Zoomies, Inventions, Car Issues, SNOW, Mouth Hardware, Blessings

We have had a slower week which hasn't been bad.  We are all hitting our groove after getting back to school and starting a new term.  Some things still remain the same, though.  Like Sophie getting the 'zoomies' every time a kid walks through the door from school.  She attacks them with kisses and run around like a crazy dog.  She's a funny dog!  The kids love it.  Good thing she isn't a big dog!  She was excited to see Josh yesterday:

 Noah had a basketball game last Wednesday.  He still is not too interested in the game, but he did touch the ball twice so that's a win, right?!  He is the green #6 in the middle of the picture looking at the ball and thinking about what he should do about it :).

 At school Sarah and Daniel are involved in the SEM program.  SEM  (Schoolwide Enrichment Model) is a program that supports students who demonstrate high academic achievement and those who have specific interests and abilities.   This last term Daniel's SEM age group had to come up with an invention.  I had no idea they were doing this until Daniel brought his poster of his idea home after they presented it to a few classes.  I had to laugh at what he chose since it was so Daniel-like :).  He chose to make 'The Table Cleaner'.  

The inspiration for his invention was because he basically has a mean mom that makes him and Josh wipe off the counter/table after dinner and he HATES that job.  That is how he came up with the 'Table Cleaner'.  

 He drew a picture of what it would look like and how future models would improve.

 He also had to problem shoot for his possible invention and write down a few solutions:

 Then he had to show how he would market the 'Table Cleaner' where he chose to sell it at Walmart for $95.99.  For that price I think I will stick with my original 'Table Cleaner' models named Josh and Daniel--haha!

 He was excited to bring home his project and show us.  He wasn't happy when I told him I would stick with the original models, though--haha!  Besides we would miss out on the fun times like what happened the other night.  After dinner I told Josh and Daniel to wipe down the counters.  They were running over there arguing with each other about which counter each would get.  Daniel lost the argument and went to kick Josh, but missed and landed flat on the floor.  Josh thought it was hilarious--Daniel not so much--haha!  No motorized table cleaner would bring such fun entertainment as watching that episode unfold ;).

Oh the car issues just aren't ending with us.  I had to meet up with Aaron the other day to switch out cars with him since his was acting a bit weird and he didn't want to get stranded AGAIN.  It was weird driving the Elantra home.  I don't hardly drive that car so I wasn't used to all the different places the switches are (windshield wipers, headlights, etc.).  I am sure the people in the cars in front of me were wondering why I was flashing them with my brights when I only wanted to turn on the windshield wipers.  Good thing I was able to get it back home without being stranded.  However, I did forget that the driver's inside door handle was broken so I had to roll down the window so I could open the door from the outside which was pretty awesome:

 We were going to save the Elantra for Josh to drive, but I don't know if it will last the two years until he gets his license. I think at this point we are DONE with old cars and their problems so we are selling the Elantra and the Suburban and are hoping to get Aaron a newer car with the proceeds.  Aaron can't wait.  He is not a fan of needing to roll down the window in the middle of winter to show his ID to get on BASE and to actually get out of the car every time.  I can't say as I blame him.  Hopefully they will sell soon and he can get a fully functioning car :).  Who knows maybe that broken door handle could be worded to be a selling feature...Car has unique entry system--haha!  Anyway, I will be a bit sad to see the Elantra go, though, because that is the car we have had our entire dating and marriage--over 18 years.  When we were first married it was our only car for a few years, too.  While Aaron was in school and I was working he had to take me to work at 6 pm and pick me back up the next morning at 6:30 am if he ever wanted to use the car while I was at work.  A funny story that it reminds me of is one morning Aaron had to pick me up from work.  He is NOT a morning person so he was driving the 30 minutes to pick me up half awake.  He ended up hitting a duck waddling across the huge, empty highway on the way to pick me up.  He felt horrible.  I just wondered how he hit it since ducks are not fast animals.  He must have been really tired that morning...Anyway, you can just call him the duck slayer--haha!  There's been lots of trips and memories made in that car.  Occasionally we still find glitter inside from when it was decorated after we got married.  There's memories like going on our honeymoon in it, bringing home Matthew from the hospital after he was born, driving to Texas and getting lost along the way, a fender bender while we were dating, etc. so it is a bit sentimental, but some times you just need to move on. I had to get a picture of Aaron driving it because I don't know how many more times he will drive it:

Sarah being in one of the performance groups she had a performance last week at an assisted living center.  I think the residents enjoyed watching the girls perform.

