Fun at Brighton

For my birthday a couple weeks ago, my wish was for the family to go skiing together. We had not skiied in 9 years! Riley had only gone about 3 times when she was 6-7 years old, and the littles had never been. So we researched it out, and decided on Brighton. We put the littles in 1/2 day ski school, and Ron, Riley, and I just got a ski pass for the two "bunny hill" lifts. We unfortunately didn't get to stay all day because Riley had to get back to make up a Spanish test, but the time we did have was fun! Both Jared and Nicole made it through level 1, so when they go back are ready to learn how to make turns instead of just snowplow straight down the hill. They really enjoyed themselves, especially Jared. Riley needs to have a refresher course to brush up on turning. We think(?) she had fun...hard to get a solid answer! Ellie.....Ellie had fun the 1st run down, and then wanted to just sit down and eat snow for the rest of the day! We may let her sit out the rest of the year. :) It was a great birthday, spent with my favorite people.

Ron took some video of our day:


Kid explanation of the ski lift


Jared and Ellie in their lesson


Jared Wilson - Future World Cup Downhill Champion


Nicole - Guess the video-ing made her nervous!

Birthday fun....

Unbelievably, my oldest baby girl (that I birthed, giant noggin and all) turned EIGHT in November. Told you it was unbelievable! Since 8 is a somewhat big deal around these parts, we had to have a little shin-dig with friends. I took the easy way out and took them all to Jump-on-It, the best party activity place ever. A thousand times better that Chuck E. Cheese. Just a giant room with trampolines all strapped together, padded and netted up for safety.....pay for an hour of jumping and you've got some happy kids.




Come home to some lunch, presents, and cake (the infamous cupcake cake...turned out okay) and you have some even happier kids and birthday girl!

Round-up, Part 2.....

We ended July and began August with the dreaded 20th High School Reunion. But any fears I had were quickly erased with all the fun I experienced that weekend. What a fun time to see and reconnect with old friends, some of which I hadn't seen since graduation. Lots of laughter, and it felt like we all just picked up where we left off 20 years ago. It was amazing to get the 30+ of us that went to the same elementary school all the way through HS together at the reunion for a picture. Lot's of laughter, and just a very good feeling of friendship. These are all the people that we went through the ugliest, zittiest, most immature, and some of the BEST years of growing up with - of course we are still friends!



We also got a visit from Riley's Grandma Judi in August. It had been a few years since we had seen Judi, so the kids were very excited to meet her again, and it was fun for Riley to reconnect with her Grandmother again. During her time here we visited the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point, went up to Park City, and got a lot of school clothes shopping done. Riley and Judi took off one day and got most of Riley's done then. On the way home from Park City, we went to Cascade Springs. I tried to get some pictures of the two of them together.....apparently, when you get two people together that don't like their pictures taken, it's hard to get some winners, but I managed to get a couple!



You can definitely tell they are related, can't you?! I was surprised at how much I thought Riley has started to look like her grandmother.

The rest of us were there too:



**If any of you are wondering what is up with the collages....I playing around with the wonder that is Picasa3....I now need to try and figure out how to print some of these out!**

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

I must say that we Utahns have been a bit spoiled this year, as we have had two new temples in the last year, along with their accompanying open houses and dedications. It's so fun to watch the temples being built, and then especially fun to be able to take our children to the open house before they are dedicated. After years of singing, "I love to see the temple, I'll go inside someday", they finally get to, even if it is just a look around. :)

Ellie and I missed our tour of the Draper Temple, since she was sick that day. So the older kids went with daddy. But today we were all able to go together as a family to tour the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. (A little trivia: this temple is located in South Jordan, Utah, as well as the Jordan River Temple, making South Jordan the 1st city in the world to have 2 temples.)



I thought it was a beautiful temple. I was pleasantly surprised as to how well my children behaved there. As I walked in, I was holding Jared and Ellie's hands, and Jared pulled his away so he could fold his arms. :) Of course, later, Ellie went running to an overstuffed bench and bounced her tummy off it while loudly proclaiming, "Bouncy!" Oh well....she's 3, what can I say?

As we left, all the kids were very excited to go get their cookie and water bottle.....when did the Church start that at temple open houses?! I personally think it's hilarious! I highly recommend taking your families if you are at all able to. The tours are very open, in fact, we were able to park right in the temple parking lot, which really surprised me! It's well worth it for the wonderful experience of visiting the temple and teaching our children about it.




