Palisades State Park

We procrastinated making reservations for fall break. Once we started looking we couldn't find any openings at camp sites within a few hours of us. We checked one more time and found openings at Palisade state park. We had never heard of it but it had a lake, hiking, golf course and ATV trails so it sounded fun but my expectations were low.

Our expectations were exceeded while we were there. First it was only a two hour drive which was perfect. We had a double campsite which we shared with my parents. Ali's family stayed in a cabin just a few camp sites down from us.

There was an awesome hill behind us that was really fun to climb up and explore.

We had a great view of the lake and the sunsets were beautiful each night.

Marshall took the kids fishing each day and they were successful.

We took bikes and four wheelers. Kaden misplaced his bike helmet after the first day so he ended up using this helmet one of the days.

This is the view from the top of the hill behind us.

The view looking north from the top of the hill.

Ali built mini houses with the minis.

There was also a big playground we went to a few times.

Thanks to Marsh for watching the kids while Ali and I golfed nine holes. It was really fun and we laughed a lot. It was also very cold so we didn't see many other golfers.

Hole number 4 overlooked a ravine and the tee was across the ravine. So beautiful and scary at the same time to a person who is afraid of heights.

We had a camp fire Friday and Saturday night and enjoyed the sunsets.

Saturday I climbed the hill on the west side of the lake. This was the view of part of Sterling.

This is the view of the lake from the west side.

All of the kids loved going on rides.

Ali took Katelyn and Drew on outings up the canyon. Marshall took James, Lynnlee and Kaden.

Pictures from their excursions.

Nap time wasn't a priority but Sienna ended up falling asleep while in time out, added bonus.

Saturday was so cold so we had a campfire going all day. Thankfully the weather was nice the rest of the days.

Sunday we went to church in Sterling. My cousin's husband's family lives there so it was fun to see their ward. 

We drove to the Manti temple after church.

There is a new park with a reflecting pond across the street. 

 Sunday afternoon we drove up the canyon and found a smaller canyon to explore.

We drove even farther up the canyon and found this pond.

They put a fishing line in and they caught a fish.

They threw the fish back in but it wasn't doing so well. It was floating on his side and so they played fish doctor and tried to get it back swimming.

Marshall flew his drone around the lake.

Monday morning Lynnlee and I explored the hill one last time and climbed to the top. She's amazing!

I'm not sure which night Marshall took this but I definitely had to include it.

12th Anniversary

We celebrated our 12th anniversary last month. We went out with Ali and Dan to a yummy Japanese restaurant called Yamato. Then we saw the newest Warren Miller film.  It is a fun way to kick off the ski season. The next night we went to the temple. It was pretty great having two dates in a row. Over the last twelve years we've definitely learned how important it is to go out on dates. It's easy to get busy and forget to take time to do it so it's a work in progress. I'm hoping it will get easier in a few years when James can babysit.

Odyssey Charter

I started a new job about a month ago. I wasn't looking for a job but had a lady in my ward approach me and ask if I was interested. This job is perfect because most of the work is done from home and then I go into the school about once a week. Previous to this I had thought a lot about being a school nurse but I didn't think the hours would work for me so I never looked into any jobs. This school is smaller so there aren't as many needs. So far it's going great. It's completely different than all of my other jobs as a nurse so I'm learning a lot.

Crazy Hair

I like crazy hair day but I lack talent in doing hair. I also forget how long it takes to do crazy hair so we are always rushing and it's craziness.
Marshall helped with James's and shaved it the night before.

Fall break was the next few days so there was a time for his hair to grow and then trim it up before school started again.

Kaden was happy to have some color and spiky hair.

Lynnlee's is suppose to have a "donut on a plate" hair. I should have used something different for the frosting color. Since I hadn't prepared we only had red spray and Lynnlee wanted that.

It looks more like spaghetti sauce on a bagel. She was so happy with it though so it made me feel alright about it.

Fall Activities

Time flies so fast and it's hard to squeeze in everything we like to do. One Sunday night we cut sugar cookies into Halloween shapes and frosted them with orange frosting. Yum!

We painted pumpkins this year instead of carving. It's messy in a different way but more kid friendly than carving. Our family night lesson during this activity was on the The Family: A Proclamation to the World. We live in a crazy world and I hope my kids can have a testimony of the proclamation. The prophet and apostles were definitely inspired twenty years ago.

Kaden's Soccer

Kaden had a fun fall season of soccer. He's coming along with playing more and participating more.

Fire House Banks

One Saturday I took Kaden and the minis to Home Depot to the kids' workshop. You have to prepare yourself before going to this. It takes a lot of patience to help 3 kids put together their projects. It is chaos trying to hammer in teeny tiny screws while a person across from you is hammering their project which makes the table bounce up and down. Then all of the extra screws bounce all over the place. These guys were troopers and waited for their turn for my help.

They have all been needing banks so it was the perfect project.

The fire department had a fire truck that kids could look in since they made fire house banks. Smokey the Bear was also there.

Cornbellys 2017

Cornbellys got really crowded last year so I wasn't sure we would get passes this year. It is such a fun part of fall though so we decided to give it a chance. I'm really glad we did because they had expanded and had a lot more activities throughout. It never felt too crowded there. Our new favorites are the bee lines and ropes course. Here are pictures from our season at Cornbellys.

These fun zip lines are so fun and kid friendly.

Tortoise and the hare.

Yes the tortoise is on top of the bunny and the bunny doesn't care.

Mining for treasure is always a favorite. Ali's family had passes this year again too so it was fun spending time with cousins.

Big zip lines...

New ropes course...