Our Thanksgiving Trip to Washington

In November we took a quick trip up to Washington State to visit family for Thanksgiving.  It was a really great trip as long as I block the memory of the very long drive home with kids throwing up every few miles.

We got up super early Wednesday morning to drive up to Washington.  The kids were really good for the drive. We broke up to trip a little by driving the first leg of the trip up to Scott's Uncle Spence's house in Kenniwick.  We had a super fun sleep over there.  The kids loved getting to have a slumber party with cousins and Scott and I had fun visiting with everyone until the wee hours.  Sadly I didn't take any pictures.  :(

Thursday morning we headed to my grandparents house in Burien and spent Thanksgiving day with my family there.

 The kids had fun meeting cousins they had never met before.

 The boys adored eating Thanksgiving dinner with Great Grandpa Michaud.

 After dinner we played Yatzee and guess what... I won.

 Bryce with Grandpa and Great Grandpa.  The kids really had fun with my dad.  Logan why he had long hair like Rapunzel and climbed all over him.

 Friday morning the kids went on a walk with my dad and sister and their Great Grandma.

 On the walk they found a horse.

 The kids always love hanging out with their aunt Katie.

 After saying good bye to my family, we met up with Guy and Kristin downtown.  First on the list of things to do was to walk to Pikes Market.

 And of course we had to check out the gum wall on the way to the aquarium.

 The aquarium was pretty great. 

 Emma loves jelly fish.

On the long cold dark walk home we discovered it was time for the Christmas tree lighting downtown.  SO wee lucked out and got the see most the fireworks and the freshly lit tree, making the walk home seem less long and cold.

Saturday we took the kids (including Adam, who totally looks like he could be ours so we got a few stares from people.  I think people in Seattle might not be used to seeing a family with 5 kids 7 and under and Emma, Alan, and Adam are all the same size so I think a few of them were trying to decide if they were triplets) to the Pacific Science Center.  It is so cool and the kids were really good, which always makes for a better day.

 The water tables were a big hit.

 And of couse they loved seeing the dinosaurs.

 Blasting off into space.  We were there on a day of a real space shuttle blast off that the kids watched live.

 A picture of all 6 kids :)

 cute little Bryce.

 Umm  just now as I am looking at this picture I am realizing that that kid in the yellow is NOT Logan....  So who is that and where is Logan?  Oh well we brought Logan home with us so it is all good.  OR at least I think that is Logan we brought home.

 My favorite part was the butterfly garden.  One landed right on Logan's head.

Sunday morning we started the VERY LONG drive home.  It was made longer by the frequent stops to get more bags for the kids to throw up in.  Yup.  That is a drive I wish I could forget, but probably never will.

Even with the Barf-stravaganza it was still a really great trip and I was really glad we got to spend a holiday with my family.

Our Crazy Week

This past week was so crazy at our house... crazy, but fun.

Monday- It was kids eats free Monday night at Chili's.  So we went to Chili's for FHE.  The kids LOVE eating out so they thought it was great. And when we can get 4 free kids meals it really makes eating out AWESOME.

Tuesday- On Tuesday I had the Relief Society birthday party.  We had a princess party.  How fun right?  It has been a LONG time since some one threw a princess party for me. :)  And just before I headed out the door Scott got a call from our neighbor and the men took the kids out to McDonald's.  I had already made dinner, but I said they could go play with their friends.

Wednesday- Wednesday was art night at the kid's school.

 It started with a song from each of the grades.

 Once the songs were over, we met up with the kids so they could show us some of their art. 

Emma's is the one with the yellow moon.

 Alan showing us his dragon,

 and his crazy creature.

  Don't you love the library?  Bryce loves the bench in the front of the school.

Thursday- Thursday was Scott and my 9 year anniversary.  Wow how time does fly.  To "celebrate" we took the kids to Get Air.  It is a trampoline park.  We actually went because I was invited to a party there for bloggers.  You can't beat a free night of fun and we ALL had a BLAST!!  At first I was a little worried my kids would be too young to for it, but no one had more fun that Bryce and I got TONS of free swag.  Including a free birthday party at Get Air and a birthday party to give away on my blog.  AWESOME!

