We are SO thankful

      This time of year is always so crazy with school, and sports , and just life, so it was nice to get a break and go and celebrate Thanksgiving in Oklahoma this year. So we loaded up on Tuesday and headed south. The drive was not too bad and the kids were rock stars the whole way, with one a few minutes here or there where intervention was necessary. 

And loading them up with sugar is always a good idea.

Obi was probably the best behaved of the bunch.... my cute boys :)

    Thanksgiving day, we did not have to be to Cousin Kim and Barry's house until about noon, so to help the cause, we loaded up the kids and one dog and headed down the street to hike around the lake near Frumpy and Yak's house. It was a really great hike for the kids having very little elevation, but rocks to scamper on, and just enough technical things to keep it interesting. All the kids did great and we ending up doing a little over 2 miles on our morning Turkey Trot.

All the kids had climbed up on this rock

The Beautiful Lake - Martha and Jack's house is on the other side from where this pic was taken

Hard to see, but Obi is leading the charge up the hill, with Lauren, Cooper, Skylar and Reese following

  After getting back to the house and cleaning up, we headed over to Kim and Barry's house, and fun was had by all. It is really great that so many in the family were able to get together.  We sadly did not get to taking pictures until some of the group had already dispatched, so this is only part of the party.

And this is after about 7 kiddos had left

Our Bunch, missing Obi and Lily

Action shot of the boys playing football - (L to R) Ty, Kaden, Zack and Cooper

No Trip is complete without going to the barn to see goats and kitties

Amy, who was generous enough to take all the pics, snapped a good one of Joel and I

     On Friday, we headed over to the farm to feed some cow, run around on some hay bales, and get to drive the 4 wheeler. It was a really great trip, and a good reminder on how blessed we are. 

Lauren is ready for her turn

Hay bales are fun

Finally - the must have to every trip to OK - Braums Banana Split

Quick Trip to the Mountains

Joel's buddy needed someone to watch their pup over the weekend, in exchange, we were able to use their condo in Summit County. It was a great trade off, and in all honesty we would have watched Pia either way, because she was a really sweet dog, but a free place in Summit is always great.  We waited until after the after the kids games were over to head up, and had a good dinner.
   The next morning we head up for a hike to Lily Pad Lake. As always it is great to get out into the mountains.

My cute, and getting big, kiddos

An old mine

A Girl and Her Dad

We made it too Lily Pad Lake, and we are pretty excited about it

The leaves were turning

  The next day we took Obi with us, and we were trying to get to Boulder Lake, but missed a turn. Again, you cannot have a bad time running around in the mountains, so we all just enjoyed the day. 

We  missed the Lake, but got some really pretty views

Down in the valley

Not a lake, but  it works

   We had a really great weekend, and are thankful that we had a chance to explore. 

Fall Sports

Well it is that time again, or just past that time, because I am pretty bad about posting these days. Fall sports started up again, Lauren playing soccer and Cooper Flag Football.  Both kids enjoyed their seasons, and both are getting better.

Cooper Running in for Touchdown

A Throw?

He really loves Football

Lauren chasing the ball- with her headband meant to keep her hair out of her eyes around her neck :)

   Cooper has some really great players on his team and they continue to get better every season. We are really grateful that he has some really amazing coaches, that we teaching him great skills. Lauren was also on a great team this year with several classmates and she works really hard at improving. She scored several goals this season. We had a great time, but will enjoy our time off before spring season.

School Back in session

Well, it is that time again...... school is back in session. Cooper is starting 3rd grade (WOW), and Lauren is going into first grade. We had to wait until the weekend before school started to find out who the kids had as a teacher, but glad to see that Lauren has Mrs Mueller, and Cooper has Mrs Hosek. I think both teachers are a great fit, and since I am late in posting this, both kids do seem to enjoy school this year. Honestly we have such a great school, I do not see how they could not love it.
 Here are a few pics....

Cooper (9 Years)

Lauren (6 years)

Happy kiddo's 

Proud Papa :)

Proud mama - and maybe a little happy that school's back :)

Walking to school

Getting ready to walk in

Lauren in Line 

The boy turns 9

       

      Hard to believe that Cooper is nine years old.  I know I have said this tons, but time flies, and I think it is starting to go even faster the older they get.   We had a pretty laid back birthday. I took the kids to the museum the day before, and then the evening of we were having a community night out. 

