Cold but fantastic weekend

Well Utah is still Utah in that the weather is still doing its own thing.  On Friday we also got to experience a mini snow storm.  Colt had fun having a snowball fight with his friends...how there was enough snow for that I do not know but ok.  Aspen was more content to stay indoors and stay warm.  The kids weren't wanting to go outside after dinner (too cold) so we watched a movie instead.  And luckily we found one that we all could agree on, Despicable Me 3 because I hadn't seen it yet.  I popped the kids some popcorn and we enjoyed the movie.  Due to our Saturday activities, we headed to bed after the movie.

On Saturday morning, we were up bright and early to head down to Las Vegas for Colten's first karate tournament.  He was super excited when Mr. Moore told him about it and really wanted to do it.  He missed doing the scouting expo with his scouts but I think he was ok with that.  We got down to the karate school early so that Colten could see how the tournament works and what the other division boys were doing.  This tournament was held at a karate school down in Vegas.  That first division had a lot of participants and it was very crowded with parents watching.  But the second group wasn't nearly as bad.  Colten went up against 3 other boys in forms.  Colt and one other boy had to do their form twice so the judges could make a decision on whose was better.  Mr. Moore, so great to come down and support along with his wife and kid, said that the judges wanted to be fair to the kids at the school when they gave the other kid first place and Colten second place.  Apparently the other kid did a yellow belt form while Colt did a purple belt form, they were both purple belts.

Next up came sparring.  Colten has been more excited about karate ever since he has been sparring.  They added two other boys to the group for sparring.  Colten was definitely the biggest kid in the group and apparently the oldest.  Colten sparred his first opponent and won 3 points to 2 points.  His next spar was for either first or second place.  It was great to have Mr. Moore there to shout out tips to him.  He won that spar 3 points to 0.  He was a sweaty but happy boy when they gave him his first place medal.  He had the medals around his neck the whole way home.  When we got back, we went to Yogurtland to celebrate Colten's first tournament completion.

The rest of Saturday was spent at home.  The kids got the few chores done they needed too.  Aspen finished reading the 6th Harry Potter book and was able to watch the movie after chores.  Colten is over halfway through the 6th book.  I was able to make a quick trip to the gym (dang weight loss competition) and then also to the temple (because I didn't get to in the morning).  All in all, it was a great weekend.  I love that I get to spend it with my kids doing what they love to do but also getting some of my needs met.  Excited for what Sunday holds for us.

President's Day Weekend 2017

Well, I already covered the first part of President's Day weekend so I'll just finish off with what was left.  Sunday night my friend Kyle was flying into Las Vegas and asked if I could pick him up from the airport.  So the kids and I headed down a little early to see some of the things on the strip.  The kids claim they have not been to the M&M world but I have pictures :)  Well maybe not of Colten but I know for sure Aspen.  My dad had told me that the hotels were starting to charge for parking but I was able to pull into the Tropicana and park for the hour or so we walked around. 

The kids loved M&M world and of course wanted to buy some cool M&M's for $20 per pound...I told them no.  I could go buy them 10 bags for that amount haha...I am mean like that.  We did go watch the movie, the kids liked that.  They would reach out their hand to catch the m and do whatever else was asked of them.  Gotta love 3D movies. 

After M&M world, we headed over to the New York New York which apparently has a Hershey World.  It's not exactly like M&M but you can get a lot of things that you can't get in stores...like orange creme licorice.  It was fun to walk around and see all the merchandise.  Maybe when I am rich, I'll go back down and try a few things. 

Aspen loved seeing the mini Statue of Liberty.  Hershey World had one made out of twizzlers and hershey chocolate.  That was cool to see.

We headed over to the Excalibur and the kids momentarily checked out the arcade they have there.  But I got the text saying that Kyle had landed and we needed to head to the airport.  The wind was blowing like crazy but I think the kids still had fun being tourists for a little while.  I'll take them back when we can stay longer.

We picked up Kyle without too much trouble and I only had to cut across traffic once, wasn't really looking to go to LA.  I got us out of Las Vegas but then Kyle took over the drive...it was way past my bedtime.  The kids fell asleep on the way home and were not excited about the late night but they did sleep in on Monday.

