Meeting the Navajos

Showing off the class T shirt with each person's self portrait


Summer's Navajo hairstyle


Showing off their Indian hairstyles



Rug weaving

Yet another field trip this week, this time to see the Navajo Indians who make their annual trip to Deer Valley. The kids enjoyed learning some words in Navajo, getting their hair done, tasting fry bread, watching the elders weave and looking at all of the beautiful jewelry made by the Navajos. It was an enjoyable morning.

And a Happy Birthday it was....

The girls and I on the balcony


Showing off the cake they made and deocrated


The Edible Arrangement from my sister and her family - yum!


Summer decorated my office with pictures she made

I had a really fun birthday. I got lots of calls and emails and facebook messages with birthday wishes which made my day. It is always great to hear from everyone and it made me feel very loved :-) The girls and I made a gluten free cake and they decorated it and we watched the full moon rise over the mountains at sunset which was beautiful. We had dad take a picture of us as it was too pretty not to capture.

Thanksgiving Point Field Trip

Class picture


In the corn maze


Picking pumpkins

Summer had a field trip to Thanksgiving Point a few days before Halloween. The kids went to Thanksgiving Point and they did a corn maze, a hayride and picked pumpkins. The weather was really cold that day but the kids were troopers and had fun, luckily it warmed up in time for a perfect Halloween day.

Lordy, Lordy, Look Who's 40!

Got me!


Delicious cake with 40 candles - luckily no fire code violations :-)



Getting blasted with silly string


Covered in string


Brook and I


Laura, me and Lindsey - our kids love to play together and we love to hang out


Cathy, Laura, Me and Lindsey


Me and Thea (decoy #2)


Sherri with Alan and Stevie (decoys #1)


The PCA moms - me, Sarah and Jenifer

Can it be that 40 years ago today, I was born? I remember so many things so clearly and then I think, my goodness, that was in 1983, or 1991 or 1995 and that was a LONG time ago. I think my life really started when I had Summer and Paige, everything seems richer and fuller like I went from living in black and white to technicolor. I have no complaints, no mid life crisis. Life is good - my family and I are all healthy, we have jobs that we enjoy, we have each other, we have great friends what more could we want? So bring it on, 40 it is and by the way 40 is the new 30!

My husband hosted not one but two 40th birthday parties for me. It was amazing. So many people that have been important in my life were there to celebrate my milestone birthday either in Pennsylvania or Park City. It truly made 40 not seem so bad :-) I am still smiling from the good times had at both parties. Here are some photos from the Park City party held on October 17th at the Treasure Mountain Inn. It was a fun night of food, friends, wine and music and even a delicious gluten free chocolate cake. So thanks to my hubby for pulling it off again. After fourteen and half years of marriage, you still manage to surprise me! And away we go.......

Happy Halloween

Summer and her best buddy, Margaret, at her school party


Carving the pumpkin on Halloween morning


Sophie, the jack-o-latern


Paige scooping the seeds out


Sam the monkey jack-o-lantern



Mermaid in full regalia


This was Summer's expression all day long!


Sisters ready to head out


Your wish is my command - (Actually - you wish I would stop commanding)


I dream of Genie


All smiles trick or treating on Main



Hitting the trick or treat trail


With Nate, the race car driver and Sarah dressed as Queen Elizabeth


With our babysitter Jennifer on the left


With our park City friends


Sugar crash on the ride home

We had a very fun Halloween. Lots of parties and school functions and dressing up. We got lucky and Summer had recovered from her prior illness and Paige, while still battling a nasty cold, managed to make it out for trick or treating. Paige was a little trooper as I knew she did not feel 100% but that was not going to stop her from getting candy! We carved pumpkins on Halloween morning and the girls were excited all day. We went to Main Street to trick or treat from 3-5pm, came home and ate dinner and then off to the neighbors - a very fun day! I love going to Main Street on Halloween. It is as much fun for the parents as it is for the children. We see lots of people we know and it is great to see their children all dressed up too. Happy Halloween!

Tripleheader weekend

Summer, the mermaid, ready for the costume party


Paige, the genie, ready for the costume party


Birthday boy Mateo


Decorating caramel apples


Paige's cookie decorated with a mountain of candy corn


All the little buddies ready to head out


Going on a hayride


Summer saying hi to Sonny the pony (and yes his pony partner next to him is named Cher)


Hands behind the back ready to eat the donut


I don't care if I won the donut eating contest, I just want another donut.


The kids were captivated


Paige liked the snakes as long as she was not holding them


This is fun!


Paige checking out the snake


Are you kidding me - holding a snake and smiling? You go girl!


Summer and Amber the snake charmers


Paige thinking the snake is getting a little too close


Birthday boy, Joseph, holding a lizard


Checking out the frog


Holding the baby chameleon


Summer feeding the baby turtle

I love these types of weekends - busy, busy, busy! We attended three parties in two days (we missed 2 other parties because of conflicts), must be that time of year. Life with school age children is busy but fun!

We started the weekend with Mateo's 5th birthday Monster Mash costume party at the field house. The kids looked great and had a blast in the bounce houses and running around the field. We then went to a Fall Festival party with our friends where the kids did horse drawn hayrides, made caramel apples, decorated cookies, picked pumpkins, drank hot chocolate, played games and all in all ate way too much sugar. They loved it!

On Sunday, we went to Joseph's 5th birthday party and he had "Kim" and her cold blooded creatures. The kids loved it, I was really surprised. At first Summer told me she just wanted to look at the animals but within 20 minutes she was petting lizards, feeding turtles and holding snakes and she could not get enough of them. Paige was right in there too, petting the snakes and trying to hold them, although her instinct was to fling them when they got too close so we had to protect the snakes from Paige a little bit. I was getting chills up my neck seeing enormous cockroaches, scorpions, beetles and snakes and I am sure I will have bad dreams tonight, but it was neat to see boys and girls alike so interested in these creatures. (By the way, the reason there are more pictures of Summer than Paige at the birthday party is because Paige tip toed away from mom to stake claim on the large bowl of M&Ms at her table.)

The reader and the singer

Summer is so excited about learning to read


Paige singing the Moster Mash that she learned at school

I took this video the weekend before last. Summer is learning to read at school and is so excited. She cannot get enough of it and loves to practice so I thought it would be fun to take a video to show her. Paige loves to sing and has been cracking me up as she sings the Monster Mash around the house.