Wednesday, September 16, 2009
More Pictures!!
Sorry . . . I know that last post was really long. But, we had a whole summer's worth of news to catch up on. Here's some more pictures. Enjoy!!
The Texas Brocks!!
We had a blast with all the Brocks in June! Thanks everyone for making the trek to Texas. A few days after everyone left, we packed up and headed out on a cross-country vacation. We were gone for 3 weeks. We spent 2 weeks in Idaho with Barb and De and their family.
On the way out we stayed the night in Roswell, NM. I thought it would be fun to check out all the alien stuff. We were not impressed. There were a few fun things as we came into town. I told the kids about the legend of Area 51. The lamp posts had alien faces painted on them, and the main strip was loaded with shops named for Aliens. The next morning we took the kids to McDonald's. It had a huge spaceship/alien themed play place. The kids really enjoyed that, especially after 10 hours of driving the day before. We heard the alien museum was lame. We decided to get an early start instead of waiting for it to open. (I read that it had "space ships" made out of hubcaps hanging from the ceiling and a lot of peg boards with cheap posters).
We stayed the first night in Price, UT. De's parents live there. It was nice that we didn't have to go quite as far as Idaho. I think we drove about 12 hours the second day. The next morning Dax and De took the kids out four-wheeling. They had a blast exploring and especially loved the break from the car. We drove the last 4 hours to Barb & De's that night.
We loved our time with the Jones'. We went to T-ball games, flag football games, lots of trips to all the beautiful parks (we had lunch and activities at one almost every weekday), gymnastics place, ice cream, awesome petshop with a huge petting zoo, swimming/waterslides, dinner and a movie with just the adults, pioneer day parade, waterfalls, a little work project for Dax & De, and even a visit to our old alma mater -- Ricks College.
I thought the highlight of the trip was Yellowstone National Forest. It's only about a 2 hour drive from Pocatello. We had a blast cooking hot dogs and smores, hiking, biking, exploring, and playing in the water. We saw a lot of wildlife, including a bison that spent the morning in the middle of our campground. We had the kids keep their distance though. They weigh around 2,000 pounds and can really move! It was amazing (and really dumb) to see people come within a couple feet of them. We heard that a guy was gored by one the week after we were there.
On the way home we stopped for a hike at Arches National Park. It was a great break. Kayla wasn't going to hike it at first. But we picked an easy one and she eventually joined us. We stayed on the shaded side of the arch and climbed all over the rocks and up to the peak of one side. Jaxon even found and caught a lizard while he was up there.
On the trip home we camped the first night in Chinle, AZ. The campground was on an Indian Reservation. The area is called Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Shay). It was cool to check out the visitor's center and stop at several of the lookouts. We decided against hiking to the ruins -- it was too far for the girls and Isaac. But, we were able to see some ruins from the lookout across the canyon. There were Native Americans at each of the lookouts trying to sell jewelry and souvenirs. Dax bought each of the girls some jewelry. The surrounding areas were very depressed. Malnourished dogs and even horses were roaming freely. Many of the homes were shacks and many of the people looked like they'd lived a very hard life. One interesting thing was all the hogans that people had built. Not just on the reservation, but in the neighboring towns too. It's an octogon shaped building, with a low roof, and covered in mud or sod. The temperature inside stays 70 degrees in the summer! That's amazing considering the hot desert sun. There was one at the visitor's center that we were able to pop our head in and look around.
The second night on our return trip, we stayed in El Paso. Texas is so huge that we still had 8 1/2 hours to go from there. This time we had 2 hotel rooms. It was a nice LaQuinta and so much better than the one room dive in Roswell. We had one last stop in Fredericksburg for some fabulous old-time ice cream and some much needed walking!! The kids were all amazing, even with all the driving. Isaac did not fuss one bit. I sat next to him in the car almost the entire trip. I think he liked all the attention.
Once we were home we had about 3 weeks left of summer. We'd had a packed schedule and enjoyed some down time after all the travelling.
The kids are doing well in school. Audrey's in 1st grade, Kayla's in 4th, and Jaxon's in 6th. Yes, he's started middle school! We're adjusting to having him stay up until 9 at night and starting school later in the morning. The girls and I ride bikes to their new school every morning. Jaxon usually walks to school. He's in band and plays the Euphonium (like a tuba). We bought him a luggage cart to pull it back and forth to school. It's pretty big.
