Fall Fun!

So, it has been a while, so here is what we have been up to the past month. We took advantage of the nice weather and took a trip to the Zoo. We also went to Park City for a couple of days. We spent a lot of time swimming, and we also went to the Olympic park. This time, I stayed far away from the zip line. One of these times, I will have to post the video of me going on the zip line. It is pretty entertaining. We also went up Hobble Creek Canyon to see the fall leaves. The kids had so much fun playing and jumping and hiding in the leaf piles. We had such a great time and were even able to see some cowboys herding about a hundred cattle along the road. That was pretty scary having the cows right against the van. They were huge and kept mooing at us. For the rest of the evening, the kids decided to be cows and had a little too much fun doing so!

Park City!

Hogle Zoo

The zoo was really fun with all the new baby animals. We saw the baby tigers, a baby giraffe, and our favorite, the baby elephant. Of all the animals, Savannah loved the monkeys and Luke loved the penguins. And of course, it would not be a trip to the zoo without Luke wanting a picture in front of the Apes to see how he compares. Sadly enough, the apes were not out, so we did not have to watch them eat their own feces. Man, that is a disturbing image you can never forget!

Family Day at the Utah Air National Guard base

Recently I got to bring my family up to the base for family day. Few things give me greater pleasure than getting to show off my hot wife and adorable children to my colleagues in my squadron. Everyone had a great time, but with all of the games, food, and other entertainment it was hard not too. Here are some pics.



Savannah, me, Luke, and Katelyn in front of one of the most devastating aerial combat fighters ever, the F-15 Eagle.




Three beautiful likenesses all in one photo. Kelli, Savannah, and an Apache attack helicopter.




A close -up of the above. See why I'm always glad to show them off? ;)

Our little gardeners!

The kids had a lot of fun planting a garden this year. Luke and Savannah planted sunflower seeds, and they had so much fun watching them sprout and grow. They grew well above our fence this year and Luke and Savannah thought it was pretty cool that they accomplished this on their own!

GI JOE finally on the big screen!

I saw the latest GI JOE movie a few days ago. If you don't like action, you might want to avoid this movie because it's almost non-stop. I think everyone would enjoy this movie, but those who watched the cartoons and had a sizable collection of the toys (like my brother and I did) will appreciate it a lot more. I don't think it will win many awards but it was sure fun to watch, which is the point of watching movies in the first place, right? Can't wait for the sequel! Anyone else seen it yet?

Katelyn is 730 days old!

Katelyn celebrated her 2nd birthday. I can hardly believe she is two. Aside from being mischevious and very good at throwing tantrums, she is such a sweet and loving little girl. She is starting to put bigger sentences together, and at dinner, she always says "I like dinner too mommy" , since she is mimicking Luke and Savannah who will say they like dinner. She loves to talk on the phone, and even answered it the other day while I was mowing the lawn, and brought the phone out to me and told me it was Lori on the phone. She is still a fanatic about shoes, monkeys, and yes, food. We thought a monkey cake was appropriate for her cake, and thanks to Luke who shaped the monkeys from tootsie rolls and helped to decorate the cake. Happy Birthday Katelyn!

The lesson I learned by swimming across the Spanish Fork reservoir- by Eric

I consider myself a relatively strong swimmer. I'm no Mike Phelps but I can get from point A to B in the water without trouble. I decided to brave the swim across a reservoir in Spanish Fork a few weeks ago during a trip there with some friends. I learned something valuable while wading through the water that day that I thought I'd share. It wasn't extremely far to the other side (only a few hundred feet) but the water was a bit cold, deep, and choppy because of the wind. Halfway across I realized that it was much farther to the other side than I initially thought- this is always the case so I expected this realization would come. What I didn't expect is an understanding of how it would be very feasible for someone to drown in such conditions- especially a child. I was not in danger nor did I find the journey to be over-whelming, I just thought that the disorientation and cold water combined with the short choppy waves could make it difficult for a child to breath and stay above water. This is why in our house the kids get swim lessons before they sign up for other activities like soccer, t-ball, gymnastics, etc. I'm glad I made it across the reservoir okay and had a great swim, but I felt it was really more important to share what I learned instead of what I actually did. I thought a post about water safety would be lame, but after seeing this story on CNN I decided that the dangers of water could never be advocated enough. If you haven't seen the story be prepared to have your heart broken. Stay safe everyone, summer isn't over yet!

Where did June Go?

Wow, so I can hardly believe that June is over. I wish the winter months would go by as quickly as June did. We had a busy month so here is an overview of what we have been up to. Eric was gone for his two week drill for the national guard (why do they go in June?), Luke celebrated his 6th birthday, I celebrated my 30th birthday, Luke and Savannah took swimming lessons and did awesome, Luke played t-ball, and Katelyn, well she seems to have had fun although she was dragged from one thing to the next. I am just happy that we are actually having hot sunny weather. I know I will be sad when my grass turns yellow, but for now I do not miss the rain!

Who knew buying grapes could be so hazardous?

I read this on KSL, and just about lost it from just seeing a picture of a black widow (ya, I am very afraid of spiders)! Anyway, I thought I would share this story for those of you who did not hear about it yet, and hopefully we don't come across this. Eww, so gross!

