Hannah's Playgroup

Hannah is a Butterfly for Halloween this year.


I guess she is wondering what to do with Gherig's Buzz Lightyear Gun.


Snack time...very important at playgroup. From top left: Hannah, Lexi, Gherig, Courtney, and Fay



Coloring their bat pictures.



This year is Hannah's turn to be in a playgroup. We are lucky enough to live in a ward with both older and younger families, so we get the wisdom of the empty-nesters, but our kids have a good number of friends. Every Wednesday Hannah gets to go to someone's house for 2 hours and hang out with kids her own age. Plus it gives me a chance to have one-on-one time with Jace.

Today was their Halloween Party. Andrea asked the kids to come dressed in their costumes, since most of them love to play dress up anyways. They built a haunted house out of blocks, had yummy treats, and colored 'bats'.

You'll notice that Hannah of course has the passey. I always let her take it, even though I know she'll be fine without it. Somedays a couple of the kids have a hard time leaving their mom's, and if they start to cry...so does Hannah. It's better to be safe than sorry I guess. But I doubt we'll get rid of it anytime soon, it makes for a much more peaceful sacrament meeting. (And I promised Aimee that I wouldn't take it away before our cruise in February...she may REALLY need it then.)

Thank you Andrea for hosting a fun party for the kiddos!

Discovery Gateway

What a great way to end our day....we just loved the Childrens' Museum at the Discovery Gateway. There was so much to see and do, again we could have spent the entire day, but they do need to close sometime. It really amazes me how creative some people are in activities that they think up for kids. This is definately a place we will be atttending again. After a fun day, with the Clayson's we went to dinner at the Lion House Pantry. Yummy...yummy! I think the kids ate so good because we had ran them ragged all day, and they were ready to recharge!


Sometimes we have to get after Brady for teasing...okay not sometimes....a lot of times...but he is also so good to help little kids and play along with them. We always tell him that he is a great leader! Here he is with Courtney playing with the ball contraption.


Rachel and Caleb waiting for more balls to arrive.


Hannah loved the little mini kitchen. So cute inside there!


Zack and Brady working with the crane.


Cute little Jace!


Jace and Jake climbing the rock wall. This was a favorite of Jace's.


Hannah loved the cowboy hat and any peddal cart she could get her hands on!


They had a dress up/stage area that you could put on a show for your parents. Here is Zack clownin' around.


This is the contraption that Nate built with Magformers. His hand is inside the 'trap door'...all 4 of us parents were sitting at the table playing with these magnetic/plastic toys. They were kind of addicting.


A life flight helicopter that was just outside on the roof. What a cool thing for the kids to play on and around with.

Clark Planetarium

Friday afternoon we headed up to Clark Planetarium for a show. It's a great learning place, and I remember going in high school for laser shows I believe to the music of U2 or Pink Floyd...which they still have. We saw the 3D show...Bugs...a little gross in some parts, but that's nature right? It was fun to watch the kids...watching the 3D show and reaching out to try and catch the flying object from the movie



Hannah...jumping on the moon!


Clockwise from top left...Jace, Courtney, Caleb, Zack and Brady...doing the moonwalk!

Thanksgiving Point

Friday morning we were able to go to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. Although my kids have been there a number of times, they never seem to get bored with it. Especially the interactive display that the museum changes every so often. The kids could spend hours there playing with the hands-on learning devices. We only spent about 1 1/2 hours there, because we were meeting up with our friends, the Claysons, to head up to SLC to enjoy more attractions there.


They loved the static electricy ball. "Mom, why don't we have one of these at home?"

Building a dinosaur together.

Digging for dinosaur bones. Always a highlight!

