Thanksgiving in Castle Dale

We had a very fun four days in Castle Dale for Thanksgiving. I didn't a picture of the actual Thanksgiving dinner, but I did manage to get this one of Caleb with a skull he found outside, which is just as good, right?

Cali and Gwen made some cookies, and tried to make some gingerbread houses with pretzels, that was a fail. But the cookies turned out really well, and Cali started her own cooking show, she is performing it here in this picture.

It was cold, but the weather was nice enough to get up and run every morning. I snapped these pictures on the road between Castle Dale and Orangeville early in the morning.

Carter and Caleb also created "the science show". The science show consisted of several different inventions created from things they found outside. They assembled them into displays and then we took turns attending the science show. Here Caleb is displaying the skulls he found in a shoe box hanging from a tree.

Carter is displaying the snowinator, which he created from a shoe box, snow, leaves, and grass.

This is Robo 3000, created from bricks, rocks, and sticks.

Neal had a science project for Christian too, which was actually winterizing the swamp cooler.

It was a great extended weekend, and it's always fun to visit Castle Dale.

We had big plans to do some Christmas shopping on the way home, but the weather didn't cooperate. We had to hurry home after a short dinner stop at In-N-Out.

Movin' On Up, Scout Style

Since Carter turned nine, he graduated from Wolf Scouts to Bear Scouts. I'm not the best scout mother around, but I did manage to get a few goofy pictures after the pack meeting.

Giving Thanks at School

This year the parents were invited to join the preschool students at their Thanksgiving feast. So I stopped by to eat Thanksgiving dinner with Caleb at the Children's Center. Each class had made a cute headband and placemat, so we knew where to sit.

We took a couple selfies.

It was fun lunch break for me, and fun to see Caleb interact with his teachers and fellow students. He didn't eat much of his feast, but he drank his weight in Koolaid and demanded extra whipped cream on his pumpkin pie.

Happy Birthday to Carter

After playing his first basketball game on his birthday, he showered up and got ready for some presents and cake at our house.

Carter was selected to take one of the anole lizards home from school and raise it as his own. So his entire birthday revolved around the knowledge and supplies it takes to care for a lizard.

Complete with a terrarium and live crickets for the lizard to eat.

I cannot believe this little sweetie is nine years old. He is a complex personality, full of fun but also tender and quick witted. He wanted to pick his own store bought cake, so he did and it was pretty delicious.

The following day we took the anole supplies to school to pick up Cozmo the lizard. Due to several circumstances Cozmo was only with us for 8 days before passing away. We think there may have been something wrong with him, because we couldn't get him to eat. He ate a lot of dirt off the bottom of the terrarium, and I tried everything to keep him warm, including letting him live in my warm steamy bathroom for several days. He was cute little lizard. RIP Cozmo.

The Spurs

This year was Carter's first year playing Jr. Jazz or city league basketball. He loved every second of it, especially being with his coach. Christian coached Carter's team with the help of his friend Dave Stauffer. They had a great time and the little boys came a long way during the season.

Just like Caleb's first wrestling practice was on his birthday. Carter's first game with the Spurs was on his 9th birthday. He was so excited to be playing a game on his birthday.

Carter made some great plays and grew his confidence a lot. He's so fun to watch, especially his facial expressions.

He learned a lot about defense and how not to foul...

His ball handling skills got a lot better too.

He's now playing on a travelling team and really enjoys everything about basketball.

Crazy Bowling Birthday Party

Carter and Caleb had a combined bowling birthday party. They each invited six friends, which resulted in tons of fun. We had dinner at the bowling alley as part of the party. There was much laughing and goofing and a little eating. The kids got choose a meal off the menu and then eat it with friends in the party room.

Christian and I made brownie bowls and served them with a tiny scoop of ice cream. Then it was on to presents. There was much ripping and tearing and thanking and playing. Then it was time to get our serious bowl on! Carl and Vicki came with us to the wild party and we tried our best to supervise 12 sugared up 5-9 year olds.

I took the younger group, and Christian took the older group. The bowling scores were kind of low, but the energy was high, and we were all very tired and ready for bed by the end of the evening.

As long as these two will let me, I'll combine their birthday parties. We've done it for several years, and it's always such a wild fun time!

More Birthday Presents

Carl and Vicki came out for a birthday visit, and brought presents!

Having both boys birthday's within a week of each other is pretty fun, and results in a week of celebration and presents.

Try Hockey For Free Day

We tried it...

We kind of liked it....

But not enough to do it again...

Happy 5th Birthday to Caleb

I cannot believe our tiny baby Caleb is five years old. In some ways it's been the fastest and slowest five years of my life. He is the craziest kid, he does and says the most unexpected things, and I am pretty sure that he's on the earth to do big things.

He wanted a store bought cake, and picked this one out all by himself.

He's looking very grown up and not at all like a baby any more.

Making a birthday wish!

He got some cool warm up sets from us.

And of course more Super Hero Legos from Cali and Carter.

Wrestling Your Friends

Caleb's first season of pee wee wrestling proved to be pretty funny. He loves to wrestle, especially his friends. I'm not sure how much his friends like it, but they all seem to end up in one giant kid pretzel.

He got to attend his first wrestling practice on his fifth birthday. We thought it was pretty cool and during the weeks leading up to his first practice, constantly asked when his birthday and wrestling practices would start.

We learned a lot of things at this first practice. The most important being, that without the proper foam back before practice, there's a good chance you'll get ring worm. Good to know.

Saying Goodbye to Alexis and Kate

Our fun weekend came to an end on Sunday morning when we had to say goodbye to Neal and Gwen, and good bye for a while to Kate and Alexis. Kate and Alexis are on their way to meet up Brandt for his graduation in South Carolina, and then on to spend the winter and spring in San Diego until they leave for Japan.

We tried to get several good pictures with the cousins, this was the best we could do. We also tried to get Cali to take a picture of Alexis and I, this is the best we all could do. We will miss them, but thanks to modern technology we will all live in the computer now.

Birthday Presents

The Halloween/bowling weekend extravaganza wouldn't be complete without some birthday presents for the upcoming birthday boys. Superhero Lego sets all around!

Bowling

The day after Halloween, we decided to tryout some bowling. Neal, Gwen, Kate, Alexis, Bethany, Steve, Broden, and Brock all came along for the fun.

Cali loved bowling and thought she was pretty good at it. Carter was frustrated at first, but got the hang of it and decided that he wanted to have his up coming birthday party at the bowling alley.

The best thing about bowling is entertaining a bunch of kids until it's their turn again.