Meet my new nephew!

My sister in law had her baby on Tuesday, July 24, 2012!  As soon as I showed Sam his picture she immediately asked if we could go see him!  She is in love to say the least!  I find him quite adorable as well.  We are very excited to go see him on Saturday!  His name is Weston and he is a big boy - weighed in at 8 lbs 14 oz & 20 inches long.  Welcome to our family baby Weston!

Witch Born Countdown!

When I went to California in March I borrowed a copy of the book Witch Song from my friend.  One of her good friends, Amber Argyle, wrote the book.  I LOVED this book!  I read it super quick & didn't want to put it down!  I've since voted for it in several categories on Goodreads.com.  Well now, the much anticipated sequel, Witch Born, is creeping up on it's release date!  You can check out Amber's blog & enter to win a signed  proof of the book before it even comes out in stores!  I've entered and am hoping to win it!  I've told Amber several times I'd gladly edit for her!  Go check out her blog & enter to win a copy!
http://amberargyle.blogspot.com/2012/07/win-signed-proof-of-witch-born.html

We take on the Ogden Nature Center & the Dinosaur Park

My girlfriend, Laura, & I decided that we were going to take the kids (seven between the two of us) down to the Ogden Dinosaur Park today.  I was looking online last night to double check address, etc. and came across a link telling me that there were a bunch of different activities you could do all summer long on Saturdays, in Ogden, that were FREE.  As luck would have it, the Dinosaur Park was on the list for free today!  Seriously, how lucky can a girl be?  

We decided that we'd hit the Ogden Nature Center first and then go to the Dinosaur Park.  I'd never been to the Nature Center & had no idea what to expect.  I was glad I hadn't paid to get into it.  It was kinda lame.  Although, I think if you went in the spring (or when there wasn't a massive drought) it would be better because there would actually be birds there & the ponds would have water in them!  The other thing I didn't like about it was that the trails and the map weren't very well marked.  It was pretty confusing and we kept ending up in places that we had to turn around and go back.  I also wouldn't recommend that you go during the heat of the day!  Because we got a late start we didn't get there until 11 am and it took us over an hour to go the entire 1.2 mile track.  It was fun and the kids had a good time (even though they complained a little bit about the heat).

We went into the visitor center first and got our map and signed in.  Then when we went out the door and were trying to decide which way to go, the kids found a display of birds of prey.  They had a couple hawks and falcons and two eagles (one golden & one bald).  They also had a few ravens & a couple others that I can't remember what they were.  They had this neat replica of an eagle's nest.  I couldn't believe how big it was!  We saw one at the Oregon Zoo, but I'd forgotten how huge it was!  I told the kids we could just leave all of them in the nest & they'd be fine!  There were birds nearby so they'd get food, right?  Yeah, the kids didn't like that idea!

There were two free roaming turkeys by the birds of prey cages.  This one decided he was going to come by and pretend to follow us around!

They had a "bear den" replica.  The boys climbed right in (I still had the heebie jeebies about snakes coming out of the long grass!).

All the boys (my two & Laura's three) climbed into the bear den at once and they actually all fit in there!

These two decided not to barge into the bear den (smart choice if you ask me!)

The lady that gave me my map at the visitor's center told me they had a tree house.  After a LOT of walking and several times of turning around, we finally found it!  There were actually a few things there.  There was this huge tree house thing and just to the right was an actual tree house built into a huge tree.  Over to the left in a big field was a giant tee pee too.  The kids ran and ran.  I was glad they had a drinking fountain to refill our water bottles!  I was not so happy that the bathrooms were locked!

B was happy to just sit in her stroller the entire time!  It took us over an hour to do the entire 1.2 mile walk.  She even just sat in her stroller for a good 20 minutes or so while all the other kids ran and played on the tree houses and in the tee pee!

We had packed a picnic lunch but didn't want to carry it on the trail with us.  So, when we got off the trail we turned the AC up full blast in our vehicles & had a little picnic in the trucks!  The kids were happy & so was I!  Brookelyn slept through the entire lunch time too!

While we were having lunch I was looking at Sam's hair.  I told her I really liked it when it was braided because it looked so cool.  She asked me why it looked cool so I took a picture for her to see.  She's got so many colors of blonde in her hair that it looks like we did it this way on purpose!

We had to have a bathroom break after lunch & before the kids craft.  Caleb was hiding behind the stroller in this one.

If you look close you can see Caleb peeking out the window behind Brooke's head.

The kids craft was kind of cool.  Take 1 rock, find leaves, flowers, etc.  Place Modge Podge on rock. Place leaves, etc. on Modge Podge.  Modge Podge over leaves, etc.  Let dry.  Wa-la you now have a beautified paper weight! :)

Our finished rocks:

After we finished up our kids craft we headed over to the Ogden Dinosaur Park.  Travis & I took the kids last summer and they seemed to love it.  It's not a place I'd visit enough to buy a membership, but I'd take my kids once or twice a year.  Aren't these kids tough?

