Hot Rods

Going to a car show would have never crossed my mind, nor would it have crossed Alex's mind except that one of the guys who works with him restores old cars on the side and told him to check it out. So we took the kids to Water Street and braved through the mob of people and classic cars to see what his friend does when he's not working on tires. Alex's friend said that when there's a car show he only gets about three hours sleep a night for two or three days because of all the work that goes into the cars. The boys liked the old cars and thought it was a treat to get in a '57 Chevy and pretend to drive.

The Great Eights

This tag has been going around for a while, and while others have said, "Answer this if you want," I was specifically tagged by Becky. I actually liked being tagged, so here are the Great Eights:

Favorite Shows (I'm going old school on this one)

Solid Gold
Fame
Laverne and Shirley
Facts of Life
The Cosby Show
Happy Days
Different Strokes
Smurfs

Favorite Restaurants

P.F. Changs
Applebees
Olive Garden
Wendy's
Baja Fresh
Tropical Smoothie
Carrabbas
IHOP

Things that Happened Yesterday

I substituted at Green Valley High School
Went grocery shopping at Super Wal-mart
Picked up the kids at Grandma Sharon's
Made Taco Soup for dinner
Watched the presidential debate
Put Lacey to bed early
Went to the gym
Fell asleep on the couch

Things I Look Forward To

Going to Polar Express in AZ
Smoking my brother Aaron in the Hafen Turkey Trot (again!)
Being Princess Leia for Halloween
Trick or Treating
Getting the kids' Halloween Costumes
The holiday season
The presidential election being over
Getting a new family picture taken

Things I Love About Fall

Changing leaf colors
Making my favorite pumpkin pie cake
Thanksgiving
Fall sales
New clothes for me and the kids
Twilight walks
Cool weather
College Football

Wish List

New flooring
To lose 15 pounds by my birthday
A new house-preferably in the same neighborhood as Rebecca Jones
The kids to go to sleep in their own beds
A mom's day off once a week
A pedicure
A facial
To eat chocolate and not gain weight

Okay I am tagging Jason and/or Mandy, Lori and/or Earl, Tammy and/or Greg.

Feed the Birds. . .Toppins a Bag

On Alex's day off last Thursday, I thought it would be a fun family outing to go to Sunset Park and feed the ducks. The kids were excited. We arrived with our loaves of bread, and those ducks and swans and geese they know a snack when they see it. In the first picture Lance is feeding a few of the birds, but it didn't take long for the pigeons to get in the game.

These pigeons swarmed Lance to get to the bread crumbs. It was a little disturbing to me, but it didn't bother Lance too much. It's weird feeling air from the flapping of bird wings. Luke on the other hand,was very upset by the whole thing.

Notice how Luke keeps getting higher and higher off the ground. After we ran out of bread we let the kids play on the playground which was fun for all

Where Did My Baby Go?

Every once in a while I'll look at one of the kids and think "How did you get to be four all of a sudden?" or "Where did you come from, two year old?" But when I put pigtails in Lacey's hair, instantly she looks like a little girl instead of a baby. She is growing so fast. At her 18 month appointment, she had grown almost three inches, putting her in the 90th percentile for her age. She's talking more and more and I think I might get rid of her paci at the same time as Luke's (maybe even before Luke's because she keeps biting through the pacifiers.) I just want to squish her and make her stay little.

Happy Anniversary

August 30 is our actual anniversary, but we were in Pine Valley that day. (Kudos to Alex for remembering to bring a card!) To celebrate six years of marriage we went to see Phantom of the Opera-The Las Vegas Spectacular on Tuesday, September 2. It certainly was spectacular-complete with pyrotechnics, an underground lake, and a falling chandelier.
The music, which I have loved since I was fifteen (that's almost 20 years!), was of course outstanding. I loved sitting with my husband, putting my head on his shoulder, and watching such a romantic show. Other adjectives I would use to describe the show are: haunting, stirring, beautiful, and inspiring, as in it inspired me to sing the songs out loud all day on Wednesday until my kids told me to stop singing. I was even this close to buying a bedazzled t-shirt for $40. (If anyone ever sees one of those on E-bay, let me know). It was well worth the money we paid, and I would pay to see it again. It was a great anniversary!

Hunt-Bracken Family Reunion

In addition to our Pine Valley trip. on Saturday, August 30, we went to St. George for a family reunion for Alex's side of the family. I love family reunions. Even though I don't know
Alex's aunts and uncles and cousins very well, I really enjoy getting to know them better at the family reunions. They are all great people.

Family members visiting before lunch.

Of course there was good food and lots of desserts, but this year's reunion included a snow cone machine (perfect for the hot Saturday afternoon), balloon toss, raffle, bubbles, and playing on the playground.

Lance riding the zipline on the playground.

Making snow cones

The Grandmas and Grandpas

I sure had a good time and I look forward to next year. But let's all keep in touch throughout the year (I think everyone should have a blog!).

Camping at Pine Valley

In July we had a fun, overnight trip to Pine Valley, Utah. Since it was successful, we decided to go again over the Labor Day weekend for two nights. We left early on Friday morning so we could get a good spot. Well, we got the last camping spot in Pine Valley. Alex spent many summers there and I have good camping memories from there also. Now our kids will have fun memories of our camping trips. We enjoyed cooking over the fire, going for walks, and fishing. Luke got to try out his new Spiderman fishing pole, and Lance got to try out his new "big boy" fishing pole. Alex caught three fish and bought one back to camp to cook. We told ghost stories at bedtime and this is Luke's version: Once upon a time. . BIGFOOT! Once upon a time. . .GORILLA! Once upon a time. . .GHOST! So all in all everybody had a great time. Next year we might try three whole days.