Derby Time

Roman had his last Cub Scout Pinewood Derby last week.

On top of Halloween and everything else, I was looking for the easy way out. So we bought a pre-cut car.

Roman picked the Bat Mobile. It looked pretty cool.

We thought we would try some of the tricks that the guy on this video suggests.

We made a mistake in trying the canted wheels. We didn't have any way of knowing if our axles were bent correctly and we couldn't really get it to align right... we should have left that to the pros. But we were taking a risk and we knew it.

So after two runs, it just wasn't working so we quickly changed out the bent axles for some straight ones and it improved enough to get 5th place. We figured that even if we had started with the straight wheels, it still would have only got 4th place.

I tell ya... I'm not really a fan of this pinewood derby thing. It has the potential to be fun, but I have yet to really enjoy it. I'm not sure Roman really enjoys it either. I feel like I have to force him to care and what's the point in that?

It is kind of hard to believe that we are only 6 months away from being out of Cub Scouts for awhile. Only a year and a half and this kid will be in Young Men's. CRAZY!

A Couple Random Pictures

I'm just now realizing that I never took any pictures of our jack-o-lanterns this year. FAIL! The kids all drew their own faces too. Oh well... good thing there is next year... and the next... and the next...

We did make it to the pumpkin patch. I'm finding that with all these things that we do every year, I don't take pictures and I don't really want to. Poor kids with their whack mom. But it does make me think that just because we did it this way before, doesn't mean we have to do it again. My kids don't necessarily share my theory though.

Anyway, I did get one picture from the pumpkin patch when they all climbed to the top of the hay pyramid.

 

The day after Halloween we got a neighbor who enjoys using his chain saw to come over and trim our tree that was growing too close to the electrical wires.

 

This is Shane pulling the branch in the right direction so it didn't end up on the neighbors fence. We sure are glad for neighbors who will help us out with stuff like this. It would have been pretty difficult without him and I was ready to pay someone way too much money to take care of it. We paid him in firewood.



 

 

Halloween 2014

Oh Halloween!

This year, despite two of my children picking very popular costumes that could easily have been purchased in a store, I made all three of my kids' costumes. Insane considering how much I've had going on lately.

But I managed my time and it turned out ok. I even had them done at least a week early.

Then, of course, everything else seemed to happen in the days before Halloween and I was stressed anyway.

Marisa was Anna from the movie Frozen. She didn't really want to be what everyone else was going to be, but then her best friend at school said she was going to be Elsa so they thought that would be fun.

I should have just bought the silly costume. I spent just as much or more on fabric. It didn't take a huge amount of time, but it wasn't super fast either. And, she doesn't play dress-up any more so it didn't matter that the store bought one is junk. But the seamstress in me just couldn't let it go... Let it go! Let it go!... I can't even listen to what the stupid theme song tells me to do! Ha! Oh well.

Roman wanted to be Harry Potter since he has just finished reading the series. I was sure I would be able to just borrow a costume from someone, but I didn't have much luck. I was NOT going to pay $25 for a crappy black robe so I made one from fabric I already had. I even made the pattern so I just bought a crest off eBay and a little red fabric and a clasp and voila! It turned out great! I did buy the tie and glasses.

Ezra..... SIGH! The kid wanted to be a duck. Ugh! So I was looking at ideas on line and we saw this little number:

His mind was made up. He was going to be a guy riding a duck. I would have been happy to buy him that costume only it doesn't really exist. It's an adult costume that no one sells.

So I had the lovely task of figuring out just how on earth I was going to make Ezra into a guy riding a duck. I managed, but it was not easy.  It was funny though. And really unique.

The downside to such a fun costume. He had the lovely chore of carrying around all that extra weight for so many hours. He was tired!

I helped out at Marisa's class party. There were three Annas and two Elsas just in her class and guess what? Her best friend wasn't even there!

 

I took this picture on that afternoon. What the HOT?!

Don't forget the school parade.

 

We went over to the church for trunk or treat. Then we hit the houses in our neighborhood.

The kids did too well.

Another Halloween behind us. I know I should enjoy it more than I do. I enjoy making the costumes, just not necessarily three at once. And the candy! Gross! I like candy as much as anyone else, but this is just gross!

 

I hope you all had a great Halloween. I know my kids did.

Six

Ezra had his birthday in a few weeks ago. I can't believe he is 6!

He's such a funny kid.

I typically do a friend party when my kids turn 5 but he didn't have a whole lot of friends to invite last year so we figured we would do it this year and he really didn't want to. Leave it to him to do things differently just because. I'm not complaining. Birthday parties are not my friend but I did offer.

He picked Burger King for breakfast, pizza rolls for lunch and Jasmine Thai for his dinner.

After dinner we had cake and ice cream and presents.

He could not decide on a cake. First it was a spider cake then a daddy long legs spider made from a Skittle, but I reminded him that a Skittle would be difficult to share. So, then it was a daddy long legs on a pumpkin, but the pumpkin needed to be black.... I took him to the store to look at the cake book  and he quickly settled on Phineas and Ferb.  Funny.

He got a new bed spread and sheets and a super soft blanket that he had been begging for, Legos, The Lego Movie, Connect 4, candy and money.

 

 

A few days later we stole Ezra's best friend Preston and went up to Chuck E Cheeses for a celebration. Marisa, Ezra and Preston had the place to themselves for about two hours straight. Roman had scouts so he couldn't come.

 

 

Anyway, tt was laid back and not super awesome, but he said it was good and that's good enough for me.

Fall Break: Glen Canyon and Bryce Canyon National Park

Sunday was our day to get home and since we either had to drive through Zion's National park or past Bryce Canyon National Park we had our pick. We went with Bryce Canyon since none of us had ever been there.

On our way out of Page, AZ, we took a quick side trip over to the marina onto Lake Powell a.k.a. Glen Canyon. We had to get the most of our National Parks Pass.

We just stopped and threw some rocks into the water but it was a beautiful morning and the kids could throw rocks into water for hours.

 

 

Then it was back to Utah and the long trip to civilization.

Passing through Kanab I realized that this was probably the better place to spend the night before and probably would have been cheaper, but oh well.

In our travels we skirted the edges of Grand Staircase. We could have taken a slightly longer route and actually driven through the middle of Grand Staircase, but I wasn't positive that it didn't involve dirt roads and we weren't really prepared for that kind of adventure.

From Kanab, we headed North to Bryce Canyon National Park.

What a fun place!

We were exhausted and ready to get home but I definitely want to go back. I got another itch. I think Bryce Canyon would be an absolute blast to backpack for a couple nights.

We looked out over all the fantastic hoodoos and even saw another arch called Natural Bridge.

 

 

What a pretty place.

After lunch and a few quick lookouts, we headed home. But first.... we stopped at Ruby's Inn for an old timey photo. The kids thought this was the CRAZIEST thing ever. But every family has to do it at least once right?

We made it home (along with the entire state that decided to go south for fall break and deer hunt) and we are so glad that we were able to go, that we were safe, and that the car didn't die on us. What an adventure! Now we're making a list of all the other places we need to go see before our kids start growing up and leaving us.
 

1300 miles later