Cornbellys!

We've wanted to Cornbellys for a couple years, but it's pretty expensive.  This year we finally decided to try it out anyway.  It was another perfect fall day and we had a great time playing Cornball, going through the iguana (watching Christian crawl away in terror from the clown was worth the price of admission all by itself), doing the corn and hay maze and just being together.

 

 My little princesses.

 

 Bouncing pillows!

 

 These kids are crazy.

 

 This was my favorite.  Scott was a cheater and pulled my bag back when we were racing.

 

 Scary scarecrow.

 

Scott holding Soran (who we lost for a few minutes and by the time we found her she was hysterical) and looking at the jack-o-lanter tower.

Autumn and the hot springs

Lyssa is taking a photo class this year and so she took most of the pics.  We went on this hike to the hot springs a couple years ago and it was one of the most beautiful I had ever been on.  So we made sure to do it this year.  And my family said that counted for our fall excursion, so no drive up the canyon this year.  It was a perfect autumn day.  And the scenery--well, it speaks for itself. 

 

 There are several small pools and they are different temperatures based on how much stream water is mixing with the hot water from the springs.  This one was about perfect.
 

 Soran is usually my crazy one.  But there was a lot of black slippery moss on the rocks and she was scared cause she couldn't walk very well.

 

 Living the dream.

 

 Lyssa and Christian lounging in the water.

 

Me eating lunch.  It's a pretty tough hike.  5 miles with a lot of hills.  But the kids did awesome.  We only had to carry a couple of them when we almost reached the end.  Way better than last time where Scott had to carry Soran both ways and I carried Livi all the way back.  I love having older kids.

Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point

 Christian was most excited about the gnomes (one pictured below behind the pickaxe) they told him about on a field trip.  He kept pointing them out to us all through the museum.

 

 Gnomes

 

 Bones!  This was a huge dinosaur.

 

 Creating erosion.

 

 Aaah!  Swim fast!

 

 A mammoth.  With skeleton people trying to kill it.  Kind of morbid.

 

Amber putting together a skeleton.

First day of school!

 Amber's in 3rd this year and Christian's in 5th.  I can't believe it!  Scott took Amber shopping this year and she got a smelly t-shirt.  Why you'd want to wear something that makes people want to sniff you is beyond me. 

 

 Alyssa's a high schooler!  Well, technically she's in 7th grade but she got into the PUPs program and is attending the high school this year.  She had a rough first day (she forgot her schedule and got lost a couple times.  Plus, they do an A/B schedule and she couldn't figure out which class she was supposed to be going to), but I think she really likes it now.  She has gotten so tall and is a lovely young woman.

 

 She bought her own first day of school clothes.  I love baby-sitting!

 

 Livi with her teacher--Grandma!

 

 So cute on her first day of kindergarten.  My mom spoils her so rotten I'm tempted to pull her out and put her somewhere she won't think she's the center of the universe.

 

 Soran's first day of preschool with her best friend, Aurora. 

 

She came up with this pose all by herself.  Doesn't she look like a sweetie?  Ha!



Summer 2012

We had a great summer.  Although as the kids get older I realize I have to entertain more.  They're less inclined to go outside and just play.  I was driving a lot more this year and trying to come up with things for them to do.  Amber and Christian were able to go to a day camp--Christian's was focused on science and Amber's on sports.  They went swimming every other day and had other activities.  Lyssa took tennis lessons and really enjoyed it.  I think we'll try it again next year.  Livi and Amber both attended a Vocal Motion summer camp and had a performance at the end of the week that was just so cute.  They liked it so much it's what we've put them into this fall, also.  They get to sing and dance.  And Amber loves to perform.  We went to 7 Peaks quite a bit with our passes, lunch at the school, Jordanelle with the Massengales, fishing in the boat, looked at a lot of houses and generally just enjoyed the weather.  I love summer.

Christian's 10!

Christian wanted a little of everything for his birthday this year.  I mean, he wanted to do a little of everything.  He took some friends to Lowe's Extreme Sports and then we had cake and ice cream and then they played Wii.  I can't believe my little boy is so big already.  He's figuring out how to be a great tease and he drives all us girls crazy but we love him so much!

I love this picture for a couple reasons.  The first being it embodies kid birthday parties so well, I think.  Christian has chocolate frosting all over his mouth, they're all reaching out to grab the presents and it's mayhem.  The second reason is the box says think fast.  And they're all reaching for it.

24th of July

 Looking for the needle in the haystack.

 Lyssa and Brooklyn at the root beer chugging contest.

 Soran's adorable bonnet.

 Who are these two men?

 Sometimes Christian makes faces that remind me so much of Scott.  He's throwing the tomahawk.

 I love Bryant's tongue sticking out in this one.

 Gutter of Fire at the Pagnanis.  It was a big crowd this year.  Lots of fun.

 Checking out the aerials.

 These 2 so look like they're drinking something they shouldn't be.

Livi showing off her loot from the Gutter of Fire.

We had some friends from Arizona come stay a couple weeks with us.  It was a lot of fun.  We went to the celebration for the 24th, hiked Stewart Falls, went to the Paleontology museum at BYU, 7 Peaks, Veterans Pool, the movies, Discovery park and wore me out.