hard to save us a trip to Salt Lake. Didn't work -- we still ended up going!

Tuesday was our date night with the kids. Brandon and Chloe went to the theatre to see "Sleepy Hollow." Brandon said it wasn't scary at all, almost too silly. Sophie and I went bowling. There was only one lane left when we got there, and it was the only lane which didn't have working bumpers. I told the lady that was fine, I might stand a chance to beat Sophie that way. Nah. She still beat me. The couple next to us left when we only had a couple frames left. The worker came over and told me she could easily move us over to that lane so Sophie could have bumpers, but at that point I knew Sophie was doing well enough I thought it would be better for her self-confidence to see that she can play without them.

Wednesday was our busiest day. We went on a field trip to the water treatment plant. That was interesting to learn about all the things they do to the water to get it to our homes. They also had a garden to teach about water conservation. Then we came home for a very fast lunch and then headed to the pool for homeschool swim. There weren't very many people there, which was good and bad. I liked having the pool practically to ourselves, but the girls missed their friends. Finally, Wednesday is my date night with Brandon and so we got to go out.

Thursday I ended up running errands I didn't have planned. Chloe had to get part of her Halloween costume she still needed. Sophie is trying to get me to let her change her costume, to one she wore several years ago that is WAY too small for her. They both had fun running around in their costumes all afternoon. After dinner we quickly cleaned up so we could go to a 4H carnival, but when we got there there was some other activity going on. We couldn't find the carnival, so I'm guessing it got canceled or something but they didn't have a good way to notify people. The kids were pretty bummed about that, and since we were right next to Harmon's we ran over there and got some gelato to cheer them up. It worked.

Today we had another field trip to Black Island Farm. The girls got their pumpkins and we had fun playing on all the attractions. We bought a couple extra pumpkins for carving along with some of their veggies they sell. They had these huge bags you could stuff full of carrots for $3. I'm going to try to store them, or we'll be eating a LOT of carrots for a while. This is the only activity I got pictures of, so enjoy another BIF collage!

Let's Start With Astro Camp

So, the girls came home from our trip not feeling very well. That resulted in another week of not conforming to our schedule. They did get a lot of rest, but that was about it. Not much got accomplished. We even missed swimming and a new science club for girls we were invited to. Luckily, Astro Camp was on Friday. I had already signed them up and paid for it so I was glad they were feeling better by then. We got to attend two different classes: work and machines, and Newton's laws of motion. I have to say, the lady who taught the work and machines class was the most boring teacher I have ever encountered. It was a bit painful to watch. Thankfully, the other guy more than made up for her. He was very funny, had the kids laughing the whole time, and did some really fun demonstrations. He even got my kids to participate and volunteer to answer questions. That is a special talent!



When I did my grocery shopping last week I must have been feeling in a fall mood. I was looking at all the delicious baskets of apples and thinking it would be fun to make caramel apples. I bought all the stuff for it, but with the week in bed we didn't get around to making them until Sunday. Brandon was a little anal about his, and yes, they did look very nice. Sophie's didn't turn out quite as pretty, but I promised her it would taste just as good. Can you guess whose is whose?



And just to share a bit about my birthday -- I got up and made Brandon some french toast for breakfast. I also had a couple gifts for the girl's that I've been saving for the right occasion, and decided they would think it was fun if I gave them to them on MY birthday -- especially since we aren't giving gifts this year! It worked. They were so good the whole day. They each made me a card, plus they bought one (I told them cards were ok). And they made a pinata for me out of a paper towel roll, decorated with tissue paper. Nobody else got a turn because I whacked it on my first try. We went out to dinner, and I splurged and got an Italian soda AND dessert. I needed to go do some shopping for some pj's, and since we were by the mall I took advantage of that opportunity. Brandon wanted to go look at pants for him, and the girls always need to look at clothes. We found some Christmas dresses for them, so it was a party for the whole family. The cashier heard the girl's talking about how much each item cost and trying to decide if they really wanted it. She said she'd never seen kids so concerned about the cost. We told her how they have to buy their own clothes, and it's really worked to teach them to budget well. So, it was all around a great day -- and now we get to look forward to celebrating with Brandon in a few weeks!

IN * KY * WV

We just got back from our latest adventure. We got to go visit my brother, Dallas, in Indiana. We got up at 4:00 AM on Saturday morning to catch our flight. The girls wanted to practice getting up that early, so each day that week we tried to get up 30 minutes earlier than the previous day. I'm not sure it was very effective, just made us very tired every day! But I like getting up early, so it was a good reminder I need to do it more. We got to Indiana with no problems and made it to Dallas and Jessica's just in time -- Jessica was on her way home from the General Relief Society meeting and Dallas had taken his kids to the library. We had dinner and played a game that night.

Sunday we went to church with them. After church we went to the Celery Bog. It was beautiful. We just walked around through the trails. I don't remember if it rained on us (probably), but the temps were pretty cold our whole time there. So much for trying to pick a nice week for our vacation! We didn't let the rain stop us from having fun, though. After the bog we went over to Happy Hollow Park. The kids wanted to play on the playground equipment while Brandon, Dallas and I went for a short hike. We were fasting that day, so we didn't have a whole lot of energy for hiking.

