Exploring the Great Outdoors

If you know me, you know I love to hike.

I love to be outdoors, exploring, doing something active and new.

As long as the weather is on my side. :)

We took advantage of every moment we could before the weather turned too cold and snow settled in the mountains.

These are the bigger hikes we took.

We tried a few other places but did not have pictures with them.

The day before school started we went up the Alpine Loop and explored a trail as a family I had found. It's always more fun when Daddy gets to come along too.

Heather, the kids and I drove up AF Canyon to Forest City to see the little graveyard and explore some trails there. It was a perfect day. I just remembered, it had been 1 week since Hayden had sprained his ankle. He was wanting to do so much on his own but I would still carry him a bit. This would be our last trip up the mountain before the snow came... except for the very last time a few weeks back, as a family we drove over to Midway. We hit a huge patch of snow and took a lot to get up over that part. But, the rest was clear.

I have to say that Dry Creek is definitely my favorite of the hikes we did.

The colors were amazing and the diversity of the trails were fun too.

I have to go back without kids next Summer to hike up to the big meadows and falls I heard about.

Something to look forward to.

Did you notice the big longhorn in the picture?

Alyssa found this cool piece of wood and hiked down with it.

Part way down she needed to rest and called it her rocking chair.

Pretty creative for sure. She said it was comfortable too.

She was a little sad when I told her we could not bring it with.

Such a pretty place.

We had a lot of fun that day.

It snowed only a few weeks later.

Love the beauty of the outdoors.

OCD

I may have posted something about this before but, this is the most recent.

Hayden has a way with his belongings. He wants them to be just right.

The funny thing about this to me is that he messes up his room so fast!

But, if it means a lot to him, he takes care of it and it has to be in it's place.

One night he was not going to sleep. I turned out all of the lights in the house and went to my bed to wait it out. I heard him get up, go into the kitchen and do something,

(I figured a drink since that is normal)

and then I saw him come in and out of his room several times.

I thought the last time he stayed in his room and it was quiet so I checked.

He was actually hauling all of these things in by the couch and even got a snack, that looks untouched. I just love how everything is just right and perfectly in line.

I could even picture him trying to get the blankets right like 10x.

This set up in the hallway, I actually let him keep it there for quite a few days.

I vacuumed around it once, but then It just had to go.

while he was gone I quickly cleaned it up and found a special basket for just

his gloves and hats and such.

I remember when he was one years old he first started by lining his cars up in a specific order.

It's pretty much been like that ever since.

Right now his obsession is his padges (pa-jes). As he calls them. A combination of patch and badge. He is obsessed with them and carries them everywhere and always talks about them. I love that kid.

I'm How Old?

I say that as a joke because I really had to keep thinking about how old I was turning.

I really don't keep track any more. It's just all a blur and not that big of a deal.

(The number part)

Alyssa loves taking pictures and she posed for me, then she said it was my turn...

So this is how she did. I think sometimes her fast little fingers are better than me in getting shots. It's fun to share some things we like in common.

My kids have such joy over opening presents so I usually let them help open mine.

Alyssa's turn.

And of course help to blow out the candles.

This was actually funny, they were blowing them out faster than I realized what was going on.

So, another year gone by.

I had a fun day with my family eating at yummy Rubio's and some shopping and just spending time together. Then I had presents from my mother in law then later my family came by.

My mom made me this yummy cake.

I can't believe she fit all of those candles on there. :)

I guess if I counted them there might be the right amount.

Thanks everyone for making my day so special!

Halloween

The Friday before Halloween the kids school got to dress up and wear costumes all day.

The entire school had a parade so we could see everyone and then they got to see everyone also.

The principle was a hockey player, Alyssa's teacher-Pinkalicious, Brandon's-B-ball player.

Brandon borrowed a costume for this day because his wasn't quite complete yet.

Everybody loved buzz light year up at the top!

His was pretty cool. He didn't really fit through the doors too well with his wings.

The Hero, the villain and the princess....

I loved the costumes this year.

Brandon the Dracula

Justin the football player

It was kind of chilly and so rainy all day.

We went out about 7 and it finally slowed down.

Hayden and Traeden (Robin & Cowboy) were the last two going.

Even passing up the big kids. They were wore out though.

Alyssa the ballerina

Hayden as Robin

Heather's Tink face. :)

We all made something kind of creepy to eat.

I made a cheese ball that looked like a face...