I, however, awoke early to get Kyle to his soccer tournaments and then I decided to go to the gym.  Good thing too because as I was coming out of the gym I could see snow flurries.  We were just riding bikes yesterday and today...it's snowing.  It wasn't anything big but we did get bigger flakes over the next hour but none was sticking.  I felt bad for all the soccer players and refs having to play in the cold weather.  Due to the weather, I pretty much stayed inside most of the day.  Colten and I watched a movie while Aspen went to Audra's to work on a school project.  When she got home we had dinner, did FHE and played a game of Zarahelma.  It was a great weekend if I do say so myself.  I think the kids had fun as well.

Yay...short post :)

Well hopefully this will be short.  It is covering the span of three days.  While there have been a few rainy days this past week, the weekend weather was incredible.  Friday after the kids got home I took them up to the temple quarry trail on the mountain by our house.  Aspen did this trail last year with her activity days group and I just did it in November with Kyle but Colt had never done it.  Colt wanted to come do a hike with me but once he was on the trail he didn't want to go to the end.  In his defense, I had the kids bring a jacket as it was little on the colder side but the sun was shining.  He got too warm really fast and his jacket was his big bulky winter coat haha.  But he did make it the mile in and mile out.  When we got to the end of the trail, I pointed out to the kids where our apartment building was.  They really liked that.

After that hike, we went back home so the kids could play with their friends and I went on another walk around the block.  Gotta get my steps in.  After dinner, the kids and I watched The Justice League.  I love when they both will sit down and watch a movie with me.  Aspen wasn't going to but she was glad she did.  I love that they are both getting older to where they understand the funny things in these Marvel movies.

Saturday morning brought the usual.  I went to the temple and when I got home it was chores.  I had taken Aspen's and my bike into the shop to get a tuning and some fixing the day before and if we got them back we would go for a bike ride if chores were done.  Well in the middle of chores, I got the call saying they were done.  So Aspen and I went to pick them up and then had to finish the cleaning of the house.  The kids seemed pretty motivated to go on this ride.  Well they got everything done :) so after lunch we hopped on our bikes.  We did the same trail that Colt and I did last week, just went a little further.  I had downloaded an app to track how far we went.  On that trail, we went 8.5 miles total.  The kids were surprised.  Colt was the reason why we turned around, said his legs were hurting.  Luckily most of the way back was downhill.

When we got back to our place I realized that I had locked the house keys in the house and brought the car keys.  Luckily, a neighbor told me that our bottom locks (which is the one I locked) were way easy to get into since my spare keys were up in Salt Lake with Holly.  I have never broken into a lock before but yes, it was too easy to get in.  I am now changing which lock I lock when I leave my house. 

Again, after dinner, I took the kids to the Dixie State University basketball games.  Aspen, again - are we noticing a pattern, wasn't too excited because she said it was the boys games.  Well we went a little earlier to watch the end of the girls game.  Unfortunately the girls lost their game.  The boys game was a good one.  Dixie only trailed at the beginning but they made it a nail biter by letting Hawaii Pacific come within 2 points in the last 10 minutes of the game.  Kyler Nielson, a former student of mine from Cedar High, hit a 3 pointer and sparked the offense again.  The boys pulled off win, their 12th in a row.  Because this night was a cancer awareness night, the school handed out swig cookies to attendees.  The kids enjoyed them.  Then Aspen found out that Mountain America had a wheel to spin to win a prize so she took off to that a couple of times.  She also enjoyed the cheerleaders and the dance team.  Colt really enjoyed the game.  He was cheering along when the offense was slacking off and making comments about what they should do. It was a really fun night.  Aspen topped it off with asking to get Kyler's autograph on the palm sized basketball she won.  I told her I would get in touch with him and see what I could do.

We had a late night on Saturday with the game and my need to run to the store and get gas.  The kids were pretty tired when we eventually made it home.  Sunday morning was fun getting the kids out of bed but we still made it a few minutes before 9:00.  However, since it's President's Day we had a lot of visitors and got stuck in the back.  Church was great, as usual.

