Halloween 2009

I feel like we spent a week celebrating Halloween. We had a Halloween carnival and trunk or treat at the church as well as Trick or Treat Street at the school on Wednesday. Kylie wore her costume for about 15 minutes and then promptly removed it (it does get a little warm indoors).
Logan enjoyed the carnival games and winning prizes, and Trevor enjoyed hanging out with his friends.


On Friday we had a family party with cousins and 2nd cousins. Again, I could only keep Kylie in her costume for a short time. We had pizza and played some games, handed out candy, and lined the kids up for the obligatory pictures. It is quite a site with about 10 or so adults with cameras and video cameras trying to get all the kids to hold still, look at the cameras, smile, etc. One of these times I need to turn around and take a picture of that! I consider it a success if I have 1 shot with everyone at least somewhat looking in the direction of the camera, anything more than that is a bonus.


On Saturday, Kylie, Logan and 2 of my nieces helped my Mom carve her jack-o-lanterns. Kylie wasn't so sure about the gooey guts, and even Logan seemed reluctant to reach in. That evening my Mom and I took my 3 kids and 3 of my nephews trick-or-treating while my brothers and sister-in-law were at the Utah game (my other sister-in-law and her oldest boy were home sick, poor things). It was the first time in many years my Mom has been out trick-or-treating, she was a great sport and even dressed up too. I was the party-pooper and didn't dress up (unless you consider dressing as a Ute fan a costume). The kids did surprisingly very well. I pushed Kylie in a stroller after she hurt her foot right before we went out and refused to put her shoes on, but she forgot all about her pain when it came time to walk up to the doors to get candy (in her socks). Logan and Trevor and my 5 year old nephew kept running ahead. My Mom had her hands full with my two 2-1/2 year old nephews, but they were troopers and walked the entire time. It wasn't too cold and after an hour or so we were all ready to call it a night and went back to my parent's house to watch the Utah game.

Trevor as a ghoulish grim reaper.

Logan as Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars.

Kylie as a very cute Blue from "Blues Clues".

The kids ended up with way too much candy after all these festivities, I doubt they'll ever eat it all (I just hope that I don't). We hope everyone had a fun Halloween too!

I Love Fall

Fall, my favorite season of all, and October especially. I think it has a lot to do with growing up and it being the time when the farm would slow down and was coming to an end. Plus there's football and sweaters, crisp cool weather (I'm not a fan of summer heat) and the smells (smoke from woodburning stoves, fireplaces, and I'm probably alone on this but the smell of manure lets me know it is truly Fall). We made our annual trip to Papa's pumpkin patch a bit early this year so it didn't look or feel like Fall yet (technically it wasn't), but the kids had fun picking out our pumpkins and were even cooperative with my posing and picture taking.

Alaska

The "Great One"

Pete and I went on an Alaskan cruise just the two of us a couple weeks ago. It was so nice to get away just the two of us, it has been almost 8 years since the last time we did. We started out doing a 4-day land tour. We stayed two nights a the Mt McKinley Princess Lodge, where this first picture was taken. We had a gorgeous sunny day and were repeatedly told we were very lucky to get to see "the mountain" at all as most days it is socked in with clouds. On this same day we went into the nearby town of Talkeetna (the TV show Northern Exposure was modeled after it), did a little shopping, took a river tour, then we signed up for a flight around Mt. McKinley with a glacier landing. Pete was like a little kid he was so excited, and I have to admit although I've never flown in that small of a plane before it was really cool and not scary at all.

The view of the mountain and a huge glacier from the air.

On the glacier. (If I look cold it is because I was!)

The next day we stayed at the Denali Princess Lodge just outside of Denali National Park & Preserve. We caught this picture of a cow moose on the tour through the park. We had also seen a grizzly bear on our bus ride to the lodge but weren't able to get a picture of it. Our luck ran out as it rained all day.

The last day of our land tour was spent on a dome-top train from Denali to the port in Whittier. We were driving through some gorgeous wild country, unfortunately due to the movement most of the pictures we took were blurry. We saw some bald eagles and Dall sheep. We got off the train and onto the cruise ship.