(Jordan decorated it for me)

the vegy tray... There was a cool eyeball but I didn't get a shot of it.

Fun night.

Happy Halloween.

Pumpkins

Pumpkin Patch

It was so fun to go to a pumpkin patch with the kids.

I actually don't remember ever going before.

The only bad part was... I did not bring a wheel barrow and with the us four,

we had to take what we could carry.

Soooo... when the kids picked out small enough pumpkins to carry I didn't say anything.

They worked out good though.

They loved looking at all of the fun different shapes and colors light green,

orange and white pumpkins.

They could not wait to go through the little corn maze, like 15 times!

They could have sat and played on all of the tractors for hours, if only I would have let them.

Carving the Pumpkins...

This was the first year all three kids helped to clean out their own pumpkins.

I laughed so hard watching Hayden try to do his. He just couldn't stomach it.

His faces were hilarious!

He just kept saying EWWWW!

Alyssa was the best about it, and she's the girl!

She actually loved it and thought it was so fun.

We gave her mom and dads to do a few days later and she even completely

cleaned up after she was done!

And Here they are....

Here are the end results....

Brandon's bat, Alyssa's cute spider and Hayden's cool truck with flames on top.

( Disclaimer: I am sure these looked way more amazing a week earlier

than when I finally actually took a picture of them. Oops.)

10 Years

On October 14Th Justin and I had our 10 year Anniversary.

I had always thought that 10 years was a really long time.

Now that we are there it all seams to have passed so quickly.

Then, I look back and realize that A LOT has happened in the past ten years!

Either way. I am so happy to be married to my Justin.

I love him with all of my heart and it just keeps growing.

I am thankful for everything we have been through together, I know it

has only made us stronger and will continue to.

The best things that have come are our 3 beautiful children.

I am so thankful for each one of them.

That weekend the kids had a sleepover at the grandparents while we had some alone time together. We went up to Park City for the evening and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.

Justin had said he didn't care what we did as long as we could walk and have fun together.

I had been wanting to check out this old cemetery

that dated from the mid 1800's to the early 1900's.

It was so pretty there because of all the changing colors on the trees.

We also did a few other things like walk Main Street and went to dinner and a movie.

I don't know why I didn't really take any more pictures after the cemetery.

I guess I was just enjoying my time more...

It is so nice to have an extended alone time without the worry of getting home to relieve a babysitter. And then to sleep in as long as you'd like because their are no kids to wake you.

It was good for a day but I would really miss those little ones if I didn't have them.

They keep me on my toes and that is mostly a good thing.

I love you so much Justin! Thank you for being such an amazing husband and being so good at taking care of me. Because, you really do. I am glad I get to have you forever.

Self Portrait

By: Hayden

Isn't it beautiful?

He even did it on the green colored wall right above his bed so he can always see it.

He has always been my one child I could count on to make me beautiful art in places like this one.

In fact. This one is still there.

I took a picture to remember it (in case it dissapeared somehow).

He was so very proud to tell me it was him when I asked about it.

I am very happy he enjoys coloring so much.

Even his picture of his boat on my kitchen table. :)

Did I mention he gets a lot of scrubbing time in? Well, he does. A Lot!

Another Year Older....

But, still so young at heart.

I am only a month behind on this but, it is important to me...:)

So, Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

One thing I think I love best about Justin is that he can always make those around him smile

and be happy. It is such a good thing when you are just not in a good mood and so down, then he can bring you right out of that and make it all better for the moment.

I know our kids eyes sure do light up whenever he walks in the room

or just having him around.

I know his birthday did not go as planned at all.

I feel so bad for that. He ended up having to work all day too.

So not fun at all.

So, we celebrated a few days later (Sunday) on his first day off.

We just enjoyed family time, I made him a yummy dinner

and we had cheesecake for his dessert.

We really do love you tons! Thank you for all that you do and who you are

to make our lives better. You are the best!

The Egg Drop

The 3rd grade classes were doing a unit on self esteem and how to treat others.

At the end of the unit all of the classes did an egg drop, where each student had to get an uncooked egg and figure out how to protect it from cracking when dropped off the top of the school.

Very nervous and excited to find out how it did.

Some kids used helium balloons, or parachutes to protect theirs.

Very creative.

And....

It made it!!

He did an awesome job at designing a way to protect his egg just with what we had around the house.

I'm very proud of him.

I loved that they did all of this and thought it was such a great unit for the kids

and also a great way to start out a new year.

Great Job Brandon!