Halloween 2013

Maisie and Parker decided to both be Raphael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was so excited when I found a girl tween Raphael. Maisie looked so dang cute in it. Parker loved being a ninja turtle again this year. I wasn't complaining. I didn't have to buy another costume. It has become a tradition to go to the Bear River City trunk-or-treat. Eric doesn't really care for the trunk-or-treat, so he stayed home. Because he has been sick he wasn't the happiest camper either, so we left him home. It was a little cold, so we didn't do any other trick-or treating. We went to my Hendrickson grandparents and than went to my mom's for soup and dirt pudding. That also has become a yearly tradition that the kids and adults look forward to. All the hunters except for my dad came home to spend Halloween with their kids. 

We stopped at Sallie's to trick-or-treat before going home. She loves seeing the kids and had a special full size candy bar for them. 

Trip to Price

October 29, 2013 The muzzle loader elk hunt is once again here. Eric got up with us and he wasn't feeling so great. He keep saying he didn't think he was going to go. By the time me and the kids left to go to work/school he was throwing up, so he decided he had better stay home. I was a little bummed cause it is the one thing he enjoys doing. He didn't feel good for a couple of days, but by the weekend he was feeling better, so I suggested going to Price, since I took Thursday and Friday off to get things done around the house and the kids got out of school on Friday at 1. He decided to call his mom Friday morning to inform her of us coming down. I knew she would be a little panicked, cause she likes to plan ahead for us to come, but she was excited we were coming. We got to her house about 4:30. We went to Winger's with Travis and Lisa and the girls. They mentioned to the waitress that it was his birthday and so of course the staff had to sing to him. He was a good sport and played along with it. We got a good dessert out of it, so it was worth it. Then we went and hung out with them at their house. It was really nice to get to visit with them.

Saturday, Mary and I took the kids to the Price pool. While we were at the pool Eric went to Cody's to help him re-roof his garage. Maisie has really been wanting to swim, so she can keep up and improve the skills she has learned while taking swimming lessons. She hopes to one day be on the swim team. The one thing she really enjoys is swimming. Parker was a character and in his own little world. He would get on the high dive and shake his booty while he would say, "You can do it, all night long." Not the most appropriate thing to say, but he had everyone laughing. Maisie made a couple of friends with some girls that Mary crosses while she is the crossing guard for the elementary school. She was having such a great time, that after two hours we had to do some convincing to get her to leave. We went back to Mary's house and let the kids eat and take bath's and then Mary and I got ready to go to dinner and the Elvis impersonator at the Country Club. We dropped the kids off at Cody's, so they could hang out with them. The Elvis impersonator was interesting. He had a hard time dancing and moving, but he was a really good singer. Mary loves Elvis and anyone that can sing Elvis songs she dies over.

Afterwards we went back to Cody's. Mary took Parker back to her house. He loves hanging out with grandma. Bridget, Ray and the girls were at Cody's. It was great to see them. We don't get to see them very often. We had a great time visiting and just hanging out in Cody's garage by the stove. We didn't leave until about 11:30. Sunday morning we all went to a late breakfast at Main Street Grill. We left to go home from there because we wanted to stop by Cabela's. It was snowing a little in Spanish Fork canyon, but the rest of the drive was dry. Thank goodness. I hate driving/riding in the snow. We arrived home about 5:00. We had a great weekend and were refreshed to start another week.

BRC Halloween Carnival

October 26th

I took the kids to the Bear River City Halloween carnival. It was put on by the cit youth council. It was kind of cheesy, but the youth did a great job planning a few games for the little kids to do. There didn't end up being very many kids, so our kids got to play each game several times and win lots of candy. Afterwards, we went and hung out at Shanna's and scrapbooked. 

2013 Family Pictures

October 19th, 2013

I finally convinced the family to take pictures. We braved using just a tripod and they promised they would be good. And they were. We were done taking pictures probably within 20 minutes. It was a bit chilly and I told them I just needed a few good ones and then we could be done. I learned a few things about using a tripod though. I kept it on manual focus, but then when I handed the camera over to Eric or Maisie to take a few forgot to put it back on auto focus, so a few of them aren't in complete focus, but they turned out pretty good. A photo is better than no photo.

We then carved out zucchini's and let the kids float them down the river. They thought that was pretty cool. Then we went and shot a watermelon and zucchini. The kids love to target shoot. I love that Eric teaches them about gun safety. 