Friday-  On Friday I spent the morning making cake.  I usually do my cake making at night.  But I ran out of time to make the cakes on Thursday night so I have to make them Friday morning.

 I made this cake for a neighbor, and then I also made Alan Boy's birthday cake.  This cake in an ombre extra ruffle cake.  I LOVE the effect.  

 This is why I try not to do cakes while the kids are up.  Poor Bryce (who is almost always in just a diaper weather I like it or not)  tore the place apart.  I just had to laugh and take a quick picture when I saw him squatting there eating his toast on the floor.  Worlds Best Mom!  Right Here!

 Then I got Bryce dressed so we could drive into Salt Lake and pick up Scott and then Logan and I went to on a special day to Toy Story 3 on Ice.  It was so fun.  Logan sat on  my lap the whole time and just stared at it in a trance.  It was literally the best.   When it was over we took the light rail back over to Scott's office where the car was.  Logan really loves it when he get to ride the train.

Saturday- Saturday was Alan's 6th birthday.  When did he get so big????

 We had such a fun day.  We started the day with a Transformers party.  I am making the kids keep their parties small this year.  Four guest!  That's it.  Which is really hard when that are like 15 kids Alan's age on our street and the cul-de-sacs connected to it.  The is like 1 in every 2 houses has a kid Alan's age.

 We played pin the symbol on the Transformer.

 The winner got a coloring book.

We watched a Transformer cartoon while we ate lunch.

 Then Optimus Prime sent the kids on a treasure hunt for Energon.

 The Energon box was PACKED with stuff for their treat bags.

 Then we opened presents and had cake and ice cream.

 That is quite the haul.

 We actually had one more game planned, but once Sonic Generations was opened, that was it and since there were only about 10 mins left before parents were coming we just let them play.

Then we had a couple hours to hang and recover before we headed out to see The Lorax in 3D.  So good.  I loved the animation, the fact that is is a musical, and that it really is a nice family movie.  After the movie we took the kids to McDonald's.  Okay seriously we very rarely go to McDonald's, but it was Alan's birthday and that is what he picked so we had to. But really, Alan had his first Happy Meal on his 4th birthday.
When we got home Scott's fam and our neighbors across the street came over for cake and ice cream.

It was a FUN day.

Sunday- Tonight we had Emma's baptism preview.  I am SO exited that she will be getting baptized this year. I am going to have a hard time not going over board, but hey she is my only girl and for me, being a first generation member of the church, passing that gift on for the first time is HUGE for me.  HUGE.

2011 year in review

I haven't really been very good at keeping this blog up to date this year, but I thought it would be fun to do a year in review and get kinda caught up on all the stuff I didn't post.

January

We kicked off the year with a very awesome trip to Disneyland, Seaworld, and the San Diego Zoo.  We had a blast with Guy, Kristin, and Adam.

Bryce enjoyed learning how to eat like a big boy. :)

February

We had fun making Valentines for classmates and friends.

And we had a very fun Valentine's Day.

March

Alan turned 5!  He had a Mario Party and then we went to Boondocks.

Between Alan's party and Alan's other party, Emma had a choir performance.

Alan got a bike for his birthday.

On the 15th we went on a field trip to the Farmington Fire Station.

Then later that day we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to watch Uncle Kevin open his mission call.  He was called to the Kiev, Ukraine mission.

We also had several outings to the park.

April
Spring Break was the beginning of April and just for fun we had a little stay-cation.

Monday we went to the Dinosaur Park.

Tuesday we went on a tour of the Sweets candy factory.

Wednesday we went to the Hogle Zoo and on Friday we went to see Smurfs in 3D at the new movie theater.

The next week Emma turned 7!  She had a big Rapunzel party.

I went on a field trip with Emma.

And the next week Alan's baseball season started and Scott turned 30 on the 20th.  (I swear I took pictures, but I can't find them)

We also had a very nice Easter.

May

Emma lost her first tooth.

We said goodbye to Uncle Kevin for 2 years.

Bryce being Bryce

Alan graduated from Preschool.

Bryce and Logan saved the world from evil.