                                               Letting the birthday boy hold the fire hose

Little sis gives it a try

We had a great day, and are so happy to have this amazing kid in ours lives, sis especially.

Arriving in Hogsmeade

We have been reading the Harry Potter series for the last year with Cooper. So when we decided to go to LA for vacation, we knew we had to go see the new Harry Potter's world at Universal Studios. 

Cooper, Jill and Lauren heading into the Park

Of course we headed right to the Harry Potter ride. It was really fun, and a little more intense then Lauren wanted. The ride stopped for about a minute when we rode it the first time, so they let us ride it again without waiting in line. Lauren declined, so Cooper and I rode again. They also had a small roller coaster, that Lauren did love and rode about 10 times. Cooper had gone to cast spells with his new wand, and we could hear Lauren screaming with joy from the coaster, just walking past it. We also checked out a few of the other rides.

Saying Hello to the Minions

 After checking out several of the other rides, like Minions, The Simpsons, and Jurassic Park Log rider (which was awesome), we headed back to Hogsmeade(the name of the town in the Harry Potter books). Cooper had decided even before we left home for our trip that he wanted to get a wand for his souvenir. So we grabbed some lunch at The Three Broomsticks and then over to Olivander's.

Hogwarts Express and conductor

Cooper with his Butterbeer

Proud owner of a new custom wand

  Now to casting the spells. They had about 12 different spots within the Hogsmeade that you could use your interactive wand. They had brass circles in the ground that would show you what to do with your wand to make something happen. For example, you would have to draw an R like shape in the air and a tape measure would go do and back up,  or a flower would bloom at the flower shop. It was really fun for the kids and we spent about 1 1/2 just walking around and doing them. 

Taking this very seriously :)

  While in California, we also spent one day at the beach. It was cool enough that we had the beach to ourselves. 

Joel with the kids

Lauren was happy to be buried in the sand just to warm up a little

    We had a great time in California, and I hope the kids enjoyed it. We were all really tired after 5 days of constant motion, but were happy to have the life experiences. Now to plan the next trip :).

Day Two - Disneyland

We had taken the kids to Disneyland a few years ago, but now they were bigger and ready to really take in all the ride and experiences.

Last time - Nov 2013

(Cooper 5yrs and 2 1/2 yrs)

This time - 8 and 6 ;)

 

   Again, we hit the park when it opened, and made our way to the Pirate's of the Caribbean ride. Riding it twice, before getting a fast pass for the Indian Jones ride. Fast passes are like line holders, the park gives out so many for a certain time frame, and you get to come back in

 a shorter line to wait for the ride. Lauren and Cooper should be very grateful for their Dad who ran all around the park picking up the passes as the day went on.  Well, we did not try the Indiana ride the time we came before, and Cooper thought we should have skipped it this time.  His direct quote was "I hated it".  I thought it was a cool and different ride, but it was loud, and that is not Cooper's favorite thing.  After Indiana Jones we went on the Safari cruise, which was much more our style (We ending up riding again later in the day).

Happy on the easy boat Cruise

In front of Cinderella's Castle

Gave our feet a little break, and went to watch a live action play of the Frozen movie - Lauren was very happy, and Cooper had to grudgingly admit it was "okay"

   Since the kids had enjoyed the Avengers training the day before, and Cooper had remember fighting Darth Mal years earlier, we signed them up for Jedi training. 

Cooper took it very seriously.

Lauren thought it was awesome

Lauren fighting DarthVader - She was so brave

Cooper was excited to fight everyone - while the show was going on, he and another boy were fighting with their light sabers :)

   Joel had gotten a fast pass to Splash Mountain, but it was not until 8:30. By that time Lauren was not up for ride, so Cooper and I went over to ride it. It was a lot of fun, but the park started to block things off for the fireworks display by the time we had ridden the ride. Trying to get back together was a practice in patience that I was not up for about 13 hours at an Amusement park.  After walking in circles for about 30 mins, we were finally able to get back together to hear the announcement that the fireworks had been canceled due to high winds.  Still having a great day we headed back to the hotel. We had a great time at Disneyland, and are grateful for the memories. 

We even got a pretty decent family photo on the Small world ride :)