Bryce's random fact of the day

Perfume was not invented to make people smell good, it was because they smelled bad!

A new break through

Sunday night the boys and I had gone to the church to go carolling with the youth. When we got home, Dave told me that Paige had answered the phone earlier that evening. If you know Paige, you know she is not likely to answer the phone unless she is 100% sure who is on the other end. Well, Dave was busy with something and yelled for her to answer it, then he yelled AT her. And she answered it! She said, " Hello" and briefly answered two or three questions to let the caller know I was not home! I am pretty sure the caller(Laura) did not realize who had answered, probably thought it was Brett. It may not seem like much, but for her it is huge. I am really proud of her.

Brett quote of the day

"My tongue is feeling static again." ??? I have no idea what that means :)

2010 Christmas Card

Sparkling Scarlet Snowflakes Christmas

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Brett quote of the day

After being told to go get dressed: "Sometimes when I change my clothes I feel like a totally different person. So, every time I change it is like I am lots of people in one."

A Glowing Halloween

The kids have been wanting to be "glow" stickmen for Halloween for a while now. Some friends of ours did it a few years ago and the kids have been wanting to ever since. Even Bryce wanted to do it. And with a few glowsticks and some hot glue it is easy as can be! They had a great time at the trunk-or-treat. Then came home and danced off their sugar high in the dark until we sent them to bed!

Brett quote of the day

Ty and Paige whistle all the time. They don't even know they are doing it most of the time and it drives the rest of us crazy! Yesterday Brett said to Paige, "Maybe you should be an astronaut, because you can't whistle in space."

Can I go ride my bike?

There are somethings that my kids are great at, but there are a few things that all four of them have been a little slower than normal at. I will admit that many of these things fall under the category "lazy parenting", they include potty training, shoe tying and bike riding. Well, with the latter two Brett has always told us that he "knows" how to do them, he just pulls the loop too far or can't keep his balance well enough. So, recently he has been convinced to go beyond the theory of shoe tying and bike riding and give them a serious try. He still gets a little frustrated with the shoe laces, but he can do it. As for the bike riding, for a long time he was content with his scooter. Finally, Ty and then Dave got out with him and didn't let him give up. And now, it is the only thing he wants to do. In the morning he wants to get ready in time to ride while he is waiting for the bus and on the way home he talks about how fast he will get his homework done so that he can go ride his bike. He is a boy obsessed, and having a great time!

Brett quote of the day

While playing tennis, "I have the reflexes of a pig!"

Tennis anyone?

On Monday the kids were out of school for teacher inservice. Dave had been working nights and was sleeping, so we got out of the house for awhile. Bryce, Ty and Paige got tennis rackets last Christmas and are always begging to go play, but I am a grumpy mom, who does not want to be out in the heat so, we don't go very often. But, this week the weather was great! I took a book and they swatted tennis balls and everyone was happy!

Schedule

It seems that I am too busy, too tired or too lazy to post anything lately. Maybe it is because I am making Bryce's lunch at 5:30 am to get him to Seminary at 5:45. Then, I come home and make the rest of the lunches and get the other kids up for breakfast. At 6:30 I pick up Bryce to get him to marching band practice at 6:45. Get back just in time to make sure Brett is ready and get him on the bus. Then, I drive Ty and Paige to school. So, about 8:00 I finally get some breakfast and then head to the gym. To be honest I am not really sure where the rest of the day goes (groceries, laundry, dishes, etc.) before I pick up Brett and Bryce (Paige and Ty walk home) and we get to homework, scouts, more band practice or what ever else they might be involved in on any certain day. And with Dave just getting started on a 45 day turn around at work where he will be working 5 am to 3 pm. I think it is safe to say that I am TIRED!

Brett quote of the day

I told Brett tonight that because he thinks he knows everything they are learning in 2nd grade, that he needed to work on his areas of weakness like handwriting and laziness. Every Monday he has to write several sentences using words they are learning that week. I told him to use his best handwriting and use at least six words for each sentence. Here is my favorite sentence from this weeks homework for the word 'dangerous'..."It is very,very,very,very, very,very dangerous to hug a very, very,very,very big bear."