Our first day was at sea while sailing through College Fjord, we did a few things onboard (Bingo, movie "Star Trek") but mostly relaxed and slept alot (3 hour nap!). The next day was also at sea sailing into Glacier Bay (Marjorie Glacier pictured below). We saw a humpback whale and a few seals out in the water. We mostly hung out in our room reading or watching TV or on the balcony viewing the glaciers. (This vacation was all about relaxing and being together.)

Day 3 we were in port in Skagway. We did some shopping and site-seeing down the old-time main street, still with boardwalks. We then went back to the ship for lunch and decided to stay, Pete napped while I read. Day 4 we were in Juneau. We did a little shopping then signed up for a tour to Mendenhall Glacier and a tram pass. Back on board we both took a nap (again). Day 5 was in Ketchikan. We again did a little shopping and site-seeing around town. The weather was nice at first but then it started to rain (it is the rainiest town in Alaska) so we headed back to the ship, and relaxed in our room for awhile. The next day was at sea so we slept in and spent all morning in bed watching a movie (these are the things you cannot do with kids either on vacation or at home). We finally got ready and did a few things onboard (Bingo again, eating of course). The weather was cool but not raining so we spent some time on the balcony and saw a whole bunch of dolphins, a couple sea otters, a few bald eagles, and even a killer whale! Our last day was spent getting off the ship, driving on a bus from Vancouver, BC to Seattle, WA, and then spending 7 hours or so sitting at the airport. I mostly read and we both spent sometime surfing the web. We got home very late, long after the kids were asleep. It was hard not to wake them up, we missed them so much. I don't think I'll be leaving my kids for that long (11 days) for a long, long time - maybe when they are teenagers I'll be ready again! We had a wonderful time, relaxing and spending time together without many interruptions or distractions and seeing some beautiful sites.

Lagoon, soccer, and owies

We went to Lagoon on Friday, with our friend John and his 2 girls, my sister Ally joined us as well. The kids had a good time. Logan was the perfect height being just tall enough to ride many of the big rides but not being too tall for the kiddy rides. Trevor as usual had no fear and was eager to go on any ride. Kylie did well on most kiddy rides, though those that went up in the air made her a bit nervous, thank goodness Logan was with her. The weather was nice - a bit muggy but not too hot and the few rain drops that fell were brief, and the evening cooled down nicely. My mom was gracious enough to come and pick up Logan and Kylie at dinnertime (and deliver our dinner to us) so the rest of us could really enjoy more of the rides, they were very tired at that point anyway. It was a long and exhausting day but a ton of fun.

This week was also the start of Logan & Trevor's soccer seasons. They have been having practices for a couple weeks now, but this week were their first games. Logan's on Thursday and Trevor's on Saturday.

Logan at first was being a stinker and didn't want to play, but after talking it over with him he decided he wanted to play and put forth pretty good effort after that. At halftime he started begging his coach to let him play goalie. The team they were playing was a bit young and inexperienced and weren't getting very close to scoring so the coach eventually agreed. He spent part of the time sitting on the ground (I think he recognized the goalie wasn't doing much and that is why he wanted to play that position in the first place). These pics crack me up, I'm not really sure what he is doing in the second one, some kind of ninja-karate move?

Trevor didn't play much in his first game (he had missed quite a few practices this week with a 2 night scout campout and our Lagoon trip), but when he got in he played defender. He hustled and was really focused on his assignment.

Poor Kylie has had a rough week. It started last Sunday when she fell down crossing the street and landed on her nose, scraping it up. Then on Tuesday she fell on the porch and scraped up her forehead and eye. On Friday she had cavities filled for the first time (she did pretty good once they gave her some laughing gas), but when her bottom lip was numb she bit into it pretty hard and gave herself a bloody fat lip. Then today at church she pinched her finger in a door. Why is it my girl seems to get more owies than either of her brothers seemed to? It probably has something to do with her trying to keep up with her big brothers. Though maybe I just don't remember all the scrapes and bruises the boys had (I am getting old -- the big 3-5 is only 1 week away).