Hogle Zoo

In talking with a bunch of friends on what they did over Fall Break, it seemed that everyone went to the Zoo. But amazingly, we picked the perfect time and the perfect day to go. We had almost 3 hours there on Thursday, and still only saw about 50 people (even some we knew), and it was wonderful weather. It had been a few years since I had taken the kids there, in fact Jace and Hannah had never been. And Nate remembers his last time going was in elementary school. We may need to be better about getting up there and visiting. Also one great thing that we noticed (along with the nice weather and small crowds in the fall), is that most of the baby animals had been born during the summer, and were still just as darling as ever. We saw a baby, giraffe, elephant, tiger and many others. It was such a great experience, I'm sure I can talk Nate into it again ;-)


There was this huge elephant made of metal that would make loud noices when people would step around it....You'll notice that we got all the kids to sit on the elephant's trunk for a picture...except for Hannah...the next photo will explain why.


"Get me OUT OF HERE!" I love parental torture!


These next 2 pictures are traditions of mine I guess. I have a few photo's from growing up drinking out of the same lion's head and standing next to the gorilla's silhouette to see how tall I was.




Fun animals everywhere. This giraffe baby is the only baby picture that we got. But the Tiger put on a fantastic show while we stood in front of him. Hannah's mimmicking 'Roar' was too cute...to bad we don't have video of it.


Sara and the kids...seriously the weather was FANTASTIC!

Hannah waving goodbye, and finally agreeing to a shoulder ride from Nate. She actually walked about 95% of the time. So you can imagine the quite car ride home with her after walking nearly 2 miles on her own. She completely crashed!

The Living Planet Aquarium

Well Fall Break has come and gone, and WHEW....what a weekend we had. We were able to use our Salt Lake Connect passes for 2 days, which gave us a ton of stuff to do. I'll post each place individually since I havn't been that great at blogging lately.

The first day we went to the aquarium in Sandy. We hadn't ever been there, so the kids were way excited. Except for when I told Jace that we were going to go see fish, sharks, and everything under the sea...he said to me in a very concerned voice, "Mom I don't want to swim with the sharks." I don't blame him! I reassured him that it would be totally fine, and he would have a blast.

Here are some of our favorites that we saw:




Jace loved watching the turtles underwater.


All the kiddos!


Don't eat me Mr. Shark!


Nate and Hannah watching/petting the sting rays.


"Some day my prince will come!"


Zack is definately our dare devil when it comes to trying new things. He had no problem reaching in and petting the sting rays...the other's...not so much.


Hannah loved this little polka-dotted sting ray...it kept hiding up against the wall and then coming up against the glass suddenly. She giggled everytime, and would say, "Peek-a-boo" so we called it the Peek-a-boo sting ray.

Jace's Friend Party at Hee Haw Farms

I had to add in one picture of the kids actually wearing their cowboy hats.



The Birthday Boy!



Playin' in the Courtyard. Mini Pumpkins/Gourds were a hit.



They sometimes act like these animals.


Everyone got a horse ride.







When Jace and I started to talk about his birthday a few months ago, we came to the decision to have a Cowboy Party. My sisters, Aubree and Ashlee, have horses that they ride and take care of quite often. But instead of pulling the horses up to our house to take the kiddies for a ride, I decided to just hold the party down at Hee Haw's since that is where A and A board their horses, and then there wouldn't be much clean-up for me. Chalise was so kind in letting us hold the party there, it was great! I literally just showed up with kids, cupcakes and drinks. We could have stayed there for hours of course, but since we were trying to fit it in between General Conference Sessions, we only stayed 2 hours. The kids had a great time at the farm, but the highlight was to be able to go on a real horse by themselves. Thanks again Ashlee and Chalise for your generosity in making Jace's party a blast

Still Learning

Well I think this is the first post in October. YIKES! Where have I been...I'll tell you where, Hee Haw Farms. It seems like I am down there constantly helping Chalise with field trips, even though I love it, and my kids LOVE running around at the farm, it will be nice once it is over and I can get back on our regular schedule. Anyhow, I wanted to post something that happened tonight, just so that we can go back and laugh about it later. Last night I made a beef stroganauf for dinner. It calls for mushrooms, but since Nate and I are the only one's in our family that like mushrooms, I opted to saute them seperately and then we could add them to our own dinner. Well the sauce did have a few mushrooms in it, but I didn't think that my kids would notice. Of course they did and gagged as they scraped them to the side of their plate. Later, Zack had a couple of friends over while I was cleaning up the kitchen. One of his friends asked, what we had for dinner, and Zack said, 'A really bad dinner'. Instead of getting upset at Zack infront of his friends, I simply said, 'Zack, that wasn't very nice. I guess you can make your own dinner from now on.'