I'm glad Ron had his phone with him, as I didn't feel like lugging the camera with us! :) Do you like Jared's hand?! He wanted it too look like he was holding Jesus' hand.....

Family Fun & Fotos on the 4th

We had a fun weekend celebrating the 4th. We tried to take it easy, for Ron's poor eye. Yesterday we took a walk on the trail near our home and stopped by the river to wade and throw rocks. Then we headed to a new public pool in our area, which received an A+ rating from the kids. We'll definitely head back there.

Today, after dropping Riley off for her 3 hours at work, we went up to Alpine to Moyle Park, hoping we could find some good backdrops for pictures. It worked, we got a few good shots, when I could get the kids to cooperate! Jared wasn't in much of a smiling mood, and Ellie couldn't hold still even for the camera to catch her with a fast shutter! We got some cute shots though to commemorate our day. I even set up the camera and let Jared take a picture of mom & dad, and it turned out better than I expected! Then off to home for a nice dinner of chicken fajitas and homemade ice cream....I need to work on my ice cream making skills a little more....it was more of a soup than a set up ice cream!(What was with that?!) Ended the night with the "Sidewalk of Fire". No pictures of that...I was manning the punk to light the fireworks as Ron couldn't see well enough to do it. Happy Independence Day!

They are so cooperative....try to get a real smile, and you just get goofy laughing! I do like this picture though, it shows their true selves!

Mom set up the shot, Jared pushed the button! I'm pretty pleased with what he got.

My favorite shot of the day. Love her eyes.

Spring Break FUN!

Well, since Mother Nature decided to dump snow on any outdoor plans we may have had on Thursday, we decided to find some indoor fun. So we took the kids to a local amusement center: "Jump On It".

They had lots of fun and expended a lot of energy (yay!). Ellie wasn't so sure of it until about the last 20 minutes, when she'd finally jump with me holding her hand. Once she realized she was fine, she ventured out on to the trampolines on her own, but was very possessive and would get off as soon as someone else got on "her" tramp!

Our park in the foothills

Traditions

Our cute little city sponsors an Easter Egg hunt for the kids every year at the park near our home. This year was a bit iffy on timing for us, as Nicole had a dance practice at 9AM for her upcoming "Little Mermaid" show, Jared had a soccer game at 10AM at a school a few blocks from the park, and at 10:40AM, a mere 20 minutes before the Egg hunt, Ellie didn't quite make it to the bathroom and drenched herself. (That had to have been the fastest bath and clothes change in history!)

But despite the timing issues, and threats of rain, we made it just in time to join the mayhem fun! The kids always end up separated into different groups by age, so I only got pictures of Ellie "hunting" her eggs. But after hearing the descriptions of how Nicole and Jared take off at a full run to get their booty, I don't think I'd be all that successful at getting a picture of them! They came home, and consumed their sugar treasure instead of lunch, and now want to go to Wendy's and Little Caesar's to redeem the coupons they found in some of their eggs! Isn't Easter great?! :)

(I'm not quite sure what is up with Jared's expression....it sort of reminds me of Gollum, clutching "his precious".)

Coloring the Easter Eggs

Spring Cleaning-Day 1

Today was a busy one.....

First, to the orthodontist for the best appointment EVER! Braces are finito, gone, and off! It feels so good to have them off. Like I'm me again. :) I can't help but smile whenever I pass a mirror, just to see the teeth, all straight and naked. :) Eating dinner tonight was fantastic. I could take a nice big bite, and then not worry about all the gak stuck in my braces. I finished in record time, something that hasn't happened in months!

Here's a peek!

I then came home and got to work on the SPRING CLEANING!!!! Today's job to tackle was the Master Closet. It wasn't too bad. Mainly because we had done a major purging about 18 months ago. I went through and purged my stuff again, and a little of Ron's. I couldn't go crazy with his...that's his job! But I did get a large black trash bag full that DI took care of for me this afternoon. A little more organization of shelves, shoes, vacuuming, and throwing away of stuff, and I'm much happier with it.

I'm glad it didn't take me all that long to get that tackled, since as soon as Ron got home, we left for a fun night out for Family Home Evening. Dinner at Five Guys Burgers & Fries (YUM!) and a movie, Monsters vs. Aliens. All in all, a fun night. :)

Let's revisit July....

I was looking through my pictures today, and saw these nice toasty visions of some July activities....even the monsoon rainstorm the kids were playing in was pretty warm! These were all taken on the same day.