Monday was supposed to have nicer weather, so we tried to do more outdoor things. We drove to downtown Lafayette and parked the car at a park, then walked over to the bus stop so we could take the trolley. That was a crazy ride, trying to hold on with these slippery wood benches. It didn't sound too good, either, and eventually they made us get off and get on a different bus. We took it through campus, to get a quick tour of Purdue. Then we got to go out for lunch -- Panera! Then we went to Columbia Park where the kids had fun playing. You can see in my pictures this awesome standing teeter-totter they had. Well, it was fun until you get knocked off. They even had merry-go-rounds at all their parks! After playing for a while we walked over to the zoo right next to the park. They had a porcupine, a monkey, lots of farm animals, an Aussie section with wallaby, singing dogs, kookaburra. Chloe's favorite was the butterfly exhibit -- even though it was closed. There were still butterflies flying around that she loved to watch. It was a cute little zoo. And free, I almost forgot to mention the best part! Monday night we had Family Home Evening with them, and we went out to Red Mango for dessert (frozen yogurt).

Tuesday was our last full day in Indiana. We tried to find something to get us out of the rain, and so we chose to go to Jump It. The kids all had a ball. Chloe kept trying to get me to take pictures of her. I told her they weren't turning out. She said she didn't care if they were good, she just wanted pictures to remember it by. So... you can see lots of pictures of her having a ball in really bad lighting. After dinner we watched a movie before heading off to bed.

We left there Wednesday morning so we could make it to Louisville in time for lunch. We were a little late, but we made it. We ate at the Derby Cafe and then toured the Kentucky Derby museum. We took the historic walking tour to view the track and learn about the race. But then we went back in to finish the museum. They had a movie that played around an oval screen, but the ceiling was open so we were able to watch it from the second floor. Who knew we would have so much fun there? But they had to kick us out because it was closing time -- and we still weren't done looking at everything!

We drove down to Elizabethtown to spend the night, so we would be able to visit Abe Lincoln's birthplace first thing in the morning. We spent quite a bit of time there, and then drove out to the site of his boyhood home. There wasn't much to do there. They closed that visitor's center for the winter. So, we just looked around for a bit before we realized we needed to grab some lunch QUICK and get on our way to the mammoth caves! So, after rushing to get there we went in to get our tickets and then were walking back to the car to get jackets (they told us it would be 54 degrees inside the cave), we hear them announce the 12:45 tour would now be departing. Our tour was scheduled for 2:00. I was trying to figure out if they had messed up, when we realized that they were on central time. Apparently Elizabethtown is the divider -- we were in Eastern time all week, but south of there is central time. Crazy! So we now had an hour to kill. Sophie spent her time in the gift shop, and we went for a short hike up to Old Guide's Cemetery. Then we got to take our tour. Brandon said he's glad he did it, but has no desire to do it again. I liked it, mostly just proud that I wasn't too scared to do it! The girls did great -- after hearing a lot of complaining from Sophie. Chloe was proud that she was in better shape than some of people in our group who had a hard time with some of the steep spots. I didn't think we were allowed to take cameras, so I got no pictures of our tour. Apparently you can take cameras, just no bags or cases. I'm sure it would have been too dark to get anything good anyways. Then we drove to Lexington where we spent the night.

Friday our goal was to get to West Virginia and do lots of hiking. Our first stop was at the New River Gorge Bridge. This is the longest arch bridge in the western hemisphere. It used to be the longest in the world, but now it ranks third. They have a bridge day each October where people will jump off the bridge. That's supposed to be pretty cool, but we didn't plan our trip around that event. After seeing that we were pretty much behind schedule and it was raining and cold, so we decided to cut out the scenic drive I had planned. We just headed to our hotel and let the girls swim. We went out for a late dinner -- just to make Dallas jealous we went to Cici's. They had an all-you-can-eat buffet for $3.99 and kids ate free. Our entire meal was $8. I told the cashier we don't eat meat (she was also a vegetarian, so she knew how we felt), and so she had them make a whole vegetarian pizza that they brought to our table just for us. They still had several options in the buffet line as well.

Saturday we had a late flight to head home, so we tried to go to some state parks and look around. It was still raining, so we mostly just drove around and were able to listen to a bit of conference in the car and caught the exciting news about Star Valley getting a temple. We drove by the West Virginia state capitol and then went and got some lunch before heading to the airport. This is where our story should be coming to an end, but no. After getting on the plane the captain announced that we didn't have enough air in one of the tires, so a mechanic was coming out to fill it. He was about 20 min away. After he got there they told us the air was coming out as fast as it was going in, so they needed to get a new tire. Of course, they don't have any spare tires in Charleston so they had to fly one in from Atlanta (where we were headed for our connecting flight). So, we all got off the plane and got to hang out in the freezing cold Charleston airport with only one restaurant that closed at 6:30. They gave us our choice of staying in Charleston or taking the plane back to Atlanta that was bringing our tire in. We chose Atlanta -- Charleston was too cold, I needed out of there! So, they put us up for the night at a hotel in Atlanta and gave us vouchers for food. When our vouchers printed out, they assigned us to hotels. Out of the 4 of us, we got assigned 3 different hotels! We just chose Brandon's (because it sounded the nicest) and shared a room (like we would have done anyway). Most people took the first flight out of Atlanta they could, but I requested a later flight so we could sleep in and enjoy the day. We weren't in a rush to get home. We used our food vouchers to eat breakfast in the hotel, and then grabbed some lunch in the airport. We still had a couple left, so after landing in Salt Lake we stopped and got some frozen yogurt :) And that is where our trip ends.

The girls are taking an extra day off to recuperate. They both came home feeling a little ill, so they've been resting while I catch up on laundry and blog.