Thanksgiving Weekend in Kanab

We have been on so many trails that I find it hard to keep them all strait. We saw Cowboy Springs, Table in the Sky, Inch Worm Arch, an Indian village called Bicycle Ruins, many Indian petra glyphs, Pink Canyon, the best Dinosaur Tracks in Kanab, an underground lake and so much more!

Dan scaring the kids in the slot canyons:
I was there:
Seth kept finding the perfect sticks,
the one that kept slowing him down was this log!

Dan, tormenting the locals:

Jared & Echo:

Drake, the climber:

Harlie & Chloe:

Slayder, Echo, Jared, Dan, Seth, Liz, Chloe, Grandpa, Drake, Harlie & Nate

Dirty Dan:

Underground Lake:

My very dirty face or my extremely white teeth:

The Motley Crew:

Loved these cool tree roots:

We had so much fun exploring and following Tony all over! He is the greatest guide ever. We have been visiting Tony and Linda for years over either Thanksgiving break or New Years. Although it is a long drive, it is always fun!!!

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The dunes before the dunes

Um, Dan, how do you work this thing?Some of the Handsome Davis Boys:

The girls on Grandpa's new bike: Slayder is emptying his shoes of sand:
This is the pile from Seth's shoes:

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Seth's Turkey

I love helping in Chloe's class. I have a neighbor all lined up but Seth always chooses to come to school with me if I give him the option. He thinks he is so cool being with the big kids and loves to play on the playground. Today he got to make this turkey with Chloe's class. I love how great her teacher is and she appreciates my help enough to let Seth sit with Chloe and participate in both the learning and the fun. He fits right in from his attitude and attention to his size and skill.

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Happy Birthday Mom!

My Mother is the GREATEST mother in the world. You might think yours compares but you'd be wrong. Unless of course you are Laura, Wendy, Jeanette, Becky, Krista, Tom or Erin ~ then it would be a tie!

She is one of my best friends and I love her for many reasons but mostly for just always, and I mean always being there for me. She is such a great teacher, thanks for all of the help with my homework! She has been retired for years as the beautician of the family but did pass on the desire to three of her daughters, thanks for all of the home perms! She is a wonderful cook and I love to make many of her recipes ~ I hope she knows how good it makes me feel when she calls me and asks me a cooking question, I ask her so, so many! She is such a good listener. I call her on a daily basis and she commiserates with me about the woes of potty training, raising a question queen, and finger sucking complaints ~ she has been through it all! She is so fabulous at finding a good deal. I love using the grocery smart web site and try saving money but she was the original coupon lady. I don't know how she kept us all fed and clothed but I never, ever thought she worried about putting food on the table. There was the dinner of liver she served that I still question but I like to try a new recipe every once in a while!

There are many more reasons why my mom is the greatest mother but none more important to me today than that she takes such good care of my dad. I know it is hard but I am so grateful that she is my mother and my children's grandmother! I love you!

Happy Birthday Mom!

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Holiday Auction 2009

We had so much fun getting together with Dan's family at the Great Salt Lake Council - Boy Scouts of America Holiday Auction. We have been once before and it was a great dinner, but this year Bry wanted to donate to the scouts but he let us pick what we wanted to bid on!!! It was such a blast spending someone elses money!!! The live auction was a hoot and the auctioneer was so funny. We won the following at the silent auction:

~ 2 piece hamburg luggage set

~ kodiak 10 x 10 deluxe tent

~ family christmas package

~ martha stewart queen feather bed comforter

~ champion speedway 600

~ computer printer canon mp470

~ tonka off road adventure set

~ wrought iron serving set

~ family feathers print

Thanks again, Mom & Dad!!!

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Thanksgiving Feast

Chloe got to have school lunch today! She has been so excited for days. They even made their own place mat for the Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast.

Kindergarten is so much fun!

We were at Walmart today buying even more lights!!! and a new extension cord for the tree. This morning while I was trying to finish the lights they kept turning off. I would jiggle the cord but it kept flicking off. I finally shimmied under the tree and the cord was so hot and starting to get melty... Hopefully we will be able to post a new picture of a slightly sane mommy with her decorated tree ~ with lights!