It was our little city's "Family Festival", so we were awakened early by a hot air balloon hovering just above our house. Close enough we could yell "Hello" to the balloon guys!

Then it was off to the parade. We like to set up camp in the round-about. You get closer to the action that way, meaning the kids get more candy and otter pops thrown at them--it's Halloween in July! See the construction going on behind Ron? I bet you can't guess what big-box retailer is coming in......oh....you did guess. Yep, it's another WalMart taking over the world. Close enough we can walk to it. Sigh. I plan on bringing a cart home with me when I visit the first time, and then I never have to share with anyone else and wonder what kind of germs are on the handle. ;)

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the park, enjoying the blow-up slides, entertainment, and the firetruck's "water cannon".



We then got hit with a very wet and strong monsoon! The kids had a blast running through it! Unfortunately, even though the rain stopped, the wind didn't and our big fireworks show was cancelled! Oh no! It's okay though. The fireworks guys camped out in the field that night and all through Sunday and Monday, so we got a fireworks show that night for Family Home Evening instead. With Walmart being open next summer, no one knows what is to become of the fireworks for our annual Family Festival, so it may have been our last year. So sad if it was....

Wilson-World

My husband was able to get our name in a domain-name....so he had to do something with it! So.....without further adieu....let me introduce:

To check it out, click on the above picture! As you'll see, it has links for you to our blog's (my husband even has one now, while my link just brings you back here.) A photo page, as well as links we enjoy.....many of my blogger buddies will even find links to themselves. Eventually we will upload videos there as well. It will be fun (at least for us) to watch the evolution of my hubby's work. I now need to figure out how to make a clickable button for my side-bar.....anyone know how?! ;)

***Edited: Got the side button.....thanks to the hubster!***

a little vay-cay.....

Not that I've been all that great about staying up to date, or posting regularly....but we're off to Wyoming for a little "fall break 4wheeling and fun" (say that 5 times fast...) adventure with some friends. Four families: 8 adults, and 16 children... :)

July Recap....Sliding Rock

For years we've been talking about going up to a place my husband frequented during his teen years. For a while the area was closed off, but now there is a gate that allows hikers through. It's an easy hike. Apparently, the land below it was being readied to be subdivided, so there are asphalt roads all the way up. There are even fire hydrants, water and sewer lines ready and everything, but the plans to sell lots are no longer happening.....too bad, I kept telling Ron it would be such a beautiful place to live.....oh well, we wouldn't be able to afford the lot, so it's okay!

We hiked up the roads to the end of a culdesac, and then followed the little footpath about 200 yards to the prettiest waterfall and pool. There was no one else there, so we had it all to ourselves. Ron was the first to take the plunge, then Riley and I followed. We finally talked Nicole into it, but Jared was a no-go. Ellie was too little to begin with. The rock climbing involved in getting to the top is a bit hairy, but Nicole was able to handle it barefoot, so it is doable. It was so odd sliding down the falls. The rock wasn't as slippery as you'd think, until you got going down it. It took Riley a while to find her "line" so she wasn't bouncing all over. The pool at the bottom was waist deep, but that water was so shockingly cold I couldn't catch my breath once I came up.....brrr! Thankfully it was a warm day, so once I finally recovered and got my heart beating again the drying time was short. A fun way to spend a morning! We'll definitely go back.

Ellie was a happy hiker as long as she had her kitty and bottle of water.

Sliding Rock

Ron was first to go, and first to recover from the cold water!

I hiked up there, so dang it if I was going to miss out on the fun....check out the zoom on the right. Yeah, that would be sheer terror! (You should hear me on roller coasters!) But I did do it twice!

Riley bouncing around, and Nicole did it too...with Dad's help! (click on the picture if you want a closer view)

As we hiked down, we were glad we went up early and had it to ourselves. We passed two other families and two groups of teens on their way up to play. I guess it's a popular spot in the afternoon, evening and weekends. Our choice of Friday morning was perfect!

Gone 4wheeling! Be back soon!

We're off tomorrow for the beautiful state of Colorado! We can't wait to enjoy the quiet beauty, cool weather, and fun times.

Hope everyone has a great week! I'll be back for more fun the week of the 11th...I'll blog then if I can fit it in between dentist appointments, haircuts, and back to school stuff....whew, I need a vacation just thinking about it. :)

FUN F.H.E.!

