Top 10 great things about our trip to Utah

I realize that my posts have been a little boring lately. We've been busy to save time I've done a lot of collages and slide shows ("enough is enough" you might be thinking). So to spice things up a little and to show you how much we enjoyed our trip to Utah I thought I'd share my top 10 memories or experiences from our trip. Hope you enjoy.

#10 This awesome swing at Megan and Todd's house in Hyde park. It was hanging from a huge tree so you could go soooo high in the sky. If it would have held me I would have gotten on for sure.

#9 Reading 2 novels in the car on the way there and on the way back. I so appreciate Ethan who sat by Ellie and by the food box. He saved me so much neck strain from turning around by reaching things to all the girls while I continued reading in the front seat. What a good son. Here's what I read: and...Both were great, thanks to Mindy for loaning me "Pope Joan" and if anyone wants to borrow "The hourglass door" just let me know. It's another Mormon woman author trying to make it big like Stephanie Meyer, and a book one in a series just to warn you. (not as good as Twilight though)

#8 Free museums! When the budget is tight just head to the BYU campus! The kids loved the Walter Wick exhibit at the BYU art museum (he's one of the "I spy" guys). We also went to the Bean museum there with all the dead animals on display (eek), and the Hill Air Force base museum up in Ogden. Yea for all the cool planes and the fact that we got there in time for the air rocket activity. Who doesn't like shooting things in the air?

#7 Grandma Sycamore's bread. For those of you who have lived in Utah you know what I mean. It's the yummiest bread ever and for some sad reason you can only get it in Utah. I always bring a few loaves home with me to savor the yum a little longer but alas, they're almost gone already. Please Grandma, move to Texas!!

#6 Kids playing with cousins. I love it when cousins get together and play like it's only been a months since we've seen them instead of the year that it has been. Or when 8 year old 2nd cousins that have never even met until now become instant best friends and are sad when they have to say good bye just 24 hours later. From the Bullocks to the Bakers, we miss you already and thanks for the fun times!

#5 The fact that it wasn't 105 degrees. After one the hottest June's on record in Texas we were sooo ready for a break. When we drove into the Colorado Springs valley and started smelling the rain we rolled down our windows and started singing praises. It was so nice to not sweat every time we went out side or to go up the canyon to enjoy a hike in the cool breeze! We kept asking ourselves why did we move from this place? Both Utah and Colorado were perfect with the 80 degree highs, that beats 105!#4 Our A/C not breaking in our Yukon until AFTER we got home! I'm totally not complaining that it broke or that we have to pay an insane amount of money to get it fixed, simply because it didn't break DURING our drive home. That would have been MISERABLE!! It had started making odd noises during the last 8 hours or so and even started leaking water on my feet on the passenger side floor but it didn't stop working until the next morning! To me that's a blessing.

#3 The dizzy bat. Have you ever played that game where you put your head on the top of a baseball bat and spin around and around 8 times and then try and run a race? That's the dizzy bat game and someone made me play it. I don't do well when I'm dizzy and I totally biffed it. I shouldn't say playing the dizzy bat was my #3 on my list but rather laughing about it afterwards was my #3. I loved laughing that hard.

I know this is not a picture of the dizzy bat but Dallas hoola-hooping came soon after and was another fun game we played at the Bullock Reunion in Midway. Maybe just maybe I'll get the video footage of me falling from the dizzy bat posted later. Stay tuned for that 'cause it's a doozy!

#2 Finishing this:

here:

I'm so proud of my kids. We took up our Stake President's challenge back in January to finish the Book of Mormon by June 30 and read 3 pages a day and 4 pages on Sundays. Dallas and I didn't just read to the kids, Ethan read his pages on his own, Abbey would read out loud to me and Miah would listen. They either followed along or read every page of that amazing book. We just had a few pages to go when we rolled into Colorado on the 27th of June so we hiked the kids up to Siamese Twins rock (our favorite place at the Garden of the Gods), and finished that last 3 of the 531 pages together in that beautiful place. I hope they never forget that moment, I know I never will.

#1 The number one memory from our trip to Utah was..............

going to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house.

My kids were so excited to go inside the temple, this was their first time and it was oh so awesome. Even though it's not dedicated yet there was just the neatest feeling to be inside with them. We especially loved sitting in the Sealing room and feeling the power of being an Eternal Family. I'm so grateful that I can be together forever with these kiddos and Dallas.

Until next year!

Scary Santa

This is Abbey at our Neighborhood Christmas party. What's up with Santa's brown mustache showing under the white one? Who is this impostor!

This is Miah at our Ward Christmas party and this Santa was much nicer and much more believable. Miah said she wanted snow for Christmas, sorry babe, that aint happenin' here.

Even though this Santa was nicer Ellie was still terrified of him. The look on her face says to me, "Mom if you make me come any closer to him I'll scream and kick, you know I will!" Oh well, maybe next year.

This is Miah and her friends Josh and Jenna (and Ellie) camped out under a table to watch the program at the Ward party. I thought it was cute.