After lunch, the kids and I headed out on a different trail, but one we had been on before.  I wanted to see where it went after Thunder Junction so we continued on.  I had seen before we left that the weather is turning soar this week so I may or may not have wanted to enjoy this time outside.  We continued on the trail...I was hoping we would get to the River Road post office but we turned around at the detour sign, which was probably .25 miles from the post office.  Our total ride was 11.2 miles.  Colt wasn't too happy about that.  I had told him when we turned around that we had gone 5.5 miles and from there he figured out how far we would have gone total.  He is really too smart for his own good.  I did let the kids stop at Thunder Junction for about 30 minutes on the way back.  I think that gave them the energy to make it back home.  We all made it back and are enjoying some church movies before heading to Las Vegas to pick up Kyle.  Hopefully I keep up with my weekly updates from now on but no promises haha.

Whoops...haha

Sorry it has been awhile since the last post.  With such great weather outside, I have been taking advantage and going out there more.  So I'll do my best to recap the last two weeks.

A week ago Friday, I had told the kids we were going to go on a hike after school.  I had to call my mom and see what hikes there are in St. George.  Apparently there are hikes around the Dixie rock other then climbing up the rock haha.  So we went on one of those, roughly 1 mile in.  Then went over to the Dixie Rock and climbed around on there for a bit.  Then on the way back to the car, the kids hiked up the Narrows,  a very small walk between two rocks.  I think they loved it.  Colt didn't love the mile hike back to the car...he wished it was closer.  So I incised him with some ice cream along with the cupcakes they were already getting.  The hike was a blast and I had fun with the kids.

After the hike, I took the kids to Sweet Tooth Fairy, they had earned a free cupcake from selling Dixie Direct books.  I have heard of this place but have never gone before.  I am sad I haven't.  The cupcakes looked amazing (I couldn't eat one due to doing a challenge).  But I plan on going there for my birthday this year!

Saturday brought Home Depot craft day and Oaklee's birthday.  The kids sure do love going to do the crafts at Home Depot.  Our problem is finding a place for the finished project.  This month's project was a Valentine's bean bag toss.  Pretty simple project but the kids had fun with it.  We met Grandma there with Alijah and Jeramiah.  After the project, we headed back home to clean up more of the house.  Then we headed out to Hollee's for Oaklee's big celebration.  Hollee went all out.  She was doing a Moana themed party.  Oaklee has enjoyed occasionally watching that movie.  Hollee had the movie playing up on the TV, had cute balloons on her high chair, got a big cake of Moana and then Oaklee had her own personal Moana cake.  Oaklee had big sick the week before, double ear infection, so she wasn't feeling the greatest but she did pretty good for turning one.  She wasn't too interested in her presents, Hollee did a good job at opening them for her.  Oaklee wanted nothing to do with using her hands to eat her cake.  It was truly a fun afternoon for us. 

After the party, the kids and I headed back to our place to go for a little bike ride.  We just rode around our neighborhood twice.  That is an accomplishment since we were riding on slightly busy roads.  The little hill was a killer for the kids since they don't have gears but both of them survived.

Sunday was fast Sunday...always a favorite for my kids since I have had them try and fast breakfast.  It is easier now that we are 9:00 but still not pleasant with all the "I'm hungry" comments I get.  But I have let the kids take gum to church to try and tide them over.  Colt came out with a big wad of gum from all the pieces he ate.  I was going to try and do a two meal fast but we wanted to go on another bike ride and I didn't feel like I could make it without giving my body some fuel.  We rode our bikes towards the spinny park.  But I wouldn't let the kids stop and play and wanted to continue on the trail.  Turns out less than 10 minutes away on a bike was Thunder Junction.  I did let the kids play at that park.  So about a 20 minute ride each way would get us to Thunder Junction.  Not bad if I do say so myself.  The kids really enjoyed riding their bikes to the park.

After the bike ride, we packed up and headed to Grandma's for the Super Bowl.  The Philadelphia Eagles were going to be playing the New England Patriots.  Of course, we were rooting for the Eagles as we just wanted the Patriots to lose.  It was just Grandma, Grandpa, the kids, Kayleeya and I for the party.  It was really fun though.  Great way to end the football season.  The Eagles came out victorious but it was an intense game.  The food was great too.  Definitely ate way more than I should have but it was the Super Bowl.