 We have been hit pretty hard with snow this past week.  It has been crazy!  Thankfully, our neighbor got a four wheeler with a plow and has been having fun playing with it.  He has cleared our driveway for us a few times which I am so grateful for!  We have some pretty good neighbors all around us which is awesome!  There is so much snow as you can see from our front yard:

Hopefully we won't have a drought year this year since there has been so much snow!!

This morning Sarah got her palette expander put in.  She wouldn't talk to me very much before she went to school so I couldn't tell if she had a lisp or not.  I just know it is a mouth full of hardware as you can see:

 We have to turn it a full turn every night for 16 nights.  Then the lucky girl gets to have braces put on in a month.  She was excited this morning, but we will see how she feels as the day goes on.

 I have had some neat experiences this week.  Since Matthew has started this whole puberty thing his emotions and behavior has been all over the map.  Most the time we can roll with it, but it isn't easy.  Sunday as we were getting out of the car to go inside the church Matthew had a complete meltdown.  It was a whole kicking, screaming, hitting, scratching and biting meltdown.  It was so bad Aaron had to take him back home which wasn't easy.  Matthew is getting big and hard to control when he has his mind set on something.  That is not the best way to start out church to say the least.  I was having a bit of a hard time, but trying to put on my best Sunday smile.  During Relief Society a sister came in late and sat by me.  After Relief Society was over she started talking with me.  She has a child with some difficulties, too.  It was so nice to be able to talk to someone about what had happened earlier in the day to someone who is struggling with some of the same things, too.  It was something I really needed.  I think that sometimes the Lord puts people in our path at times when we really need them.  I was thankful for her that day.  We spent the next 30 minutes talking about our kids after church.  My poor kids had to wait for me, but they were pretty patient, though.  While we were talking they just covered the chalkboard with all kinds of chalk art :).  As we were leaving she gave me a big hug and told me she thought I was doing an awesome job.  I almost burst into tears hearing that because I always think the worst about my parenting skills especially with what had happened earlier in the day.  She didn't realize how much I needed to hear that right then.  I am so grateful!  I sometimes get caught up in comparing my Tuesday trials to everyone's Sunday smiles.  However, I am trying to remember that even though things may look perfect on the outside you never know what different struggles people are dealing with that are hidden from view.  After talking with this sister we both think that everyone is a hot mess some people just hide it better than others ;).

Another tender mercy is when we were figuring out our budget with our new car payment figured in. I HATE having a car payment, but it beats being stranded on the side of the road with an unreliable car!  Anyway, Aaron ended up getting a raise from work which covers a lot of our new car payment.  Oh I was so excited after hearing the news.  It is things like that that let me know that He is aware of me and my day to day life.  It doesn't necessarily take the trials away, but gives us a way to bear them.  I am counting my blessings as of late.  

Dance Recital, Hardware Ranch, Sick, Crazy Questions, Suburban

We have been keeping pretty busy these last almost two weeks.  Sarah had her dance dress rehearsal last Friday.  She always loves to get dolled up for dress rehearsals and the actual recital.  As soon as she came home from school she asked to start getting ready. I must admit it is fun to get her ready :).  Here's my beautiful girl:

 Since she is in one of the performance dance groups she has three different dances and three different costumes.  She looks cute in all three if I do say so myself although I may be a bit biased--haha!

 Unfortunately, she started getting sick over the weekend.  By Sunday night she had a croupy cough and a fever.  She stayed home from school Monday where we had some 'Girl Time' as Sarah called it.  I hate seeing her sick, but I didn't mind the snuggles, though.

