November 2011 - Part 2

The day after we got back from Elko we loaded up the car and drove to Denver for Thanksgiving. We NEEDED a vacation to get away from the stress of unemployment. Here is our favorite pit stop in Grand Junction.

Natalie's new haircut. So stylish and cute!

This was her hair before we left. I like both versions.

Playing with grandma Drake.

Dress-up with sister.

We like to do things along the way now to break up the long drive. This time we stopped at a dinosaur museum near Grand Junction.

I think this is pretty darn cool. Jeremy looks thrilled that I made him stand there and take a picture doesn't he?

Donut lips! Yum

Kai was really into Lego building this month and Star Wars = Pod Racers!

November 2011 - Part 1

Jeremy was still unemployed this month, but had a promising job interview....in Elko Nevada! We were not thrilled at all about the prospect of living there, but we were getting desperate for a job, and were willing to go wherever the Lord wanted us; even if it happened to be Elko.

We made a quick trip out for the interview right before Thanksgiving and stopped at the salt flats on the way. Jeremy had never been before. It sure was cold out there that day!

I had no idea what to expect out of Elko, but got a good impression driving through town! Darn it, we should of done our Christmas shopping here! ha ha

Well, Jeremy didn't get that job (we found out a few months later), but a better one came along soon enough. Phew!

October 2011 - Part 2

Now for the good stuff - Costumes! Kai wanted to be ghost Anikan from the Lego Start Wars Wii game. He has a great imagination. We had to find a way to make him all blue, this was our solution.

Kai's Class party and one candy-loaded cookie! Kai's costume parade, the whoopie cushion is his best friend Trent.

Natalie wanted to be a kitty...no surprise there. She loved having a tail, even wore it for a few days after Halloween! Thank you grandma Drake for the super cute mask!

Natalie's class party and costume parade. Pumpkin bowling and a spider cupcake.

I was in charge of this game...so much fun stacking and re-stacking. haha

Nicole got to be a hula girl because we found it in the closet and it fit her and it looked cute on her! We bought that in Hawaii for Natalie, but forgot about it, so Nicole got it instead.

The three musketeers!

October 2011 - Part 1

October was a busy month with all sorts of Halloween activities.  In the middle of the month we took the kids to a pumpkin patch, you can see those pictures here.

Adobe, formally Omniture, goes crazy for Halloween. They go all out and completely transform the building for trick or treating. Departments get a massive budget to do different themes and compete for some amazing prizes. Here were some of the ones we enjoyed.

Top to Bottom: 

We had to wait in line for a while to get into the building, but there was plenty to do while you wait. They had cotton candy, popcorn, ice cream and a live band. They also had snake/bug handlers, jugglers, and some other entertainers. 

First up was alien hunting. They gave us nerf shooters to shoot the aliens as we went through (it was all black lights and neon paint).

Harry Potter theme complete with a few giant spiders. 

Kai's favorite:Angry birds Seasons theme. Each season had a shooting station where people could launch angry bird stuffed animals. I think they must have raided every store, there were probably hundreds of these flying around.

Cars theme. There was also a toy story theme.

One section had a rope swing and this huge slide!

This year's grand prize winner: Alice in Wonderland. They decorated outside and brought in a bunch of sculpted trees, flamingos, and movie posters. I don't know where they found the one that covered an entire wall (the one with mushrooms and flowers). They even had a blow up bounce house for the kids.

This was the theme Jeremy worked on, and the end of the tour: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

We are all excited for next year! Adobe is constructing a new building that will be complete in October. So they will do one last Halloween at their current building and leave with a bang!

September 2011

September was a fairly quiet month, here are a few highlights (Clockwise):

Messy popsicles, Going to the circus (a very small circus), Natalie's messy hair day at school, playing in the rain, and new bikes. Kai got a new bike so we gave Natalie Kai's old spiderman bike and made it girly by painting it purple and adding a basket. So Nicole got Natalie's bike and learned how to ride with training wheels.

Continuing: A super lazy cat, a happy pie, and Nicole's yarn braids.

Natalie's "new" bike, before we painted it, Nicole learning to ride a bike, another summer project, extending the back patio, and horsey rides to bed.

