Hee Haw Halloween

This year Aimee and I decided to take the kids to Hee Haw Farms for Halloween. Of course the kids fell asleep on the 10 minute ride from our house to Pleasant Grove, but didn't stay asleep long once we told them about pony rides, slides, and corn mazes. Mollee's first pony ride was in a steel drum cut out to look like a pony. It was actually a train attached to a tractor. She liked it but when they brought out the REAL ponies, she got really excited.

After riding the pony, it was time to go extreme. There was a 20 foot slide and a hay jump. The slide was fun and the kids went down it at least 10 times. You had to stay to the right, or there was a nasty bump you would hit at the bottom. Mollee suprised me by doing the hay jump with me. We jumped off a bail of hay stacked at least 6 feet high. Pretty impressive for a 5 year old.

Next it was on to the corn pit where the kids buried themselves and other kids too. Logan tried to eat the corn, but after we told him no he realized that throwing it was just as fun.

We went through a blow-up haunted house for kids and then went off to the corn maze. Aimee and I figured that the maze was for kids and wouldn't take too long to go through. After an hour in the stupid thing, we realized it was a full blown maze and we had no idea how to get out. Luckily, we could see a large tree that was at the entrance and worked our way back. While being lost, I taught the kids how to shuck corn. Logan tried to eat that corn too.
After finally getting out, we wanted to take a hay ride and pick out pumpkins from the patch behind the corn maze. It was getting dark so it was the last ride out to the pumpkin patch. Aimee, the kids and I were the only ones to get off. The guy gave us a flashlight and said he would be back. We managed to find our way to the pumpkins using the flashlight. We found a few that were ok, but felt obligated to get some, since the guy let us go out there in the dark.

We decided once we got back, that we really didn't want them so we ditched them and headed back to the slide for a few more runs. Of course, our family trip wouldn't be complete unless I lost something. My keys. Luckily I knew just where I had left them. I checked a gift shop close by and someone had turned them in. I think Aimee hates how lucky I am sometimes.

All in all, it was a lot of fun. I think we will be going back again next year.

Happy Halloween!!!

Camping disaster!

As my family expands (with new in-laws) I am quickly realizing that enjoying the same activities together are getting tougher. We all have different ideas on what is "fun" and we are all very expressive of what we like and don't like to do. For Memorial Weekend we headed to Moab to camp. The weather was really not cooperating with winds over 40 miles per hour and some were really struggling. We ended up calling it quits early and heading home bickering with each other for the rest of the long weekend.

Since that time I have pondered how to help everyone enjoy the family activities that are planned. My mom has a good perspective of just throwing ideas out to the group and telling everyone that if they want to go, they can and if they don't want to then they don't have to. In my perfect world, I would like a little more give and take. Just because someone doesn't like something it doesn't mean that activity has to become the stupidest thing and everyone that wants to do it is stupid too. Negativity hurts the group and I'm part of the party poopers many of times.

I'm going to try to accept that others have likes and dislikes that I share the opposite opinion on and I'm going to stretch myself to do things that I may not want to do without complaining about it. Hey, maybe I'll even find some new hobbies! I love ALL my family and am excited to see how I can learn and grow from new perspectives.

Houston Zoo

One of the things our whole family wanted to do when we visited Houston was to go to the zoo. Especially Mollee. She was dying to see the giraffes.

We started off going to the kids petting zoo and Mollee had a blast petting all the goats. In fact, I think we petted each goat at least twice, then as we were leaving she saw brushes that were available to the kids to brush the goats with. So we had to go back in a brush at least 5 or 6 goats too.

I don't think Logan likes anything bigger than a cat. Dogs freak him out and he wasn't happy to be close to this goat either.

Once Mollee touched the snake, we were off to the giraffes. She couldn't wait any longer.

Mollee and her cousin Tristen were able to go and feed the giraffes some lettuce leaves. Mollee chose to feed the baby one and thought its long black tongue was "pretty cool".

Off to the Lions. They were roaring when we got there, which was pretty fun to hear. Then they settled down under a tree to rest for a while

I found out that one of the lions was named after me. It seems we have a lot of similarities.

Besides lions, we saw tigers, bears, monkeys elephants, chimps, cougars, all kinds of birds, zebras, and....

Texas Longhorns. Don't know why they had those at the zoo....?

Who's Burial Plot?

