Yeah!!!!! Field Trips

I write this for my posterity... when my children are older, and hate me, and blame me for everything bad in their life. I will simply show them this entry, and I will say "Yes, but I always went on field trips with you...and that should be enough!"

Will the ringing in my ears ever stop? Will I ever get the song "B.i.n.g.o" out of my head? Will the wheels on the bus ever cease from going round and round? Who knows? But hopefully we created some lasting memories, and hopefully my kids know how much I truly love them.

Trying to get these boys to stand still for a photo was next to impossible! This is a few of the fuzzy photos I was able to capture at the Planetarium.


Having fun at Liberty Park

Memories From Ethan's Class Trip to the Planetarium

-Anyone who says girls talk louder, and more than boys- does NOT know Ethan and his friends! These boys joked and sang and goofed off the entire drive. Another mother said "Don't worry, the trip back is always quieter because they fall asleep" again, doesn't know Ethan and his friends!

-When lining up to go, one of the teachers mentioned to a parent that after the planetarium, we were going to eat lunch at Liberty Park, the parent said "Liberty park? As in the Liberty park that all the homeless drunks, and drug dealers hang out?" The boys in my groups ears perked up." We're going to see homeless people"....... "Cool!"....... "I don't think my mom would like me to go to this place!"....... "I'm scared"....... And on and on, for hours!

We had a very nice time at the park. So the Moral of the story is....Watch what you stinkin' say around my group next time dude!!!!

-I loved spending some one on one time with Ethan on the bus. We got to talk (yell) about a lot of funny things. It was the first time I really got to see what a different personality he has around a large group of kids. I also learned that he says "Dude" like every other word when speaking to his friends :)

Madison's Field Trip to Cabellas!!!!


A bunch of cute, silly girls at Cabellas

Memories From Cabellas

-So we travel to Cabellas, why you ask? Well, no one really knew why we were going, but we trusted that once we got there we would be swept away with a new knowledge that would cause us to never look at dead-stuffed-animals the same way again!!! So, we arrive and no one greets us, strange.... Madison's teacher, Mr. Gowans goes inside while we wait in the bus--he returns with the grave news. "Apparently, the lady we called to set up the tour is no longer employed at Cabellas, and forgot to tell anyone we were coming, therefore we have no tour guides, so basically parent helpers, you're on your own." Oh what joy, what rapture! What are we going to do for 3 hours at Cabellas, with a bunch of bored kids!!

Well luckily, I got the best group! They were so much fun, and up for anything. We went around the entire store, and I tried to remember some of the strangest animals we had seen. Then, after we saw everything, (which literally took 15 min) I gave them different names, and they had to run and find them. After that they each picked something for us to find. They had so much fun. The hardest part was keeping them out of the merchandise. We went to Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove to eat lunch, and the kids really enjoyed that.

In the African animals there was this tiny deer with big brown sad eyes. One of the girls shouted, look a chihuahua! It was so funny, so we took a picture of it, and then they did their best impersonations of it.

The kids (and us) had a few days off school and we decided at the last minute to jump in the car and drive to VEGAS!!! It was so fun, and super relaxing. We shopped, and did a little sight-seeing, but we basically went to spend some time with Raul's sister Patricia, (who lives there) and her 1 year old little girl, America, who has the cutest dimples you'll ever see. My kids adored her, all she had to do was grunt, and they'd do whatever she wanted. If they weren't paying enough attention to her she just grab their hair and pull, untill they would. We stopped by my Moms on the way back, and that was great too! Yeah Fall Break!!

Get Serious!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So I had this assignment for school, and Madison nicely offered to help. I had to do a photo shoot that was not your typical "Smile-and-look-at the -camera" kind of pictures. My teacher says that too often our pictures are boring, and that they're just "Here's Timmy standing in front of a mountain, here's Timmy standing in front of disneyland..." but that they all basically look the same but with different backgrounds. And that if we really want to make a picture memorable, we need to try to capture the personality of the person, at that moment, so that the picture makes us feel something. He also talked a lot about finding interesting backgrounds that offered textures and colors, but that wouldn't overwhelm, and become the main focal point. So, When we went to see my mom this weekend, I was inspired by this old Mill by her house. My sister Christi and I dressed her up, and walked over there to take pictures. If you know Maddy, you'll know she is such a goof-ball, and I really wanted them to be more serious pictures. But of course we were laughing like crazy at her "trying" to be serious. You can see her "fake-seriousness" in most of them. Then she was like "lets pretend I'm spiderman, and I'll climb the walls." ??? So she kept fake climbing walls between each shot. She'd be really funny, then I'd try to take a picture and she'd just go really stiff... anyway, I was shocked with how cute some of them turned out.
She may be a Goof-Ball, but she's a cute Goof-ball!

