Adam's school Activities

Adam has been able to take part in some really fun activities this year in 6th Grade.  I was able to go to school and help him make a mask.  He was hilarious!  As more and more strips went on and as I covered his mouth, you could see in his eyes that he was getting worried and totally hating the entire experience.  He was a trooper though and stuck it out.  After the mask was fully dry, they were able to decorate it.

In 6th grade, the students are required to write a report and set up a display for a country.  Because we have family in China are planning to visit them in a couple of months, Adam chose China as his country.  He did a great job researching China and putting together his display.

Halloween 2011

Every year, Grandpa and Grandma Marshall treat us to a day at the corn maze.  This kids love it!  They are able to participate in several activities including a hay ride to a pumpkin patch where they can pick our their very own pumpkin.  

Alex coming down the tube slide.  One of his favorite things to do.

Me and abbi enjoying swinging on the tire swings

Adam's "smolder" while at the pumpkin patch

Alex is happy with his "perfect" pumpkin

The kids were so happy that Dad decided to go on this ride with them.  They couldn't stop laughing!

Alex, hard at work carving his pumpkin.  I love the tongue hanging out his mouth.  It is hereditary!

Abbi, steadily working on her masterpiece.

The Marshall kids all dressed up for Halloween

Our traditional Papa Murphy Jack-o-Lantern Pizza.  Yum!

And, of course, categorizing, counting, and trading their candy.  I remember doing this exact thing when I was their age.

Happy Halloween!

Our Summer of Camping

Well, sadly we have made it to the end our camping season.  As stressful and crazy as it is to get ready for camping, once we get there, it is great!  I love sitting around a campfire at night and watching the zillions of stars hoping to find a shooting one.  I love cooking outdoors - it always tastes better.  I love watching the kids run and play, build forts, dig holes, pick flowers, and find bugs.  And, I especially love camping with our friends and neighbors.  I have said if before and I'll say it again.... we are so blessed to have such great friends and neighbors!

This year we started the season early by going to Little Sahara Sand Dunes at the end of March.  My anniversary to be exact.  Don't worry, Aaron totally made up for it!  The weather did not cooperate and we ended up setting up a table in the back of our trailer and spent the entire weekend huddled together playing card games - no pics.  Bummer!  We still had a lot of fun.  I think at one point we had around 21 people in our trailer - CRAZY!

But, things got better as the season progressed.  We have been back to the Sand Dunes 3 times, Bear Lake once, Soapstone once, and Strawberry Lake once.  But, no matter where we end up, we always have a great time!  Here are a few of our highlights:

We caught Crawdads in Strawberry Lake.

Chad Collotzi cooking up some crawdads - Gross!

 Getting Ready to fish at Strawberry Lake

Aaron & Me and Chad & Celena Collotzi - Strawberry Lake

Look who learned to ride a motorcycle... Alex! 

All the kids playing in the biggest sandpile ever - Sand Dunes

Aaron teaching Alex how to ride the 4 wheeler at Cherry Creek

Now, we can't get him off of it!

Abbi loves 4-wheeling

Adam revving up the mini bike.

The gang hanging out at a small lake we found near Cherry Creek

Is there anything better than a boy, his dump truck, and dirt?

Aaron and me at Soapstone - so pretty!

Well, the temps have dropped, the leaves have fallen, and it is now time to winterize the beast of a trailer.  

Until next year!

Vegas and St George

The kids had a long break from school this October, 4 weeks to be exact, and I decided to take them down to Las Vegas/ St. George for a vacation.  Me and the kids left on a Wednesday afternoon and made the 6 hour drive down to Las Vegas.  Aaron was going to fly into Las Vegas on Friday where we would pick him up to finish out the vacation.  

For lunch we stopped at our favorite hamburger place: In-n-Out Burger.  We couldn't find a place to sit, so we made an impromptu picnic in the back of the Escalade.

We basically spent most of our time swimming at the pool, which the kids couldn't get enough of.  And I made them go to my favorite home decor store, Kirklands.  On Saturday, after Aaron joined us, we decided to go to the Children's Museum in Las Vegas.  The kids had so much fun!  It was hilarious to watch Alex.  It was like he was the Road Runner, quickly running from one exhibit to the other.  He was so excited with all the activities.  

Adam, Abbi, and Alex, and even Mom and Dad had fun creating HUGE bubbles at this station.

Alex's favorite was this station.  He loved "fixing" the car.

And, what Children's museum would be complete without the "Grocery Store" Station?

Here is Abbi and Alex in the hurricane tunnel.

The second half of our trip was spent in St. George.  Here again, we swam and swam.  We got out of the pool long enough to do a little miniature golfing ( I won, by the way) and race cart driving.

We also stopped by the St George temple to take some pics.