Audrey lost a tooth while we were in Idaho. She was excited to see how much the tooth fairy pays in Idaho. Audrey likes her class at school. She has a couple of friends she knew from before.
Isaac is busy, busy, busy! He started taking steps just before he was 9 mos. and starting walking just before 10 mos. He's running now, and climbing, and going down the stairs, and pushing chairs around, and even climbing up and down on the step stool (as well as carrying the step to where ever it may be handy). He's clapping, sometimes waving, brushing his hair, and pointing (it sounds like he's saying "that" now when he points). One of his favorite things is the race to get in the pantry. If someone is in there with the door closed, he'll wait at the door. As soon as it opens, he'll run for it. He continues to bring great joy to our family.
Dax started a training program last week. It's for project management. It's a 6 week course, 4 days a week, for most of the day. He's also doing a bunch of other certification programs as well as still looking for work. He's meeting with a career coach once a week for a couple weeks as well.
Kayla is looking forward to starting soccer. The first practice was cancelled this week due to some much needed rain. She was disappointed though.
I'm keeping busy with Young Women's. I taught the last 2 weeks and am in charge of several of the upcoming activities. It's busy as usual.
On the way out we stayed the night in Roswell, NM. I thought it would be fun to check out all the alien stuff. We were not impressed. There were a few fun things as we came into town. I told the kids about the legend of Area 51. The lamp posts had alien faces painted on them, and the main strip was loaded with shops named for Aliens. The next morning we took the kids to McDonald's. It had a huge spaceship/alien themed play place. The kids really enjoyed that, especially after 10 hours of driving the day before. We heard the alien museum was lame. We decided to get an early start instead of waiting for it to open. (I read that it had "space ships" made out of hubcaps hanging from the ceiling and a lot of peg boards with cheap posters).
We stayed the first night in Price, UT. De's parents live there. It was nice that we didn't have to go quite as far as Idaho. I think we drove about 12 hours the second day. The next morning Dax and De took the kids out four-wheeling. They had a blast exploring and especially loved the break from the car. We drove the last 4 hours to Barb & De's that night.
We loved our time with the Jones'. We went to T-ball games, flag football games, lots of trips to all the beautiful parks (we had lunch and activities at one almost every weekday), gymnastics place, ice cream, awesome petshop with a huge petting zoo, swimming/waterslides, dinner and a movie with just the adults, pioneer day parade, waterfalls, a little work project for Dax & De, and even a visit to our old alma mater -- Ricks College.
I thought the highlight of the trip was Yellowstone National Forest. It's only about a 2 hour drive from Pocatello. We had a blast cooking hot dogs and smores, hiking, biking, exploring, and playing in the water. We saw a lot of wildlife, including a bison that spent the morning in the middle of our campground. We had the kids keep their distance though. They weigh around 2,000 pounds and can really move! It was amazing (and really dumb) to see people come within a couple feet of them. We heard that a guy was gored by one the week after we were there.
On the way home we stopped for a hike at Arches National Park. It was a great break. Kayla wasn't going to hike it at first. But we picked an easy one and she eventually joined us. We stayed on the shaded side of the arch and climbed all over the rocks and up to the peak of one side. Jaxon even found and caught a lizard while he was up there.
On the trip home we camped the first night in Chinle, AZ. The campground was on an Indian Reservation. The area is called Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Shay). It was cool to check out the visitor's center and stop at several of the lookouts. We decided against hiking to the ruins -- it was too far for the girls and Isaac. But, we were able to see some ruins from the lookout across the canyon. There were Native Americans at each of the lookouts trying to sell jewelry and souvenirs. Dax bought each of the girls some jewelry. The surrounding areas were very depressed. Malnourished dogs and even horses were roaming freely. Many of the homes were shacks and many of the people looked like they'd lived a very hard life. One interesting thing was all the hogans that people had built. Not just on the reservation, but in the neighboring towns too. It's an octogon shaped building, with a low roof, and covered in mud or sod. The temperature inside stays 70 degrees in the summer! That's amazing considering the hot desert sun. There was one at the visitor's center that we were able to pop our head in and look around.
The second night on our return trip, we stayed in El Paso. Texas is so huge that we still had 8 1/2 hours to go from there. This time we had 2 hotel rooms. It was a nice LaQuinta and so much better than the one room dive in Roswell. We had one last stop in Fredericksburg for some fabulous old-time ice cream and some much needed walking!! The kids were all amazing, even with all the driving. Isaac did not fuss one bit. I sat next to him in the car almost the entire trip. I think he liked all the attention.