So tonight was payback....hehehehe...especially after Fast Sunday.....hehehehe.

I made BBQ spare ribs...which happened to cook in the crock pot ALL DAY...emitting their aroma to our growling tummies, baked potatoes and steamed carrots. (The carrots were highly anticipated, since they were what I pulled from our own garden just yesterday...my kids love to eat things that they've helped grow in the garden.)

As everyone started filling their plates, I kindly reminded Zack of our conversation the night before, and that he had to go and make his own dinner. We had a discussion about it...he came to tears, and it nearly broke my heart.

But my theory stands, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you." When I asked him what he was going to make he said, "I don't know 'cuz I'm not as good as a cook as you are." That was the closest thing to an apology that I could get out of him. I told him it was hard for me not to let him eat this good food, but someday when he is on his mission, he may have to eat strange food, and he will always need to be thankful for it.

Even while he was eating his bowl of Frosted Flakes, he started to chuckle about the whole thing. I told him that I love him, and I know he has forgiven me.

Jace's 4th Birthday

Jace at Kangaroo Zoo....what a crazy dare devil he is.

He could have played in this tube for hours.

I don't know who enjoyed his nap more...me or him...notice the mustache from his chocolate milk. We live it up on birthday's around here!


Today was Jace’s 4th birthday, and I can’t believe how the time has flown. When he was born 4 years ago, it was the Friday before General Conference. What a great way it was for me to bond with my new baby, sitting in the hospital bed, being served every meal, holding my baby and listening to conference. Even though it was a cold and windy day today, we were able to do some fun things. Hannah had playgroup this morning for 2 hours, so I was able to take Jace to Kangaroo Zoo, just me and him. (The kids get a free ticket every birthday.) After about an hour of running around he said he was ready to go home. But since he wanted a pizza for his birthday lunch, we went to the store and picked up a pizza and looked at the bikes there. Just to see what was available. After lunch with Hannah, I started making the pumpkin pies that he requested for dinner (instead of birthday cake…why not have your favorite on your birthday right?). He said to me, “Mom, can I go take a rest on your bed?” Why sure…who wouldn’t want to take a nap on their birthday, his Broadhead traits show through more and more.
That night we had a little family party with Gramee and Bumpa, Grandma Bug and Cassidy, and also Kelly and Aimee. At Jace's request we had rice and chicken and of course the pumpkin pie for dessert. Jace was very excited about his extra large Transformer that talks. And amazingly enough it didn't break within the first 5 minutes! We had a great time hanging out with the family, and even Shannon our babysitter stopped by and brought Jace a present. Now on to plan the friend party!

Jace and Sara's Soccer 2009

Josh and Jace going after the ball.

Robert, Jake, Jace and Josh with their awards

Jace running neck and neck down the field.

Warming up before the game

I was a very 'serious' coach. Just kidding, all I really cared about was the kids actually kicking the ball in the right direction down the field.



This year, even though Jace wasn't 4 by September 1st, I 'begged' PG Rec. Dept. to let him play soccer, since I didn't want to chase him every game to try and keep him OFF the field. They agreed, and soon after called me and Nate to be his coaches. (Well it ended up just being me, because Nate was asked to be and assistant coach for Brady's football team.) I figured I couldn't mess up 4 and 5 year olds very much with my 'extensive' soccer knowledge. We had a good year and actually won some of our games. Although sometimes I felt like I was babysitting instead of coaching, those cute little kiddos made a soft spot on my heart. I loved it when they would call me 'Coach' whether we were on the field or if I would see them elsewhere. About 1/2 way through the season, Jace said to me, "I just want Dad to be my coach." He was having a bad day, and didn't want mom to be coach anymore....he wanted me to be mom. Even though Jace wasn't the best player on the team, most kids were 2 years older than him, he has pretty great talent. A little bragging on my part, but he was one of the only kids that could drop kick the soccer ball. He was also pretty fast running down the field, and could get ahead of other players, but had no sense of direction and couldn't stear his kicking towards the goal. So it usually went out of bounds. But for an almost 4 year old, I think he had a great 1st year.

