Cookies

We found a fun Halloween sugar cookie mix--Pillsbury, I believe. The kids were dying to make cookies. I hate the mess that cutting out sugar cookies brings, but we braved it and the kids had a blast! Luckily, we had a ghost cutter, since pretty much all the other cookie cutters I have are Christmas. Kendall missed out--he was camping with the scouts. I'm sure we had more fun than he did, since they had to do their big bike ride in the pouring rain. :)

Wacky Wednesday/Crazy Hair Day

Today is a wacky/crazy day. It's red ribbon week at the school and each day they do something new. Today is crazy hair day and Kristen and Jarren wanted to go all out. We messed Jarren's hair up and spray painted it blue, green, and pink.After the fact, we put little ponytails in it, but he was embarrassed by that, so I took them out. Kristen wanted hers really curly (didn't have enough time though) and colored. We used pipe cleaners to make it a little more crazy. I left Kristen with red-eye because I thought it made the picture even more crazy.The wacky part of today: we woke up to about 3 inches of snow--luckily, not that much stuck to the ground, just the deck and tramp. Since we've had such a warm fall, the leaves haven't changed colors yet on 9 of our 12 trees and those trees are still FULL of nice, green leaves. So...all that wet, heavy lake-effect snow weighed them way down. Our first snow of the season was on Monday, with just a skiff. The kids are so worried about the trampoline, but after today, it's supposed to be pretty nice for at least the next two weeks, so we'll get to it...

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes! The Answers are Known....

As I mentioned awhile ago, I was released from Young Women. I was calling-less for about 6 weeks, but have now been put to work. I am the new ward activities person (any ideas are very welcome) and the young women sports director. SPORTS?!?!? I am NOT athletic at all! I'm clumsy and uncoordinated. They put me in because "I look like I'm 16 and I look athletic." I thought that was pretty funny--apparently that old adage is true--looks can be deceiving. But....I'll do my best! Wish me luck!

And the Oscar Goes to.....

We had a church play a few weeks ago and Kristen decided that she wanted to be in it. So...she auditioned and made it (everyone did). She said she only wanted to dance, but ended up getting a few lines and a solo (singing part). She was Pinocchio and did a GREAT job!! Unfortunately, the camera batteries were dead and the video camera ran out of tape right before she came on, so....I'll have to round up some pictures from someone. The play was The Princess Dragon (two fine people in the ward wrote it years ago)--it's about a princess who has a spell placed on her and is a dragon. The prince can't marry her unless she's a girl, so different people come and try to break the spell. Kristen was also a lady. Anyway....they did a very good job and it turned out to be a success.

Fall Break

We had a fall break from school a few weeks ago and decided to take the kids on a little overnight outing. We went to Goblin Valley and Wild Horse Canyon and then spent the next day with my aunt and uncle on their ranch--with a picnic on the river. Surprise, surprise--the camera only lasted for part of the first day, so we have no pictures of the ranch, but Jenna LOVED it--pigs, horses, cows, cats, dogs, etc. One of the horses followed her around with his nose in her hair. When she finally noticed, she just sat an nuzzled him. Kristen was in heaven with the cats--we almost ended up bringing a few home "accidentally." All the kids loved the dogs, which seemed to love them too. Too bad my kids don't have a farm or a ranch....

Back to Goblin Valley and the canyon--Jarren was in heaven there, running, jumping, climbing, etc all over the place. He sure slept well that night, even dreaming that we got to do the day all over again. Fun times, fun memories.Jarren had soooooooooo much fun!! This is one place he definitely wants to visit again.This spread out as far as the eye could see--almost. It would be easy to get lost in the mazes of these formations.The formations were really cool!A little goblin cave complete with two little goblins. :)The girls had fun too, even though it got pretty hot. It was only upper 70s, but with no shade, it felt hot. The boys went ahead and took all the water with them, so we were quite thirsty by the time we caught up.Jon resting in Goblin ValleyJenna got a little tired of walking.
Kendall in Wild Horse Canyon
Wild Horse Canyon has a lot of slots and tight places. Also a lot of mud. :) I would NOT want to be caught here in a rainstorm.

Jenna's First Day of Preschool

Jenna FINALLY got to start school!! I've sent all of my kids to the high school preschool and Jenna is no different. I love it there--the students are so excited and creative and it's almost one on one each week. The only drawbacks are the rotating schedule--our high school is on A/B day and they want the kids to be with the same "teachers" so they stick them on either A or B, which means that one week we go Monday/Wednesday and the next week Tuesday/Thursday--unless there's a holiday or something and then it throws it off. The other drawback is they didn't start until the first week of October. But....Jenna loves it. You can tell by the pictures that she was excited--she got really silly.

Back to the 80s

Kristen and Jarren's elementary school had 80s day last Friday. Jarren couldn't have cared less, but Kristen really wanted to dress up like an 80s person. I remember in '88-'89, I wore peace signs and florescent clothes, so that's what we went with--and they're back in style!

For her hair, since I don't have a crimper any more, we braided it in little braids and had her sleep on it. Then I pulled the side up and poofed it. Oh, and we left one little braid in at the base of her neck. I also put a little curl in the end of her long bangs and tried to rat them out so they were big. She loved it!!But...the highlight (or lowlight) was when she asked me, "Mom, what did you DO in the 80s?" I laughed and said we did the same things kids do now. And then my face fell---I am older than I realized, I guess. We didn't have cell phones, Internet, hand-held video games, ipods, etc. Hmmm....what DID we do way back then?? :)