Hope Santa comes to all of your houses next week! Merry Christmas!

Good times

While Dallas and I were gone on our trip Ellie really warmed up to Uncle Curtis and Aunt Wendy. From day one she started calling them Mommy and Daddy, as you can see from these pictures she has a special place in her heart for "Co-tis and Wen-ee" Thanks you guys!!

Ethan had such a great time with Maren and Emily. They played many games of chess and just became the best of friends. Age differences don't matter when you're cousins.

It was no surprise that these girls got along. Lia, Sabrina, Miah and Abbey we overjoyed to have a week of play time with each other, here they are at the park making cedar chip pies. We miss you already guys, come back soon!!

Hamilton Pool

We had a funny experience on Friday trying to find one beautiful place, getting lost and accidentally finding another. Dallas packed us and the Hansens up in our cars and we headed out to find Pedernaless Falls which is south west of Austin. We followed our google map carefully but started to get quite discouraged after being in the car for nearly 2 hours and not finding it. We turned around and started to head back for home, munching on granola bars and fruit snacks that I luckily grabed (because we were in the middle of no where). We'd been driving for about 15 minutes when Dallas noticed a sign that said Hamilton Pool this way, so we decided to turn there and go check it out. That turned out to be the greatest decision of the day, this place was so amazing. I can't even explain it, you just have to see these pictures.......

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving this year was so fabulous. We got back from our trip to Punta Cana just in time to pull off the big feast with the Hansens (my sister Wendy and her family from Alabama) and the Evans family who are good friends of ours here in Texas. I had so much fun cooking with my sister Wendy, it made my Thanksgiving experience so much more enjoyable to just laugh and talk with her as we prepared the food. Everything turned out so yummy, I was a little surprised that nothing was gross because I was trying a few new recipes and that's always a risk. We extended our dining room into the entry way so all of us could eat together and it turned out really great!


Table's all set, we're ready to eat!

Dallas cutting the turkey

Katie, Maren, Me, Dallas, Emily, Wendy and Curtis. John is taking the picture
Dish up, there's pleanty! Thanks everyone for a great time. I'm really grateful for all of you.

Punta Cana!

Dallas and I had the chance to go on a Vacation together to celebrate our 10 year anniversary to the Dominican Republic! We stayed at an amazing resort and just relaxed and enjoyed being together. We spent our days playing pool volleyball, ping pong, eating yummy food, going horse back riding, bike riding and reading novels, you get the idea, pure paradise. I'm so blessed to have such a great husband and it was so nice to just celebrate 10 years of being together this way. Thanks to all those awesome friends (you know who you are) and Wendy and Curtis' family who helped us pull this off!

Fall Sports

Ethan and Abbey just finished a season of Soccer and Volleyball at the YMCA. Ethan was a super star and made his Mama proud in every way. Abbey really did well trying a new sport and figured out how to get that ball over the net and score points! These pictures of Miah are actually of last Spring, but I realized that I never posted them. Her little head in that huge batting helmet are the cutest thing ever. This fall she's been doing gymnastics and I don't have any pictures of that yet but she loves it. Now that leaves Ellie. See if you can figure out her new sport which hasn't really made me all that excited. She's quite talented and very coordinated but oh no, did she really figure out how to do that?

Out of the mouth of babes

You know that an election is a big deal when your 5 year old is excited about the outcome. I love that my kid's school had it's own election yesterday and got the kids jazzed about being involved and informed. Miah was watching the news report with me last night and started to see that Obama was leading and she got this frown on her face and said, "Oh Mom, can we change our vote?" She wanted to have chosen the winner rather than admitting the next day at school that she voted for the guy that lost. When she got too tired to watch any more I convinced her to go to bed and reluctantly she did. I told her that I'd tell her who won in the morning. Well, first thing this morning when I nudged her shoulder to tell her it was time to get up for school she rolled over and without even opening her eyes said, "Did we find out who the next President is?" So I had to break the news, what a bummer.

Last night in our scripture study with the kids we were reading in Jacob chapter 2 and in verse 16 it says the word "abomination". Ethan asked what abomination ment and we explained, but then he said, "Mom, it sounds like Obama-nation!" Get it? Abomintaion? We all laughed and then down in verse 21 it says the word "abominable". And they all piped up and said "ha ha, like the "Obam-inable snowman". I kid you not, these kids, on the very night that Obama was being elected as President of the United States were making jokes from the scriptures about him. It was very funny, but I hope not too prophetic as to how his term of office will be. I'm not too sure what's going to happen to this "Obama-nation" because there's a lot of "Obam-inable" things going on right now.

Happy Birthday Miah!

Miah turned 6 yesterday, that is so hard to believe for me. Six years ago her little 3 lb. 11 oz body entered this world and I'll never forget the first time I saw her face, I just cried and cried. She's been tiny ever since, but her spirit and personality have always been huge. She was always my cuddliest baby/toddler, who loved to twirl her hair (and mine) when she drank her sippy cup and would never sleep through the night (until she turned 3!!) Now she's big, and I'm a little bit sad. But I'll get over it because every stage of life is fun for Miah, she lives life with enthusiasm and it's contagious. Love ya Miah, Happy Birthday!

