And I'm back...

Things are good with us down here.

I was having technical difficulties with transferring pictures to the blog, thus, the delay in updating.

We did venture out and visit another Utah site (Alana, believe it or not but, it was in October).

We travelled 3 hours southeast to Vernal and visited a dinosaur quarry (yes, a quarry, like in the Flintstones).

I've never been to Drumheller but I think Vernal is to Utah what Drumheller is to Alberta.

I found the quarry to be quite interesting as it has a building built around part of a rock area where dinosaur bones are embedded. There are literally layers of bones.

The bones are layered heavily because there was a flood (Not "THE" flood) and it washed all the bones down the river. Alot of bones are scattered but there are many where the dinosaur was alive and buried so quickly that all the bones are in place.

(there may be a test later...)

The next picture is of Chay's favorite bones at the quarry.

Blade busy working on his workbook to earn his Junior Ranger badge.

There was one area of the quarry where people were allowed to actually touch the bones. An amazing experience to see and feel dinosaur bones as they are found.

We took a couple of small hikes that showed more bones in their "natural habitat".

A quick sprint up the hill back to the quarry.

The official ceremony for Blade to receive his Junior Ranger badge.

And we HAD to stop at the famous pink Vernal dinosaur painted by contestants on The Amazing Race a few years ago.

I don't know how but our freezer is left open a crack at times...and so this lovely build up of ice grows. Blade loves to defrost the freezer and had been asking to do it for a while. I finally said we could do it. It's like a game to him...he LOVES it!

I should have taken an after picture but I was so excited to organize everything back into the freezer that I forgot.

Dave celebrated his birthday.

(I took the easy way out this year and let Sam's Club make Dave a carrot cake)

Halloween has come and gone, but we did all the traditional things to celebrate the Holiday.

Blade carved his pumpkin.

(this is a bonus shot that Chay took of Blade twirling around. He does it with such energy that the G-force is enough to distort his face!)

We went to Hogle Zoo early the Saturday morning before Halloween and Blade collected his treats. Since we have a Booster Season Pass we were able to go in an hour before the general public and I am so glad that we did...when we were done and ready to leave, the lines were insanely long. We didn't have to wait in any of them. I had to convince Blade that the plan was to collect the treats first and THEN take the time to appreciate the animals.

Chay loved how soft the wolves looked AND wanted one.

Blade taking one of his traditional zoo pictures but, looking alot different.

At the Verizon booth, Chay stopped at the different stations and earned himself a free T-shirt. He also got a watch for "liking" them on facebook.

The story behind this picture is one that Chay will remember and never let me forget it.

We were watching the gorilla and I had Chay and Blade turn around for a picture. All of a sudden there was this noise and the gorilla literally ran across the room next to the glass....and this picture captures the boys reaction to that sound. And because I HAD to take a picture, the boys missed the action.

Another "must" shot when at the zoo.

Chay made sugar cookies and royal icing with me as his assistant. He did a great job.

Chay was getting creative and decorating with his eyes closed.

Chay had different ideas for a costume but decided at the last minute to be a "nerd". The scary thing is that he had everything he needed in his closet....

creepy...Dave trying on Blade's mask, and Chay creeping in the background.

(masks are creepy. I don't like it when you can't see the person's face. Even painted faces like with clowns creep me out.)

Blade as Anakin from Star Wars.

It was nice to have Nicole stop by for a group shot!

We put up the same decorations from last Halloween. I had to move a couple because Nicole indicated that there was too much going on in the entry way (alot of sound/motion activated things).

And another Chay exclusive shot.

It's still amazing where and how Blade falls asleep.

Well, that's us in a nutshell...

Everything is NEW again....

It's Done!

A new kitchen finally!

Okay, this isn't our kitchen but, it has the same look that ours was going for.

I can say though that the paint job that I did is soooo much better than the one in this house that Dave and I looked at (and the fact sheet listed how wonderful the faux painting was).

NEW SCHOOL YEAR

Chay started 9th Grade at West.

He takes the bus and Trax to get to and from school and at times seems to having fun while being transported. He definitely has to head out to school a lot earlier than he did for Middle School in the neighborhood last year.

He decided to do the IB program and I'm proud of how he has grown academically and personally over the past year.

He has also joined the Cross Country Team and I'm impressed with how dedicated he is and how well he is doing. Before joining he ran a couple of times with Nicole but that's all I recall, and now he's running miles a day...up, down, all around.

Blade started 1st Grade.

Now that he is into the third week of school, he seems to want to go to school. He has been going willingly since the beginning but now he has verbalized that he was happy to be at school with his friends. Being with a lot of kids again, he has already caught a cold.

I'm so proud of how his reading skills have developed and how willing he is to do his homework.

New stage of life for Nicole

Nicole is no longer a teenager since she turned 20 yesterday.

(How is it possible that I have a 20 year old daughter? It seems only a few years ago that I was 20....)

For their birthdays, the kids get to choose where they want to go out to eat for their birthdays and Nicole chose The Cheesecake Factory (I should have hurried and put on the night option on the camera, or risked my life and stood in the traffic lane to get closer so that the flash would have had some kind of effect).

Nicole and her boyfriend Jose.

The food was nicely presented...and tasted "nicely" too.

Four out of the six ordered cheesecake....and that was plenty for 6 of us to eat.

Blade is an adventurous kid but not when it comes to his cheesecake...only cherry cheesecake please.

Chay had to have the Red Velvet cheesecake! No one loves red velvet cake like Chay.

Chay is posing with his cheesecake, and Blade apparently is intoxicated by all the richness he's consuming.

THEN we still had to go home to do the birthday cake thing.

Nicole didn't given any ideas as to what she wanted for a birthday cake and so Chay and I decided that since she loves Starbursts so much, we would make a Starburst cake in her currently favorite color of Purple.

(we found out that whole starbursts on the end of the curly wires were too heavy and we had to compromise by rolling bits of starbursts and sticking them on the end.

The lighting of the torch....

We used candles that relit...like the ones we used for Chay's birthday cake when Doug and his family were visiting one year.

There ended up being quite a collection of smoke and I was surprised that Nicole kept on task until the candles no longer relit!

Nicole was surprised when she cut in to the cake and found...a purple cake.

Chay and Jose were the only ones that had room for cake. Okay, Jose had room. Chay mixed up his cake and ice cream but wasn't able to finish it

Well, that's a quick update with some pictures. I don't have any adorable new baby pictures to share but, that's a GOOD thing for me! My babies are growing up so quickly.

Nicole has started her second year at the "U", and is now in an apartment with two other girls and officially kicked out of her bedroom at home. She had become stagnant with her move out of her room and so tonight, with Dave's encouragement, Chay started moving into HIS new room.