Our day at the Discovery Center

Last Summer the kids received passes to go to the Discovery Center of Idaho when they participated in an activity at the library.  We've been waiting to use those passes and they expire next month but we finally got to use them while Curtis was home on vacation.  I'm not brave enough yet to take 3 young kids to that place by myself.  There's so many things to look at they keep zooming from one thing to the next.  As it was, Curtis and I had lost Jack at one point.  It's amazing how fast that kid can move!  Anyway, here's the promised pictures from our day at the Discovery Center.

Nikki is fishing with a small magnet to grab that big heavy metal barrel to move it back and forth.

Garrett is seeing how a xylophone works.

Of course Jack can't resist either.

We're inside a triangle of mirrors.

It's like being at the fun house at a carnival!  Can you see the amazement on our faces?

Not a good place for the flash from the camera to be on but it looked cool.

Look!  She's flying!

Getting ready to test out the black light room.  Lights on!

Lights off!  Well, regular lights off, black lights on!

Nikki laying on a bed of nails.  Look mom, it doesn't hurt!

Garrett tried it too but he looks a little nervous, don't you think?

All that working over seas so now he's resting on a bed of nails.  Maybe he should try accupuncture next.

Never thought I'd be doing something like this.  Don't worry, the tips of the nails weren't sharp but it felt funny.

Jack playing with the ball blower.

They even have a mini grocery store that's for kids only.

Time to try out the green screen room!

Their heads are floating down a river of lava!

The headless Nikki is going to put Garrett's head on.

The boys took a trip to Egypt.  Wow, that was fast!

The wonders of technology!

Nikki pulled herself up and laughed herself down.

Who can blow the biggest bubble?

We saw so many other things while we were there but I can only take so many pictures.

A visit from Curtis, some birthdays and a baptism = a busy January!

I'm getting more and more behind on blogging so I'm going to have to skip Christmas and go straight into Curtis's short visit home, January birthdays, and Nikki's baptism.

The boys down on the ground at the airport watching the doors, anxiously awaiting Daddy's return!

Nikki waiting for Daddy.

Finally, 3 1/2 months of waiting is over and we are reunited!....well, just for 12 days.  But it was worth it!

Curtis missed his birthday and Christmas so one of the first things we did was have him open some gifts.  He got some nice BSU cups and a flashlight, besides the things we had mailed to him. Check out the white clothes he's wearing!  Those are Afghanistan clothes.  He bought them to use to baptize Nikki in but when she had her interview with the Bishop the Sunday before, Bishop requested that he not wear them because it might distract from the spirit of the meeting.  Oh well, they still make comfortable lounge around in clothes!

Jack and I watching Daddy.

On the 9th we went out to Sizzler for dinner as a family.

Jack and Daddy enjoying the food.

Me and Nikki.  I had picked out both of those hats for my own Christmas present since Curtis wasn't here.  Nikki really wanted to wear the black one so we could match

When the waitress asked how old the kids were I had mentioned that Nikki would be 8 in two days so the waitress brought Nikki a special birthday treat.  She loved it!  She was already really full so she couldn't finish it.  She asked for a paper to write on so she could leave the waitress a note.  It said something like "Sorry, I was too full to finish it" and signed her name.  I think that's all she wrote but I can't remember.  I just thought it was so cute at how thoughtful she was acting.

Nikki's birthday was on the 11th but we couldn't celebrate until the 12th.  But she told me she wanted this kind of cake this year, which was fine with me.  It was easy and delicious!

Looks like she's making a wish.

I think these were her two favorite gifts that night.   A zhu zhu pet (toy hamster) and the rollerblades.  Of course she loved all her other gifts too!

The very next day Nikki had a party with friends. She's all ready and waiting for her guests to arrive.  I gave her the choice between donuts or cake.  Since she wanted to do a donut eating contest she went with the donuts.  It was fun to be able to use our new "cupcake" holder for the mini donuts...and Nikki's sponge cake on top (from the previous day).  We were crazy enough to have 18 kids running around our house that night but it was fun.  We made it clear that we would not be doing a big friends party like this every year  ;) 

Now the big day that Nikki has been anxiously awaiting ALL YEAR LONG!  To finally reach the age of accountability and follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ by being baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Her brothers are happy for her too.