Rachel Soccer

Rachel's team (as best she can remember their names): ?, ?, Bailey, Macey, RACHEL, ?, Alexia, Autumn, Becca, Macey, ?

Rachel had some great defending skills!


Rachel just finished her 2nd year of soccer, and although it took a little bribing on my part (I told her she couldn't do gymnastics unless she did soccer), she absolutely loved this soccer season and can't wait until next year. I think one of the differences is having a coach...a really good coach...that teaches the girls rules and fundamentals of soccer. It was nice to not see 'a pack of kids' chase after the ball, and actually have defenders, forwards, and mid-fielders. One of her good friends, Autumn Redd, was on her team and they loved being defenders together. She also liked being on an all girls team, since she felt like she had just as much skill as anyone else. (In fact the first week she told me, "Mom, Becca and I are the best soccer players on our team.") I love it when kids think that they are the cream of the crop!

Happy Birthday to Dad...oh yea...and ME!!!!!!

Well since we will be out of town for Labor Day weekend, I thought that I would make a quick post in honor of me and my dad. It was 34 years ago tomorrow, September 5th 1975, that my mom went into labor. Since it was the time before ultrasounds (not that my parents would have found out what they were having), the first thing that my dad said to Dr. Smoot was, "Well, it's my birthday, I already have 2 little girls, so this has GOT to be a boy!" (Well something to that effect anyway ;-) Oops sorry dad, I was a girl! But I've never felt that you were sad that I wasn't a boy, you FINALLY got a boy 10 years later. And I have LOVED sharing my birthday with you every year. Sometimes I have to remind you how old you really are, but that is just because we are both kids at heart! Like you've always said, the only thing that makes me look old, are the ages of my kids. I have loved the tradition of always being gone to the cabin over Labor Day weekend, because that means that we are spending time with our loved ones. While growing up, every birthday was at the Granny and Pa's cabin. And now we are making some wonderful memories at the cabin down in Fairview. (The first birthday I remember actually waking up in my own bed, was my Sweet 16...and then I had to cheer that night.) But it's always been wonderful to have this special day with you! (I'll post pics of me and my dad later.)

Confession

Well I have a confession to make....I made a goal at the beginning of the year with 3 'running' goals. Here they are:
1st: Run a 1/2 marathon...check (SLC 1/2)
2nd: Run the Wasatch Back...check
3rd: Run a second 1/2 marathon...ummm still waiting for this.

And actually I probably won't do it for a number of reasons. Since most 1/2's are on Saturday, between now and the end of October we are crazy busy with Football and soccer. I was going to run the Provo River 1/2, but was invited to go and hike Mt. Timp instead on that day. So my friend Annie and I were looking at other 1/2's to do, since she wants me to reach my goal too. We found one in November called the Snow Canyon 1/2. But now we have been invited to do a Grand Canyon Rim to Rim hike instead on that weekend. I think I am going to do it. And honestly, from what I've been told, it is just as challenging as a full marathon. We start at the North Rim of the G.C., and hike 5 miles down. At the bottom (where there is only a 5 ft elevation), we will RUN 9 miles across. Then we hike up 10 miles to the South Rim. For a total of 24 miles. It sounds a little crazy to do all in one day, they usually suggest completing it in 3 days, but that is during the hot summer months. I hope all of our plans work out in setting this up in such a short time, because this is something that I would love to check off my list and say that I've actually done it. When I first heard about it I was like, wow that sounds so cool...crazy, but cool.
So I guess my confession is that I won't be achieving my goals that I set at the beginning of the year...just tweaking them a bit. Now I just need to cross train, and get a few extra long runs in before November 7th!