Black widow reportedly found in store-bought grapes

PROVO -- Costco and a grower are apologizing to a Provo woman after she discovered a black widow in produce she purchased.
Kimberly Warner from Provo was washing grapes she bought from the Orem Costco Monday afternoon when she spotted what she first thought was "a monster grape spider." But she tells the Deseret News it turned out to be a black widow. She described it as a little larger than a quarter.
She trapped the spider in a jar and called Costco. The next morning a Costco manager was at her house to apologize, get the spider and find out from the packaging where the grapes came from. The grower, in Bakersfield, Calif., also contacted Warner to apologize.
Warner tells the paper she'll still buy grapes at Coscto but will be sure to check for spiders before popping a handful in her mouth.

Very Yummy Granola

I just thought I would share this really yummy recipe. I made it last week, and it is all I want to eat now! It was really simple too, which makes it even more appealing!

Basic Granola

6 1/4 c. rolled oats (the recipe recommended quick oats from the dry pack cannery)
1 c. coconut
1/2 c. slivered almonds (or pecans, or whatever nuts you have on hand)
1/4 c. sesame seeds, unsalted (opt.)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. vegetable or canola oil
3/4 c. honey
1 tsp. vanilla
Dried fruit (opt.)
Stir dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix oil and honey together and heat until honey is warm and runny. Stir in vanilla. Add to dry ingredients; stir until well combined. Spread onto two cookie sheets. (I sprinkled the granola with cinnamon before baking and it turned out really good) Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes until lightly browned, stirring every 10 minutes during baking. Cool on cookie sheets, and then add in any dried fruit you like. Store in airtight container up to 6 weeks.

Fishing Success!

On Friday, I took the kids to a park. Their is a pond with fish/ducks and Luke usually takes a net and tries to catch a fish. This guy showed up with his kids and started fishing. Luke was interested immediately. He is always asking for a fishing pole. Anyway, the guy was so nice. He asked Luke if he wanted a turn so Luke joined the family and started fishing. About 10 minutes later, he caught a fish. He was so excited he flung it out of the water, and just about slimed me with the fish, but instead the poor fish bounced off some rocks before I stopped Luke from swinging the pole. I wish I would have had my camera, because he had the biggest smile on his face. When we got home, he drew a picture so we could remember. Now, he is really bugging us for a fishing pole. Oh, and Eric was happy for Luke, but kind of sad that some other dad took him fishing first.

Spring Break

The dinousaur museum - Savannah did not want anyone else in the picture.

Future Archeologists! If you couldn't tell, they are digging for bones.

Our fish. The kid would live in water if we would let him.

Vernal Temple

Best Friends! These two are exactly alike in looks and personality, and get along so well. They sat on this bench for quite awhile just talking so I had to sneak up and take a picture of them.

Kate and Ashlyn were so funny. They really wanted to get inside and they kept taking turns trying to open the door. I think Ashlyn was really expecting Katelyn to succeed.

Wow, we took about 30 pictures and finally got one where nobody was moving, crying, or sucking on their fingers.

Over Spring Break, Lori and I went to Vernal with our kids. What were we thinking! No, it actually was really fun, the kids were great, but I realized how much Eric helps out and I really missed the extra pair of hands to reign in kids! We had fun, and didn't have to fight crowds. For some reason, Vernal was not the hot spot for Spring Break. Go figure! We saw the Vernal Temple which is beautiful, went to the dinosaur museum, swam, ate, and ate, and discovered that items on the dollar menu do not cost a dollar if you are in Vernal. They cost more. Very strange! Regardless, it was a great break from the normal routine and a lot of fun!

Back in Business

Okay, so I have been a slacker. I have not updated my blog and I haven't looked at any blogs as well, so I apologize and look forward to getting back to blogging and seeing your updates!

For Easter, the kids of course decorated eggs. They had a great time, but I ended up eating most of the hard boiled eggs. Luke loves them, but Savannah is not a big fan, but yet she still continued trying them and asking for the purple or the pink egg, thinking it would taste better. They looked so cute dressed up on Sunday, and Luke and Eric looked so handsome in their suits.

Funny Story!

We took the kids to Cabela's and as we pulled into the parking lot, there were some people selling puppies. They were really cute and Luke went crazy and started begging us to buy one. Well, Eric jokingly told him, "Luke, I will make you a deal. You can have a puppy, but you are going to have to trade in one of your sisters." Without any hesitation, Luke said, "Katelyn". Eric looked back at him and said "Luke!" He responded by saying, "okay, Savannah then". It was pretty funny. I know he loves his sisters, so I posted these pictures as proof. Remind me to never leave him in charge though. I will have a house full of puppies, and my girls will be gone!

Goodbye Hair!

My brother-in-law recently began chemo and as a result, lost his hair. His three boys shaved their hair off to support him and when I told Luke what they did and why, he thought that was pretty cool and wanted to shave off his hair. We jokingly asked Savannah if she wanted to shave off hers, and she said, "sure I will". No, we did not let her, but I was proud of her that she was willing to do that. Well, here are the before and after pictures of Luke. I was a little worried what he would look like, but I think he looks adorable, but then again, I am a little biased:)