When the boys are away....

...the girls will play.

Randy and Brad went deer hunting this weekend so Claire and I spent the weekend in Salt Lake.

Friday night was Tori's birthday. We went to dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate. Afterward we went to see Odyssey Dance Company's Thriller at Kingsbury Hall. It was amazing as usual.



After the show we went to the Cheesecake Factory for some celebratory cheesecake. I love celebrating. It should be Tori's birthday everyday!!!




Saturday my mom, Tori, and my friend Kristen May went to Ikea. A trip to SLC would not be complete without getting lost in that store.

Then we headed to Gardner Village to see the witches. Claire was obsessed with the one that shakes her booty. She could have stayed there all day. My mom was baby sitting Aaron's cute kids Corbin and Jacob and Krisin brought here little girl Elle. It took all four of us women to keep us all together. It was fun.














Dream on girls...



Saturday night was rainy cold and stormy. My mom bought bread bowls the size of our heads. The bakery had JUST taken them out of the oven. On the way home I opened the box at least a dozen times to sniff them. My mom kept slapping my hands. OH baby they smelled so good. My sister Julie bought stuff to decorate cupcakes for the kids. Claire had to taste test everything.



The candy teeth is a must with candy corns.



Claire's favorite part was the hot tub. She loves getting in with Papa Moose. Don't they look miserable??





After dinner and putting the kids to bed, we played Balderdash. I have not laughed that hard in a long time. It got to the point that I thought I was going to barf. I tried describing it to Randy when I got home. It didn't sound as funny then. It was one of those had to be there moments.

The next day we went to Eric and Natalie's ward. There girls had their primary program. It was cute. I can't believe all our kids are getting so old and grown up.

Mom made a really good dinner then it was time to say goodbye. I hate goodbye....

....but boy I missed my Bradley and Randy.

Stay-cation

Brad was out of school for UEA break. We had originally planned to go camping for the weekended. We have been so busy and crazy that we decided to forgo the packing up and have a stay-cation. First on the list was Hill Aerospace Museum.



I wish we could have captured Brad's reaction on video when we pulled up and he saw the airplanes. It was so funny. He was blown away by the BIG airplanes. I have never been there and I have to admit I was a bit taken back as well. After the initial reaction Brad ran from airplane to airplane taking it all in. It was the fastest museum trip I have ever had.




Brad loved the airplanes with paintings on the side. Maybe in a few years he will be more impressed with the engines than the paint.


On Friday we invited our friends the Heaps to go fishing with us. We lived next door to them when we lived in the duplex. Brad was so excited to see Landon. They used to play for hours in our old back yard.

We packed a lunch and drove to Tony's Grove. It was so beautiful quiet and peaceful...until we arrived with a carload of kids....and a dog. We didn't catch anything because we were so chaotic but we had a TON of fun.



















On the way home we drove through Logan Canyon to try to scope out some good camping spots for next year. I didn't realize there was so much land off the main canyon road. We hit the jackpot. There were tons of great places to camp.

We stopped by Old Ephraim's grave. Ephriam is an almost 10 foot bear that was hunted for years in Logan.



Brad got a kick out of it but Claire was a bit freaked out that someone killed that poor bear. She is a girl inside and out.

The rest of the weekend we spent working in the yard and playing catch up. It was the perfect stay-cation.

Time is Money

I made these Halloween cookies last week. I didn't realize how BIG of a project it was going to be. I have always wanted to try flooding with royal frosting. I now understand why these cookies cost $4 a piece at the bakery. They take forever. It will be a really long time before I do it again so I figured I better take a picture to remind me not to do it again. I'll just buy them.

Boo at the Zoo

Randy went Elk hunting with his family last week. While he was gone I took the kids to Boo at the Zoo in Logan. The kids will take any excuse to dress up. They had carnival games and animal encounters. They had a huge python for the kids to touch. Now Brad wants a pet snake. I DON'T THINK SO!!!! I told him he could visit the Zoo anytime to visit snakes. I don't ever want to own one.

Bipolar Season

This week we have been decorating for Halloween....





...and swimming like it was the middle of summer!!!




Go Figure?!?!?!?!?!?