Maisie at Teton Science School

October 8 - 11, 2013

Maisie got to go on her first trip alone without family. At Edith Bowen Lab School, they plan a 5th grade science trip. I love that they do this for the kids. I wish my elementary school would have done something like this for us. She was a little nervous about going and wanted to pack for the trip way in advance. She did a very good job packing all her stuff. She did most of it while I was in Vegas. I dropped her off at the school at 7:15 and saw her off. It was a little hard sending your little girl off in the care of others, but it has to happen at some point. The staff that went did a great job of uploading photos of what the kids were doing each day. That was definitely reassuring knowing that they were having a great time and were safe. They arrived back to Logan Saturday night about 7:00. They were suppose to call us when they were going to be back, but I never got the call, so she got a ride from a friend who lives a few streets over from us. I was busy taking photos for a senior and couldn't come get her. Maisie was sad to see that Parker wasn't at home, he got invited to stay the night at my parents. She had a great time on her trip, but was glad to be home in her warm bed. We were glad to have her back too. The house was too quiet without her.

Girls Trip to Vegas - October 4 - 7, 2013

Friday, October 4

A couple of months ago my good friend Michelle said she wanted to plan a girl's weekend in Vegas to celebrate her 40th. It ended up being Michelle, her sister-in-law, Heidi, Sallie, and me. We left Friday, October 4th after getting the kids off to school, so it ended up being about 9:00. Michelle arranged for us to stay at her timeshare condo, which was very nice and roomy. We got settled into our room and then headed into Vegas. We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, a first for me, and it was yummy. Then we went to the Bikefest. We mainly went to the Bikefest to see the country singer, Joe Nicols. Entry into the bikfest got included the concert. We walked around and checked out all the biker get-up and then enjoyed a nice concert by Joe. It was a bit chilly, but we enjoyed it. Then we decided to go to Fremont Street. Not sure what was going on on Fremont Street but it was crazy. Each time you crossed the street you had to wait in line again to be searched and ID'd. We heard roomer that the first Friday of the month was gang night and so there was a lot of security going on. Wasn't the funnest, but we made it through and decided we had enough and left to go back to the room. It was probably about midnight, by the time we got back. 

Saturday, October 5

We took our time getting up. We fixed breakfast and then planned what we wanted to do for the day. We decided we would start on the south end of the strip and then just walk. We walked into a lot of the shops just browsing and checking out things. We went to the top of the Paris Hotel which was really cool. While we were up there we got to see the Belagio fountains go off. It is so fun seeing Vegas from a higher point of view. It's amazing how big it really is. Later that night we went to the Cirque du Soleil show Mystere. It was a lot of fun. The acrobats were amazing. It is hard to believe that people really can do that. We then went to a buffet for dinner. Which didn't end up being very good. I think it was because it was so late and they were about to close. We learned our lesson that buffets are not worth the price. To expensive and you don't eat enough to make it worth it. 

Sunday, October 6

Again we got up and took our time getting ready and fixing breakfast. We then planned our day out. Michelle and Heidi wanted to go play bingo so we dropped them at a casino so they could play and Sallie and I went to the Bodies Museum at the Luxor. That was amazing. Kind of gross at first, but very interesting. Learned a lot about the body that I did not know. Sallie and I then enjoyed a nice frozen yogurt. We went and picked up Michelle and Heidi and then went to Bubba Gumps for lunch/dinner. Bubba Gumps was also a first for me. Very yummy. I love most seafood. Then we went to the Mentalist. I was blown away. I am not sure if you would consider it magic or just plain amazing. He was able to guess people's names, children, spouses, out of the audience. The things he was able to guess was crazy. We had a lot of fun at that show. Then we went to Napoleon's Piano Bar in the Paris. Eric and I went last year to the piano bar and had such a great time I convinced the ladies to check it out. It was a lot of fun, but the crowd there wasn't too exciting and people were having a hard time requesting songs for them to play. We left there and decided we would try and make it to the Stratosphere, but when we got there it was closed, so we headed back to the condo. It was a long and exhausting day.

Monday, October 7

Again we were a little slow getting up and getting going. I went to pay for Michelle's gas to head home and my card was declined. Apparently, they got a little suspicious with my purchases in Vegas. Go figure it would be the day we were trying to get home. I called the credit card company and they were able to reactivate it. Good thing we were dependent on my card to get us home. Michelle's car also died while parked for gas and we had to get a jump start. Her battery is very sensitive and if you live the door open even for a minute the battery dies. We decided we would take a little side trip and go to Hoover Dam before heading home. Sallie has never been to Hoover Dam and really wanted to go. We were then on our way home. Other than gas stops, we drove straight through until Bountiful when we stopped for custard. Another first for me. I have never had custard ice cream. It was yummy and a great treat to end the weekend. We didn't get home until about 8:45 p.m. The kids were already in bed, but they got up and gave me a hug. We had a great time and I am so glad that I got to do it. It's always nice to be able to spend time with good friends.