Lake Powell 2014

Everyone had a great time at Lake Powell this year! 

There was a lot of hanging out with cousins.

 

Spearing Carp with Uncle Jaron.  A highlight for my boys.

   

It's amazing what will be attracted to your bait.

 

Fishing off the back of the houseboat.

 

I even caught one and I wasn't even trying!

Going down the slide.

Acting silly.

Hanging out by the campfire.

Playing games.

Relaxing on the tube.

 

Not relaxing on the tube.

 

 

Going on a few hikes.

   

Going for jet ski rides.  Taylor was old enough to go by himself, to his delight.

 

Even Andi, our neurotic dog got a ride.  She looks thrilled, doesn't she.

A little wake boarding for Scott and Taylor.

 

Taylor got up for the first time!

  

And of course, taking a lot of pictures!

 Wow!  That was a lot of pictures!   Thanks Mom & Dad.  We had a great time!  Till next year!

Halloween 2014

We had quite a few last minute Halloween costume changes this year.

Chasey started out being a zombie when he left for school that morning.  However, by the time he got home, he had taken off all the gory flesh that I had put on and announced that the make up was too itchy and he didn't want to be a zombie anymore. 

I argued with him for about 2 minutes and then realized that was pointless.  He then went down into the Halloween box and picked out an old Batman costume.  He was happy the rest of the night.

Owen decided he wanted to be Tim Howard. He is the goalie for the U.S. soccer team.  I tracked down a Howard t-shirt and bought him a beard and bald cap.  Unfortunately he ruined the bald cap by scribbling on it, so right before school started we just buzzed his head.

About 5 minutes into wearing the beard he decided that it was too itchy and refused to wear it.  So, he pretty much he looked like he looks every day.  Oh well.  I tried.

Bennett couldn't figure out what he wanted to be.  He couldn't decide between a robber or a gangster or some mix of in between.  I bought him a pair of black jeans and a black shirt.  Then, last minute he decided that wasn't what he wanted to be either.  He opted for last year's morph suit.  At least it still fit and his black clothes I bought him can be worn to school.

Taylor came home on Thursday afternoon and begged me to go buy him a $30.00 blow up turkey costume.  I wasn't even aware he wanted to dress up this year.   I told him that I didn't pay that much for the other costumes, so I wouldn't pay that much for his.

He kept casting about trying to figure out what he wanted to be.  I kept giving him suggestions, to which he responded "It can't be lame, Mom."  Finally we stumbled on a pix online of a Captain Crunch costume.  He thought that would be awesome.  Especially since Captain Crunch is his favorite junk cereal.   I took a look at the costume and thought I could put that together pretty cheap, since I already had the foam for the hat and the right color of jacket.  A little felt and some fabric and I would be good to go.

Let's just say that 6 hours and $30.00 later he had his Captain Crunch costume.  There was a lot of hot glue and spray glue involved.  But, according to him it was a hit.

I Shouldn't Have To Write This

I really shouldn't.  They should know by now.  They have cleaned their room and other parts of the house hundreds of times.  I have told them and shown them how it is done.  And yet often when I go down to check, the room is not clean and they want to argue about what "clean" really means. Or worse.  Accuse me of adding more jobs onto their already inhumane number that I have already given them to do.

Toys pushed into a pile slightly under the bed instead of put away - Since when is that o.k.?

A bed that is supposedly made but instead looks like there are dead bodies hiding under the lumpy blankets - You know you need to pull up the sheets right?

So I did it.  And it is now hanging next to the job list.

You don't know what I expect?  Read the list.

Thank you

Annual Gross Halloween Dinner!

Skeleton meatloaf.  Gross yes?

This should go on pintrosity.  My earth worms didn't turn out as planned.

This year was slightly more edible than last!

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

Remember the post where I talked about my mean chickens?  Well it hasn't gotten better.  In fact it has gotten worse.  About half of my chickens have bald spots from being picked on and bullied.  And it is not just the ladies with beautiful plumage that are the ones inflicting the damage.  Some of the picked on ones are doing the same thing to some of the others.  I feel like they are reenacting Lord of the Flies in there.  They are so mean and it must stop!

I trolled around on some chicken forums and I found something that is supposed to solve this problem.  They are called Pinless Peepers.  Great name right?  They are pretty much blinders for the chickens that attach onto the nostrils.  The idea is that if they can't see what is directly in front of them, they will be less likely to pick on the others and pull out feathers.  In some respects since they can't see as well they lose their confidence to be the bully.

So this was the operation.  Scott took one of the bullied hens and put it in the run and made sure it wouldn't run back into the coop to hide.  I stood and watched to see who was the instigator in the attacks.  As soon as they started attacking I pulled them out of the run, wrapped her in a towel to keep her still, held her neck and Scott put on a peeper. So far we have four hens with peepers on.

According to everything I read, they are supposed to work really well.  However, as soon as Scott attached their new accessory and I put them back in the run,  they continued to harass some of the other chickens.  Today, I went out to check on them and not only did they continue to bully, they drew blood this time around. 

Look at that evil eye!

I really hope this works.  I feel bad putting these things on them, but this is getting out of hand.  If it doesn't work, we may have to thin our flock.

Chasey and the Ladies

 According to Chase's teacher, he is quite popular with the ladies in his class.  About a week after school started he came home with this little piece of paper with the phone number of a girl in his class named Merced.  I stuck it on our whiteboard and for several days after he came home from school he would beg and plead with me to call her and see if she could come over and play.  And the good mother that I am put it off and told him to just play with her at recess.  Can't you just play with the 8 kids that are your age around here?

That infatuation passed fairly quickly only to be replaced by another.  Several days ago I noticed that he was crafting by the fireplace.  He started to ask me our address and phone number as he was writing and cutting.  Once he was finished I went over to look at what he had done.  This is what I found.

The 2 little pieces of paper has bits of our address and phone number on them, all to be given to Masey, his new crush.

But seriously, can you blame the ladies?  He is pretty cute.

A Very Wet Saturday

Today, each boy had a soccer/football game to play.  It was a very wet Saturday.  Utah county doesn't believe in re-scheduling games.  Unless there is lightning, you play in whatever mother nature throws at you.

Chasey was the luckiest.  At his game, it just sprinkled on and off.  He came home mostly dry.  The other boys were not so lucky.  All three of them played in a steady rainfall for their entire game.  Scott snapped this picture of Owen after he was finished.

Bennett came home from his game sopping wet, took a shower and announced he had never felt so grateful for a hot shower before.

A few weeks ago Taylor was playing his soccer game and it dumped and dumped and dumped rain on them.  Then it started to hail - hard.  They referee and team all took shelter for about 15 minutes.  As soon as it stopped hailing they finished the game.  I didn't get a pix of Taylor, but one of my boys took a pix of the hail.  It was nuts that day!