 At dinner time we try to keep things interesting.  After everyone tells about their day we have a Crazy Question Box.  It asks some really random questions that get the kids thinking.  It is interesting to hear their responses.

 This was the last question we pulled out of the box:

 Aaron and I got all kinds of pointers and advice from the kids ranging from not making them do any chores or go to school as well as letting them eat candy for breakfast.  They also told us not to ever get mad at them....hmmmm what funny kids!  I wonder if there is a question of how we as parents could offer constructive tips on how to be a better kid--haha!

By Tuesday morning Sarah was feeling a lot better which was good since she had a field trip that day.  I got to be a parent volunteer--wahoo!  We rode the buses over to the IMAX theater to see Born to Be Wild.  I had a group of 6 kids which were a bit hard to keep track of since they seemed to have ants in their pants.  Good thing I didn't lose anybody long term, though.  We all made it back to the school as a group--phew!  Here we are waiting for the movie to start:

 The next morning Sarah got to start her orthodontic treatment.  We have been waiting until our Flex Spending money reset at the beginning of January to get started so since it is January--here we are starting treatment.  Her mouth is really tiny and is not allowing her permanent teeth to come in at all so she is getting prepped to get an palate expander and in a few months she will get braces put on.  Lucky girl.  She was actually excited to start, but I think her excitement will wane once she gets the palate expander in...I guess we will wait and see.  She had to get molds of her mouth made so that's why she looks like that.  When I took this picture I told her this was a good look for her and she should ask if she could keep the mouth things to wear around school.  She didn't think I was very funny, though.

After getting the molds done she got some spacers put in between her back molars which she didn't like too much.  After that she went back to school.

Wednesday Noah had a basketball game.  For some reason I didn't get any pictures, but he did play.  He really likes wearing his jersey, but is not as interested in playing the game.  Oh well what can you do?!  At least he loved playing around with the other boys despite it being in the middle of the court during the actual basketball game--crazy kid!

Thursday night Sarah had her actual dance recital.  Again as soon as she got home from school she wanted to start getting ready so we did.  I love having my beautiful girly girl!

 She loves dancing.  Here's her first dance.  She is in the front stepping around the hay bale:

 Here's her second dance where she is in the back:

 Here's her 3rd dance where she is in the back row:

 Of course she needed her flowers afterward!

 Here's a picture of all three of her costumes:

 Friday morning Aaron and I actually made it to the temple to do a session.  It had been a while since we had been and our lives have been a bit stressful as of late.  It was a nice break that we both needed and enjoyed.  It was hard to jump back into the craziness when we got finished.  Anyway, Friday afternoon I was busy getting ready for a party that we were having for all the Activity Day girls and their moms.  I was excited to help out since this is my new calling and also be there with Sarah.  We cooked mini pizzas on waffle irons and they turned out pretty good.  We had salad, cinnamon rolls, and cheesy bread sticks to go along with the pizzas.  It was a fun night and I was glad I was able to spend it with Sarah as well as all 21+ Activity Day girls and their moms.

The next morning Daniel had a basketball game.  He loves playing and actually does a pretty good job being a team player.  Here's an action shot as he was warming up before the game.  He's right under the basket:

 Saturday night Aaron and I had an actual date.  After living in England way back when and experiencing what yummy authentic fish and chips taste like I have yet to find some really good ones around here.  We thought we would try out a small (and I mean really small hole in the wall) restaurant called Little Taste of Britain to see if they had some good ones.  Unfortunately, their fish and chips weren't my favorite, but they still tasted ok.  It was fun to try it out, though.

 Afterward we attended a show of the Improvables which is a comedy group that does improvisations from suggestions they get from the audience.  They are pretty funny and CLEAN which is nice.  Aaron had never been to a show so we tried it out.  It was a fun night.  Here's my hunna making me laugh as we were attempting a selfie:

It was a funny show.  Hopefully we will be able to go again sometime.

