Carvings, Costumes, Candy, and... Snow

One might not know it from the weather, but it's Halloween time. The kids have been off of school the last 2 days because of snow. It's pretty crazy to miss a "Fall Party" at school because of snow. Here are a few pictures of the snow, pumpkins, costumes and loot from trick or treating at HP today.


That is Jake buried in the snow and MaKenna telling him to Jump!


Jake made a Skull on his pumpkin.


Kyler just wanted a smiley face.


MaKenna's was a ghost.

Jake was a Logger, Makenna was a bride, and Kyler, of course, was Farmer Jones.


HP is an awesome place to go trick or treating. The are 3 buildings (~ 5 floors) of cubicles. Not everyone puts candy out, but enough do. We spend about an hour and cover 1 floor. The kids love it because of all the candy. Mom and Dad love it because we stay dry & warm, and in 1 hour we're done with Halloween. We might go to a couple neighbor houses this year - but it depends on the weather.

Candy...


More candy...

Taipei - Oct 2009

Here are a few pictures from Taipei.


Huge shopping bag advertisement to promote folks shopping in Taipei. If folks spend $888 ($27 US) and turn in the receipts, then they will give you a reusable bag that looks just like this one (smaller of course).



Taipei Taiwan Temple



Shilin Night Market. Both sides of the street are lines with stores. It opens about 4pm every night and doesn't close until 1 or 2 AM. This picture was me standing maybe 1/2 way down the street and around 9m on a Sunday night (guess folks don't realize they have to work the next day). It's so crowded - way to many people for me.




7-11's are EVERYWHERE. This one happens to be in the Subway (MRT) terminal.

Bristol Bay (from the plane)

School Picutres 2009

I should be working my paper for my group project and/or packing... but I'm procrastinating.

Here are the kids' pictures from school this year. I didn't realize it or plan it, but Jake and MaKenna both ended up wearing their tie-dyed shirts for pictures. They made the shirts at day camp this summer and love them. Kyler (or should I say Farmer Jones) is wearing his "ovie-alls".

Jake 3rd Grade

MaKenna 1st Grade

Kyler Jr Preschool

It's Fall - or is it Winter

SNOW - already... It snowed the other day, but nothing stuck. Friday night and this morning we've gotten our 1st real snow. Here are the pictures.

Piece of cake...

Here are a few pictures from my cake decorating class. The 1st session we had to make a character cake and then we frosted it in class. The second session we had to bring in cupcakes and we frosted them several different ways. We did clowns, hearts, balloons, cherries, apples, baby faces, etc.

August 2009 Part 1

Well, August seemed like a busy month as we were trying to cram everything in before school started.

August 2nd - 16th
The beginning of every August a huge group of neighbors and friends go to "Aqua Fria". This year, Steve and the kids went up early to get a "good spot". They went up on Sunday, and I rode up with Mel and Tim on Wednesday. I think they really enjoyed camping with just dad. They had the camp spot all picked out, cleaned up and ready. They worked hard chopping a bunch of wood for the nightly fires.

Kids Camping with Dad

Kids getting wood ready for campfires.

1st stop on the way to Aqua Fria Lake

Aqua Fria Lake

Moose

August 10th

For an end of the summer activity we took the kids to the Drive-In. They had never been before and only seen a drive in on the movie Grease. They loved it and thought it was pretty cool. We saw G-Force.

August 13th

The 1st day of 3rd grade for Jake.

The 1st day of 1st grade for MaKenna.

August 17th

The 1st day of Preschool (Ms. Liz's Class) for Kyler.

July 2009

July was a busy month. Unfortunately, we missed Mom's 60th Birthday Campout. Here are a few of the things we did.

MaKenna turned 6! Yes, there were days where we all wondered if she would make it.. but she did. She wanted a fancy cake, so her and Steve "took care of it". I had nothing to do with it. It really turned out cool.

MaKenna asked for a guitar last year for her birthday, but we opted for a stereo instead. So when she asked again this year, we decided we would get her one. It's an electric guitar, but we haven't purchased an amp. It's actually pretty quiet.

We got the house painted. The 1st picture is the "Before" and the 2nd is the "After". I'm not sure how well they will turn out in the blog.

BEFORE

AFTER

COLOR CHANGE
Farmer Jones (known to a few as Kyler) grew a few strawberries. We also planted Cucumbers, Corn, Jalapenos, Tomatoes, and Green Peppers.

June 2009

Well, since I'm logged in I might as well take a few minutes and post June happenings.

We went camping in the Colorado Sand Dunes.
We had never been there before. We generally camp up the mountain by the dunes. The kids had a blast. I think Steve was some what impressed too. Yes, they aren't the Oregon dunes, but not to shabby for Colorado.


Kyler

MaKenna

Jake

Another trip to the zoo (Father's Day)

Camping at the lake (Glendo Reservoir actually) in Wyoming.

This was another 1st for the kids. I don't think they had ever been on a boat, and definitely hadn't been tubing. As some may know - I don't do well with Lakes, Rivers, Streams, etc. If it's not a pool with clear clean water - I'm not not getting in. I think my kids conspired against me, and yes, I did get in the gross, dirty water. There was a lot of "muck" as Farmer Jones would call it between land and the boat. Once you got out in the lake, the water was OK (if you like lake water). Jake cut his head playing around on the front of the boat, so my motherly reaction was to get to him as fast as I could. This was very slow because I kept loosing my flip flops in the muck. To end the rambling - his head was fine the water made it look worse than it was. Since I had already been in the water, I went out on the boat and even went tubing with MaKenna and Jake.

MaKenna and Kyler

Tyler, MaKenna and Jake

Jake's Birthday - 8 Years Old

Jake wanted a camping cake. This was the best we could come up with. We got him back in touch with his Indian heritage and used a Tepee.

What does every 8 year old boy wants his dad to give him...



Stay tuned for July updates ...

May 2009

Let's see... What happened in May?

Planted a Garden. Here is Dad and Jake getting it ready for "Farmer Jones"

Mother's day (Jake showing me my present)

"Uncle" Darin came to Visit and we went to the Zoo

Last day of School

(Can't find those pictures right now...)

Lots of Spring Storms

Do you see the double rainbow? This rainbow was awesome. At one point (before I got my camera) it was against a very dark sky and was a full rainbow.