The next week was Family week at Arrowhead.  I wasn't able to make it over there for lunch due to my teaching times that week.  But Grandpa was able to go to the dads and donut breakfast with the kiddos.  And I was able to go to the moms in the morning and split the donut between them.  This year is Aspen's last year of elementary so it was a little sad to not be able to do this with her anymore.  And then she ditched me after she was done eating to go sell candygrams for student council.  How rude, right?  Hahaha no I love that she is involved with the school and really enjoys being on student council.  Colten ate his donut and I told him to go wash his face and I never saw him again.  It was still fun to go have breakfast with the kids at the school.



















After school, Aspen went over to Audra's for her Valentine's day sleep over.  Man does she get spoiled when she has a sleep over at Audra's house, especially if they are celebrating a holiday.  I am not exactly sure what they did at this party...hopefully some sleep...but I do know that they went to the pool for a little bit on Saturday and that Aspen came home with a ton of candy.

Colt came home and played outside with his friends.  Then we tried to watch the "Justice League" movie but it was having trouble streaming.  So we ended up watching Thor: Ragnorak instead.  Well Colt watched the whole thing, I bowed out around 9:30.  When you wake up at 5, you tend to go to bed earlier.

Saturday morning I went to the temple as usual.   A little before noon, Colt and I headed out on a bike ride.  And man, did we go on a bike ride.  I wanted to see where a bike trail went and so we rode on it until we were over by Snow Canyon Parkway.  I would say it was about a 5-6 mile total ride.  There were up hills that Colt struggled with a little but overall he did really good.  So after the bike ride, I wanted to look into upgrading the kids bikes.  I found an awesome deal on Colt's, $20 and just needed one tube replaced.  Aspen's, I thought, was a good deal.  The lady said her daughter never rode it.  But after my dad did some work on it and Aspen rode it, we found out she could turn the gears to harder gears but not go back down.  Kind of sad about that.  I am going to try and get it over to the bike shop and see if there is anything they can do to fix it.

Sunday was a great day.  The kids and I were early to church, I wasn't teaching and got to sit in lessons.  They were incredible.  Then we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's.  Grandpa helped try and fix up the kids new bikes so we could go ride around on the trail over there.  That is where we learned about Aspen's bike.  Colt loves having gears to switch to harder and easier.  He just wants to go on bike rides every nice day we have, that is if he isn't playing with friends and I don't suggest going outside.  Aspen is still enjoying her bike but she really wants to get it fixed.

This past week saw Aspen going into the dermatologist to get a wart on her palm removed.  I thought we would get the shots like Colt did but this doctor wanted to actually dig it out where she only had the one and it was on the palm.  She did really good.  He froze the wart first, which is really painful but she did awesome.  Then he cut it off and started to dig it out.  She couldn't feel her fingers for a few hours but did really good otherwise.  She had achievement days afterwards and was able to do everything required.  She does like to try to say she can't type correctly because of her bandage.  She did gymnastics just fine, well she said it was a little hard but she still did it.  Hopefully the wound will start to heal and she will be happy we did it.

Wednesday was Valentine's Day.  I had picked up a few things for the kids and had a little bag sitting out on the table for when they woke up.  I had candy and a little note about why I loved them.  They each said thank you...which melted my heart.  Then our big thing for Valentine's Day was heart attacking Darcee's family.  Aspen and Grandma had made sugar cookies into the shape of a big heart on Sunday, we frosted them Tuesday night (frosting didn't turn out as well as I had hoped) and then Grandma and I went over to the house on Wednesday morning to deliver the cookies and put hearts all over her door.  Darcee did call me that evening and asked if I had gone to her house, I lied and said no.  Those kind of lies are ok.  I really didn't want her to know it was me.  Grandma heard from Kayleeya and it was a good report.  They know it was someone they know because all of their names were spelled correctly but no one will fess up to actually doing it.  I am happy knowing that it put a smile on their face.