Winter is Here!!!

 

Yep, our first good snow storm. The kids had thier cousins spending the night and needless to say they had a day filled with snowball fights and hot coca. Dad on the other hand had a day of shoveling. Oh well it was a storm that was much needed.

Happy Halloween!!!

Yes Halloween… Jon contemplated whether or not he was going to do a spook alley this year, but after family friends and neighbors encouraged him to not end the tradition, he gave in. So by October 1st, the yard began popping up with items like Fencing, Tombstones and coffins. A few days later, Grim Reapers, Skeletons, and Freaks. Then the caged Werewolf and Freddy Kruger, and as the month went on, the carport, the fencing and the back yard. Yes even with Jon’s procedure that was scheduled so conveniently by his wife in the middle of October (how rude.), he managed to get everything in place and working for Halloween night. This being Laurissa’s first year not “trick or treating” she was eager to help with the haunting. And with the help of Sarah’s brother David, Laurissa’s friends Faith and Cindy Parry a neighbors and local church members, we successfully scared a lot of kids and adults. Even Alison and Kason joined in the fun. We had over 140 kids alone not including parents, aunts or uncles. We were able to collect a good amount of food for the Utah Food Bank as well. Thanks to all those who helped us out this year, supporting, helping, and donating. It makes it worth it and always make for a fun memories.

Now time to clean it all up…

 

Roller Boogie

Midvalley elementary had their “Family Skate Night” and boy did the kids have fun Laurissa and Alison like to skate and have fun at Classic Skate Center, but when Kason is not beating up kids at school, he can tear it up on the dance floor. Watch this video of Kason, dad admits, he would have fallen attempting such a feat.

Back to School.

Yeah!!! Or should we say Aww??? Yes another year has begun for the kids, Laurissa’s last year before hitting the high school, Alison’s last year before she heads to middle school. But Kason gets to start his first year of kindergarten and boy is he excited. And can you imagine mom’s excitement to have a whole 3hrs to her self each day to do hair or nap… Ahhhhh.

Picnic in the Mountains

So with the seasons changing, we decided to take a family night to the mountains. Nothing like the crisp clean mountain air, being surrounded by trees, and pizza…(or subs, whatever you decide to bring)

Harvest Days and Summer BBQ's

Well August is here and that means, Midvale Harvest Days… Time for Block parties and BBQ’s. Yes our neighborhood informed us upon moving into the property that we would host the block party on our front lawn. This is not a big deal, Jon just has to make sure the lawn is clean cut and the tables are out by the time people start to arrive with the food. It is pretty much a potluck and Jon got to make homemade Root Beer this year, Yummy!!! A wide variety of food, bingo, and music made it a good afternoon with the neighbors and the local city officers.

And of course I have to have our family BBQ on that Saturday. Between catching the city parade and preparing to cook up Jon’s traditional ribs and smoked chicken and salmon. The rest of the day was a blur. But we had a great time and the food… Well need I say more…

 

ON VACATION....

Ahhh, time to get away and relax… Really? Do we as parents really ever get to truly relax when taking the entire family on vacation? Nevertheless, we tend to make the best memories during those trips whether or not we get to relax. This year we ventured to sunny southern California. Although it was meant to be just the 5 of us it worked out that we had a lot of family making the visit to California at the same time. We ended up in beautiful San Diego and stayed at a “Hostile”, something that I was never aware existed. If you ever get the chance I encourage you to try it some time, you have the opportunity to meet very interesting and friendly people. I think the kids enjoyed the experience. While in San Diego Jon’s brother Christian rented a house on the beach for his 40^th birthday and was constantly surrounded by family and friends for the week. Between all the amazing meals that were prepared for breakfasts and dinners, we partied it up for the weekend. The rest of our San Diego visit was spent on the beach and Jon almost got his fill of the beaching experience. Another highlight was taking the kids to Knott’s Berry Farm, and believe us we worked that place like it was nobodies business. And what would a vacation be without visiting family. Between all the fun, being able to visit aunts, uncles, and grandparents make the trip that much more special. Which lead us to our final destination of our trip, Lake Havasu City  Arizona. The kids have always enjoyed visiting grandpa and grandma Seamans. 4 days filled with swimming and sunshine guaranteed to wear out any child. Sadly all vacations have to come to an end, but at least we made a special trip by the Hoover Dam for our eldest daughter who was eager to see where “it all began” (that being of course the Transformer Legacy). Although an Historical National landmark, Sarah swears that she will never visit the damn Dam again. Saddened that we were arriving home sun baked, tired, we couldn’t wait to get back to school and work… NOT!!!

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Happy Birthday America

Hope you all enjoyed your Independence Day festivities. We kept ourselves pretty busy even for a holiday. Our Ward held a 4^th of July Pancake breakfast and Flag ceremony. Of course Jon was asked to do the sound for the Flag ceremony and program then the music for the breakfast. So even for a day off of work, he got an early start to be fully set up for sunrise. After the breakfast we cleaned up and rushed to the local 4^th of July parade. Then back home to prepare food for a BBQ later that afternoon at Brenda’s house (One of Sarah’s good friends from cosmetology school). The remainder of our day included Swimming, good food, and watching fireworks from the rooftop.