Misc.

I love, love, love Kiera's teacher. She was "Teacher of the Year" last year and I can see why. This teacher does a lot of plays/skits that help the kids learn - and makes it exciting to learn. Anyway, this week the class did a play about Magellan and other early explorers. They wore costumes, had a cute set they designed, sang songs, and each had parts. Awesome!

The other day it snowed for the first time this season, but it didn't stick for very long. But the next day we woke up to lots of frost. I was mesmerized by how beautiful it was - every single blade of grass covered in shimmery crystals. So of course I had to get a picture - and I didn't mind laying on my stomach in the driveway as cars drove by so I could get some neat shots!

Ha Ha!

* Now that Kasidee is learning how to read, she is discovering that things aren't quite what she thought they were. Since school started, she has been brining home a paper each day with a letter on it. For her homework, she's supposed to find pictures or words of things that start with that letter and glue them on the page. When we were on the "D" page, I suggested finding a dragon or a drum. Kasidee looked at me like I was crazy. She said, "Um, those don't start with the letter D. Juh, Juh, Jragon and Juh, Juh, Jrum don't start with D." It was the same when we were on the letter T. Apparently tree (ch-ree) and trailer (ch-railer) don't start with T either!

* Makenna is our little M&M. Sometimes she can seem hard on the outside, but she's so soft on the inside. It's just trying to crack that shell that's the hard part! Anyway, she just cracks me up. One day as we were in the car running errands, she said to me, "Can we please turn on the radio...and get this party started?"

Random Stuff

Here's what's been happening the last couple of weeks:

The school had their first annual carnival! We went to check it out but couldn't stay long because the 5 of us (plus Granny!) had tickets to see "Little Women" later that evening. Anyway, Kiera and Makenna wanted to try the rock-climbing wall, and Kasidee got a turn at the bouncy house and the air-inflated slide. Good times, yes.

Kasidee and her 2 little friends were playing soda shop one day and wanted "pink milk." After that, there were lots of bubbles, slurps, and giggles!

Last week the girls planned a "Sisters Club" for a Friday night. They set up our little castle tent and extended it with a fort made out of tables and blankets. We had pizza and the girls watched a Barbie movie while Quentin and I watched our own date night movie in the theater room. The girls wanted to have a sleepover with each other in their tent (even though all 3 of them share a room and have a sleepover every night!) It apparently was so fun that they did it again Saturday night!

When the girls want pancakes for breakfast, they like me to do letters. With a turkey baster, it's easy!

Kasidee gets out of kindergarten right when Kiera and Makenna go to lunch. Last Monday I packed a lunch and Kasidee and I joined them! Here's a pic of Makenna and her BFF Sophia:

We joined Nikki and her family at Gardner Village to celebrate her birthday and enjoy the beautiful Fall day! My kids were talking about her homemade sugar cookies for days!

(Kasidee and Isaac)

The girls have been talking about doing a "Spa Night" for weeks - for some reason Kiera was really excited about trying a mud mask! So when Quentin was at the Priesthood session, the girls and I did mini facials - it was nice and so fun to do with my sweet girls!

Today in between Conference sessions, we went for a little drive to look at the beautiful Fall leaves. We ended up taking a little walk but it was pretty chilly and the girls didn't bring jackets. But the mountains were so vibrant! I just love this time of year!

And finally...a couple of funnies from Kasidee:
* Kasidee and I love to make orange juliuses and in the summer we had them several times a week. The other day she told me she was craving an orange julius. She said, "You get out the orange juice and I'll get the tornado thingy." (Blender)
* Kiera was listening to her MP3 player the other day and when she was done Kasidee asked if she could have a turn. She got the MP3 player but asked where the "Ear Mufflers" (earplugs) were!

A Few More Funnies

On Friday we took the girls to the school carnival. We walked over to the school and Kasidee started skipping and said, "I'm glad I were born!" I asked why she is glad she was born - and she said, "Because I get to go to the carnival and jump on the bouncy things!" Oh yes, life is good!

Makenna got a little trim on her hair. When my mom came over the next day, Makenna exclaimed, "Granny! Did you see my new shortcut?"

Funnies

I've been saving up quite a few funnies...so now you can have lots of laughs!

* Kiera overheard someone at school say the word "kill." She came home and told me that is against the Word of Wisdom.

* Makenna saw some "Booger Candy" at the dollar store (yum, I know). The package said, "Gooey, Tangy Candy" but when Makenna read it out loud she said, "Gooey, TangLY Candy." (At least it fit the description of the candy - yuck!)

* I asked Kasidee to choose between 2 things for lunch. She studied them both for quite awhile then all of a sudden said, "The winner is...dut, dut, dut, dut...the sandwich!"

