Zack's Alligator

 For co-op this week in Victoria's group we read this cute book called

Zack's Alligator by Shirley Mozelle

It is about a little boy who received an alligator key chain in the mail

from an uncle.  When he waters the alligator

things start to happen.

You will have to read it to find out.

 We are monitoring the growth of this alligator that you put in water.

It is supposed to grow to be 600 times it's original size.

We found it at Michael's.

We are emailing the growth to the kids so they can fill in their graphs.

They will be so surprised as to how big it will be when they see it next.

We had to move our alligator out of the bucket.

She didn't have enough room grow.



Puppets

Victoria made puppets with her class at co-op the other day.

On the way home we had to stop by the Dollar store to pick up more spoons.

She started making Nana and needed one for Poppa.

She isn't done yet. 

She wants to make the rest of her family.

So here is the line up, left to right.........

Victoria, Nana, Poppa, Jared and Kyle.

She designed Poppa complete with suspenders and a holy t-shirt.

Pretty funny.

And then of course she had to act out how Poppa got those holes.

I think she wants to make Sugar, Daphne, Kaleb, Dad and Mom next.

Simplify for Lent

I have seen several ideas of simplifying your life for Lent.

40 bags for 40 days.

Clean out those closets and get rid of extra junk that you don't need.

This actually makes me laugh.

Maybe, a wierd crazy lunatic laugh.

With moving we have cleared out and simplified.

We have no money so there is no extravagant spending going on

or spending beyond the budget.

Budget, what the heck is THAT!?

You have to have an income to actually have a budget.

Even Kaleb knows that!

No fast food, no movies, no TV, no shopping,

no......nothing.

You just can't get any more simple than THAT!



Trinity Pretzels

To begin the season of Lent this year

we baked

Trinity Pretzels.

Did you know that the original pretzels were called Pretiola

which means "little rewards" in Latin.

They were first made with small scraps of bread dough by Monks in 610 AD

in Northern Italy/ Southern France.

The Monks shaped the scraps of dough rolled into strips

and folded to represent childrens arms crossed in prayer.

The Monks gave the pretiola's to the children

as rewards for learning scripture or prayers.

The pretzel later became a symbol for the Holy Trinity

and  a Lenten food in the Middle Ages.

The pretzel contained no ingredients that weren't eaten during the Lent season.

So they were baked using no eggs, milk, butter or lard.

The three holes of the pretzel represent

God the Father,

God the Son,

and

God the Holy Spirit

All in One.

I have to say that this is the first time we baked pretzels to begin our

Lenten season.

And I have to admit that we had ours with butter.

They tasted awesome.

I used a pretzel recipe from here .

We will definately be baking these again.



Presidents Day

 I cruised Pinterest the other night and discovered this cute idea for
Presidents Day here

We read all about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

I used to think that my Dad looked like Abraham Lincoln

but with red hair.

I will have to find a picture of him when I was little.

Victoria came up with quite a few facts to list on each

president.  It was fun.

I love her age.  I once thought it was fun to be 7.

Meet Sloppy Joe

The boys of the family will always find humor in just about everything!



Gymnastics

 The kids in this group get to do some pretty neat things in this class.

 She has learned to "skin the cat" on the uneven bars.

 One of her favorite parts is getting to smather her hands with chalk!

Victoria lost her nerve the first time it was her turn to

jump to a higher bar.

The instructors are awesome with kids and very inspiring.

Shoveling Snow

So what is wrong with this picture?

Is it the snow topped van?

Is the fact that Kirk is shoveling snow?

Or is it because he is in a t-shirt shoveling snow.

What a wimp, he's wearing gloves.



Pre-Dig for the Klondike

 On Saturday, the Scouts ventured into Logan Canyon to dig their snow shelters.

They plan on sleeping in them this Friday.

 They donned their snow gear in layers, packed a day pack. 

In Arizona you never packed anything that would melt.

Well, in Utah, you don't really need to worry about that.

We did discover that Nature Valley Sweet and Salty
Granola bars freeze becoming hard as a rock.

Hmmm.  Won't be packing them.

 Who would have ever thought that the sleds Santa brought for Christmas

would become a way of transporting gear up a mountain side.

The boys (and Kirk) got a taste of snowshoeing.

Jared said they were the hardest things to hike in.

He said that he would rather hike 10 miles
in 100 degree heat then hike up the hill

in SNOWSHOES!