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Merry Christmas

We are having some holiday difficulties at our house. It seems we are skipping over Thanksgiving and moving on towards bigger and better holidays! Last night the Madagascar Christmas special was on and the kids loved it! Dan and Chloe love to watch the original cartoon 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' over and over. They both cry a little when I put it away. Today they decided it was time to fish their movie out of the boxes in the basement. I was so not ready for the mess and stress of putting up the Christmas tree. Last year our tree lights gave out and because we have a pre-lit tree, we had to remove all the lights that were practically surgically in place... So, I knew I would have to sting the lights on the tree because I didn't do what I swore I would do and buy a tree on clearance after Christmas last year. I pulled the tree out of the box and strait off the bat, one of the bottom branches fell off. This should have been an omen! But I persevered and removed the remaining bottom row of branches. This took tools from Dan's tool box and a few minor swear words! This is how far I got:

This is how far I got before the dancing and whining, the begging and pleading began. "Can we put the ornaments on yet, Mom?" I repeated myself with all the calm of a 1950's mother {who never raised her voice} that they have to try to be patient and wait until all of the lights are on until about the 2000th time they danced and begged. I finally got half way up the tree and somehow ran out of lights. Now, I admit that I am trying to string the lights carefully so that the wire doesn't show. But I removed the bottom most row of the largest branches and all of the lights we used last year only fit on half of the tree... All that I could hope was that I have a box of lights still in the basement that Dan missed. No such luck. I had to buy more lights and hope to finish stringing up the tree to put these poor children out of their misery!
This is a picture of Dan {hiding}, sitting on the heater looking at his Christmas lights & eating candy. Even though the blanket has turned into a quilt and the lights have become slightly pornographic, there is just something wonderful about Christmas Traditions!!!

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Sun Roof

Seth thinks he is so clever! Today while taking our paper to the recycling bin in the back of Chloe's school, Seth popped his head out of the car! I think he is so funny. While we were getting gas he did it again and I made him pose for today's photo. Sadly the cold weather and the fact that he was trying to climb out of the car will both be good reasons to not let him do this any more...

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F.H.E.

It all starts with a song!

A Lesson:

Then refreshments:

We also helped Grandma celebrate her upcoming birthday!

There was actually enough candles on the cake to represent each year of grandma's life! The taller candles were melting and bending in half due to the extreme heat!!!

Thanks Brad and Jeanette for great food, lesson and fun!

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Early Out Day No More!!!

I am so glad that this is the last early out day for the past week! Since I have been running errands with just my little buddie, Seth ~ it is just wrong to have to drag Chloe along too! She tends to be Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and repeats, "I Want, I Want, I Want!!!" every time we turn a corner and there is Christmas stuff everywhere...

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Hair Do's

Chloe has been doing her dolly's hair ~ don't they look fabulous.

I got my hair cut yesterday at Krista's...

I will try to snap a picture soon. She cut off 3-4 inches and I love it!

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Mr. Puckerman!!!

I thought he was a jerk ~ I know you did too, but ever since he sang Neil Diamonds Sweet Caroline in episode #8: Mash-Up, I just love him!!! I finally finished obtaining all of the music from Glee. I wouldn't say I'm obsessed ~ but you might. I have 34 songs including: On My Own, Can't Fight this Feeling, You're the One that I Want, Rehab, Don't Stop Beleivin', Gold Digger, Push It, Say A Little Prayer, Take A Bow, Poison, Mercy, Bust Your Windows, I Wanna Sex You Up, Single Ladies, Taking Chances, Tonight, Maybe This Time, Alone, Last Name, Somebody to Love, It's My Life/Confessions, Halo/Walking On Sunshine, Hate On Me, Ride Wit Me, No Air, You Keep Me Hanging On, Keep Holding On, Busta Move, Sweet Caroline, Thong Song, I Could Have Danced All Night, Defying Gravity, Dancing With Myself, Proud Mary & Leaving On A Jet Plane! I take great pride in admitting that Chloe's new favorite song is Bust Your Window!!!