Nikki with Mommy and Daddy before the baptism.

And us again after the baptism and Nikki wearing her new outfit.  Her Grandma Butterfield bought the dress and had to add the sleeves.  She did an awesome job!  She also made her the white flower in her hair and the necklace and bracelets.  She let her borrow her clip on pearl earrings.  I was lucky enough to find some nice white shoes to wear with the dress.  Not easy to find white shoes this time of year!

Nikki with her great grandparents, GG & GG Norton.

Nikki with her great grandma Port (whom Nikki was named after for her middle name) and grandma and grandpa Butterfield.

We had a great turn out on both sides of our family at the baptism.  A couple of our neighbors came also but they weren't in the photo because they had to take off right after it was done to feed their kids dinner, but we really appreciated EVERYONE who came!  It made Nikki's night extra special!

Nikki with Gramdma Vernie and Grandpa Tony.

Our little angel princess.  We are so proud and happy of her decision!

Not only did Nikki have a birthday but my birthday is 6 days after hers.  So we celebrated my birthday by going out to eat with our parents and grandparents and brother and sister in law to Mongolian BBQ.  I haven't eaten there in a long time so I was in the mood for it and I'm glad we did.  It was delicious!  One more year until the big 30!  Going to have to try and enjoy my last year in my 20's the best I can!!!


I will make another post in a few days about some of the other things we did while Curtis was home, mainly our trip to the Discovery Center.  Stay tuned!



Halloween and November Activities

I don't know why I have such a hard time keeping up with this blog but I will try to do better.  Here are some pictures from Halloween and the month of November.

Here the kids are ready to trick or treat on Halloween.  Jack as our dragon.  Garrett as our friendly neighborhood Spiderman.  Nikki as our purple witch.

The first week in November I had my grandparents come over and help me make some applesauce and apple pie filling.  So yummy!

I got Jack some new pjs.  I had meant to save it for Christmas but I decided not to wait.  He'll get his Buzz pjs for Christmas but for now I let him wear his Woody pjs.  And he loves it!

He's showing off his pjs by sticking out his tummy.

Nikki had Fall/Holiday concert.  Her class did one song with their recorders.  The bleachers were jammed packed full of audience!

Nikki is at the top with the white bow in her hair.  It was such a fun show to watch.  She has had a different music teacher every year I think this one is the best so far.  And he says he's here to stay until he retires, about 9 years.

Garrett and I spent an afternoon baking together. 

I even let him roll one loaf by himself.  He enjoyed that a lot!

And here's his finished loaf.  We usually snack on a loaf right after baking them so we snacked on this one ;)  He did a pretty good job!  We made 4 loaves of wheat bread and 2 loaves of zucchini bread.

That same day we baked bread we also went to the city Christmas tree lighting celebration for our FHE.  We invited my parents to join us and it was a lot of fun!

Jack had it easy, being pushed around in a stroller.

And there it is!  It stands about 40 ft tall AFTER cutting 20 feet off because it was too tall.  It was donated by a resident who planted it about 42 years ago in their yard.

It was so tall we could kneel underneath to get pictures.  Some kids could walk underneath.

Some of the businesses had some fun things going on.  Inside the art store they had "Santa's reindeer", which were two llamas.  They even let the kids pet them.

Garrett was trying to pet him but couldn't get his fingers through the fence.

There's the antlers!

The old theater handed out hot chocolate and cookies!

Then we walked down to the museum.

All aboard!!

On our way back to the car Nikki wanted another picture in front of the tree.  By then most people were gone.  Afterward we drove over to my dad's where we shared a loaf of the zucchini bread that Garrett and I baked earlier that day.  And we watched the Shrek Christmas movie.  It was a fun evening and great kick off to the Christmas season!