Field Trip to the Fire Station

Today I got to go on a field trip with the girl's preschool class. There's a cute little boy named Ethan in the class, and his Dad is a firefighter, so he was kind enough to let us come to his station. The firemen were so kind and patient with the children. They let the kids shoot out a fire with a hose, climb all over the fire engines, meet Sparky, the mascot, and try on the fire clothing and hats. The kids were treated to plastic fireman hats and a goody bag full of great prizes. The girls had so much fun and learned a lot about the duties of a fireman.

Dr. Oz

I had the opportunity to go with my friend Emily to a Dr. Oz event in Colorado. If you're a girl, you probably know who Dr. Oz is, because he is the medical expert on Oprah. He is really amazing, intelligent and entertaining. I came home with a new outlook on having my family live a more healthy lifestyle. Nick said, "I've been telling you for years that the kids need to eat more healthy, but Dr. Oz tells you once and you listen?" He says that 70% of our health depends on the choices we make everyday. It was a great lecture, and I'm so glad I got to attend. If you want information on Dr. Oz, Here's the link.

YEAH MON, Jamaica!

Nick and I just got back from Paradise! We met our friends Mike and Mindi Smith there. This vacation was for our 13th anniversary, and also a reward for Nick and Mike passing their boards. Sun, Pina Coladas, Beach, good friends and food, what more could we ask for? Nick said he could have stayed 5 more days, but after 7, I was more than ready to see my kids. Tasha did a wonderful job here with our kids, I was able to relax and not worry about them at home. Our days were packed with many activities and excursions. We went sea kayaking, sailing, rode the Jamaican bobsleds, went scuba diving, snorkeled, climbed Dunn's Falls, Zip lined in the jungle, and enjoyed relaxing by the pool. The Jamaicans are ready to please, anything we wanted, they would say, "Yeah mon, no problem." There were 6 restaurants, and 4 open bars in the resort. Food everywhere! Someone to make your omelet in the morning, and someone to give you an extra little cookie with your creme brule at night. Nick was dissapointed that all he got for breakfast this morning was Capt'n Crunch. They pull out your chair, put a napkin on your lap, and clean up all of your crumbs as you go. The presentation of the food was amazing, some of it looked better than it tasted, but they get an A for appearance.
We all took a scuba diving class, it lasted about an hour, and then take you 40 feet deep to the ocean floor. It was a little intimadating for Me and Mindi, but Nick and Mike were addicted. They both decided to get certified, so they did several more dives, including a sunken ship. They had to pass a written and underwater skills test and now they are open water scuba certified. I ended up really loving snorkeling, it's less of a committment, because you're so close to the surface. I saw the most amazing sea life, it was so beautiful! We went to a coral reef and saw hundreds of brightly colored fish, sea urchins, an octopus, eels, squid, crabs, sting rays, and lots of sea plants. Jamaica is a beautiful, scenic country, I'm so glad we had the opportunity to see it ourselves. Maybe in 5 years we'll take the kids and go back.

Halloween

The kids had so much fun this Halloween, we got their costumes early, and they've been looking forward to Halloween for weeks. They all had great Halloween parties at school. We had an unseasonably warm Halloween night here, so the kids were comfortable and happy trick-or-treating. Tasha flew in on Halloween afternoon so it was fun to have her with us. She was brave and kind enough to come watch our kids for a week while Nick and I vacationed. We left at 9:30 p.m. on Halloween to drive to Denver to fly to Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Sidney, Nebraska

Nick has been encouraging Isaac to pick a sport to play, but Isaac is just not interested at all. Isaac is really good at bowling on the wii, in fact, he gets turkeys(3 strikes in a row) very frequently. So Isaac decided that he'd like to try bowling as his sport of choice. This was not Nick's idea of a cool sport, but wanted to give Isaac a shot. We had planned to go bowling here in Cheyenne last Thursday, but Nick ended up working late and we weren't able to go. We decided to go yesterday, so we loaded up and drove to the local bowling alley. We got there and the parking lot was overflowing, we walked in and the place was packed with people in halloween costumes. We came home and called the bowling alleys in Laramie, but they were booked up with "Bowling for the Cure". We called Ft. Collins, CO., but they had parties and leagues all day. Nick decided that we could drive the 100 miles to Sidney, Nebraska to go bowling and visit Cabela's. It was the kid's first time bowling, and they had a lot of fun and were very well behaved. None of us broke 100 points, and we were using bumpers(it's a lot easier on the wii!). After our game of bowling, we went to Cabela's, it is huge! The kids enjoyed eating at the cafe, watching the fish, and looking at the animal displays. I asked each family member what their favorite part of the day was, and these are their answers:
Savannah- "I liked the rainbow trout." She loved the aquarium with the different species of fish. We were there looking at fish for 30 minutes, and she still didn't want to leave.
Sophia- "My favorite part was the big huge elephant."
Isaac-"I liked the bowling alley, and getting to pick a treat from the vending machine."
Emily-The best part of the trip for me was buying a cute necklace at Cabela's. I also like spending time with the family and seeing the kids happy.
Nick-The best part for me was coming home."

Bowling Cupcakes

Isaac wanted to make bowling cupcakes, so I told him if he was good for the primary program and did a good job on his part we could make them. He did a fairly good job sitting still on the stand, and said his part pretty clearly. It is always a risk getting him in front of a microphone, so we were expecting the worst. A few months ago he gave a talk in primary on prophets, I was helping him out and he was reading along nicely, then he yelled very loudly, "Joseph Smith was an American!!" I guess he behaved well enough during the program to deserve the cupcakes. This was a big project and I ended up making them by myself because Isaac lost interest. Next time I bribe him, I'll make his reward something more simple.