Snakes and Frogs, Yikes!

Lately the kids and Todd have been going over to the golf course at night and going frog hunting.  The have been finding huge frogs.  The kids like to get all dressed in black and go hunt for them.   They think the frogs wont see them coming if they are in camouflage. 

 They love going but none of them will touch the frogs.  Todd said they were so big he was a little nervous himself to pick them up himself.  Hailey took the camera one night to get a shot of them.  Thank goodness because I did not want them bringing them home to show me.

Blake has been wanting a pet for years.  We finally decided we would let him get something.  I was thinking some little frogs, a small turtle or a lizard.  Well after saving up for awhile and not complaining about homework for a few weeks we decided he had earned.  Todd took him shopping for a pet.  What did they pick out,  a SNAKE!  I HATE SNAKES!!!

 Blake was beyond excited!!!  He got a corn snake that he named Razor.  He loves it!!!

According to Todd it was a lot cheaper and much easier to maintain than most pets.  I still don't love it but I do love that Blake doesn't complain about homework!!!  As long as he stays in the cage and Blake keeps up on his homework I think he is going to stay.  Madison and Hailey took a little while to warm up to holding the snake.  Not Abby, she could not wait to pick it up.   I will let you know if I ever pick it up, but I think that will be never.  It is a good thing I only have one boy! 

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

In first grade they kid have been talking about circle stories.  They have been doing a lot with the book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  Every year they do a Family Cookie Night. 

 The class performed some cookie poems and songs.  The kids dressed up like cookies they made in class.  Madison was so excited for the night.  She talked about it for two week.

 Madison and her friend Noah.

 Madison's teacher is always so good about doing lots of family activities and taking pictures. 

At the end of the year she makes a scrapbook for each child.  Mrs. Williams was also Blake and Hailey's first grade teacher.

 There were several activities to do.  There was a couple of counting activities, a reading area, making frames and mice, and taste testing.  Madison and her friend Madelyn liked the Oreos the best.

 Kaitlyn and Madison comparing their mice.

Hailey and her friend Delaney reminiscing about when they were first graders. 

They thought they were so funny.



Raingutter Regatta

This is the first time our scouts had a Raingutter Regatta.  Blake made a green boat to race that he and Todd sanded down together and then Blake painted the sail.  It is so crazy to think Blake and his friends are now the older boys of the group.  The new Wolves seem so little yet it seems like just yesterday Blake was starting Cub Scouts. 

 The boys have to blow thier boats with a straw in a raingutter full of water and they race against another boy in thier age group.  I think Blake won one of his races and was eliminated on the second. 

Blake loves being able to make things and is looking forward to making his pinewood derby car.  He cares more about making the cars than winning the races.  I am not sure we can say the same about his Dad :)  I am glad Blake had a good time!



Apples, Apples, Apples!

Abby is now part of a once a week playgroup with a couple of the girls from church.  We switch of Monday mornings at each others house so the girls can get together and play.  This week it was at our house and we decided to do some fun things with apples.  We painted apple prints, made hand print apple trees and made carmel apples and apple pie.

The girls loved cooking in the kitchen.  They couldn't wait to have a taste of the carmel apples they made.  They thought they were big stuff cutting the apples for apple pie and could not get enough of the Cinnamon sugar!

The older kids were so jealous she made apple pie.  They all remember making them when they were in their preschool playgroups.  So we decided to make an apple pie for family home evening.  They really love to cook and are excited to make pumpkin pies later on.  Time to start teaching them how to cook dinner.

Fall Schedule

We are very busy this fall with school and after school activities.  Blake is still taking Taekwondo and is now a green belt.  Way to go Blake!  We decided to take a break from Water Polo this season since he has played the last three.  They had him on a team with incoming high school freshman last season because he was too old for the younger group and there was no middle age group.  So we decided to just focus on his Taekwondo for a while.

 The girls are all in dance.  Abby is loving her ballet and tap combo class.  She is so adorable to watch.  She wants to get ready early in the morning for her 4pm dance class.  She loves to show us how she points her toes in the splits.  Hailey laughs every time she does it.  Madison is also in a ballet and tap combo class.  The first three weeks we had to take her crying to class.  That was lots of fun.  On the third week her friend Sophia from school showed up in her class and she realized her dance teacher knows some of our friends and now she LOVES it.  Her friend Maddie is in a hip hop class at the same time so the girls have been playing after school together and carpooling to class.  She loved practicing her leaping steps at home and loves that taping part of it.  We knew she would love it if she would just give it a chance again!