Since this was a LONG holiday weekend we tried to make the most of it.  The kids had Monday off for MLK day and Tuesday off since it was a teacher professional day.  Monday for Martin Luther King Day (since we had to celebrate it according to Matthew ;)) we headed up to Hardware Ranch to see the elk herd.  It was COLD!  Unfortunately, the power to the main visitor center was out so we had to use the nasty outhouse restrooms with frozen pee slush all over the floor--ick!  What can you do when desperate times call for desperate measures?!  Sometimes this being a girl thing doesn't work out in the potty department too well, but what can you do?!  Anyway, the power outage did end up working out in our favor since with the power being out they weren't able to run a cash register for payment so everyone got to do the sleigh rides for free--wahoo!  You can't beat free!  SWEET!  Here we are sitting down on the sleigh getting ready to go out to see the elk.  Did I mention it was COLD?!  Noah can't seem to take a 'normal' picture anymore--the crazy kid!

 I always love being able to see the elk so close up.  There were quite a few of them since it was cold and there was a lot of snow they come down from the upper elevations to eat the hay the DWR places out for them.

They nick named this one goal post since his antlers were so straight, big and tall:

 We got a quick picture by the Clydesdale horses that drove the sleigh around the fields.

 Of course no trip to Cache Valley is complete without a stop by the Gossner's outlet!  We picked up some Pepper Jack cheese (Aaron's favorite), two cases of individual 8oz boxes of flavored shelf stable milk  (it makes Daniel's daily OIT maintenance dose of milk so much easier), and a bag of Squeaky Cheese which we all love:

 Driving out to Hardware Ranch is out in the middle of nowhere without cell service.  When we finally got within cell range on the way home we had a voicemail telling us our Suburban was finally fixed and we could pick it up anytime.  The Chevy dealership had had the Suburban for almost three weeks waiting for the engine to come in.  The engine kept getting delayed due to all the snowstorms that we have gotten the last few weeks.  Anyway after hearing that voicemail it was good and bad news.  The good news is we finally got it back.  The bad news is we actually now had to pay for the new engine that was put in which was quite painful.  That was a lot of money to say the least--OUCH!  Last years car problems really took a toll on our savings--ugh.  Hopefully we can build it back up again soon--dang cars!  Anyway, when we got to the dealership to pick it up I guess they had to not only replace the engine, but the starter had died, too.  Thankfully, they replaced that without charging us for it as well.  It's the little things you have to be thankful for--haha!  It was interesting driving it home because it drives a bit different than it did before.  It seems to drive smoother and quieter than it did before.  It was really weird to drive it again after driving the van for three weeks--haha!  They did wash it for us, too.

 Since we picked it up late Monday night I spent all day Tuesday cleaning it and replacing the windshield to get it ready to sell.  The kids had Tuesday off from school, but we didn't go anywhere.  Even if I didn't have to clean up the inside of the Suburban we wouldn't have been able to go anywhere since Sarah had a 102 degree fever all day anyway.  BOO!  I have no idea what her problem is since she doesn't have any symptoms to cause a fever--like snotty nose, cough, no urinary tract infection symptoms, etc.  I guess we will just wait and see what happens.  In the meantime I will update the blog, list the Suburban to sell and snuggle with my sick girl.

The fun just never ends--haha!

Ice Castles, Back to Reality, Basketball, Blackmail, COLD

Another crazy week has come and gone.  It was hard getting back to school and into a routine this week, but we seemed to manage somewhat.  Sunday night the kids were exhausted since they had stayed up late the night before to celebrate the new year.  Right after dinner we sat down to watch a show together and before long Sarah had fallen asleep on Aaron.  Noah was fading fast, too.  Aaron didn't mind the snuggles, though.

 Since New Years landed on a Sunday that meant Aaron got Monday off--wahoo!  To celebrate we decided to use our discount passes to the Midway Ice Castles.  Of course you can't go over that way without stopping by 'The Train' aka Dairy Keen in Heber City.  Since G&G T sold the cabin we don't go to Heber very often so the kids (and especially Aaron) miss eating at Dairy Keen.  Of course Aaron and Josh got the Train Burger and had no problems finishing it.  Aaron was nice enough to let me have a small bite, though :).  They are really yummy burgers!