We let the kids get geodes while we were there.  After Nash & Zeke had theirs cut, they walked over to watch the paleontologist at work.  This guy was so nice!  He opened the window and talked to the boys for at least 30 minutes.  He told them what he was working on, showed them pictures, let them touch stuff, answered their questions.  Seriously, this guy went above and beyond his job description today!  I think this was the boys' favorite part of the day!

After Caleb got his geode cut he wandered over to this little table & made friends with an older boy.  The boy was so nice.  He sat and played pretend dinosaurs with Caleb for a good 20 minutes.

I told Caleb to go stand by the Triceratops and I'd take his picture.  He was funny because he was totally scared that it was going to get him!  And as a side note, the kid can say Triceratops really well!

The kids had to stick their heads in all of the cutouts - even if we didn't take a picture of every single one!

This sign couldn't be any more true!

Here's a picture of the geodes the kids got.  The white ones on the left are Sam & Nash's.  The purple ones on the right are Caleb & Brookelyn's.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of Carter's.  His was black & orange!  I've never seen one like that before!

We will be going on more Saturday adventures.  This list I found has a lot of great places listed on it that I think the kids will really like.  We're going to be going to the Hill Aerospace Museum, Treehouse Museum (which they love & are always asking to go to) and the Ott Planetarium at WSU.  I think we might even try to hit the Egyptian Theater!  Here's to making the most of the rest of our Saturdays through August!  Thank you RAMPS!

We party like rock stars...

Caleb officially turned FOUR on Wednesday, July 18.  When he woke up I told him, "Happy Birthday Caleb!"  He looked at me and said, "It's my birthday?!"  I said, "Yep."  He stops and looks at me with a completely serious look on his face and says, "Well!  We need to get some people here for a party!"  The kid totally cracks me up.  Apparently he forgot that we already had his party!  Oh well, I like how the kid thinks!

So, since he decided we need to have a party, we made chocolate cupcakes (I've trained him well, he licks beaters):

B got in on the action after her nap & helped taste test one of our cupcakes (much to her brother's dismay):

The girl had crumbs from her nose to her toes!  I even found crumbs hiding between her diaper & her thighs when I went to change her!

I told my mom what Caleb had said about having a party and asked if we could come down and have a hot dog roast.  She said that would be fine so around 6:30 we ventured down to grandma's house for Caleb's party.  We pulled out some lounge chairs & partied in style:

B & Nash played a rousing round of "Put the swimming pool over Nash, climb on top of the pool, sit on Nash's head, get off the pool & check to make sure he didn't escape"

There was also quite a few rounds of dog pile on the swim floaties:

We even let Charlotte come to the party:

B has learned how to climb into this chair completely by herself.  And don't think that it's going to be ok with her if you hold onto the arm rest to keep the chair from falling over.  She'll let you have the what for because that just ain't right!

After we worked up an appetite playing, we had cupcakes!  And then we roasted a hot dog!

On our way home when I asked Caleb if he had a good birthday he said, "Yea, but I didn't get to open any presents though."  Ha!  My mom did tell him that she's working on a new flying suit for him though.  She would have had it done if her sewing machine hadn't broken last week too!  He was pretty excited when he realized that was a present that would be coming his way soon.  I think Caleb was pretty happy with the fact that Uncle Zack was at Grandma's house and came out to play with him too.  Who needs presents when you have an Uncle Zack to play with anyway?!

I still can't believe he's FOUR!  Now, if the little bugger would decide he's going to use the potty ALL the time & not just when it's convenient for him!

A few more of Relay & some fun ones

When I left for Relay, my Holly Hocks were nearly touching the roof of the house again.  They were blooming and full of new blooms just waiting to open up.  Thanks to the storm that hit us on Friday night, I came home to my Holly Hocks looking like this:

So, on Saturday Monday I went out and took my tree clippers to my poor sad Holly Hocks.  Here's all that's left of them:

I'm hoping that I can get them to keep growing & maybe get a few more that are big enough to bloom before winter hits.

Every year for Relay we make Luminaria bags for the Luminary Ceremony.  I don't usually keep them. Samantha was quick to pick them up this year though.  I didn't get a picture of Cindy's bag because I sent it to Cindy (she has kept all of the ones we've done for her).  I did manage to get a picture of the other 2 we did this year though.  Not sure what exactly Sam's planning to do with them...

The other day Brookelyn got a hold of Sam's Minnie Mouse ears.  She LOVED them!  She handed them to me to put on her head & she was just happy as could be!  She was so cute with them on.  She actually left them on for quite some time too.  I was pretty surprised because I thought she'd yank them off as soon as I put them on her head!

Last week my brother asked me about cutting his hair off.  He hasn't cut it in a year.  As you can tell from the pictures, it was about shoulder length.  He was just sick of it & decided he wanted me to shave it all off.  I told him the longest I could leave it if I buzzed it was an inch.  He was fine with that.

I love that he let me shave his head for him!  He hasn't had hair this short since he got out of rehab in Dec. 07!  I love it because I can see his face again!  I really like his natural hair color too (which he rarely lets go).  Actually, he bleached it all in an attempt to get the under side he had bleached awhile ago to blend in.

I had to stifle a laugh because Sam told him, "Well, there goes all your girlie hair!"  It was a huge pile of hair & it took me over an hour to buzz it all!