Ron came home today and announced he wanted us to go do something "fun" for FHE tonight. So I suggested we try out Boondocks....a big family fun center we have here in Draper.

It was big.

It was fun.

It was also empty, so Ron and the kids did the go-karts for almost 20 minutes! The only reason they got off was because he was feeling guilty with Ellie and I out walking around to kill time....she was too short to go on them. Then we did the bumper boats. I couldn't figure out how to keep from going in circles, so I was getting seasick! Ron yelled over,"It's just like driving a boat!" HELLOOOO!!! When was the first or last time I have ever driven a BOAT?!?!

Then on to miniature golf. It was the little kids first time. They weren't too hip on waiting patiently while everyone took a turn on one hole. Thankfully there was no one in front of or behind us, so we bagged keeping score with Nicole 2 holes ahead of us, and Jared 1 hole ahead. I did get a hole in one though...hooray! Ellie just walked around holding her club and ball, refusing to hit it. But she'd hit everyone elses!

Then inside to the arcade where the tokens were plowed through, and tickets redeemed for candy and plastic junk, and then Ron and the kids went in and did laser tag. I was out with Ellie again...we shared some nachos.

Then we went to dinner at....sit down...Chuck-a-rama...'nuff said.

All in all, a fun night. The kids got to bed an hour and a half late, and asked all the way home when we were going back! I think next time, we'll not go on Monday night, and leave Ellie home with Grandmommy until she's a bit bigger! The stuff we didn't do included batting cages, and the rock wall.

Sorry...no pictures...I forgot to bring the camera...I know, I'm sad too!

Yesterday's Hallo-fun!

I did it, I finished Nicole's costume. Next year, I VOW to find out what they are going to be in September and if any sewing is required, I'll do it then. I did better this year though, as I bought Jared's costume at the end of AUGUST! Mainly because I found the costume he wanted in the correct size at Costco in AZ....they hadn't had the right size in UT, and I was a little worried I might miss out.











The kids had fun at their respective school activities. Jared came home telling about how he went "caroling" for treats to some of his preschool teachers neighbors. He then sang his little song about a witch with a pointy chin, broom, and cat, and then yells BOO as loud as possible at the end.





Thankfully my sister-in-law had the BYU cheer outfit and it fit Ellie. Much easier to borrow it than have to drive to the BYU bookstore and hope they had the right size! By the end of the night, Ellie was pretty understandable in her wants. We kept trying to get her to say "Trick or treat", but she'd just shorten it to "TREAT!" She knew what she wanted and told them. None of this trick garbage for her!




She got "thank you!" down pretty well, although it sounds more like "dee-doo!" most of the time. She refused to go home after a few houses, and had to stick it out and go the whole time. Poor Jared and Nicole had to slow down for her. She wouldn't let us hold her either, SHE had to do it! So sad to see my baby demanding to be a big kid....









It was a fun night, and the kids are now alternating between sugar crash meltdowns and "I need a nap" fights! Hopefully things will even out tomorrow!


**Edited to add: I forgot to write that Riley, again, refused a picture...She just wore her Jack Skellington hoodie, and did her face up like a zombie. She didn't go trick or treating, because we got her a huge bag of candy! So she stayed home and handed out candy for a while, then watched a movie. Oh, the tragedies of growing older!**

Fall Break!

We're off to visit MICKEY!

Technically, we don't have school off until Thursday and Friday, but we're heading out early(tomorrow am) for a few days in sunny CA. Be prepared when we get back to hear about the kids loving Disneyland, and other fun stuff!

Hooray for fun vacations, and let's just hope the kids behave so mom and dad have some fun too!

The only thing that could make the next few days perfect is if we could leave the kids with a sitter one night and go to "Wicked"...maybe another time!

See you LATER!

PS.....We have yet to see if Riley will have clothes to take.....she informed us at 5:30 pm that she has no clean laundry and just now started a load, grumbling all the way.....I'm still confused as to why she did nothing on Saturday except attempt to take root in the couch...aren't the consequences of irresponsibility a joy?!

Random updates...

Just the usual going on around here.....which is not much!

