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.

Freedom's Light - Donut Falls

On Friday afternoon I took the girls to the "Freedom's Light: A Celebration of the Constitution" at the Bountiful City Park. This is an annual event, but I think it's only the second time we've gone. We learned a lot about different governments and what it takes to become a U.S. citizen. We went through all 10 milestones, then took a citizenship test and finally were sworn in and given a certificate of citizenship. We saw several people we knew, but was most impressed that Senator Liljenquist (who performed the swearing in) recognized me. As opposed to a lady whose home I was at last Sunday couldn't remember how she knew me!


I had a busy morning on Saturday, and got a lot accomplished. Brandon planted our spinach while I took the girls to a practice for a song they would perform Sunday in the primary program. Then I made us a lunch to take on a hike. Unfortunately, Chloe chose to stay home. We missed her, but not the whining. Lark had gone up to Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Labor Day, and it sounded fun so we had to go check it out. Sophie had a blast climbing around on all the rocks and wading through the water. She learned that her "waterproof" shoes are not the same as water shoes, however.



I had a terrible accident and killed my iPod. I'm taking it in today to see if it can be repaired, but I'm afraid all is lost. That was the saddest part of the day. But we had so much fun hiking to Donut Falls, and since we were so close we decided to just go check out Silver Lake (where we had tried to go for Father's Day). It was still pretty cold up there (especially for a girl with wet shoes), but there was no more snow. It was beautiful and just a nice, easy stroll around the lake.

Just Another Update

I have a few things to report on this week. Last week my sister-in-law asked if we would be able to help out a friend who has a daughter going to a cosmetology school down in Spanish Fork. So, Wednesday we made a day of it -- I got my hair cut and Sophie got a pedicure. Chloe wasn't feeling up to helping out, so she just watched. We got to go out to lunch afterwards, and then the girls wanted to go do some shopping. They didn't find what they were looking for, so that just means we'll have to go again some other time.

Then Thursday we got to go on a great field trip to watch a science demonstration by a professor at the University of Utah. It was great, and just the kind of thing Sophie has been begging for lately. I'm not very good at science experiments, so I was glad to be able to get a whole afternoon of them in -- and I didn't have to do a thing! We found out Bill Nye was in town this week, but we weren't able to go to that because we already had plans that day, but it would have been nice.

On Saturday Brandon spent the morning participating in a nerd showdown (yes, that's really what it was called). It was basically a local programming contest, with a prize of $10,000. So, while he was doing that I took the girls on a bike ride to explore a trail I've been wanting to try out. The girls had fun looking at all the wildlife, and there were fruit trees galore that we helped ourselves to. We got home just as Brandon was finishing round one of the competition. He had to make it into the top 10 to move on to the next round, but luckily (??) he didn't. Because, Sophie was performing a play she had been working on with her friends. We'd had this scheduled for over a week, and when Brandon first told her about the contest he pointed out how if he passed the first round he would miss her play. He asked if that was ok with her, but let her know he was willing to skip the contest because she was more important. You should have seen the look on her face as she said, "What? You could get money if you win!" I guess Sophie felt the $10,000 was more important than her play, but I'm so grateful for a husband that knows his daughter is priceless. So... we went to the play, and were entertained by 4 cute little girls doing "Little Red Riding Hood." Sophie was the grandmother, and she was great at her part. Chloe ended up playing the narrator, but she wasn't really committed until shortly before the play started.


On Tuesday we went to the state fair. I wanted to go on Thursday to watch the country showdown state final, but Chloe had an activity day that day that she really didn't want to miss -- so we went on free parking day! We watched a sea lion show that was pretty entertaining. They had trained the sea lions to do funny tricks. At the end of the day we went to an "Aussie" show, but the girls weren't as impressed. It was more informational and the animals didn't do anything. I still thought it was good and learned some stuff. Sophie went up and petted a kangaroo afterward. They had earned coupons good for a free ride -- I love that they both chose the carousel. We looked at some of the exhibits, and I fell in love with a quilt that I would have bought right then and there if it had been for sale.







