Ten Year Anniversary--of Pinatas

2012 marks the tenth year that we've done a pinata for Thanksgiving. We wanted to start a new tradition so, in 2002, we had our very first pinata. I decided it would be fun to have a homemade one, so I started looking for ideas.

2002

The first one was, very fittingly, a turkey. I'd never done a pinata before, other than elementary school. All I needed was a couple of balloons, some homemade paste, newspaper and colored tissue paper. And time. Lots more than I expected! Anyway, it turned out really cute. Riley and Trace were just little fellers (4 and 2) and it was fun watching them hit it. 

2003

I made a repeat of the turkey. Not sure why I didn't try something different..... Anyway, another turkey. It would be really nice if I had a good picture, but this is as good as it gets! The boys had fun again, and it didn't take them long to remember the drill. 

2004

I got a bit more creative. Decided to go with a Christmas themed pinata-a snowman. I thought I needed to strengthen it up some, so I used extra paste and newspapers. Since the snowman was a triple decker, it took quite a bit more time. It also had more candy in it. I think the boys really liked that!

2005

Kambri and Aubree joined the family in February. I liked the Christmas theme, so I decided to go with the big guy himself, Santa. Another time consuming pinata, but well worth the effort! I think this was one of the cutest we've had. Kambri was so funny. Every time someone hit it, she would let out a laugh. Hilarious! 

2006 

This year, I asked the boys what kind of pinata we should make. They wanted to do a pilgrim, but thought I needed to make it a bit easier for the little girls (both under 2) to hit. Riley came up with the idea to have the pilgrim holding a banana. So I did. The pilgrim was really cute and the banana was, well, kind of strange....

2007

Back to a Christmas theme. I decided to try a reindeer. Rudolph, to be exact. Another cute one. The boys were now getting older (9 and 7) and stronger. We had to come up with some hitting rules so they didn't take it out on the first hit. The girls needed to have some turns!

2008

We added another baby to the family. Cash was born in March and was 8 months old. I decided on a Thanksgiving pinata again. We'd already a turkey and a pilgrim. What next, you wonder? Well, I thought Pocahontas would be cute. And it was. This one took me longer than usual, and was definitely a labor of love! The kids loved Pocahontas. We all loved it. UNTIL.....we hung it up. Then it just seemed wrong, having a cute little indian princess hanging from the ceiling. The kids didn't seem to mind, but we were all really glad when it was over. Note to self: no more human looking pinatas!

2009

Easton was born in January, bring the total number of grandkids to six. For whatever reason, I ended up doing another turkey. No thinking necessary, and definitely not my best effort. And since the kids were getting bigger (Riley was 11 and Trace was 9), I ended up using some duct tape to reinforce it. 

2010

This is the year we went on our cruise, leaving the day after Thanksgiving. Because things were kind of busy, I started the pinata early. Good move! I decided on a penguin, and it ended up being one of my favorites. I also started putting a lot of the candy in baggies marked with the kids' names. The girls were now old enough to be more competitive, and candy hoarding became a reality!

2011

In an effort to make a REALLY strong pinata, I went with something I could make out of a box. A robot. An incredibly cute little robot, if I say so myself. And he was much more than cute, he was STRONG. He definitely gave the boys more of a challenge. Another successful year.

2012

Added two more babies to the family! Kinley arrived in April, and Emery in May, bringing the total grandkids to eight. Since the box worked so well, I decided to use one again. In an effort to save some time, I decided on a bit easier pinata-a Christmas tree. I also reinforced it with duct tape. With Riley being 14 and Trace being 12, we needed something really strong! And strong, it was. The younger kids were allowed to use the bat, but Riley and Trace had to use boxing gloves and punched it. They still ended up doing the most damage. The kids all had plenty of turns hitting it. Emery wasn't a fan of the cute Christmas tree. She stared and stared until Josh gave it a tap with the bat. Then she puckered up and started just a hollering! So cute!

2013 

Can't wait to see what next year brings :)

May and June Happenings

May and June were busy months. Here are just a few pictures of some of the things we did.

Jessi ran the Ogden Marathon.  She did a great job! Way to go, Jessi!

Jessi, Anna, and Charlotte. Marathoners!

Aubree and Kambri had a dance recital. They danced to "These Boots are Made for Walking", and both did so good! These two girls love to dance!

Our first picture with the baby girls together. Emery was 11 days old and Kinley was 7 weeks old. Such sweet little girls!

Trace earned his Yellow Belt, which will be presented to him at his next class. Good job, Trace!

Randy and I went to Lake Tahoe. We had a really good time.

We went camping up at Bridger Lake in the Uintas. We had a lot of fun, but sure missed the Taylor bunch :(

Kinley

Emery

Did some riding in the Rhino, motorcycle and 4-wheelers. The weather was perfect but the flies and mosquitos were not.

Kambri had so much fun fishing! She learned to cast all by herself and also pull them in. Here she is with one of her fish. Yes, it's white---it's an albino fish. They caught a lot of them.

Josh and Nate in their "hut". When I sat in it for a few minutes, I felt "stuff" crawling on my scalp. Maybe it was just my imagination.....

Emery

 Kinley

Cash wearing his newly repaired sunglasses. Hey, they worked!

Easton wearing his 4 wheeling googles. Can he even see??

Nate and Karlee

Randy with his albino fish.

Jill and Emery.

Josh helping the kids fish.

 

We watched Aubree play t-ball. She's definitely a go getter!

Emery Venable

Emery arrived early in the morning of May 25th. She weighed 6 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. Just a teeny little thing! She's so cute and is a carbon copy of Kambri when she was born. 

It was fun not knowing if we were going to get a boy or a girl! We're so excited she's here. It's going to be so fun to have two little girls again!

Kinley Anne Foulger

                                                                                      Photo by Jessi Venable

Kinley arrived at 2:28 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18th. She weighed in at 6 lbs 12 oz and is 19 inches long. She's a beautiful, healthy baby and Nate, Karlee and Easton are thrilled she has arrived.

Have you ever seen such a cute little munchkin?

Yellowstone

Just wanted to share a few pictures of our weekend in Yellowstone. 

We saw about 8 bears. Two of them were just off the side of the road a bit, so we could easily see them. Here's a video of one.

We also saw a wolf having a bite to eat. A bite of dead elk, that is. Kind of gross, but here you go. Zoom in if you want a better look.

There was still quite a bit of snow. Amazing to see so much in June.

We also saw some dim-witted girls looking for a photo op in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Here's a view of the canyon. Notice how deep it is, and the steep walls?

They climbed over the rock retaining wall to get as far back as they could.

Is it worth it? Really??

 Here is a picture of the view from the rock they were standing on. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's straight down.

It made everyone there very uncomfortable. We heard several people make comments. Randy almost said something to the girls. They were Asian so there was a bit of a language barrier but he still wishes he had said something.  Next time he will. Dumb girls.

Is Randy taking a picture of me or the family behind me???

  The weather was ok while we were out and about. Not exactly a heat wave, but it was definitely better than continuous rain! We had a lot of fun.

Yes, it's true....

I love my kids

And they love me!

Flowers

It's finally spring, and we have the flowers to prove it. We have lots of these purple and white flowers in the back yard, and I just love 'em.

And guess what else we have? A tulip! Just one, but hey, that's better than none! Just wait until next year.....