Kaysville City Fire Station

For pack meeting on Thursday we got to go to the Kaysville City Fire Station. I only took Jacob because he is the only scout right now and the other kids had already had a long day. It was pretty awesome!

 This fire truck is the largest one Kaysville has and it cost the city 1 million dollars last year. OUCH. The kids guessed at about $100 dollars. It comes equipped with 4 hoses and a 75 foot ladder! It also has a little hose on top that has enough power to put a hole right through the side of a house!

 They each got to walk through an ambulance.

 Jacob doesn't remember his trip in an ambulance 5 years ago. Probably a good thing.

They also got to walk through a fire truck.

This was probably his favorite pack meeting yet!

Black Island Farms



The whole gang that went (except my mother-in-law who was taking the picture)

 I had the opportunity to take the two little ones to Black Island Farms last Thursday with my in-laws. They had so much fun! First we went on a tractor ride.



  Jared was a little unsure about riding in the trailer of the tractor. Isaac LOVED the idea.

 Jacqulyn was excited.

Jared got scared and I had to put him on my lap. D'artagnan just didn't want me to take his picture. He always tells me Grandma can but not me.

We got to see some awesome carrots. Some of them were HUGE!

 Then we got to get off the trailer in the pumpkin patch and all the kids got to pick a pumpkin.

 Jared really liked this part!

 Cute little Jacqulyn had to search all over for one without any dirt on it.

Jared was finally smiling  now!

All the kiddo's after the tractor ride. (back row Layla, Jacqulyn, Isaac, Kayla. front row Merrick, Jared, D'artagnan)

 Here's the pumpkin heads.

Then off for more fun!

Isaac HATED the big slide, but the rest of the kids LOVED it! Especially Jared and Jacqulyn. We had a hard time getting them to do anything else.                                        

 They went on a little tractor train ride. Jared HATED it and cried the whole time.

 Then we went through the corn maze. They all had fun there.

 They played in the corn box and tunnel.

All in all a very successful 2 1/2 hours of fun! Well worth the trip. And to think I didn't want to go because the kids had been fighting all morning.

Grapes and Mountain Man

We have a ton of grapes growing along our fence. Last week I decided we couldn't waste all these yummy Concorde grapes! They are hard to eat because they have seeds in them so I juiced a bunch and got 11 quarts of juice. My little Jared LOVES it! I still had a ton of grapes left so I made jam. I ended up with 21 pints of jam! Woo Hoo!

We also have some yummy green grapes perfect for eating. There weren't a whole lot of them left, but I had to leave them because the bee's were eating them. They would completely eat out the inside of the grape! I had never seen anything like that before.

Today  is the Mountain Man Rendezvous for Jacob at school. He has been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks now. His dad made him a bunch of pouches, a necklace, some bracelets and stuff for his costume. He even designed and cut out a mountain man jacket. I sewed it together while Jared made the "gold" for Jacob to barter with!




My little Mountain Man!



To bad we can't take that to the bank!

John's 7th Birthday!

John had his 7th birthday on October 4th. He was so, so excited! When we were in the kitchen eating breakfast one of the kids looked outside and saw this beautiful rainbow!

It was a great start to the day. I also had made his cake the day before, which made my day much easier! He wanted Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars, and that was no easy task!

Here is the final cake. I won't point out the flaws, because there are many, but John LOVED it. He was so happy!

When it came time to open presents he was so excited he could hardly contain himself!

He got a gun (of course), a new CTR ring (he wears his everywhere and lost it a few weeks ago) and.....

A NEW BIKE! He was too big for his old bike and really needed a new one. He was thrilled to say the least. Grandma and Grandpa Makin came over and gave him something he has been asking for for a long time.

His very own REAL tools, complete with wrenches, screwdrivers, a hammer, a square, a level, probably some things I am missing, and  a tool box!

I think over all he would say this was a GREAT birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Isaac!

Tuesdays around here are pretty busy. Isaac has speech therapy in the mornings, and pre-school in the afternoon. Then I clean the pre-school after the kids all get home from school (I get a killer discount). My mother-in-law also comes on Tuesdays to help watch little Jared while Isaac is at speech and so we can work on craft and sewing projects together. So throw in a birthday and a sick hubby and I was frazzled. Isaac wanted a firetruck cake for his birthday and I was determined to make him one. I was making the fondant instead of buying it and the red would not cooperate! After 2 hours of fighting it I had to go to the store to buy more marshmallows and make another batch. Why in the world did I wait so long!? I also had to do the birthday shopping the day of because Jared was sick and I have been busy taking him to the Dr, filling prescriptions, and just taking care of everyone. I had to take him to the Dr 2 times and we still ended up in the ER after Isaac's birthday party for IV antibiotics.

Anyway, on to the birthday. Here is the cake after I cut it and started to assemble it. We decided to make Red from the movie Cars, Isaac's favorite movie.

crumb coat

 This is the final cake. I was a little disappointed because it didn't turn out just like I wanted, but considering I didn't have all the time I needed and I was rushed, I was happy with it. I ran out of time to put all the finishing details I would have liked on the cake, but the whole thing is completely edible. The kids LOVED it!

 I tried to use silver pearl dust for the bumpers, mirrors, and a few of the lights to make them look chrome, but I couldn't get them to paint right. Hopefully I can figure it out by John's birthday in 2 weeks, because he wants a Lightning McQueen cake. I better get started on his right away!

 Here is Isaac opening his gifts.

 He was so surprised to get a new bike!

He was happy to ride his new bike! It makes all the stress of the day worth it to see the smiles on his face!

Side note: Jared is finally doing a little better now that we have some antibiotics on board that are working. We have gone to the ER 2 times for the IV antibiotics and we still have to go again tomorrow, hopefully for the last time. I am thinking he should be able to eat tonight as the swelling in his ear has gone down a ton and he can almost close his jaw completely. He has both inner and outer ear infections in his left ear.

Thanks for reading!

Labor day weekend

We went camping again for Labor Day weekend with lots of family! We had a lot of fun, although it was a lot colder than 2 weeks ago!

Knot tying

 Jared was teaching everyone how to tie different kinds of knots.

Uncle Kim came and joined the fun!

 It is so good to see Uncle Kim up and doing so much better! I think he had fun tying knots with us!

 He even taught Jared a few knots!

Dinner

 Then we all had dinner at Uncle Kim and Aunt Diann's cabin!

 Little Isaac fell in love with Lisa's little girl!

 Then we were entertained by a bunch of the kids in the play "Hansel and Gretel in the Enchanted Forest". They did and awesome job with costumes and everything!

 The cute bunnies!

Most of the cast.

Little Jared and D'artagnan

 The boys had fun playing with cousins, digging in the dirt, and gathering rocks!

John, Alexa, Layla, Aubrey.

 These cute cousins were trying to pull the big rocks out with rope! It was fun to watch them try!

Little Jared at the cabin.

Rumplestilskim!

 Kim and Diann had planned a fun game for the kids. Rumplestilskim told the kids a story and then they got to answer some questions and earn a "dollar" to spend in Rumplestilskim's General Store.

Some of the kids with some of their loot.

The party pooper!

 Morgyn actually had a lot of fun playing with Jared's cousin Nick's kids. He has all girls. Something new for her!

The "Brains" of the cabin!

 That was an answer to one of the questions that none of the kids knew!

More bb gun shooting.

Nasty bug!!

The kids actually found this nasty bug. After researching it when we got home it is a Jerusalem Cricket. Apparently not poisonous but their bite will hurt real bad!

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!