Yesterday felt like a super crazy day. It started out with a phone call to a roofer. We have been thinking about replacing our roof for a very long time, and the time had finally come to move ahead with those plans. So, after getting some estimates we chose a guy. Brandon called him yesterday morning to see if we could set up an appointment for him to come out and look at it. Well, he wanted to come right then! So, he shows up in 1/2 an hour and gave us a final quote, but he didn't have all his color samples with him, so he came back later to bring those. I had to pick out the color without Brandon here (that was very scary!) Next thing I know he's telling me they'll be dropping off the shingles within an hour, and he'll be back that evening to start working on it. I've never seen a project move so quickly. Meanwhile, outside the Utopia workers were doing their thing and hit a gas line. So, we had firemen running around and a policeman had the street blocked off right at our house. Some of my neighbors had to be evacuated, but they didn't tell me we had to leave. Just as that's getting cleaned up, the shingles were arriving and a realtor showed up 10 minutes early who had an appointment to show the house. So, life goes on like usual. After dinner and bedtime routine Brandon and I went for our nightly walk. While out, we notice that Centerville's east hill is on fire. That really drew our attention. So, after we got home we pulled the girls out of bed and joined the mob of people who also thought it would be fun to drive up and watch the fire. Chloe took several pictures, so you'll have to look for them on her blog. That was the perfect end to our crazy, busy day.

Fun Activities

I know summer is supposed to technically be over, but since I homeschool I refuse to follow that logic. We are going to have as much fun as we can while the weather still allows for it.

After we got back from our mini vacation (on the 25th) I took the girls to Seven Peaks water park. Once we got there I wondered what on earth I was thinking. Sophie can't swim, and there was no way either of them would go on the slides so what was the point of a water park? But after a while we got the hang of everything, and had a really great time. We spent a lot of time in the lazy river, and the girl's favorite spot was the Tidal Wave pool. Sophie really started to show some confidence in the water.

The next day we got to go to our ward playgroup. They meet on Friday mornings, and we were just coming home from doing some visiting teaching when we ran into one of the moms going -- so I thought, why not? I don't get to sit around and visit much, so it was a welcome detour from our routine.

Last Monday our neighborhood had a pool party. This is becoming an annual event. The Flammers have a pool that we all go to, and President Alder drags his ice cream machine over. They also serve hot dogs and soda, so we just eat before going. The girls love it. By the end of the night, Sophie just about had the hang of swimming! She's spent so much time in the water lately that it shouldn't be surprising. I'm really proud of her, doing it all on her own. I hope to be able to take her again soon, so she doesn't loose what she's learned before homeschool swimming starts on the 21st.

Then Tuesday night we had someone come look at our house, and since we didn't really have anything to do we made it a spontaneous trip to Galaxy for frozen custard.

Thursday was the most exciting day of all. I've been waiting for this day for over a year. I took my family to opening night of Mary Poppins - Broadway Across America! I bought my tickets the day they went on sale, and have been counting down ever since. Then a couple days before the show, Jason called to see if I would watch his kids while he and Shalee went. They had gotten tickets for the same day, but luckily they were going to the matinee. So, we watched the kids all afternoon and then had a night out for ourselves. It was amazing! Sophie asked so many questions during the show; she doesn't really grasp special effects, so it's fun to watch her amazement. We always read the book whenever possible before seeing a show like this, but didn't realize they play included the second part.

Our Saturday was spent hiking up Mueller Park. They're putting in a pipeline up on the mountain, so anyone who's been here and asked why the mountain has that trail ripped across it -- now you know. Anyway, due to that construction the trail was close at 1.25 miles. But that was plenty for us. Two and a half miles took a good chunk of the day for us.

We stopped and ate lunch.


Brandon thought it was a lot of fun to connect all the water bottles together -- and then make us drink out of them still linked.




Here's the construction work on the pipeline being done.


Brandon had way too much fun being in charge of the water bottles.


We found this mock TeePee someone had set up. The girls had fun playing inside it for a bit.


We had originally planned to take stuff to cook up there, but then decided that was too much work. Sophie was disappointed, so Brandon decided we could just cook outside for dinner. We love our patio, but it's just too hot to enjoy in the evenings (we tend to eat breakfast out there more often). So, we decided to have our cook-out in the garage (on the opposite side of the house). Nothing like eating dinner in the garage!