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Halloween Clearance

I am so surprised to be finding any clearance that is worth buying. I found these sleeves that Seth is modeling at walmart today!Here is a picture of the cute owls Laura brought up to Park City last weekend. I found some sweaters at the DI and will be making some christmas ornaments soon!

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Monday, Monday

On Monday's I volunteer in Chloe's class. That is when I get my act together and remember that first the thing to do when the week begins is to get my butt out of bed and look presentable so that my sweet child won't have to ask me if I could get fancy!!! (Thank you Hannah and Becky!!!) Chloe loves doing her homework and I help all of the children pass of their Skill Sets.

They are so C.U.T.E.
Seth also love kindergarten:
While it is warm enough {for me},
he gets to play in the kindergarten playground!

He still has problems on the spinning baskets:

This afternoon, we headed back to school for our very first Parent Teacher Conference!!! It really was a complete waste of time, I already knew that she is a genius and talkative! Chloe's teacher really appreciates having her in the class. She said she always is helping and works really hard to finish her work. She scored very high on the D.I.B.L.E.S. test and will begin to bring home little books that she will be able to read after Thanksgiving break. She also gave me some suggestions of new words to add to her flash cards; all of the sight words for the year, the colors, the days of the week and the months of the year, as well as shapes {did you know kindergartner's learn about rhombus, trapezoids, and hexagons}. Chloe's teacher showed me some of the work they were doing and was excited to show me some of the writing Chloe had done with her class. In their journals the class drew pictures of their hands and then wrote I see my ___ and drew a picture of a hand above the line. Chloe sounded out and spelled h a n d all by herself, without being asked to or without asking how to do so... I think her teacher thought I would be surprised but Chloe spells out every word she sees. She tries to sound out many of the words we read together and after we have read a {pre-K level 1} library book a couple of times ~ she can usually read it pretty correctly by herself and to Seth. Her teacher told me this was in fact a big deal. Normally a child would sound out hand and write hnd ~ phonetically, but not my girl! The question queen has been vindicated! Got to love her!!!

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Girls Weekend!!!

What fun this past weekend was. It was so nice to get away from it all and relax. My mom invited all the girls in the family {12 and over ~ sorry Chloe} to join her in Park City for a little shopping and giggling. We met at the outlet stores with grand plans for Gap's Friends and Family sale. But it was not to be, it's next weekend... We were able to find some good deals and had fun laughing the night away. It still amazes me that even when we go to bed, we still talked through the night. Laying there after choosing whose going to sleep where we talked about the things we talked about when we were teenagers; boys and breast size, only now the competition is not whose are bigger than whose but smaller!!! Go figure!

Thanks Grandma!!!

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School Pictures

This is our first attempt at school pictures. I love Chloe's smile but she didn't take off her jacket that morning. Retakes are next Tuesday and I think we are going to return these photo's for a 2nd chance.

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Civic Duty ~ Check

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Cloudy with a Chance of Chipmunks

This picture is for their Uncle Josh!

We got together last night for FHE and watched cloudy with a chance of meatballs. I thought it was really cheesy and funny. We had the theater practically to ourselves and it was a good thing, because I was laughing way too loud. I guess I was just too tired. I volunteered at Chloe's class this morning, I finished the school newspaper's 2nd issue this afternoon just before racing back to school for the PTA Board meeting. My great friend Cindy watched the kids while I played newsletter lady and then I picked her kids up from school when it was over. I signed Chloe up for morning kindergarten because I had heard horror stories about the afternoon pickup. I am so glad I did because it is insane! Over 800 students trying to find their way home. I guess next year I wont be able to avoid it... We had so much fun going to the movies with Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks again!!!

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Full Moon

This is the view out my kitchen window this morning. Not only did we have the time change but we had a re-scheduled leadership meeting for young women's at 9 AM!!! What is the deal with the size of the moon these last couple of days. It seems so huge!!! I thought Halloween was over but I keep looking around for some vampires or zombies to be lurking around the corners... Very Spooky!

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