Aimee, Mollee Logan and I were driving through New Orleans on vacation, when Lo and Behold we came across Aimee's Dad (Wayne Oberg)'s burial plot. We thought for sure he would want to be buried up in Utah with the rest of the family, but secretly he has already picked a spot in Louisiana. Who would have known?! We got out and looked at the name on the door and sure enough, it said Wayne Oberg....hmm.

Honoring Old Abe with some tubing

What better way to celebrate our forefather's birthdays and what they did for our country, then to slide down a hill on an inflated car tire intertube!!! AWESOME!!!




Mollee was really excited to go since she had never been tubing before. We loaded up the gear and spent a few afternoon hours up Big Cotttonwood Canyon near Brighton ski resort. I firgured Mollee be a little scared at first, but I was wrong. She turned out to be a little daredevil. After a couple of runs down this hill, she was looking for faster, steeper, longer and with more bumps so we could catch some air.


















Logan really like going down the hill too. And no, he is not asleep in this picture. We caught a few bumps and some small air at the bottom and luckly we didn't biff it. I only had one arm to hold onto the tube with and the other to make sure he didn't go flying. He laughed a lot and really enjoyed it.







Aimee and Mollee thought it was a lot of fun to scream in unison all the way down the hill








We all had a blast and were pretty tired after a while. We promised Mollee that we would go back again this year!!

Out with the Old, In with the New

So, I admit like most that I haven't been the best blogger, but alas, I have resolved to do better in 2011. . . out with the bad habits and in with the new. First, the end of the year wrap up. For Mollee's birthday in October we went to Colorado with my parents. We dressed the kids in costumes and rode the Silverton Train to Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin Patch. Mollee and Logan loved picking out their pumpkins, making balloon animals, and bobbing for apples. I have to say that for Halloween, I had the cutest little zoo animals.

We celebrated Thanksgiving by going to Beaver mountain to cut down our Christmas tree. We actually saw real, live turkeys while we were cutting our tree. How many people can say that they saw a live turkey for Thanksgiving?!?

Christmas was pretty low key this year. We just stuck around here and visited with family. Mollee asked for a pillow pet from Santa this year (Whew!) and Logan got his two front teeth (okay, so they were actually the two bottom teeth but who cares about semantics.)

Updates from past blog posts: We finished P90X. I felt stronger, but didn't reach my desired weight loss goals. In fact, I gained two pounds. What's up with that? I actually just visited my former college roommate, Ashley, in which we watched old flicks from college. I recommend that unless you want to be rudely awakened to the fact that you don't look the same as you did almost 10 years ago, only watch these types of videos when you are wasted. Yeah, so Biggest Loser, here I come.

Ahh, fantasy football. After losing my first 3 out of 4 games, I actually won 8 games in a row and finished in first place going into the post-season. I beat out Preston (my little bro) for the most points and won $50 bucks (don't worry Preston, the sting of loserville will surely wear off by next season!) I lost right before the Super Bowl, but Jon went on to finish in second place and won an even bigger money prize . . . I mean . . . no gambling is involved . . . it's just healthy pride that we took home . . .

This year, we have our resolutions set. Logan's resolution is to learn how to walk so that he can shred everything in his path and whoop on his big sister. Mollee's resolution is to learn how to spell and read so that she can spell out how dumb her parents are since they are no longer listening when she just says it. Jon's resolution is to work on the basement and help out more around the house (yep, folks, I got that in writing), and my resolution is to learn how to cook (and Jon informed me that the microwave doesn't count.)

We love you all and hope that you had a good holiday season.

Women + Sports = ????

I have often wondered why most women don't like to watch sports. When football season rolls around, I throw on my Browns gear and I frustratingly watch them fumble, run stupid plays, and pick up terrible players. So this year, instead of being disappointed, I decided to take control and pick my own team . . . that's right, I'm talking about Fantasy Football.

Now that it's about half way through the season, I wanted to share what I've learned.

1. After my second week in which I had lost again . . . I cried. Yep, I ruined my entire Sunday by bawling my eyes out because Joe Flacco is a dingus. Afterward, I felt really stupid that I got so emotional.

2. In my third week, I learned how to make my first trade. I traded Flacco for Cutler and then watched as Cutler got sacked 9 times in the first half and ended with -1 points. When I lost, I cried. Yep, I ruined my entire Sunday bawling my eyes out because the Bears offensive line are a bunch of dinguses. Afterward, I felt really stupid that I got so emotional.