Birthday Boys

I can't believe my boys are 11 and 6 now! It was the big birthday week at our house with Trevor turning 11 on Tuesday and Logan turning 6 on Saturday. On Trevor's birthday I took him, 2 friends, Logan & Kylie to Cherry Hill in Kaysville then went back to Grandma's house for pizza and ice cream cake. It was a long day, but we all had a great time.
On Saturday we went swimming with all the cousins as part of the boys' family birthday party. It was so HOT, the cool water was a welcome relief.

We then went to a Hansen family get-together at Pete's aunts in Honeyville, enjoyed good food and visiting with aunts, uncles, and cousins. That night when we got back to Bountiful, we had part 2 of the boys' party. We finally let the boys open their presents (Trevor had waited 4 extra days so he was especially anxious), and had cake and ice cream.

Good times, but after three 3-day weekends away from home in a row I'm just happy to stay home this week. Trevor is at scout camp all week, and the only thing going on besides work is some more swimming lessons for Logan. Maybe I'll finally get around to cleaning the house, finishing Breaking Dawn (last book in Twilight series), exercising, sitting out on the deck, and hopefully some scrapbooking too. It will be a nice break from the packing, unpacking, doing laundry, packing again routine I've been in this month.

Lava Hot Springs

We spent this past weekend (sort of) in Lava Hot Springs. My aunt & uncle generously allowed us to use their cabin. We arrived Friday late morning, unpacked, grabbed some lunch, changed into our swim suits and headed to the pool. The kids had a blast, especially Trevor because of their 4 waterslides. After a few hours of water and sun, we went back to the cabin and relaxed. The boys played video games or watched DVDs, I read, and Kylie & Pete napped. In the evening we went to the hot baths, which were a bit too hot for most of us - they would probably be really nice in cooler weather and not when you got a bit too much sun earlier in the day (Pete). We then went out for dinner and back to the cabin for games and bed. On Saturday, we got a slow start, the boys slept until almost 10 am. Eventually we got ready and went tubing down the river through town. Our first run was on a 3-man tube (all 5 of us), but because it was long and narrow we got sideways and overturned. It was a bit scary but we were fine but for a few scrapes and lost shoes (me). We exchanged the 3-man tube for a 4-man tube which being square was much more stable and our second run was much better than the first, but Kylie was getting tired so she, Logan, and I decided we were done. Pete & Trevor decided to trade in the 4-man tube for 2 single tubes and we dropped them off at the drop in area near the park and went to the bottom to wait and hopefully get a few pictures from one of the bridges as they passed. Well we waited and after a bit I thought they should have been down by then, but then I hadn't really paid attention to how long it took us before so I just kept waiting. That was when I heard Pete call my name from the end of the bridge saying we needed to go. I turned to see him with a gash near his eye and blood on his face and shirt. Apparently they had decided to put in the river upstream from where we had the two previous times, and Pete had decided to get on the tube on his stomach to have better control of his and Trevor's tubes. It turns out there is a bit of a drop off on one side that they were not aware of and it was around a bend so once Pete saw it it was already too late. They went over and Pete went head first into the water (and a rock). Luckily Trevor was ok (a few scratches), and others stopped to help them, giving them a ride to the end where we were waiting. The local clinic was not open on Saturday so we drove 30 minutes to Pocatello so Pete could get stitches (at least 19 that we were able to count). The kids and I waited most of the time in the car (at least they could watch a DVD there), we ate a very late lunch in the cafeteria (all this time still in our swim suits), then waited some more before they got Pete all fixed up. We had already decided even before Pete's accident that we would drive back to Bountiful Saturday night (hopefully in time to watch UFC 100), this just delayed our departure a bit. All in all we had a good time, until the last part, and we recommend Lava for a nice family weekend, though may we suggest not putting in the river above the park! (I decided against posting the picture I took of Pete's wound, but if anyone wants to see it leave a comment and I'll email it to you. It is pretty gross!)

Happy 4th!

We typically spend the 4th of July in one of two ways - depending on whether we are in Bountiful or Wendover. This year we were in Bountiful so our day involved going to Centerville's parade with the cousins, swimming, and watching some fireworks. We also threw in a movie (Transformers) and BBQ. It was a busy but very fun day spent with family.