Hailey is as happy as ever to do dance again!  She wanted to try a Jazz class this time and loves Mrs. Sarah.  She is also Abby's teacher.  She is determined to get her splits down.  When the girls all get home from dance they love to play dance school together.  We are gone four afternoons a week driving one or the other to dance and Taekwondo.  Luckily they are all at the same building and Wednesdays Blake, Abby and Madison all go at the same time.  It is fun to watch them in their classes.  Last week Blake's teacher had Todd participate in his class and had Blake use his new forms on Todd.

Webelo'sTorrey Pine's Hike

Now that Blake is 10 he is a Webelo Scout.  They have been working on the Forester and Naturalist badges this month so we took the boys to hike Torrey Pines.  It was nice and cool on the coast.  It was nice to get a break from the heat at home.  Blake really likes hiking so he had a great time. 

Viva Las Vegas

For the last night of our trip we stayed in Vegas.  The kids always love seeing the big hotels when we drive by to Utah so we decided to stay one night.  Our original plane was to stay at the hotel with the shark tank pool but we decided to stay in at the Excalibur "castle" Hotel instead since Abby is very into princesses right now.

Abby was really hamming it up.  She was strutting around.  People really got a kick out of her little personality.  She walked right up to the Vegas sign turned around and blew the crowd a kiss.  Really?  Who's kid is this?

 Waiting for Dad to park the car after eating dinner at Cafe Rio.

 On of our first places to sight see after swimming a bit was the Mermaid in the Aquarium.  Abby was beyond excited to see a "real" mermaid swimming with the fish.  Blake was happy to see all the sharks.  He gave us all a lesson on every type of sea animal.

 Next we were of to the Mirage to watch the Volcano show.  The kids loved all the fire and water.

 We had to go to the giant M&M store while in Vegas.  Daddy thought everyone should have a bag of M&M's from the wall.  I knew it would cost a fortune.  He was shocked that he spent $40 on M&M's.  I warned them :)

This little candy store across the street at New York New York was cool with the Statue of Liberty made out of skittles.  They also had giant boxes of nerds, lollipops and sugar daddies.  There were some cool vintage candies there to.

Our last stop of the night was to the Coca Cola store.  There we got a sampler of all the different Cokes from all over the world.  It was fun to taste all the flavors.  We all hated the Italian one.  It was really bad.  The kids gave the Apple flavored coke a thumbs up.  It was getting close to midnight so we decided to head back to the hotel.  We had a fun late night in Vegas.  Time to head home tomorrow and back to school.  We had a great weakend!

Our 103 Degree Hike

Before leaving St. George we decided to take a quick hike through Snow Canyon.

The hiking trail  we wanted to take was happened to be closed for some reason so we took the Lava Rock Hike.  Unfortunately it ended up being a four mile hike.  It was noon before we were done and it was HOT!The kids love hiking so they really did not complain at all.  Blake was totally in his element.   There were three large lava caves on the way that they climbed into.  I was just fine staying out of the cave with Abby.  I wasn't so sure what was inside but nobody else was too worried about what might be in there waiting for them. 

We made it to the end.  By now it was really hot!  The last quarter of the hike we were dragging.  I was dying and I told Todd to just take the kids and go ahead.  He is such a trooper to carry Madison and Abby.  Abby did awesome!  I was able to keep up too :)   Me and the girls were a little jealous of Blake and Daddy being able to take their shirts off.  Luckily we had just enough water to get us back.  We were all so proud of ourselves and hurried to the air conditioned car to get some cool Gatorade's. 

After we had to hit our favorite ice cream spot for lunch.  We deserved it!  Then we were on to Vegas for the night.  We do want to go back sometime and try some more trails in the cooler months.

St. George Temple

On our last day in St. George we all went over to the Temple.

 It is amazing how white it is and how it stands out so beautifully against the red rocks.  The kids loved the Christ statue in the visitor center.  They had to show everyone in the family the statue and play the audio piece over and over. 

It was time to say goodbye to everyone because they were headed back to Salt Lake City.  It was fun being able to see everyone again.

Zion's National Park

While we were in St. George we decided to drive over to Zion's National Park.  We went to the Kolob Canyon Side and also the main entrance on the south side.

Sara and Blake goofing around! 

We have a picture of Blake carrying her at the Redwoods a couple of years ago at a look out point. 

Grandpa loved having the boys around.

The girls all rode in the same car through the one mile tunnel.   T

hey thought driving through the rock was pretty cool.

Crazy cousins!

On the way out of the park we stopped at a rock store and as we were pulling out of the driveway we saw a real dear on the lawn.  Abby was so excited to see "Bambi".

We also stopped to pick some apples along the way. 

Next time we will do some more hiking since Grandma Newbold will be like new with her knee surgery next week.  Back to the hotel for a swim.