3. Approaching my seventh week (my record 2 and 4) I worked all day to make a trade with Preston, my little brother. When he finally agreed to the trade I felt like a had twisted his arm and ruined our relationship. I shouted out in the middle of the Hale Center Theatre that I can't take this stupid fantasy football. On the drive home from the Theatre I cried. Yep, I ruined my entire Thursday . . . (okay, by now you know the drill.)

4. And finally, I was offered a really crappy trade from the number one player in our league and I declined. Afterward, I felt really bad that I might have hurt his feelings so . . . yep, I cried, yada yada yada, pathetic!!

I've realized this is why women don't generally watch sports. I yell and scream at the computer screen, television, my husband, ect. when the stupid men in tight spandex don't listen to what I'm saying. I mean, they totally seem to ignore me . . . URRR. Then, it never fails, I cry. Maybe I should attend the ballet more . . .

Family Vacation

All summer long, Aimee and I tried to plan a family vacation. But it never worked out because of our work schedules, metro games, family events, etc. So for Labor Day weekend and all the next week we finally got some time off.

We wanted to go camping and Aimee's Dad wanted to do some hunting, so we agreed to the 5 hour drive one-way (really 7 hours +) to south central Wyoming in the Medicine Bow National Forest. The weather was ideal, and the pines, aspens and small creek running through our campsite made it nice. We also had a really clean out house just a couple of hundred feet away.

Mollee really enjoyed throwing rocks into the creek. She also loved playing with her toys and games with the family. She was great at picking up horseshoes for everyone after each time we threw them.

















The seven hour drive home didn't seem so bad because we knew we had the week off (plus Mollee and Logan slept most of the time).

We cleaned up and on Tuesday we drove up to Park City to stay at the Westgate Resort for a few days. We swam, played some pool and video games. I won at dance dance revolution (no pics for obvious reasons). We also decided to take a ride on the Heber Valley railroad.

















We all had a blast as we rode through the valley and down the canyon along Deer Creek reservoir. Mollee and Logan were scared at first when the train kept blowing its whistle. Once we figured out that a bell rang on the locomotive before it blew its whistle, we had time to cover their ears first. (not as much crying; more enjoyable ride).

















We also decided to stop off at the Olympic Park in Park City. Unfortunately, it was almost closing time so we didn't get to see much. But there were a lot of Olympic athletes doing some summer training. We were watching the 40 meter long jumps, and I was telling Aim how I would crap my pants if I tried to do a jump that high. We watched as a guy came flying down, and landed a perfect jump. As he came down to the bottom of the hill where we were, we both realized this athlete was really a ten year old boy. (Man they start them young!!)

We also saw people practicing the hot dog jumps into a large swimming pool. I took a short video clip of one guy. Amazing!!
























At the end of the week, we went to the Utah State Fair. We saw all the usual stuff and had some great fair food (not), cotton candy and sodas. Mollee, of course, was excited to pet every animal at the fair. She also would not let us leave until we let her ride the Carousel.















Mollee and Logan won prizes as the cutest kids at the fair

Summer camping

Nothing like doing a little camping over Memorial weekend. Each year Aimee's family decides a nice warm place to go camping, and we all pack up for a little fun. (Going to a warm location is memorial weekend rule number one. In a previous year her family decided to camp in the Unitas and it snowed all weekend). So we decided that we would head down to Goblin Valley, since I had never been there before.













Mollee had a lot of fun playing in the dirt since it was a little to windy to really get the hang of playing badminton.

Maybe it was a little too much for her to handle. She was pretty wasted just after a few minutes of diving for the birdie.

So we decided to do something a little easier

"Hey Mollee....let's go on an 8 mile hike through some really challenging canyons in the hot sun"....

She was totally excited to go.

So we got in the truck and drove a few miles to Wild Horse Canyon for a day of hiking.

At first the canyon started wide and flat but after a mile or so it got pretty narrow.

No problem. Its just an easy slot canyon.





Well it got even narrower and steeper. At one point we had to climb up a 20 foot cliff, so I had to take off my pack with Logan in it and climb up part way and hand him up to some hikers up on top so I could make it up the rest of the way.







































After about 4 miles of hiking we made it out of Wild Horse Canyon and continued the loop back down through Bell Canyon which is mostly downhill and certainly not as narrow.

After the hike, we went back to the camp to rest that night before setting off the next day to go play with the Goblins at Goblin Valley State Park.






It was fun to watch Mollee run through the Goblins and have a great time.

We got a lot of sun and had a blast!!

Too bad it had to end