* The other night we were driving home when it was getting late and Kiera was pretty tired. She said, "Oh, I should have brang my book. Brang? I can't believe I said brang! Anyway, I should have broughten my book."

* Kiera asked me why they put nectarine in cigarettes.

* Kasidee gave the prayer in Primary last Sunday and said, "Please bless our family, our friends, and our fence."

* Makenna filled out a little paper and school about her and her family. Here's some of what she wrote:
- Where do you like to go for fun? Chuck-A-Rama
- What do you like to do on Saturdays? Family Day
- When do you get up in the morning? Almost Never

Yum!

For some reason, in the Fall I start feeling like Martha Stewart. I want to decorate, do crafts, and cook! It's the best time of the year! Yesterday I made yummy vegan zucchini bread...and some fresh salsa using the colander full of tomatoes from my garden. Hooray for the end of summer harvest!

From this...

To this...yum!

Back to School (for me too!)

'Tis that time of year when the girls return to school - and so do I! Preschool starts this coming week, and last Thursday I had my open house - where the students and their parents come and check out their preschool (scavenger hunt!), get to know each other, and get important preschool information. It's a lot of work transforming the theater room back into a preschool, but it sure is fun! And I love having a few years of experience - I feel a lot more confident and feel like I know what I'm doing! I have 10 students this year - this will be a fun year!

Before...

After...

Brigham City Temple

On Tuesday we were able to go to the Brigham City Temple open house. What a beautiful place! Maybe someday Quentin and I can work on our goal of visiting each temple in Utah - I think we've only done sessions in 3 of Utah's temples!

What a neat experience for all of us - and Kiera and Makenna are so excited to be old enough to attend the temple dedication in a couple of weeks!

First Day

I'm a little late...but the first day of school was last Tuesday. I was so excited to have it finally start after Labor Day. It was nice to have one or two extra weeks of summer, but I have to admit that I still wasn't quite ready - mentally or emotionally - for it to start. It just didn't seem real yet. But we went through the motions and I think we're all just going with the flow. So...we've got a fifth grader, third grader, and kindergartener. What happened?! Kiera is loving her teacher (I just found out that she won a national teaching award last year!) and Makenna is excited to have her teacher back - she was there the first day but then had a sub for the next few days so she could be with her daughter who just had a baby. Kasidee is doing okay - after a few months of really hating to be away from me, she's doing, well, okay. Every morning when I wake her up, the first thing she says is, "This is going to be hard." But she's doing it, and I'm proud of how brave she is - but inside my heart is breaking. Thank goodness it's only a couple of hours - I think she and I both count down to when we can be together again!

Makenna's Baptism

It's great to be 8! We are so proud of Makenna's decision to be baptized. It is so fun to see how her testiomony is growing as she learns more and more about the gospel, Jesus Christ, and Heavenly Father's plan for us. What a sweet spirit Makenna is - we are so blessed to have her in our family!

Last Hoorah!

What better way to say goodbye to summer than by hanging out in 100+ degree weather in Mesquite and St. George? Last week we spent time there with Corbin, Nikki and their kids - we relaxed, we had fun, we made memories. We swam a lot, went to Zions, and saw "Aladdin" at Tuacahn. So fun!

Weeping Rock

The Narrows

Emerald Pools

Aladdin

Yet Another Catch-Up

This summer has been so busy, but I thought I'd take a minute to blog a few of our adventures...

We went camping! We planned on taking our tent trailer but our poor van (this was before we got our new Pilo) would not be able to pull it. So we tented it again, which was fun - but I can't wait to have our tent trailer back next year. It makes camping a lot easier!

Anyway, we went to Smith and Morehouse again and had fun with Quentin's siblings and cousins!

Kasidee and Isaac liked hanging out together

Kiera and Marina (with Quentin's help) made bows out of sticks and twine and "arrows" made out of sticks

Makenna had fun making fairy houses

Canoeing and kayaking on the lake

Makenna celebrated her 8th birthday and Kasidee celebrated her 5th birthday! Makenna's friend party one day, a family party for Makenna and Kasidee the next day, and Kasidee's friend party the next. Whew - it was a birthday week!

Eating dirt and worms....

Kasidee LOVES Minnie Mouse!

Simple Minnie Mouse cupcakes

Playing "Pin the Bow on Minnie"

Yesterday we joined a few of our neighbor friends for the $2 Tuesday at Thanksgiving Point. We went to the Dinosaur Museum, which also had a special "The Science of Sound" exhibit from the Exploratorium in San Francisco (I just love the Exploratorium!) It was busy and crazy but the girls had a lot of fun, especially being able to meet up with their friends Sophie and Chloe.

Say what?!

Trying not to make a sound...

Biiiig Dinosaur

Friends....