Happy Birthday to Scott!

We celebrated Scott's birthday. It was a pretty chill one, but a happy one nonetheless. He never asks for anything for a present and doesn't want to do anything special. He just wants to be with the fam. That is what he got. 

Scott does have a cute tradition of taking cupcakes to work (just like you do in elementary school) and putting them on his desk to share with his coworkers. He made them, iced them and sprinkled them with Zachary's help. 

While he was at work on his birthday, the kids and I spent the whole day shopping for new clothes for him. He really never buys new clothes so we went a little crazy buying handsome new shirts, sweaters, pants, jeans and a tie. We wrapped them all up. We decorated the house. We made apple crisp. We were all ready when he got home from work. Brie even put one of his presents in a scavenger hunt. He discovered it in the pots and pans drawer.

In the end he took back almost every single one of those items of clothing. He tried them on and kept saying, "I feel like Cam from Modern Family". He thought I was dressing him a little too gay. So we'll stick to UofU t-shirts and jeans. No problem, he looks cute in those. He did get one present that he loves! His new iPhone wrapped up. Happy Birthday!

There was an exciting game of balloon volleyball before leaving for dinner.

The crazies off to dinner at Wing Nutz. Our kids are really into the "silly face" pose. We always have to do one.

See.

Wing Nutz - baked buffalo wings, carrot sticks, celery sticks for dinner. Scott was very pleased.

And apple crisp for dessert. Happy Birthday dear Scott!!! We all love him so much.

Snow Day(s)

A big snow storm came. It started snowing Friday morning and continued until Sunday night. We had a ruler measuring it on our deck and it looks to us that we got about 23 inches. That is a lot of snow. It was beautiful. The kids had fun playing in it. And, as you may know, I don't like to play out in the snow, but I loved some snowy days inside with the family. It was so cozy. 

What do you do with four kids when you have three straight days of snow? (No school for Brie and no work for Scott on Friday.)

Ava did have preschool. She braved the snow to go around the corner to Ms. Chris' house.

1. Get out to some indoor fun. We chose the Aquarium because our annual passes were about to expire. We brought in a 5 buck pizza and then saw every last sea and river creature residing there. 

Touching sting rays and baby sharks.

Trapped in the jaws of a shark.

Paddling down the Amazon.

Los Penguinos!

2. Build "a nest" for movie watching and basic lounging and snuggling that is filled with blankets and pillows for the whole weekend. 

Watching one Netflix movie after another.

3. Video chat with Aunt Jessica in Saudi Arabia, where it was 95 degrees. 

Jessica is speaking Spanish with Brielle. Testing her skills.

4. Get all decked out in snow clothes and go play in the snow maze that Dad built.

5. Drink hot chocolate, eat good food and lots of Halloween candy.

"Eggs In A Frame".

Pumpkin cream cupcakes. A Pinterest recipe fail. We tried a couple and eventually threw the rest in the trash.

6. Take warm baths . . . 

especially for a poor baby with an ear infection and a top tooth breaking through her gums. It was a SAD weekend for baby Kate.

7. Play lots of games - Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Just Dance 4, etc. 

8. Eat, I mean, create and mold with Grandma's Peanut Butter Play Dough. 

They loved it. They played with this play dough for hours. They made hand prints and turkeys and different shapes with molds and cookie cutters until . . . . Zachary got a taste of it. It really is sooooooo yummy. He then just rolled his up into a sub sandwich and chowed down on play dough. Smart kid.

It was a cozy and fun three days of hanging out around the house. Monday morning came and we had to dig out back to school and work. And now, all that snow is gone.

The Calm Before The Storm

The ground is covered in snow now and it is cold outside. Winter came all of a sudden after some of the most beautifully warm fall days. It was gorgeous here and we enjoyed it until the bitter end. Until the storm came that brought in the snow and cold of winter. 

Evan spent the day here one day. When we went to pick up Brielle from school we also picked up Halloween decorated donuts and I brought along thermoses of hot chocolate. We went up into Millcreek canyon for our "after school snack". (Evan took most of these pics.)

 

I make some mean Swiss Miss.

Look at the expression on that face! Ha!

Zachary, about to make the biggest jump of his life!! So very brave.

 "Uncle Evan!!" That is what we hear every time he walks in the door.

 Zachary "fishing" with a tiny little twig down at the river. Scared me to death.

 Evan teaching Brielle how to whistle in the reeds.

 Ava and Zachary "fishing" on their boat in much safer "waters".

 We took a long walk through the woods to a bridge where the kids could threw leaves off (and Zach could step right into dog poop). It was so nice to have the kids running around in the leaves, climbing on trees, stomping in patches of snow and Evan and I could have a good talk.

 Kater all cuddled up.

Before the storm . . . . we also got to join our friends (Jeni, Ethan, Sara Katherine and Elyse) at Gardner Village to see the witches. We go every year and I'm glad to report that we are getting better and better at finishing the witch scavenger hunt. We found them all. 

 The final witch!!! We found her! She is promoting hope for a cure for breast cancer. This lead to a lengthy discussion on the car ride home about breasts and cancer. Perfect.

 And then . . . the day before the big snow storm came . . . . it was really warm and quite windy. You could tell a storm was brewing. On a day like that I get this really anxious feeling like I have to be outside enjoying the last minutes of warmth and fun before the winter comes and we are inside. Soooooooo, on this day we picked up Brielle and her friend, Brielle, from school on their early day. We drove through the Sonic drive thru for slushees and tater tots and then went to a new park. It was a perfect last day of fall.

The kids were so excited about the new, really cool toys at the park. They played and played and only stopped for a drink of slushee and a quick "hi" to me and Kate.

 

Then we pulled out the two kites I brought and went out to the grass field to fly them in all that wind. I only wish we had nicer kites. It was the perfect kite flying day.

Kate watched all the action from the side lines. 

 Ava was soon called "the professional kite flyer" by Brielle. She could get the kites up and flying every time. I love this picture.

 Brielle's kite flying high.

 Good bye to fall. The next day came THE storm and all of this was covered in 21 inches of snow!