August 2011

August got off to a rough start. Remember how I said we were getting good at riding bikes all over town? Well, our luck ran out, my luck anyway. I decided to ride my bike to the gym and came to this intersection. I was on the left sidewalk heading into the construction zone, looking for cars, and then... bam! That sidewalk, looks like it dips, from this angle and from my angle. Well, it is a big fat curb with no pedestrian access. I crashed hard and broke my bike and tore some tendons in my shoulder. I was just lucky I didn't land on my head since I wasn't wearing a helmet. Next year: we all get helmets for our bikes!

Next up came Kai's baptism. I can't believe my little boy is 8 already! Where did the time go? He looked so handsome that day and so excited to get baptized. And I must say I was pretty proud of him.

Grandma Drake flew out to witness this event and we sure had a lot of fun with her.

Look at these two handsome men.

Fun with grandma!

The best restaurant in Provo! My brother's wife's family owns and operates this place and it is delicious! They serve authentic Taiwanese cuisine.

One super lazy cat!

  Last "fun in the sun" for the year!

August is our anniversary month. This was 9 years. The kids wanted to help us celebrate this year so they mad us a banner (it's hard to read since they did it with pencil- Happy Anniversary) and helped cook a nice breakfast.

Jeremy attempting to help our duck learn how to fly. Mission unsuccessful! 

Hanging out with cousin Ellie.

 Jeremy wanted one last hoor-ah with the kids before school started. He took them hiking up the Grotto trail. They loved the hike and lunch, but the water was super cold and they weren't thrilled to have to get in it for a picture.

Back to school! This is the first day of school - kindergarten for Natalie, 3rd grade for Kai.

Riding bikes to school. Nicole's wishing she could come too.

Kai in his handsome new glasses, all ready for school.

Our first egg! Anikan was the first to start laying.

At the end of the month we decided to release Eggbert the duck into the wild. Winter was on the way and we worried that he would freeze to death here in our yard. So we took a family trip and did the deed.  We brought a lot of bread to try and lure some ducky friends over to him. I hope he's is happy wherever he ended up.

July 2011

Well I guess when you have 3 kids, every month seems very busy! Here are a few highlights of July.

You can click on each of these to enlarge them.

Top left to bottom right: Kai's 8th birthday. We had family parties for all the kids this year. *Kai had a Star Wars cake (I forgot to take a picture before we ate it. oops) *One of Kai's presents.

*Just finishing a 7 mi family bike ride! We were all getting into riding bikes everywhere we went.

*Water balloon fight! *Dad takes a hit.

*Nicole would fall asleep eating lunch every Sunday after church. It was a pretty rainy month. *It was fun to see the outlines of various toys left on the driveway, but it also was the season of the snail! They were everywhere! *A picnic in Genola; they sure don't make slides like that anymore!

*Home Improvement by Jeremy. Jeremy lost his job back in May so we did some major yard projects to fill our time. *A huge rock pile to fill in all out planters. *Some finished planters. *Jeremy hard at work.

Trying yummy cuisine at the Green Panda near the Riverwoods. My brother's wife's family owns and operates the restaurant. It is authentic taiwan cuisine, and it is delicious!

Our camping trip, you can read the whole story and see some film images here: http://www.frecklesphotography.blogspot.com/2011/07/fish-lake-camping-trip-film.html.

 *The truck fully loaded, every inch crammed with stuff. *Kai soaking up the sun instead of helping unload. *Jeremy setting up camp with helpers. *Lunch. *A nice bike ride near the lake over to the lodge (we all got sunburned). *Lunch in the truck while it poured rain one day. 

*Nicole asleep after a long bike ride. *Natalie the dirt queen. *Kai's new favorite game: Solitaire. *Kai chopping wood. *Fish Lake sign. *Taking a walk in the wilderness. *Nicole climbing rocks by our fishing spot (we didn't catch any fish).

Natalie gor her ears pierced this month! She had been begging us and we finally gave in. Here is her before and just after one side. She didn't even cry!

We did have some really nice days to just relax and play in the pool too!