Brett quote of the day

During a little thunderstorm yesterday...
"Lots of times I talk to myself in my head and just now I kept thinking "We need to find the flashlights." But, I kept saying it wrong in my head. I kept saying light flashes."

Brett quote of the day

After Brett tried to call a friend today, he told us, "It said the line was dizzy." We laughed and laughed and tried to tell him that the line was busy. He said, "I heard it, it said dizzy, they can make mistakes."

Back to School!

School is back in full swing and although it wasn't our smoothest first day and we are getting used to a lot of new things, it is going pretty well. Paige was very nervous about her first day of middle school to the point of being sick, but she went and by the end of the day was enjoying it. She is excited to play the trumpet in band and is doing so well with all the changes. She is so happy to have her best friend Savannah in some of her classes.

Brett is our lone elementary school kid. He still doesn't like to do his homework, "You know I now all this stuff already!" But, he likes his teacher and has some good friends in his class. He is already close to his reading goal for the 1st 6 weeks.

Ty is in 8th grade, he is excited about being first chair alto sax in symphonic band. He was a little disappointed at not having his best friends in all of his classes like last year, but he is doing great in all of his classes so far!

Bryce is a Freshman! I really think he was more ready for high school than I was. He goes to early morning seminary (5:45!) and has early morning marching band after that. He spends most of his time after school doing homework for his tough schedule of classes, but he is dealing with it all pretty well.

So, so far so good. Hope we can keep it up.

Brett quote of the day

While waiting for the bus, watching several other buses pass the house. "What is the point of more than one bus going the same way?" I have been asking myself the same question for years!

Magic Kingdom

The reason we even made a trip to Florida was a FREE day at Disney. Early this year they had a "Give a day, Get a day" promotion. Do one day of community service and receive a free day at a Disney park. We did a day of work for Habitat for Humanity and got vouchers for the whole family. It was just too good to pass up. We decided on Magic Kingdom, because they have the most rides and Brett could ride everything! We love the Disney Fast Pass. They are available to anyone for free, unlike all of the other parks that charge for them. You can only have one at a time, but we took full advantage and as soon as we used one got another, So we waited in very few long lines. Our favorite was "Splash Mountain" which we rode 3 times, followed by "Space Mountain" "Buzz Lightyear" and "Haunted Mansion" which we rode twice each. We rode lots of rides and stayed out of most of the rain showers, we took very few pictures and the ones we took were not very good. We all had aching feet by the end of each day of this whirlwind trip, but everyone had a great time. Maybe Magic Kingdom was not their favorite day (not many thrill rides), but they all liked it and will remember this trip for a long time.

Island of Adventure

The reason we waited until right before school to make this trip to Florida was "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter." It did not open until mid June and we had a full summer, but the kids really, really wanted to go to Harry Potter Land. All morning there was a line to even enter this area of the park so we enjoyed the shorter lines in the rest of the park. The big kids loved the "Hulk" coaster. Everyone liked the "Spiderman" ride and I made them all ride the "Cat in the Hat" ride. We got soaked on "Popeye's Bilge Rat Barges" and attacked by dinosaurs on the Jurassic Park ride. Finally, about 4:00 I decided we needed to brave the crowds. We weren't going to come all this way and miss Harry Potter! So, we waited in line about an hour for "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey." It was great, we all loved it. Then Brett and I enjoyed the "Flight of the Hippogriff" while everyone else went to the "Dragon Challenge." There were even lines to get in the shops. We heard that JK Rowling wanted them built to scale, making them very small. So, we skipped most of them. But, it was an amazing looking place and the rides were so fun! Dave and Brett waiting to go to Hogwarts Castle.

The kids getting ready to enter Dumbledore's office.

Yes, we tried the butterbeer. Regular and Frozen were both yummy!

Is there a basalisk hiding in there?

The Three Broomsticks was packed so we just peeked in.

Honeydukes was full of sugary, pretty, tempting, but very expensive treat of all kinds.

