Halloween

This year Max and I dressed up as bumblebees.  I pretty much had the baby bumblebee song stuck in my head the whole night.  Max was actually old enough to enjoy trick or treating this year which was fun.  He did get scared by the neighbors scary talking Grim Reaper though.  All it all, it was a success!  And it was fun to have my parents around this year. I forced my mom to dress up as a hippy in one of her old dresses from high school.

Scarecrow Festival, American Fork Canyon, and Cornbellies

This fall we did lots of fun activities with Megan's family.  We went to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point, 

Of course, this was one of my favorites. :)

And we cooked tin foil dinners in American Fork Canyon.

We also went to Cornbellies--a giant Halloween activity.  Highlights included sliding down a giant slide in burlap sacks, being pulled by a tractor in little cow cars,

and of course, the giant pit of corn.  This was a LOT of corn.  It was deep!

St George Part Two

One of the activities we did was fish with the kids.  Though it ended up as something of a debacle, I'm still glad we did it.  We had just attempted to go to the Jacob Hamblin home, but the hours were wrong online, and it was closed.  So we headed to the nearby fishing pond (which apparently wasn't the greatest fishing pond of the area).  We attempted to do a little fishing and hit the nearby park, but inclement weather set in, and we had to go back to the condo.  Oh well.  I'm pretty sure Max was pretty entertained by the experience.  We also saw a cool heron.

I sail!  Ahem, I mean I fish!

On our last day, Clint, Max, and I went to check out the Green Valley Gap which was right near our condo.  I really wanted to go rock climbing but it was a little difficult to do when 1) Derek just ran a marathon and 2) we had all the kids with us.  So, I had to be content with just a quick peek at it.  I wish I could have just hiked around in it for a while, but we didn't have the time.

There was an open gathering area of sorts that someone had brought a couch too--I'm not sure if it was lowered down from the top or how they got it there.

Can you find me in this picture?  I wanted to keep going . . .

Our last hoorah before heading out was stopping at the Dinosaur Discover Sit and Johnson Farm.  This is an actual dinosaur dig that has been turned into a museum.

The kids enjoyed doing some dinosaur crafts, 

and especially digging for bones in the sandbox outside.

St. George Part One

This October, my family got everyone together for the first time since my wedding five years ago.  Huzzah! My brother was doing the St. George marathon there, which was our reason for convening there (and it's midway between Flagstaff and Salt Lake.) The trip started out with my mom and me going to Tuacahn Theater, which I've long wanted to attend.  We saw Beauty and the Beast which was nostalgic and fun.  I enjoyed the special effects--though some of the costuming for the Be Our Guest number was a bit bizarre.  It is quite lovely having the red rocks visible as the backdrop behind the stage.  Unfortunately, not everyone could come because they weren't all in town yet.

Because this was our first time together in five years, we spent some time trying to get some family pictures at the St. George temple.

Girl cousins!

All the boy cousins

Much of our time was spent similar to the below--stoking a bunch of grandchildren or trying to supervise as they ran wild in the converted garage filled with toys.  We did do a few activities though, which I will get to in my next post.

Summer Happenings

One of the fun things we did this summer was go to This is the Place Heritage Park with Megan and her family.  Here is Max practicing his pioneer skills and doing a little ironing.

We also watched a performance of Native American Dance/singing.  The drums were very loud and Max wasn't quite sure what to think.

We also had a fun time panning for gold, 

and riding the train. 

Clint and I also celebrated our 5th anniversary.  We went to a movie at the new Sugarhouse theater with amazing seats (Jurassic Park) and we went out to dinner at Ruby River Steak House.

The theme this year was "wood."  I gave Clint a wood pen and a little wooden heart puzzle with a message on the back.  He gave me a computer monitor--not very wood. :)  He claimed his real wood gift would eventually be a porch glider.

This summer we also enjoyed spending some time outside when we could.  This is a short little "hike" to Lisa Falls.

1920s Class Reunion and July 4th

Clint had his 20 year class reunion the week of July 4th.  His class decided to do a 1920s theme to match (20 years).  We actually got pretty into the costumes, though sadly some of the details aren't noticeable in the pictures--like the pleats on my dress and my t-strap shoes. I regret not taking a close up shot of our faces--I actually put a lot of effort into my make up (which I never do) and tried to perfect my cupid's bow.

So I promise in the picture below we are not contemplating a murder even though we appear to be.  We thought we should take an artsy serious one--fail!  I need to learn the neutral smile.

Of course we had to participate in the usual 4th of July festivities including Breakfast on the Boulevard, the parade, the family, barbecue, and of course fireworks.

Max was wiped out after a long day of fun!

World of Wings

Our next adventure in New Jersey was the World of Wings museum.  They had a lovely butterfly atrium where we saw butterflies, of course, but also some turtles and fish.

This museum also had some very interesting displays, such as bedazzled beetles (look closely below.  Those are in fact little rhinestones glued to the pinned beetle.  And there were many, many more.)

I think my favorite weird display was these bug panoramas.  There were a bunch of them, and they were quite elaborate. The inside of this museum sort of reminded me of an eccentric grandma's house.

And of course, there was a very cool toddler area.  This was Max's first time in a ball pit and this picture doesn't do justice to his pure ecstasy at being surrounded by BALLS.