Once we were home we had about 3 weeks left of summer. We'd had a packed schedule and enjoyed some down time after all the travelling.
The kids are doing well in school. Audrey's in 1st grade, Kayla's in 4th, and Jaxon's in 6th. Yes, he's started middle school! We're adjusting to having him stay up until 9 at night and starting school later in the morning. The girls and I ride bikes to their new school every morning. Jaxon usually walks to school. He's in band and plays the Euphonium (like a tuba). We bought him a luggage cart to pull it back and forth to school. It's pretty big.
Audrey lost a tooth while we were in Idaho. She was excited to see how much the tooth fairy pays in Idaho. Audrey likes her class at school. She has a couple of friends she knew from before.
Isaac is busy, busy, busy! He started taking steps just before he was 9 mos. and starting walking just before 10 mos. He's running now, and climbing, and going down the stairs, and pushing chairs around, and even climbing up and down on the step stool (as well as carrying the step to where ever it may be handy). He's clapping, sometimes waving, brushing his hair, and pointing (it sounds like he's saying "that" now when he points). One of his favorite things is the race to get in the pantry. If someone is in there with the door closed, he'll wait at the door. As soon as it opens, he'll run for it. He continues to bring great joy to our family.
Dax started a training program last week. It's for project management. It's a 6 week course, 4 days a week, for most of the day. He's also doing a bunch of other certification programs as well as still looking for work. He's meeting with a career coach once a week for a couple weeks as well.
Kayla is looking forward to starting soccer. The first practice was cancelled this week due to some much needed rain. She was disappointed though.
I'm keeping busy with Young Women's. I taught the last 2 weeks and am in charge of several of the upcoming activities. It's busy as usual.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Dusty and Liz's August News
August was full of good times. Dusty celebrated his 35th birthday. We had a coupon for Red Lobster, so we celebrated there with Grammie and Uncle Seth. The kids loved watching the “monsters” (as Ava would call them) swimming in the tank. On Sunday (Dusty’s b-day), we had steaks, taters and a big Strawberry Shortcake. Grammie, Seth and Melissa, Kelly and Kimbie joined in the fun.Sarah’s dance class at church had their recital this month. Each class did two dance numbers – a ballet and hip hop routine. Sarah’s class danced to one of the Nutcracker songs and “Under the Sea” from the Little Mermaid. It was so much fun. Sarah did really well and really enjoyed the class. I was surprised that she stuck it out, because she did not like the ballet class she took the previous spring.
School started back this month as well. Dusty got moved from Fort Braden and reassigned to Griffin Middle, Springwood and Canopy Oaks Elementary Schools. He was sad to leave all of his friends, but hopefully we will see him a little more this year. He takes Sarah to school in the mornings and occasionally will be checking in at Grammie’s and Sarah’s schools. Sarah was excited to be starting first grade. She already loves her new teacher Mrs. Torgeson, who she also knows from church. We were surprised to find out that half of her new class is comprised of her old friends from Mrs. Davis’s Kindergarten class. Ethan was also excited to be starting school.
He met his VPK teacher and also found that he already had friends in his class as well. Jessica from his Sunbeam class, and Joshua from Nursery were familiar faces. He is enjoying riding on the bikes, playing on the playground and singing the birthday song(actually he complains that they sing this song everyday, and he is tired of it). Ava is adjusting well to her time without Ethan. It was hard the first couple of mornings when we dropped Ethan off and she realized she wasn’t going to play as well. It doesn’t help that the drop off area is right by the playground. But it has been quieter at home in the mornings. She spends time playing with Sarah’s toys, until Ethan get home and she goes back to being his shadow and the cutest super hero around. Ava is also a professional jumper. She jumps out of the van every time we get home. She still tries to jump off furniture on the sly(she spends time in time-out when caught). She also got caught jumping over her baby sister who was lying in the floor. Anna has had some first this month. She has cut her first two teeth. She is now scooting and crawling. And she also is trying new foods. So far, she really loves applesauce, but I think she will eat most anything you give her.
We ended the month with a birthday celebration for Kelly. We enjoyed taco night at Grammie’s after church. The Mexican fare was topped off with banana pudding with homemade meringue. Then Grammie treated everyone (our family, Grandma Bellflower, Uncle Seth and Aunt Melissa, Aunt Kimbie and Aunt Kelly of course) to a concert on her new baby grand. After much playing and singing, we ended the evening by playing a little Apples to Apples. Good Times.
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