We looked for Sirus Black but, didn't find him.

Bryce and Ty in Hogsmead, near the Hog's Head.

Busch Gardens

We started out a whirl wind trip to Florida at Busch Gardens. It is an interesting mix of theme park and zoo. I didn't get any pictures of the big rides but the big kids all loved "Sheikra": A floorless coaster that takes you up a 200 foot climb to a true 90 degree drop...after you are stopped at the top looking straight down for 4 seconds and ends with twists and turns speeding up to 70 mph. Poor Brett was relegated to Air Grover, but finally found a couple of coasters he was tall enough for. "Scorpion" was his favorite because it had a loop.
Paige and Bryce on the "Jungle Gliders". They fly out and back. Dave got stuck on this one for about 10 minutes.

Dave voluteered to help out in this comedy, juggling, balancing show and was given a t-shirt for his efforts.

You can pet and feed the kangaroos and walabies. They were much softer than I expected.

Brett hung out with the orangutans for a while. Between the rain showers it was super hot, but we took advantage of the 2nd day free offer and everyone enjoyed lots of rides and lots of animals. I think they would all be happy to visit this park again.

Brett quote of the day (vacation edition)

After the Peter Pan ride," We waited 55 minutes for that?"
After an explanation of the Fast Pass, "Why would anyone wait in line?"
After the Haunted Mansion, "It is obviously just projections."

Brett quote of the day

Brett:"When are you leaving?"
Me: "I don't know."
Brett:"It is impossible to not KNOW what you are thinking, unless you are NOT thinking!"
(He was a little frustrated with my less than straight forward answer.)

Brett quote of the day

At church this morning Dave was telling Brett that he really needed his fingernails trimmed. He did not want to do this because, "I want to see if it is true that it takes six months for fingernails to grow from root to tip."

Brett quote of the day (vacation edition)

On the way to Yellowstone, I asked what they wanted to do first and Brett said, "Don't they have exhibits with geysers and stuff?"

"I think I am starting to be hard of smelling."

Yellowstone

A trip to Yellowstone finished off our vacation. The boys drove up with Grandpa, Uncle Wayne, Uncle Kelly and Kacey two days before us for their fishing trip. This was the first time Bryce and Ty fished in Yellowstone. Dave and Ty really enjoyed the fishing, Bryce did too, but he was very tired from the hike in and slept through the best of the fishing. Grandma, Paige, Brett and I drove up early enough to see a few sites before heading to our campsite. We were suprised to find backpacks waiting for us. They guys had all hiked out early and were out looking for us (we didn't arrive at the campsite until after dark.) But, soon everyone was rounded up for a night of camping under a very starry sky. Everyone, but Dave, the kids and I headed back to Utah the following evening, while we spent some fun days with the kids exploring the park. We discussed some other options for our final day, even so much as heading to Mount Rushmore, but decided we were too tired to add that much driving to the trip. So we stayed at Yellowstone and enjoyed finding some things we hadn't seen before. Seeing the wildlife is always one of the most fun things. Paige took this picture (from the car) of a Bison crossing the road.

The Dragon's Mouth is one of my favorite things the bubble and hissing and steam are really neat.

We dodged several rainstorms through out our stay and saw some beautiful rainbows, we came back to camp everynight having to fix our tents that tried to blow away in the storms.

This elk was sitting right in the middle of a bunch of hot pools.

My favorite was this Grizzly Bear taking a stroll across a meadow!

The steam and flowing water are really amazing. This waterfall comes from a hot pool into the river.

At this spot we saw four geysers erupting at the same time, it was very cool.

The colors are amazing and most of the pools are very stinky!

I heard that they don't even know how many waterfalls there are in the park, but we saw some really pretty ones.

The kids all had a great time, except for when Paige hurt her knee and hobbled around the last day. And Brett, who was bored " All it is is walking to see hot water!" We finished our stay by seeing Old Faithful erupt at sunset, for some reason, we didn't have a camera with us, but it was beautiful.

