Halloween 2012

Cole was Steve from Minecraft. These heads were $50 each on Amazon. I made this myself with a  PDF I found on the internet. Cost: $2.50 each, plus many hours of work! Good thing for all the work, the boys wore their costumes three or four times. Here is Cole at the school Parade.

Tal was a minecraft creeper. Tal's bestest cousin Sam made the Creeper PDF for this one. It took him a couple of hours. Thank you, Sam! Here is Tal at our neighborhood party.

Jack going to a costume party of one of his class mates.

Tal with his minecraft diamond sword.

Jack is a Soccer Vampire. He said, "Mom, I'm the only Vampire Soccer player in my class!" I'm thinking the only one in the world. Remember his Irish Warrior costume? He has a gift for being ultra specific.

Trace, our little Frankenstein, had a Preschool costume parade and here he is at the Laird Park Halloween Party. I had so much fun making his costume. Felt, an old sweatshirt, old PJ bottoms and the zigzag stitch can take you far.

He only tolerated face paint for trick-or-treating.

Getting ready to Trick or Treat. We went on the Pulsiphers' street and the boys pulled in quite a haul!

Clint stayed home and frightened teenagers. We had fun carving pumpkins. Can you spot the Romney pumpkin?

Fitness Friday

Clint and I are having a little fitness contest. We have the advantage of two small gyms in his buildings at the NOSC (that's: Naval Operational Support Command, or Naval Reserve Center). He had a Friday off and we didn't quite get the workout in before the boys came home from school. So we took the whole family. The boys had fun on their scooters in the parking lot.

Can you see the pioneer era, Fort Douglas buildings in the background? That's were the Federal Troops came to keep their eyes on them Mormons.

Then the boys did their best to get a workout of their own. Jack even ran 1.6 miles on the treadmill--barefoot!

Fun Run

Jack flying alongside his buddy Colby

Jack

Talmage with the fist pump

Trace who was there with me for the entire school day and was very good for such a long day.

Isabella, who's running out of the picture frame, just as she has now moved out of our neighborhood. Sniff, sniff!

Cole, getting it done.

Miss Wendy

I know I've mentioned it before, but I love Trace's preschool teacher. I don't think she could possibly cram more fun and learning into each day! In this week they were studying "M" for Metamorphosis. They had real monarch cocoons to observe and here they are singing a song about the butterfly life cycle. The silk scarves are covering them in their cocoons.

Then their scarves become their wings as they jump up and fly away. They did an art project that day with all different dried pastas representing the life cycle.  Orzo=egg, Fusilli=pupa/caterpillar, shell= chrysalis and bowtie=adult/butterfly. 

A good teacher is a treasure.

Dry Ice Treat - August

One of Clint's workers brought in some bulk Fat Boys for a fundraiser. Clint bought some and  he got to bring them home on a bed of dry ice.

I had some Root Beer Extract on hand, so we made some Root Beer Slush. It was a yummy Summer Treat

Three Hour Tour

Our good friend Brittani came to Salt Lake City in August because, Mormon though she is, she's never been to Utah! So Gerrilyn hosted her for a few days and we took her on a tour of Temple Square. Here we are on the roof of the Conference Center.

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And on our way home we encountered the annual Zombie Walk. SLC is a funny town.
Our tour did the trick and Brittani moved to Utah County! Welcome Brittani!

Sports

I can't believe our boys are all in sports they actually like right now!

Talmage is in Karate. It's the fantasy element that appeals to him.

Cole is in wrestling: picture to come. The coach says he's a natural. I don't know that is the correct term. I think he comes to the sport very well trained!

Jack is in his fourth session of soccer. He's become quite the mid-fielder and can be counted on to get the ball going in the right direction.

Trace is also in soccer. As much as a four year-old boy can be!

Guardsman Pass May 2012

I was feeling cabin fever one Sunday evening in late spring. So we loaded up the car and when for a drive. We ended up going to Park City then up Guardsman Pass and came back down Big Cottonwood Canyon. The view was worth the drive.