Salt Lake City

So we are in SLC this morning. The kids and I hanging out and waiting for the excitement to start this afternoon. An early dinner and then Temple Square when it gets dark. I love Temple Square so much and this will be the first time any of us have seen it lit up for the holidays. We just can't wait.
Last night (after an awesome dinner) we drove to through the park in Layton. It is all lit up and there is every animal you can think of in lights. It is really cool. There were penguins diving in the water, a whale, moose and elk, spiders, flamingos, bears...I can't remember them all. I'd never seen a holiday light display in a park before. It was all set up so you could either drive through or walk through it...what a cool idea.
Unfortunately, I forgot my stinkin' camera! Kent brought his though so someday I'll be able to scan his pics in and then edit this post to include some photos. Even worse than forgetting the camera though was forgetting Davis. Just kidding, we didn't forget him, he was just unable to come. But that is a whole other story and it is a very sad story with a lot of tears so I won't tell it here. We sure are missing him though.
It's been way too long since we came down here to visit our wonderful family. I'm thinking that we need to come back the minute school lets out and go to "This is the Place", Hoogle Zoo, and Temple Square again. Oh and Lagoon! We'll have to stay a whole week to fit all that in! Yeah!

Harkness Lake

This will not be the last post from our Montana vacation. Just so you know. Seriously people, we did so much that week! It was the most fun ever. On this day we took the Ranger up to Harkness Lake and did a little fishing.

Dayton, Chance and Kent were the only ones to catch any fish. One each, and we let them all go. They weren't nearly as big as the ones caught in the reservoir (and we kept so many of those!). But what they lacked in size, they made up for in beauty. Who would have thought I would ever call a fish beautiful? But, though you can't see it in this photo, beautiful they were.

What I liked even better than the fishing was the four-wheeling. We drove for about 30 minutes to the place where we unloaded the four wheeler and the ranger and then it was another 30 minutes from there to the little lake. It was nice terrain. Bumpy and hilly enough to entertain the kids, but not so much that I was freaking out. I have become a real ninny in my old age! The best part were the three creeks that we had to drive through; one was deep enough to get daddy's feet wet. That was hilarious!

Montana truly is "big sky country". From up here at this lake you feel like you could see all the way to Canada or the Pacific. I can't describe it but I will post a photo sometime and even that won't do it justice. You have to see it to believe it.

Vacation

Maggie looks a little sad in this photo, yes? It must be because she knew that no vacation lasts forever. Though nine days is about six days longer than this family has ever had before. It was wonderful! Kent and Sue really out did themselves entertaining us. They had something planned for every day. We had a blast!

Davis thinks he's Davey Crockett or Lewis and Clark or something. He is such a cool kid; he has always had an amazing imagination. He also has an amazing amout of patience with his younger brother and sisters. They love playing with him.

Is my little cowgirl cute or what? She is going to kill the boys with that smile when first grade starts at the end of the summer. We'll have to start keeping her under lock and key before you know it.

Mr. Tough-Guy. Honestly, he would move to Montana in a heartbeat. He loves it there so much. He talks about moving there every time we visit. He and his dad may talk me into it someday, but I doubt it!

This Post is Dedicated to Dan Gus

When we went to Montana for the 4th of July this year, we went fishing at the same old fishing hole. We love to fish. Even if we get skunked. However, as you can see, this year we did not get skunked.

This year we caught our limit. We caught our limit and they were big. We caught our limit, they were big and Chance made Trout Almondine for dinner.

It was a very good year for fishing. Even Dayton and Meredith caught fish!

Too bad Dan wasn't with us this year.

Almost Summer

Big difference from my last post, huh? It's really warming up and today was the first day the kids played in the sprinklers. The sprinkler itself didn't last long and soon it was just the hose.

Poor Maggie Anne got the worst of it. She's so little and the others never pay any attention to what is going on around them so she got squirted every time they turned around.

Amazingly, she never cried. What a trooper. By the way, I washed her face like a million times today but she has a little cold and I just can't keep up with that nose. Poor kid.

Snow

Oh my gosh did we have fun today! I knew this was supposed to be a pretty big storm, but I was dang excited to see so much snow this morning! Chance and the kids scarfed down some pancakes and then got bundled up as fast as they could.

I don't know where that inner-tube came from.

I think Chance may have had even more fun than the kids. I swear, when he pulls those kids behind the 4-wheeler he is like a kid himself. He tried to get me to bundle up and come out so he could pull me too, but I refused. Then he told me the truth that he wanted me to pull him, but I still refused. He said maybe he could get Chase to pull him.

Maggie and I stayed in the house where it was warm and dry. Maggie doesn't look too happy about it does she? Our job was to have dry clothes and hot chocolate waiting.

Sarah was the only one to make any snow angles. She's a good girl.

Dayton looks like he's been white washed. The snow really flies behind the 4-wheeler!

Check out the rosy cheeks! Each time they came in and went back out, I would put dry clothes on them. Their closets are empty now and I have a mountain of laundry to do...but it was worth it!

