LONG Overdue!

I have been neglecting the blog for months now, so today I vow to update it more frequently =) For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, you can always count on me to update you there, and if you would like to see pictures from the last few months, that is definitely the place to go!

I will start out today by posting Halloween pictures, and in the next few days I will follow up with pictures from Jordan's football season and Camilla's newest adventure, Tap and Ballet class.

The descriptions of the pictures will be underneath each one.



Camilla was a Ballerina this year and Jordan was The Grim Reaper



Megan's birthday is in the beginning of November, and so this is the second year she has had a Costume party.. here all the kids and Cass (Megan's mom) get a group picture on the front steps.



Costume parade around the block.



Dave and I were invited to the Anuual Morrison Family Halloween Party this year, so we went as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo...

Our group picture (from left to right) Cass, Paul, Cheryl, Dave, Me, Carl, Tiff, Kristen, Matt and down in front is Joe.

These guys dressed up as The Village People and performed Macho, Macho Man and YMCA for us!

Jordan was with his dad for Halloween this year, so we took Camilla out Trick or Treating in the neighborhood.

Camilla's new favorite game is Slug Bug and she gets this one everytime we pass it, so we got her picture with it =)

This house was kinda scary so she insisted that Daddy go up to the door with her...

and they made it out safely!

Our family of carved pumkins.. (from left to right) Camilla's (carved by mom) Jordan's (carved himself!!) Lucy's, and Dave's (also carved by mom!)

Camilla with all her candy. She declared that this year was "The Best Trick or Treating EVER!!"

We hope that everyone had as great a Halloween as we did!!

Kid's Activities

This year Jordan got to go to Webelos Day Camp for Cub Scouts over 2 days. The first day I went with them, and it was a lot of fun! They started out the day with opening ceremonies which includes skits by the Boy and Girl Scouts who run the camp. After that the boys moved on to Sportsman, which helps them earn their pin. They learned about and played; basketball, marbles, ultimate frisbee and fishing. Then we had lunch, and the boys got do do a little shopping at the Trading Post. Jordan bought his very first pocket knife! After lunch the boys did BB Guns (pictured below) and then Artist. We had closing ceremonies and then headed home.

I also signed the kids up for classes in North Salt Lake with Cassandra's kids. Camilla did Creative play with Megan. There they read stories and then did an art project that was related to the story.

Jordan did archery with Noah. I even got to watch him hit a bullseye! They both had a lot of fun shooting arrows, what boy wouldn't?!

America's Independence Day

The morning of July 4th we were lucky enough to still have Jordan with us. Noah's party the night before went late so we kept him overnight (usually his dad gets him Friday night). So we walked across the Junior High field, which borders our house, to Main St in Centerville where they have the parade. This is the first time I have taken my kids to one, and the first one I had been to in many years!

It was a long parade, with lots of floats from businesses, churches and schools, as well as marching bands and dancers. There were also a number of really need classic cars.

This guys on the tall unicycle was really good, he even juggled 3 long knives at one point!

The kids really enjoyed it and looked great in their patriotic colored clothes! They got lots of candy thrown to them, and these little American Flags too, which they waved very proudly =)

After the parade, Jordan's dad came and got him, and Dave, Camilla and I got ready to have a BBQ =) We invited over Grandma, and Justin, Candyce, Chloe and Maya. I bought a new slip n' slide for the occasion, and the girls had a great time playing on it! Camilla enjoyed a little sunbathing too =D

After Grandma went home, we decided to go up the hill to see if we could spot any fireworks to the North of us. We were actually able to see 3 or 4 different fireworks shows off in the distance, as well as plenty of illegal fireworks set off in the neighborhoods surrounding us! Here is a shaky picture I got that shows fireworks going off in 3 different locations in the distance.

When Dave, Camilla and I got home, the neighbors were setting off firecrackers and asked us if we would like to join them. They had A LOT of big fountains so it was quite a show.

Overall, a very FUN 4th of July 2009!

Noah's Birthday Party

For Cassandra's son Noah's 9th birthday this year, she had a party at this cool place by their house called Kangaroo Zoo. Inside they have a bunch of the big blow up slides and jumping things that the kids can play on as long as they want for a fixed price.



The birthday boy!



This was probably one of the steepest slides there, and Camilla (in the purple dress) was just flying!!



The kids ran around practically non-stop for almost 2 hours, and finally started to run out of steam =)




Thankfully though they have water fountains to keep everyone well hydrated.



After that we went back to Cassandra's house to open presents and have cake and ice cream.




Noah's birthday is actually on July 5th, but since that was a Sunday this year, Cassandra had the party on Friday the 3rd. Lucky for us North Salt Lake does their July 4th fireworks on July 3rd, and we could see them from Cassandra's deck. These are just a couple of pictures I got of them!

Dinners in the Canyon

On a few different weekends this summer we have gone up into a canyon in the are to have a campfire dinner. It really helps to get out of the heat in the Valley, and as far as I am concerned it includes a lot of the fun of camping without all the packing, planning and sleeping outside =D



By far, Camilla's favorite part is roasting marshmallows, and I really like that part too!

A couple of times Justin, Candyce and the kids joined us too.

We have really enjoyed our trips up the canyons, but we have learned one really big lesson:

Camilla should NOT wear flip flops when we will be walking on uneven pathways! She tends to fall a lot, and this last picture of her sad little face is after one of those times.

There were plenty of bug bites, scrapes and bruises, but even more happy memories!

Swimming at the Rec Center

In June, we were able to buy a 1 Year Family Pass to the Davis Recreation Center. They have gym equipment, fitness classes, basketball and raquetball courts, an ice skating rink, but most importantly 3 swimming pools and a big water slide!
I have my friend Cassandra's kids Noah and Megan on Tuesday, so we have been going swimming pretty much every Tuesday all summer long! The kids have an absolute blast, and I am more tan than I have been in years =D

Plus since the boys are both 9 or older (Noah turned 9 the beginning of July), and they know how to swim, they don't need supervision by me in the water! Their favorite thing to do is go to the competition pool and dive.

We only have a few weeks left before the kids start school, but we will keep going swimming on Tuesdays until then!

10 Year High School "Get Together"

As the end of the school year approached in 2009, it was strange to think that High School ended for me 10 years ago. Cass arranged for a few of us to get together and have dinner, prowl around the old highschool, and visit a couple of the places that were so familiar to us at that time.

Cass, Amy and I met at Highland High School in Sugarhouse, Utah at about 5:45pm yesterday and walked around for a bit. It was cool to see that the interior of the school has changed very little since we went there as students. We walked the halls and reminiced about days past.

This is the 3 of us in front of the Rams statue which is in the foyer just inside the school.



We went to dinner at the Olive Garden and then headed up into the hill to visit the "H Rock". It was really windy, but we managed to get a great picture of the 3 of us with the H in the background.



After the H Rock, we went back to the school and took some pictures outside. This is me in front of the door that we most commonly used to enter the school everyday.



They are putting in a new field and track right now, so we couldn't get down there, but from Sugarhouse park there is a great view of it. We were the Highland Rams. Lots of memories in this area of the school.



Before we went home, we drove around the surrounding neighborhoods and checked out the houses we lived in. This is my old house at 1401 Hollywood Ave. The fence to the right was installed by us more than 11 years ago, and although you can't see them, the Flowering Pear trees that we planted along the street on the left are taller than the house now.



It was a fun night of looking back, and I am glad that I was able to be a part of it. I still can't believe it, 10 years out of high school, it doesn't seem like it coulod have possible been that long ago =)