Friends

Is their anything better in life than good friends? I don't think so. When I started teaching over six years ago I taught with Julie Henderson. We quickly became good friends. I looked forward to going to work each day and visiting with Julie. We would get to school too early and stay too late. We would grade papers while watching musical, talk about everything, anything and nothing at all for hours. I have always looked up to Julie. She is such an amazing person. She always has been such a great example to me, be it teaching, spiritually, or any other aspect of life.

When I quite teaching after Hayden was born I quickly began missing our daily visits. I am so grateful that she got married not too long after I did and our husbands enjoy being together too. Now we can all hang out together. We don't get together nearly as often as I would like but this fall we were able to do a few fun things together. In September we all went up Provo Canyon for a picnic (I forgot the camera) and in October Julie and I took the kids to Gardner Village to see the witches and get cookies.

Hayden is almost two years older than Anna. I think he should take Anna on her first date when she is 16. Or, if she will wait two months Parker could take Anna on a date.

Aquarium

10/19/09

I love the Living Planet Aquarium. I love that it is kind of small so it doesn't take forever to get through. I love that they add new things. I love that it is an indoor activity we can do on crummy days. I love that a annual membership is only $16 (the price of two admissions). I love that they have story time.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

10/17/09

Every October Farnsworth Farms has a Halloween/Fall festival. They have a tractor-pulled hay ride, hot cider, donuts, pumpkin path and other activities. This year we had Grandma and Grandpa Young come with us.


The weather was perfect; no coats needed. We enjoyed the cool fall air while we sipped our cider and devoured our donut (Hayden was way sticky). Hayden loved the hay ride.

My favorite part of the movie is when Charlie Brown and his friends are going trick-or-treating and the kids say, "I got three quarters." "I got a popcorn ball." And Charlie Brown says, "I got a rock." This continues after each house. For some reason it makes me laugh every time.

I had such a fun time with the family that night but the best part was I made a new friend. Her name is Jennifer. She is a photographer for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. I had a wonderful time getting to know her. I hope to be able to help her with some of the projects she does for NILMDTS.

Mixing Colors

10/15/09

Have you ever painted on coffee filters(or paper towels)? I love to watch the colors blend together. I filled three glasses with water and put food coloring in each one (the primary colors). I then gave Hayden a dropper and taught him how to drop the colored water on the paper and watch the colors spread. He had a fun time learning about mixing colors. I had intended on cutting them out to look like the leaves we collected in the mountains but that never happened. Maybe some other time.

Lolipops

10/15/09

Lollipops are yummy but little ones get so sticky. I am more than happy to let my boys have lollipops but, in general, their are only two times they are allowed to have them. The first is when they get their hair cut. The second one is in the bathtub. If they eat them in the tub they don't end up eating the whole thing because they keep dipping them in water. I don't worry about the sugar sitting on their teeth too long because we always brush teeth during bath time. It doesn't matter if they drool lollipop juice all over because it just washes off in the bath.

Pumpkin Patch

10/12/09

As Hayden gets older holidays are becoming so much more fun. Every day when we would drive somewhere Hayden would notice the pumpkin patches. So as you can imagine he had a great time picking out his pumpkin when we went for Family Home Evening.

Fall Zoo Trips

As to be expected we went to the zoo a number of times this fall.  Autumn is definitely my favorite time to be at the zoo.  The weater was perfect this year.  We went at the beginning of October for a Zoo Member Halloween party with the Tolman's.  The zoo was insanely busy and we decided to skip on the party activities and just see the animals.  It was fun to see all the little kids in Halloween costumes, many of which were zoo animals. 

We stopped at a cookie store on the way home so the boys could use their coupons for a free coupon they earned from  the library summer reading program.  Parker was screaming because he needed to eat, Hayden had to go potty and when I looked at the cookies there was no way I was letting the little boys eat them in the van.  Thank goodness Grandma Great lives right around the corner.  We went to her house and I fed Parker while everyone enjoyed their cookie.  I am so greatful that my grandma always makes me feel so welcome at her house and doesn't mind when I just stop in even when I bring four kids three and under. 

We went again just a few days later for Brea's third birthday.  Brea invite Hayden and two friends from the neighborhood.  I was tending Sydney that day so she got to come with us.  Rebecca bought the kids these darling animal masks and put the lunches in cute animal tupperware. 

We have been so lucky to see all the baby animals at the zoo this fall.  Our favorite is Baby Zuri, the baby elephant.  It amazes me that Zuri was 250lbs at birth but still looks so tiny standing next to her mom. 

From what I observed, nursing elephants aren't much different from human nursing mothers.  They are hungry all the time.  The mom elephant was eating everytime I saw her.  She never moved from under the hanging hay. 

Did you know a baby giraffe grows an inch a day for the first little bit? 

The zoo alos has baby tigers, snow leopards, and monkeys.  We have had such a great time at the zoo and hope to go a few times this winter on nice sunny days. 

Work

I got a new job.
I'm overwhelmed.
It may be a while before I can catch up on the blog.

It's Autumn Time

September 27, 2009

It's autumn time.

It's autumn time.

The leaves are falling down.

It's autumn time.

It's autumn time.

Bright colors can be found.

I love to drive through the mountains each fall to see all the beautiful colors. This year we decided to drive over Guardsman's Pass and back on I-80. We forgot to to get off the freeway to go up Big Cottonwood Canyon so we thought we would go the same route but backwards. Unfortunately, we weren't sure exactly where to go coming through Heber instead. We finally found the road over the mountain. It was so beautiful! After driving for quite sometime we realized we were not going to end up in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We ended up in American Fork Canyon. Our drive ended up being about five hours long.

The leaves were so beautiful. The canyons were so packed, Everyone thought it was a great day to go for a Sunday drive. We saw three deer on our drive as well.

We had a great time up until the end. Parker was starving. Hayden got carsick and threw up all over his car seat. (He had never thrown up before. So it was my first experience cleaning up vomit. Ew Yuck!) And worst of all I really had to go to the bathroom.

Pizza

I have often heard, and find it true, that if you want your children to eat what you prepare then have them help prepare it. I let Hayden and Brea make their own pizzas. They had such a good time spreading the sauce, counting the pepperoni, and sprinkling the cheese. The best part is that they ate every bite.

Hayden always eats pizza but this was made on a tortilla. Hayden will never eat tortillas.