A Week In My Life (Enter at your own risk)

I love this picture. I am always looking out the window and saying, "Wow! Look at the light outside!" I say that all the time. Does it have something to do with where I live or do you say that all the time too when you look out the window? I can't believe I was able to capture it in a picture!

So my week. On MONDAY I got up and fed everyone and sent Chance and Sarah off to school just like normal. A half hour later Chance and Sarah walked back into the house with doughnuts and chocolate milk. I forgot to look at the calendar; there was no school on Monday! Duh.

TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY were mostly filled with housecleaning and cooking. I signed up for these wonderful menus to be e-mailed to me from SavingDinner.com and we have been eating so good! I love this program. I got three months for $9.95. Six dinners every week plus the shopping list to go with them. So far there has been 1 beef dish, 2 chicken dishes, 1 pork dish, 1 fish dish, 1 vegetarian dish and one is always a crock pot recipe each week. Love it!

On THURSDAY I took Maggie in for her one year well-baby check up. She weighs 20lbs. 12.5oz. And is perfect in every way. Three immunization shots did not go down too well though. Thankfully, she recovers very quickly from that nonsense. During the exam though, she was amazing. She just sat there so still and looked at Dr. Brus with those big blue eyes like, "Whatcha doin'?" It was pretty cute.

THURSDAY night was date night. We went to Applebee's and Craft Warehouse. Woo-Hoo. It doesn't matter. We could sit in the car in a parking lot and have fun. It's mainly about being just the two of us with no hooligans around. You know what I'm talking about!

I purchased some pre-cut quilting squares that I've sewn into a mini-quilt top. Valentine's theme. I'll post pictures very soon.

FRIDAY Davis came home which always makes us all feel that things are back to "normal". And on SATURDAY we tore the kids' rooms apart to do some deep cleaning but we never put them back together. Oops.

And TODAY Chance is making my favorite meal for "First Sunday". Spaghetti and Meatballs! We'll be celebrating Maggie's birthday today. Fun! I'll post photos of that soon too.

Happy Birthday Miss Maggie!

Check out the blotchy complection and the wild hair! Last night after the kids went to bed Chance and I sat here at the computer and looked at old pictures of Maggie and her brothers and sister. They used to be so little! Sarah's chubby cheeks and Dayton's widely spaced front teeth just killed us. And Davis, oh man, I don't even know where to start. He's practically a teenager now!

But back to the birthday girl. What a beautiful little girl she is turning in to. Even with cupcake on her face. It occured to me that it won't be long now before she starts getting "easier". Not long after she really starts walking she will start growing up in so many more ways. Feeding herself, climbing into her carseat on her own and before you know it she will want to go potty in the toilet like her siblings. I will have been changing diapers continuously for something like 7 years. Seven years!! Anyway, we'll be turning a major corner in our house in the next year or so and mommy has very mixed feelings.

For now though, Happy Birthday my Beautiful Baby. Mommy loves you!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pupcakes

Today the kids and I tried a new recipe. Grandma Hodgson makes Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies that everyone loves (particularly Chance and Chase!) And I found a very similar recipe for muffins. Actually, my recipe can be used to make cookies too and I bet you could make cupcakes with Sue's recipe. Here is the cast of characters. (Not the apples and bananas):
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves (I didn't have any so I left this out)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 egg whites
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2/3 cup applesauce
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix flours, spices and all the other dry stuff together. Be sure to take turns!

You're supposed to mix all the wet ingredients in a different bowl and then add it to the dry stuff, but I just did it all in the same bowl. Then stir in the chocolate chips. Chocolate chips are special so it can't be just one person's job...work together. Put the mix in your muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes.

You could also drop by tablespoonful on a cookie sheet to make soft cookies. If you do that, you'll only need to bake them for 8-10 minutes.

I used a whole bag of chocolate chips in these and thought it was almost too much but when I shared this opinion with Chance and Davis just now they looked at me like I was insane and said, "Nuh-uh". That's a direct quote.

Bannack, Montana

The week right before Halloween Chance took some time off work and we all went to Montana to visit Grandma and Hodgson. Here's the proof.

We visited this cute ghost town called Bannack. It used to be the state capital. It was a mining town. It was super cool and super cold. See Maggie shivering there in Hodgson's lap? She does love her Hodgson.

Here's a picture of the jail. The lock on the door was broken. I tried it.

The floor plan of each house or building was very unique. This house was just one square room right after another.

Finally, on the sunny side of the street Maggie began to thaw out.

Look how warm it is now, no coats! Of course we've nearly seen everything now and it's about time to go find some grub.

Maybe there's a McDonald's across this bridge. No? Shoot.

Christmas Photo Losers

I love this picture. It would have made a good Christmas Card if Maggie had been in it. She was being pissy though. Maybe if you're being pissy you don't deserve to be in the Christmas card photo. Nah.

Can you believe this photo was a loser in the contest for Christmas Card Photo? Me either. You can see Maggie's pissiness in this one. The others were worse. Maybe next year when she's nearly 2 it will be easier. Haaaa!

Merry Christmas Everyone!