Now remember.......Jared is 16.  And opinionated!

 It was very difficult hiking up this hill because the snow

was like powder.

They call it "sugar snow".

 Crisp and Clean.

 The nice thing about this trip is knowing that there is a Yurt nearby

for if someone starts showing signs of hypothermia
and needs to be warmed up.

 These are a really nice group of boys.

The Dad's going, aside from Kirk, have been snow camping since college.

They know what they are doing.

They had enough snowshoes that we didn't have to purchase any.

 All the boys drew from a hat a slip of paper with the type of shelter
they were to build and sleep in.

Lunch break.

Looks like Fun!

Kaleb is on the right.

 Here Ian is tunneling into his snow cave. 
These boys worked real hard and burned quite a bit of energy.

 Jared is digging an entrance to his Trench and Tarp shelter.
Or otherwise known as a "Scout Grave".
He couldn't wait to go to Sunday School on Sunday
because the leader is always
asking the kids what they did that week.
Jared wanted to say that he "dug a grave".

 I have no idea how it would be to sleep in there.
The girls and I are going to be hanging out at home nice and toasty.
Actually I would love to have this experience.

Kaleb and three other boys built/dug a Quincy big enough for all 4 of them

to sleep in. They piled a mound of snow and then tunneled down and

then up into the middle.  Kaleb and another boy were inside it when it

accidently caved!  Kaleb's head was sticking out the opening.

They both said they couldn't move but the Dad's and the other boys had them

dug out in a matter of seconds. 

Makes a Mother worry.

With the snow fall that we have had this week

they are hoping to find the shelters in good shape.

More pictures to come after this weekend.

Happy Valentines Day

I haven't come up with anything witty and cute for Valentines day in a really,

really, really, really long time.

But then again I haven't been so close to being in the "Time Suck" that happens

when I'm on Pinterest!

I found these cute labels Here .

It was quite a surprise to all my Valentines.

I love to surprise them.

They always wonder how I did it, where I hid it and when did I do it.

They don't know I have extra arms, eyes in the back of my head

and extra special hearing.

Sledding on Beaver Mountain

 We headed up into Logan Canyon to do some serious sledding.

It was awesome.  We all love the snow.

While we were there a storm blew in and was snowing.

While the boys and I were waiting for Kirk and the girls to

bring back the sleds, we were catching actual snowflakes

on our gloves. 

I almost had tears in my eyes. 
They were large enough to take a picture of them

but I was too busy soaking in the moment.

I didn't want to take my eyes off them.

We had never seen an actual snowflake in real life before, only in pictures.

 We could hear Daphne laugh all the way down to the curve.

 Our "No Fear" child.  She would just march to the top of the hill, plop down

on the sled and off she goes.

But......when she got tired, she could barely move.

We almost had to drag her along on the sled to the van.

My handsome boy.

I liked this picture of the girls just walking along chatting.

I love to see any of my children deep in conversation.

I keep thinking at that very moment that they are building a lasting relationship.

I love them.

Kirk raced the boys down the hill which I missed.  They looked like tiny little specs in the

view finder, so I didn't get a picture of that.

I love that our family plays together.

I love to make memories.

16????

 Happy Birthday Jared!

I love this picture of my boys.

This reflects who they were and pretty much

who they still are.

You can see it in this picture of how much Kaleb looks up to his big brother.

I remember that it was really windy at the beach that day and a little chilly.
I can almost hear the waves crashing and smell the air.

I think Kaleb was holding onto Jared to keep from blowing away.
His pillar of strength. His hero.

My boys have a bond that comes naturally.
Jared has had many lessons in living up to that big brother role that
Kaleb has put him in.  He had no choice but has received the privelage gracefully.
Well, sometimes.

Our handsome Jared is 16, taller than both his parents
(which says a lot for both Kirk and I being 6 foot)
and ready to drive.

He already knows how to drive us all crazy, especially his littlest sister.

So I guess he could try his hand at driving a vehicle.

After much debate, Jared chose cheesecake for his cake of choice.

If you know Jared then you know how painful it is to make a decision.

Once we got the "cheesecake" part down, he had to decide

which kind.

That was painful too.  For me.......that is.

He finally decided on Turtle Cheesecake.

Then Victoria became very worried. 

She became concerned that turtles would be harmed in the process.

I assure you that no turtles were harmed,

just pecans, caramel, chocolate and lots of cream cheese.