Soccer

Ethan and Madison were on the same soccer team this year. It was so fun watching them! Ethan has always loved playing soccer, but Madison hasn't been on a team since she was four, and we signed her up, and forced her to go to every game, even though she just sat on the sidelines and cried and whined the entire time. But luckily for us this time it was actually her idea, and she did great! It was great to see their dedication, and determination playing in weather that ranged from super hot, to pouring rain ,(well, Madison did sit that one out, however she did have one day where she went from school, to cheer practice to piano lessons, to a soccer game, and never complained!) They had a great team, they all worked hard and did really good.

This is what Ethan and his friends all did when they got a goal, if you ask me, it looks really painful.

What's up with the Left Knee Already!!

Okay, this is serious. Ethan goes through one pair of pants every two weeks. What happens to the pants every two weeks you ask? One has only to look at the left knee of every pair of pants he has ever owned, and you'll find a whole. Why the left knee you say? Well the answer is one of the great mysteries of the World, right up there with the astrological alignments of the great pyramids of Giza!!! I have done everything I can to observe this process, but to no avail. I have bought ever brand you could name. I used to buy several pairs at a time, but then they'd all wear out at the same time, so now it's just one pair, every two weeks. I'll either go crazy, or broke before I figure it out...

Pants he's gone through so far this year

Pet Rocks

Madison’s grade is having an economics fair. She had to make something to sell at school. She came up with the idea of pet rocks, I grudgingly agreed, and put it off as long as I could, I figured it was just going to turn into a big mess, that I would get stuck cleaning up. But, oh my Gosh!!! It was so stinkin’ fun!!! We were laughing so hard at these little rocks, with their giant eyes forming their own distinct personalities! Madison started to name them, and then we decided to make costumes for some of them. We made little boxes, and added the names Maddy made up. It was a blast... Even Dad thought they were awesome! We had a hard time stopping. I haven’t laughed so hard for a long time! What a great memory! Let me just say that, even if you are having the worst day of you life, you have to laugh when you see these things. I'm secretly hoping she doesn't sell any on Wednesday, and they all come back home.


*Update*
Madison did awesome at her economics fair! Although she just couldn't let Chuck go, so he came home to live with us. :)

We're BAAAAACK!!!

How many of you want to hear a list of excuses why I haven't been on my blog in 5 Months???? Anyone???? Well here goes..............
1. School got out, and I realized there was life going on behind me. Without the constant pressure of a due date on something graphic-designy (if such a word exists) my time on the computer became less and less untill the thought of going back on made my back hurt.
2. The farther I got behind, the longer I knew it would take to catch up on showing all our marvelous adventures. I didn't know where to start, but I didn't want to leave anything out!!!!
3. Um, we moved. I was stressed and tired.
4. School Started again. Lots to do.
5. Started a new Job, less free time.

Things that inspired me to get back on, and not let the Cuckoo's Nest die a premature death!!!!
6. I decided not to stress about all the stuff I've missed, I'm sure I'll get to it someday.
5. My kids missed being famous
4. Ethan came home and told me about a kid in his school, who's mom has a blog. She writes about her everyday life which is apparantely pretty interesting because a lot of people read it, I guess she just loves and quotes a lot from the show "Phinias and Ferb", well Disney caught wind of it, and they flew their whole family to Disneyland and they got to go to the studio where the show gets recorded, and they got to sing a song that will be on the show!! All because this lady didn't give up! So Neither Shall I!! And then maybe one day, I'll like win free cheese or something!!!
3. I miss hearing about you Guys!!! Yes loser me, I only link to your blogs, when I'm updating mine. (Bad, bad Dori) And since I'm never on mine, I haven't been on yours! This has to change...and it will!!
2. I miss the vent of frustration, and the outlet for creativity. I never realized how much I love writing. And when I'm having a problem I love to get you guy's take on it.
1. My Jen inspired me!!! She's my biggest blogfan and now she too is part of the blog world. If she's doing it, then so am I.


So get ready, cause we're back!