Conference today: Well, I was totally wrong in my guess of the new member of the 1st Presidency...I had my "money" on Elder Holland or Elder Oaks. For those that missed it, Elder Eyring was called as the new 2nd Counselor. Elder Quentin Cook is the newest member of the Twelve. Ron was pretty excited, as Elder Cook was the Executive Director of the missionary dept. for the past 4 years and Ron has worked pretty closely with him at times. I told Ron he better be careful as there are now 4 members of the Twelve that know him by name! As for my favorite talk...I LOVED Elder Holland's! WOW! All the proponents of "Mormons aren't Christians" heads are gonna be rolling! Elder Wirthlin....what an inspiration and sweet man....he had the hardest time getting through his talk, and by the end I just wanted him to say amen and let them help him sit. I think Elder Nelson was thinking the same thing! I hope everything is alright with him, and I'm a tad bothered that nothing has been said about how he is doing.

Soccer Saturday: We had a repeat of last Saturday's weather again today....in the 30's and raining/snowing. The rain stopped in time for Jared's game, so he played, which was good since we had treats today and I wanted to get rid of them. Then about 20 minutes before Nicole's game, it started raining again. We called the coach, and he said it was on, so we bundled her up and Ron took her since both Ellie and Jared had gone down for a nap. Ten minutes into the game it was dumping icy sleet, and the kids were trying to run down the field with their faces covered to keep warm, so the coaches called the game. It then started dumping snow and the field was covered by the time they were leaving....good thing since I was about to call Ron's cell phone to tell him to bring her home! When she walked in she was soaked, so we bundled her up in a blanket in front of the fire. She survived, and was so stinking feisty tonite that she got sent to bed first....a usual occurrence lately.

Miscellaneous happenings of the week: Jared got his 1st bee sting....right on the cuticle of his pinky toe! It was actually the first bee sting that any of our kids have had! We have, last minute, planned a trip to Disneyland for next week's fall break. The kids are giddy with excitement. It should be fun. Sorry there aren't pictures.....I haven't taken any! I thought about the bee sting, but I think Jared would have thought me quite heartless since all he wanted was his blankie and cuddles from me, so I relented. You can guarantee a few next week being at Disneyland and all!

Why you should be prepared for anything....

For Labor Day yesterday, we decided (along with the rest of the state of Utah, it seemed) to go 4-wheeling. I suppose we are living by the view, since we have 'em, we better use 'em! So up American Fork Canyon we headed. The l...o...n...g line at the pay station was our first clue that the canyon was going to be incredibly busy! Lots of people heading up to hike to the cave, go picnicking, fishing, and 4-wheeling. Actually, the worst part was finding a place to park. Once that was accomplished, we unloaded and off we headed to Miner's Basin.

The ride was fun, we got up to a little picnic spot we had visited before, had some snacks, and then headed off on a little hike that Nicole and Jared were begging to do. Not long after starting out, we discovered an old beaver dam and lodge that daddy decided to explore and teach the kids about. It was very cool! The water was drained out, so the view of the dam was great, as well as the lodge. There were large trees all around that had been gnawed down, and these were BIG trees! We found some smaller branches and sicks with teeth marks for the kids to bring home, and this awesome branch that wasn't completely chewed through.
It'll be perfect for a show & tell for school sometime....a little more interesting than, "This is my favorite stuffed dog that I've had since birth. When it had fur it was black and white.."

The kids wanted to know where the beavers went. Nicole decided the miners took them away. Jared said the cowboys came and got them, but my theory is more complex and involves alien anasazi's.

There was a bit of a pond left, and while we were sitting around it watching some little trout swimming around, we noticed a little black rain cloud overhead. No worries, it was a beautiful day, blue sky everywhere else, so we didn't pay it much attention. Until it started letting loose on us....with large raindrops and HAIL! What the heck?! So we headed back down to the trail head, and took shelter under a large pine tree there. Once it lightened up, we got on the 4-wheelers and tried to leave, but apparently the little black rain cloud wasn't done with us. Half inch hail and more rain this time...back to the pine tree...literally, this cloud, although black, was a little strip in the sky overhead. All around it was blue sky.

So after it lightened up again, we decided to head down the mountain. Here's the unprepared part. We never in a million years thought that morning that we needed to bring jackets with us. We found out that we always need to! It was, ummm, kinda cold riding down in more rain, when you are already wet, and then you have the cold air rushing against you while riding. Ron pulled out the mylar emergency blanket(I guess we were a little prepared for having that!) out to wrap around Jared and Nicole, and I wrapped an arm around Ellie to help shield the wind. The good news is that a mile and a half down the road, we were back in the sunshine and on dusty roads again, and warmed up quickly. It had only rained in the little area where we were! How odd.