June

I took the boys and Alan's friend Cade to the zoo the see the dinosaurs before school was out for the summer.

We had a Hilton family get-together in Great Grandpa and Grandma's back yard (the kids great grandparents, Scott's grandparents.)

The second week of June the kids started swimming lessons.  They had a lot of fun and Bryce loved playing in  the splash area.

On the 9th the baseball season ended for Alan.  It was a lot of fun going to his games as a family.

The 18th was a big day for us...  We got the rest of the grass for the back yard...  Yay! We have a back yard.

Bryce being Bryce.

Bryce still being Bryce.

July

The 4th of July was a fun day.  Emma was in the Kaysville parade with the Davis High Cheerleaders, then we had a BBQ at Grandma and Grandpa's.   The boys LOVED fireworks.

On the 6th Emma was crowned Little Miss Farmington.  The day before the pageant Emma got her ears pierced.

On the 9th Emma was in the Farmington Festival Days Parade.

Later that day (after we all had some fun at Festival Days)  Emma volunteered at the Miss Farmington petting zoo.

While Dean and Andrea were in town Scott's mom Beth and Andrea and Lesli (my sisters-in-law) and I went out for a little girls lunch and some shopping at a local antique type store.

Since we hadn't had enough parade fun in July, our whole family was in the Days of 47 Children's Parade in Salt Lake.  It was a hot day, but Logan found a cool place to wait for the parade to start.

Next came the Leavitt Family Reunion...

All the grand kids had a fun picnic dinner in the park with Grandpa, Grandma, and Eric, while all their moms and dads got to go out on a date.

I am not sure how we managed to fit so much into July, but we also had a day trip to go fishing at the lake with Scott's parents, Uncles, Dean and Andrea and Tanner and Landon.  It was a really fun day.  The kids go SO DIRTY.

Bryce bring Bryce.

The end of July we got the cutest sweetest baby kitten who had 26 toes.  Sadly we only had him for a couple weeks because as it turns out Scott and I were allergic to him.

August 
Before school started we tried to squeeze in as much fun as we could.  We went to the zoo, the air and space museum, Kangaroo Zoo, and the planetarium.

 The Friday before school started we had a couple of back to school parties.  First we had a popsicle party with a bounce house and and lots of water balloons for a bunch of the kids in the neighborhood.  Then later we had a Night Owl ice cream party for all the girls in Emma's class.

Back to School!!

Just after school started so did soccer season.  Emma, Alan, and Logan where all playing this year so we had soccer games 3 nights a week for like 6 weeks.

September
September was mostly school and soccer games.

But my Mom, sister Aimee, and Baby Lyle came to visit.  Despite the kids schedule we still found time to have a little extra fun.

October

As part of her Little Miss duties Emma volunteered at the Miss Farmington Charity Halloween Carnival.

Emma and her court dressed as princesses for the carnival.

Alan and Logan got a room redo and some new beds.

For Halloween the kids were Sleeping Beauty, Clark Kent, Batman, and Captain America.  Since the kids didn't have school.  We got all dolled up early, went into Salt Lake, had lunch with dad, Trick-or-treat at Tracy Aviary, quick trip to the zoo, dinner at Grandma's, the trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.  Bryce was so dirty and gross by the end of the day.  The black hair spray kinda got on everything and he was constantly eating candy and drooling candy.


November

November 5th was the first snow fall of the year.  All the kids were very excited to get out in the snow.

Emma had her fall choir concert.

During the week of Thanksgiving we took a trip up to Washington to see some family.  We spent the first night at Scott's Aunt and Uncle's house (Spence and Jannie) sadly I didn't take any pictures.

We spent Thanksgiving and that night at my grandparents house.  As a nice surprise my dad and sister Katie flew down from Alaska to be there too.

We spent the next two days with Guy and Kristin (Scott's Uncle and Aunt).

December
December was a crazy month.  Crazy Busy, Crazy Weather..  Crazy, but good.  I will give it it's own post.

I am sure there are things I forgot, but this is a pretty good review of the year.  I know that we went to the zoo at least 10 times this year, but often we are just out having fun so I forget to take pictures.  Oh well.

Happy New Year.