Seeing the Lights

Last night we went to see the lights on Temple Square. They are always awesome to go see. This year it has not snowed and has been fairly "warm". We are bummed to not have gone skiing, but at least we did not freeze last night walking around to see the lights. :)

 

 Zack with his angry bird hat and "Elliot Jacket". Nicole with her goofy brother.

Zack's favorite thing to do these days is to sleep in the car. We could not resist the temptation to take the picture. 

Christmas Card

We made a special Christmas card this year. We had extra time on our hands...it was fun.

Our Christmas Card

REAL Winterfest

 Last Saturday, we were invited to a Winterfest held by the Salt Lake Real. Since this was their first and our first, we weren't exactly sure what to expect. Zack opted out to hang out with friends, so Nicole invited her friend. Keith and I are new season ticket holders and our seats are by the bottom of the S near the top of Nicole's head :)

We got a tour of the ins and outs of the stadium including the players' locker room. Here I am by Kyle Beckerman's locker. Then, they had 2 of their players come do a Q & A session. We were able to meet both the players and Nicole got her jersey signed by both.

 Nat Borchers signs Nicole's jersey then we pose for the photo.

 The bottom picture is with Wil Johnson. It was very cool and ended up being a lot of fun.

First Date

It is official. He is all grown up. This adorable little boy who used to play in the dirt went on his first date on Saturday. His school had the Sweater Swing couples' dance. He double dated with a friend and they had a great time. It is hard to believe my little boy is growing up.

Zack invited his date to the dance by placing a baggie of balloons in her locker. He asked her if she wanted to go to the dance with him. If her answer was yes, she should blow up a red balloon and give it to him. If the answer was no, she needed to give him a blue balloon. However, the bag had no blue balloons in it.

Here are some pictures from the dance.

Toothless

Poor kitty. She lost 2 teeth to bad gingivitis. Then, we took her in to have her remaining teeth checked. The doctor ended up having to pull 5 additional teeth. Apparently, cats have oil sacks or something in their necks and some cats have these leak creating major teeth issues. She is one of those cats with that problem. One of her teeth was worn all the way down to the root tip. Ouch! She never complained, so we didn't know. Needless to say, she is now eating soft food and seems to be healing from her dental procedure.

The Halls are Decked

Literally, we decked our halls. The 3rd grade team at my school all made trees to hang in the hall. I am at the end of the hall, so mine fit nicely in the corner. The paper chain on the tree was made by my students. They took a strip for each member of their family and had to write a service they were going to give each member of their family for Christmas. The cute ornaments and mice were also made by my students who wrote a riddle on them about something you associate with Christmas. They did such a cute job.  I also wrapped my door so my classroom is a gift :).

The halls were decked at school, but the hall at home needed some work. Finally, I wrapped the kids' doors to keep the tradition alive. Can you guess which door belongs to Zack and which one is Nicole's?

Another tradition is to set up the tree and decorate the house on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We put the tree in the corner this year.

With the tree and Christmas village set up, the house finally had the Christmas feeling. Then, Zack decided to contribute to the Christmas village. Apparently, they are in the middle of a battle.

For the first time ever, we have Christmas lights on the house. If I can ever get a good picture of them, I will post it. So far, I only have a day time picture. They are icicle lights that appear to be dripping. The cats have been mesmerized by them.

Halloween

I have tried to post about Halloween twice now, but I had some glitches with the photos and then interruptions with my time. Finally, here is the Halloween update.

For the ward party, Keith dressed up as a "Blessing in Disguise." Trying to find a clever costume that is a play on words has become his annual challenge. Nicole went as a dark angel. The teenagers in the ward are always in charge of the majority of the booths and parties. Zack's age group did a Nerf gun target practice.

I had committed to help with my school's fundraiser on the same night. It was a Hogwart's party. The students and their families could trade in cash for Gringott's gold coins and go shopping on Diagon Alley. They had set up the gym with all the shops from the story. I worked in Olivander's Wand Shop selling wands to future witches and wizards. They had a Sorting Hat and teachers volunteered to dress up as Dumbledore, Hagrid, and the other teachers from the story. It was a huge success and very fun. I was dressed up as a teacher/witch from Griffyndor.

Naturally, we had to carve pumpkins and toast the seeds. Keith and the kids chose a Nightmare Before Christmas theme. He carved the Oogie Boogie Man as an experiment using his Dremmel. Then, Zack did the headstone, Nicole carved Jack, the Pumpkin King, and Keith carved Zero, Jack's ghost dog.

 

 Since the kids don't dress up and go trick or treating anymore, they helped dress the yard and house this year. We had ghosts in the kids' windows with flashing strobe lights behind them. In the yard, they decided to have a mini graveyard with a fog machine. Spotlights and a chain link lined the headstones to keep children safe and not to trip on the headstones.

Fun and games for Thanksgiving

We were at the Carter's for thanksgiving this year. Fun, games and great food were in abundance!

Nicole at REAL game

Here is the video from the jumbo-tron. It is a big file so you may need to wait a bit for it to load.

A REAL Star

The Real had part one in their first round of playoffs Saturday night. They played the Seattle Sounders. Naturally, we wanted to go. Zack decided not since it was Halloween weekend and he was sure there would be a dance or party of some sort that he wouldn't want to miss. So, Nicole, Keith and I went to the game with our friends. We got there early and walked to our seats to find the announcer interviewing a guy in our row. When he finished, we found our seats and the announcer asked if he could interview Nicole with the Fiji Facts Trivia question. Heck Yah! She was interviewed on the jumbo tron for everyone to see. She even got the answer right with a little help from friends :).

The game was incredible. You could feel the energy in the stadium. The Real played some amazing soccer and won that part of the playoff game 3-0. They went on to edge out Seattle 3-2 overall. Phew! They will play LA Sunday. Our fingers are crossed!! Goooooooo Real Salt Lake!!

Beautiful Fall Days!

This fall we have had perfect weather! If I did not like summer so much, I would love this all year round.

Haloween Setup

Nicole helped Keith setup the Halloween decorations today. It was beautiful out. I am hoping that it is that way for the trick-or-treaters!

Test Pumpkin

I was playing around with a test pumpkin tonight. I think it turned out pretty good if I do not say so myself. :)

SWEET!! 16 :)

Zack is 16 and he thinks that is SWEET!! Keith drove him up to the DMV on his birthday and he got his driver's license. He has been driving himself to school and the store and enjoys that freedom. He decided he wanted a chessboard cake for his birthday and helped select the pieces for the cake. The pawns were gummy bears. Rooks were tootsie rolls. Knights were cinnamon bears. Bishops were sour patch kids. The king and queen were big Swedish fish. One side was red, and the other side had all the game pieces dipped in chocolate. It was yummy cake! Happy birthday!!

Zachary Shakespeare

Zack is in Drama 3 this year. They all participate in "A Night of Shakespeare." Each student is given parts from Shakespeare plays to act out in vignettes. He received one of the larger parts as King Leontes from A Winter's Tale. He made the girls in his scene cry. Well, he did kill his daughter and wife. Creepy. He did a fantastic job.