Raging Waters

Our trip to Utah is not complete without a day at the waterpark, but we were a little tired of 7 peaks. So, we went to Raging Waters and LOVED it. They let us bring in our own food, they had tons of shade and lots of fun slides. Brett was as brave as always and tried everything. He loved these "rollercoaster" waterslides.

That is Ty coming off the drop off slide (not sitting to the right). The kids all loved this slide. I could do with out the nose full of water everytime.

Paige was proud of herself for getting her cousin Destini to try all kinds of slides that she had been a little scared of. They had a great time together.

We don't see much of Bryce on days like this, he has as much fun as possible, but I did snap a quick picture when he came by for a snack.

This Rollercoaster slide was a big hit with the boys. Yes, it does go down and then back up. Brett did not have the weight to carry him up and over the second hill and it took Bryce a couple of tries. Ty and Dave went over and over. I think we have found a new favorite waterpark.

Snowbird

The kids decided that instead of our usual day at Lagoon they would like to try the summer activities at Snowbird Ski Resort. Last year we took a tram ride and saw all of the fun things they offer in the summer. At the top of the ski lift we took a minute to play in the snow. Brett let us know that he was the only smart one, wearing long pants, because it was pretty cold up there.

The kids and Dave enjoyed the Mechanical Bull.

The ride up the ski lift was chilly and breezy. The kids (even Paige) enjoyed waving and shouting at those on their way down the lift. We also spotted some fat, furry marmets.

The bungy trampoline was a lot of work, but almost everyone got in at least a few flips.

The zip line was fun, but not as thrilling as you might think.

Brett enjoyed the ropes course (even though it doesn't look like it in this picture), where you are tethered in on the top bar and make your way around the ropes and steps of the course.

Everyones favorite thing was the alpine slide. We all had fun racing and speeding down the track. That is until we started crashing. Dave, Brett and I all crashed and are still recovering from the scrapes and bruises. We (at least Dave and I) were more cautious after our injuries. It was a really fun day, one the kids will remember for a long time.

Salt Lake Connect

Our friend Michelle told us about the "Salt Lake Connect" pass, so we looked into it. You can choose from 13 different activities and take 1,2 or 3 days to do as many as you want. In the past we have done several of the activities (zoo, aquarium, dinosaur museum) so we decided to see how many new things we could do. We got the one day passes and Grandma Norton and Grandma and Grandpa Anderson came along. We started out at the aviary, because it opened the earliest. There were some really cool and colorful birds (including the one pictured above).

There were a couple of babies in the nursery including this baby Magpie. There were peacocks wandering the grounds and all kinds of "singing" going on through out the park.

Paige liked the colorful birds like these flamingoes, her favorite was the toucan. After the aviary we headed for an early lunch at the Lion House. Each pass included a $9.99 meal and since the kids all ordered $4.99 kid plates we used the rest of the money on dessert. We had so much we took home a whole box filled with cookies, brownies, carrot cake, cheese cake and apple pie!

Next we went to the Discovery Gateway children's museum. There was lots of stacking and building and exploring going on there. Bryce and Grandma worked on getting the ball through the maze. Brett and Paige "flew" a Helicopter while Dave gave advice from the control tower.

Many tall towers were built and toppled, news programs were produced and messages were sent across the museum, by pulleys.

Next we went to the planetarium where we watched an IMAX movie on the hubble telescope and a dome theater show about our galaxy. The kids found out how much they would weigh on other planets and walked on Mars and the moon.

By this time we had to make some decisions, go to the U of U to their museums and gardens, or Heritage Park and the Zoo, or Thanksgiving point for the gardens and dinosaur museum. The kids voted for the dinosaur museum (where we have been many times!). We took a quick walk through the children's garden where there is a Noah's Ark fountain, a maze, a stream to race boats in, tunnels and giant bugs.

Then it was on to the dinosaurs. The museum was celebrating it's 10th anniversary so many of the dinosaurs were wearing party hats (which just disgusted Dave, "The worlds largest predator should not be wearing a pink party hat!") The kids played and explored until closing time! Now that is what I call getting your money's worth!