Presents in Pajamas! She's shouting for joy because Ethan gave her a "Camp Rock" CD. She also got a scooter and another Build-A-Bear from Nana and Papa. She's saving the money that she got from Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grammy for something special. You know your kids are old when they don't spend their money the instant they get it.

We spent Miah's Birthday at Sea World. All I can say is Sea World is the best in the off season. No lines, no crowds, no heat, it's so much fun. If you go on your Birthday they give you a little button to wear on your shirt which means that every ride that you get on, they sing to you! Seriously, they get on the ride microphone thingy and announce that they had a special guest on the ride today, that Miah was turning 6 and then they sang to her! That's enough to make any kid feel special. We got to take Miah's friend Elizabeth with us and here's the four girl in the "Splash Zone" at the Viva Dolphin show. Fun!

The kids and Dad on the Rio Loco, you get totally soaked on this ride, they loved it.

Cup Cakes in the back of the Yukon! They don't let you bring food into the park so we chowed down in the back of the car on cup cakes and popcorn right before we went home. We had such a fun time celebrating Miah, she's worth celebrating that's for sure. Now I can sigh a big sigh because we got through another birthday season at our house, yea!

Happy Halloween

Miah was pretty darn cute as an Asian girl this year. By the end of the night her hands were black, and her face was black, and the shower was especially black. Love that black hair spray.

So Ethan was a ninja this year... again. I have such a hard time spending money on a costume that he will just wear once. With the girls it's different because they like to dress up all year long, but I get super stingy with boy costumes. He totally didn't mind, although he got a little hot. Yes I said hot, it was soooo nice here Halloween night. I love Texas in the Fall.

Enter Hannah Montana. Abbey really wants to be a rock star, she looked really cute.

My little Princess Ellie really enjoyed her first Trick-or-Treating experience this year. At first she'd just hang out in her stroller and let the girls bring her candy from each house, but by the end of the night started walking up to the doors with them and figured out the magic phrase.. "Wick-wee" (Trick-or-Treat). It was a very Happy Halloween for us.

Pumpkin fun

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Hmmm, who is that hiding behind the Dora balloons? A big girl who turned 2 today!

She really wants to dig in to that cake.

Weird that Ellie is so big. This birthday is the official farewell to being a baby. We had a fun day celebrating her.

Fun presents. Thanks Nana and Papa for the baby, and thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the drum set. Happy Birthday Ellie, we love you!

Camping with friends...except I didn't get to go

This last weekend we got together with some friends from our ward for some camping at Inks Lake since the kids had a 4 day weekend thanks to good ol' Chris Columbus. The sad thing is, I had to stay home with Ellie because she decided to get sick at about 3am the morning of. Lets just say it involved washing sheets, ewe. Dallas still took the kids up for the day (Friday) and enjoyed some cliff diving, canoeing, hiking and biking there at the camp site, but actually came home that night instead of staying over night. The reason for that is that the Stake had asked again for volunteers to go down to Galveston to help out some more with Ike clean up and Dallas really wanted to go, but he was going to have to leave at 4am Saturday morning. So thanks to my friend Mindy's suggestion, we extended this "camping trip" to our backyard and the kids were thrilled. They got home from Inks Lake at about 9:30pm and quickly changed into jammas and headed out to the tent in the backyard to sleep.

Yes this is Ethan jumping off a cliff. I don't know if I would have allowed this had I been there because the cliff looks pretty high in this picture, but obviously he survived to tell me all about it. So better that I wasn't there I guess. He's so brave.

Here they are sound asleep in the backyard. Did I mention I did not stay out there with them? I was a little nervous about leaving them out there alone, but I just said extra prayers and jumped in my nice cozy bed. It was soooo good that we weren't camping at the campground that night because at about 3am that night, I came down with whatever Ellie had. Ahhhh! Soon after me, Abbey got it, then Miah, and now Ethan has it. We're just waiting for Dallas to start with the rumbling in the tummy, it's not a fun one so you better keep your distance everyone!

Big stretch, good morning sleepy head, time to get up!

Wolfs and Spiders

We are so proud of Ethan, he has completed his first year in cub scouts and has advanced to a Bear. Here is a fantastic picture of Ethan receiving his Wolf award but for some reason only his elbow, shoulder and ear made an appearance. Awesome photography skills D- ha ha. Way to go Ethan.

Spiders and stringy green webs are as scary as I get with my Halloween decorating. I don't really do scary, in fact I really despise all the creepy gorry skeletons and witches out there. My kids BEG me every year to buy all the cool decorations that their friends have, you know the ones that scream at you when you go by, ugh. Well this year I just went out and bought the 2$ bag of green stringy web stuff and for family night we made these super cool egg carton spiders, and guess what? The kids were satisfied. With our string of orange lights around the front door and the invasion of these dozen hand painted critters, we've accomplished creepy in their eyes. And I'm not grossed out.

Happy Halloween everyone~