 Matthew was almost too excited by the trains going around the ceiling to eat his food.  Every time it passed over the top of our table Matthew got excited and flappy.  Haha!  He loves his trains!

 After lunch we got to the Ice Castles.  We had never been before and it has been something I have wanted to do for a while so when I saw discount tickets I bought them.  The place didn't disappoint.  It was pretty neat.

 The Ice Castles form ice sculptures from freezing running water along sturdy forms.  It ends up making huge ice formations you can walk through, slide down, look at, etc.  Here's Sarah walking through an archway:

 They even have ice benches throughout you can sit on, however, it made your bum pretty cold.  We are sitting on an ice throne.  You can kind of make out the spikes of the throne behind us:

 It was beautiful.  I was sad there weren't any openings at night because I think seeing them illuminated with lights at night would have been neat.  Nevertheless it was nice to see them in the daylight, too.

 Another ice bench and trust me when I say our bums were COLD!!

 They had ice slides the kids liked going down.  However, Josh was a bit too long to fit comfortably through the chute and down the slide:

 Sarah and Noah were just the right size to fit:

 There was another slide that was wider the kids all tried out, too.  Here's Josh, Sarah who are going down the slide and Noah who is in line:

 Daniel tried his speed racer from on his turn down the slide:

 Matthew only tried it a few times before he was too cold to do it anymore.  I don't blame the poor kid--it was COLD!

 They had another slide that was for adults as well as kids.  To get to it you had to slide through a huge ice cave.  Aaron just went through the ice cave/archway to get to the top of the slide:

 Of course Aaron and I had to race down the slide and I was the big winner!  Wahoo!  I was the one of the right hand side:

 Daniel and Sarah raced:

 There were a few more archways the kids liked going through:

 Here's all five kids looking through a 'window' in one of the ice forms:

 It was a bit eerie standing underneath the huge icicles.

 More exploring:

 You can't get a good feel of the place, but we tried by taking a few panoramic pictures, though:

 Of course Josh made sure he was in both of them....

 Another ice bench:

 We did a few more times down the big slide.  Here's Sarah and Daniel waiting for their turn:

 The ice slides were pretty fun.  Here's all the kids racing:

That night the kids were worn out.  However, Noah always seem to fight bedtime.  I will tuck him, but he doesn't stay.  He seems to have springs on his bum and will immediately come back out because he needs more lubs.  How can I resist that?!  So I let him sit by me and he will sometimes fall asleep.  Everyone must have been tired that night because as Aaron and I were watching a show, before I knew it Aaron was asleep on my shoulder, Noah was asleep on my lap and Sophie was asleep right next to me.  I didn't want to wake them up, but I finally had to move since  I was starting to get really uncomfortable.  Crazy family!

 Noah had his first basketball game this week.  Hmmmm let's just say it was interesting to watch....He looked cute in his uniform (or his costume as he referred to it), though:

Noah was more interested in playing with friends than he was in playing the game.  The coach figured that one out and paired him up to guard another kid that was more interested in friends than the game, too.  Those two just ended up running around in circles around the court while the other players were actually trying to play the game.  Sigh...We got a video of the circle running here:

Part of the boys' chores is to take out the garbage from the garbage cans around the house for garbage day.  Daniel didn't want to look for his own shoes so he just slipped on the closest thing around which happened to be Sarah's purple boots.  I snapped a quick black mail picture before Daniel realized what I was doing--haha!  I kept teasing him saying purple was his color.  He was not amused--haha!

 We have gotten so much snow lately!  This last storm was so bad they had a two hour late start for the school district which doesn't happen very often.  You can see how much snow we got:

 Now the storm has passed it is COLD!!  The kids had piano this morning and as I was driving them around the temperature read -8 degrees.  However, by the time I actually could take a picture of it,
 it had warmed up to -6 degrees.  It is so COLD!!!