Cedar City

We decided to go with Steve on a little overnight work trip to Cedar City. The kids were most excited that we would be staying in a hotel room with a swimming pool! On our way down we started things off with a little taste of adventure...Steve had to stop in Nephi at a gravel pit to get some GPS markings. He said he would be back in just a second so we pulled up behind the only other car there, he left the truck we were in running and the kids and I stayed inside. I still had my seat belt on when I realized that the truck was rolling forward towards the other car!!!!!! I screamed and struggled to get my seat belt off, threw my legs over the huge middle console between the passenger and driver seats, and slammed my foot onto the break! At that point Steve turned around, looked at me, and asked what happened. Well that's what I was wondering! Apparently he forgot to put it into park!! I thought for sure we were going to hit the car in front of us, but it was literally a 2 inch gap between bumpers! Let's just say my heart hasn't beat that fast in quite some time! We spent about an hour in Nephi while Steve put on his studly suit...and marked GPS points with this high tech machine that will then show the elevation change in the gravel pits.The kids got to swim in the pool & hot tub & hang out in the hotel room...

While Steve was working during the morning I took the kids to a park where they had so much fun swinging and going down the slide. We were without a car but found a nearby dollar store where I let them each pick out one item. Michael chose a Buzz Light Year figurine and Kaitlyn chose a bright pink fluffy purse. It was fun to have several hours without any distractions to play with my kids.

Steve picked us up about lunch time and we promised to let the kids play at McDonald's play place for a while. On the drive home we of course stopped at the Creamery in Beaver. I love that place!! We all had ice cream and of course Michael wanted to eat way more squeaky cheese than chocolate ice cream!
Most of the rest of the trip went something like this:
*Michael kicking the back of Steve's seat with his feet because there was no leg room whatsoever.
*Kaitlyn asking, "When are we going to be home?"
*The $20 ripoff car charger to the portable DVD player breaking.
*Michael kicking Steve's seat.
*Stopping at a gas station to buy a new fuse for the charger.
*Looking through the car for 15 minutes to find the parts of the charger that went flying everywhere.
*Re-setting up the DVD players.
*Smoke coming out of the DVD player--oh yes, and they don't even belong to us!
*Realizing the fuse in the charger was NOT the right one!
*Kaitlyn asking if this drive would be as long as the drive to Disneyland.
*Michael kicking the seat again.
*Ah...it's nice to be home.

Weekend in Park City

Steve surprised me and took me to Park City for a night!!! My mom watched the kids and we had sushi for dinner in Sandy and then Steve took me shopping to buy a new pair of jeans! I think I should go shopping with him more often because he was bringing me things to try on in the dressing room and suggesting that I should actually buy stuff! We drove to Park City and enjoyed the changing leaves. We enjoyed some ice cream together and then had no luck (again) finding shoes for Steve at the Nike outlet. After heading back to the hotel we went swimming. Steve was a trooper since he hurt his back and was in pain the whole time but we still had a great time! The next morning we went to the outlet malls and then we drove home through Deer Valley and over Guardman's Pass and down Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was beautiful but I had a little sick feeling in my stomach as I realized the EXTREMELY steep roads we were driving on were part of the Wasatch Back Ragnar relay race I'll be doing next summer. I can't believe how steep it was--in a car! I've got some training to do, that's for sure! At the top of Deer Valley we saw a resort being built...it was HUGE!!
Steve, Thanks so much for taking me on this little outing. I had so much fun & I love you so much!

Elk Hunt

So here is the group picture I promised to post... mostly for my mom! Good looking bunch of dudes!
Mike's first kill! I have been hunting almost every year since I turned 14 and I have NEVER filled my tag. Yes, I may be the worst hunter in the world! Mike picked up a gun for the first time 2 weeks ago! Good Job! Mike says it scored about 285.
Mike and his guide Eric
Whoever took this picture forgot that the elk is really the only thing we want to see, we have all seen Mike and Scott before!

Balancing on Dad

This has been an on-going tradition with Steve and our kids. Steve has loved to balance each of our kids on his hand.

Michael (almost 2)
Kaitlyn (6 months)Kaitlyn (8 months)

Logan (5 months)

Look-A-Likes?

I thought it would be fun to put my kids' pictures together and see how much they look alike. Here are all three at six months of age:

LOGAN...

MICHAEL...

KAITLYN...

Michael & Steve's Camping Trip

This year my brother Jim finally drew out a Limited Entry Bull Elk Permit.... for those of you who are not hunters it means he gets to hunt in a really good area and has a great chance of shooting a really big bull! After 14 years of drawings he finally got it! My nephew Mike (Ashlie's Hubby) got lucky and also drew out on his first try!

So I decided to go tag-along and I took Michael with me! Jim, Jared and Justin came from South Carolina, Scott, Jason, Jordan, Lucky Mike, Taylor (Melissa's stud) Josh, Nate, Matt, and Brett were all there too. It was kinda funny to have that many people there and only two tags. I were all hoping that they would shoot some monsters while we were there to help drag them out!

It was a beautiful area the leaves are all changing, and with the fire down in Beaver all the smoke in the air made for some great sunsets!



For Michael the highlight of the trip was driving the 4-wheeler down to the stream to throw rocks. Mike loves to ride 4-wheelers, he could ride those literally all day long.
He was constantly asking to go for a ride, when the big boys had them out he was so upset. As soon as he could hear the motors on the way back he would come running asking for a ride! Thanks to the big boy cousins for being so good to him!
Saturday night Brett and I drove up the canyon to look for Elk. Mike was not very good at keeping quiet... until I remembered Dumbo was in the car! He sat and watched the whole movie without making a peep! He is just so cute, i couldn't resist the photo op.

Thanks to Jason for taking Michael on the big horse, he loved it!
One of my few skills... I am a master at taking my own picture! You can even see the leaves in the background... skills!
Jim and Mike took group pictures, which I will have to post when they get back. Of course we all knew mom would skin us alive if we would have forgotten to take one!
Hopefully they'll have some pictures of a great big bull to post too!

First Days of Preschool

Kaitlyn started her first day of preschool with Miss Alisha & Miss Sadie. She was so excited when I picked her up and she said, "Mom, I learned how to spell red: R-E-D". She called her dad and her grandma to tell them too! I asked her teacher how she did and she said great. She did say that Kaitlyn asked her, "Which preschool is bigger: My preschool or your preschool?" Hopefully she doesn't get burned out with going to two preschools. Preschool five times a week for her!! It was weird having her gone so much this week! I wanted her (AND ME) to have someone different teaching her for one year. Miss Alisha's works well because she's just a couple streets away so I can get Kaitlyn there on time on the days I teach preschool and I don't have to worry about feeding her lunch because they have it at preschool.

Michael began his first day of preschool here at our house with me!

Three Cute Kiddos

Preschool Room

We had the Preschool open house tonight! There's still a few things I want to put up on the walls but it's pretty much finished! I got the train table, colorful rug, book case, preschool chairs, and the dividers that are also used as bulletin boards all off of ksl.com!!
I am going to have 8 little preschoolers in my class this year along with my own kiddos. My kids have loved finally having a place to play again. We've had pretty much all the toys stuffed into a closet for the last six months and now they have a place to run around and have fun!