carter riding his bike

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Some homeschool perks…

1.  Getting into the State Fair a couple of hours before everyone else-AWESOME!

We fed butterflies in the Butterfly Garden

Petting farm starring a kangaroo (no pics=fast kangaroo)

Enjoyed 3 free rides for reading books

The kids had such a great time and were so exhausted that they fell asleep while sharing a stroller.

2. One day when we were suppose to be doing History we put this 1000 piece puzzle together (almost 2x’s because Emma got a hold of it)

3.  We started the Christmas Holiday off by going to the Phoenix Symphony for their Christmas Concert.  It was a lot of fun with ballet dancers, and sing a longs.

4.  Our favorite field trip in the last month was “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” play.  We read the book last year and loved the play just as much.

Happy Halloween

 

Katelyn made most of her costume this year.  It was awesome.  I would send the material with her to sewing class and it would come back all finished.  Way to go Katelyn!

Buzz was carrying his girlfriend Jessie’s candy bucket too.  Buzz insisted on having black lines under his eyes like Kaleb.  After we went trick or treating he sampled tons of candy including  1/2 of a sucker that he put on the counter to save for later.  I didn’t know he meant to save so I threw it away.   The next morning Carter inquired about his sucker and I told him I threw it away.  He was so disgruntled and told me “you are not a good mom.” 

Kaleb scored big on the candy.  Go Cougars!  This was an authentic costume that we borrowed from our BIL who use to play for BYU.

We also hosted a Halloween party with several homeschool families.  We played a relay where each person had to race and find the spiders in the noodles, played the candy bar game, and the mystery bag game, where you guess the object in the bag just by feeling it, and made edible mummies.  Boy was I glad when Halloween was over. 

 

California Beach House

Every summer when I was growing up, my family camped on the beach in California.  Several years ago we tried it with our kids and I realized what saints my parents were because I vowed to never to it again (at least until they are older).  This year my parents  decided to restart the tradition but modify it a little.  We stayed in a house right on the beach and LOVED it! 

We were in heaven with the beach out our back door, amazing ocean views while cooking dinner INSIDE, watching dolphins in the morning,

staying warm by the  fire and eating  s’mores, and best of all… coming inside when we had had enough, taking a shower, and sleeping in a bed. 

Carter didn’t want to come home to AZ and still talks about getting rid of our house and getting a new one on the beach,  I agree!

Mostly we just hung out at the beach, collecting shells, building sand castles, boogie boarding, and enjoying everything else about the beach.  (Although much to Kirk’s dismay I never got completely in the water, maybe next year.  In my defense, it was cold.)

I would  highly recommend the Mormon Battalion.   It is super interactive and entertaining, and at the end of your “tour” you get to pan for gold.

San Diego Temple

Kaleb always has to make things a little more exciting.

Are you wondering why I am on Kirk’s shoulders??? Me too!  Actually this is Kirk’s old stomping grounds from his mission and he has a picture of him on the shoulders of another missionary in this same spot 14 years ago.  

Good buddies.

We also raced Grandma and Papa up and down the beach  on a  surrey and ate lunch on the Pier at Ruby’s; the best hamburger joint  ever. 

Along the way we met Charlie

Needless to say this was a successful vacation and we will be making this a tradition.  We are already booked for next year. 

Summer Garden

The only thing we could grow in our summer garden this year was watermelon, and boy did we have a lot of it.  We planted 2 tiny little seeds and this baby grew  and grew.  The watermelon vine took up about a 15 ft wide spot in our garden and grew onto our lawn.  It was not very economical but we loved going outside every couple of days and spotting new watermelons in the vine.  We grew close to 15!

Summer vacation

 

This year we decided to stop in Salt Lake City for a couple of days.  We pass through SL every year but our kids have never been to Temple Square.  Well this was the year!

We rented a condo across from the Temple. It was awesome. We walked most everywhere.

Toured the Conference Center

Watched the Joseph Smith Movie in the JS Memorial Building.  Kirk only watched half of it because Emma got stuck upside down  in the folding chairs and had to be taken out

Ate an amazing lunch and Nauvoo Café, that we still talk about- mmmm!!!

Visited the Church Museum

Ate at an ice cream shop and found out that Carter actually likes fry sauce more than his ice cream.  He was eating it by the spoonful and was egged on every time we laughed- yuck.

Enjoyed Beautiful Bear Lake

S’mores

Grasshopper catching

Frisbee

Cousins

Beach fun

Cokeville, WY 24th of July parade and celebration with Elder L. Tom Perry

Just Dance

Bird Aviary with our favorite friends from college where Katelyn got to see a barn owl, a dream come true.

Amber’s Wedding

And KB & Jeanne’s 50th Wedding Celebration