Lucy and her very best friend Eliza went to the pumpkin patch in Farmington with their preschool. It's been fun having Eliza with her at school this year.

It took a while to pick the very best pumpkin in the patch, but they finally found them!

Happy Halloween!

We have one shroom, one mummy and one kitty this year. They are already deciding what they are going to be for next year.

Go Utes!!

GO UTES!

The Utes won Oregon State 10/2/08!

This game alone paid for our 5 season tickets!

What a GREAT game!

This is Lucy and DaeShawn.

I know for sure that I'm spelling that wrong.

Anywho....This is the son of Murry High's head football coach who has tickets behind us.

She, of course, has made best friends with them

and eats all their popcorn.

Diesel and Daisy

Hey! That's MINE Diesel!

Diasy came with her favorite toy (Thanks Eva!).

Too bad Diesel's favorite thing to do is rip stuffed bunnies apart.

Oh Boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh GIRL

This is Daisy and she will be joining our family in a couple of days. She is Diesel's sister from his parent's last litter. Can I just take this moment to say "This is why I have a no soliciting sign on my door". Seriously.....I can't turn anything down. ESPECIALLY a big puddle of wrinkles.

We are so excited!

Decisions, decisions

Lucy just decided what she would like to be when she grows up big. Either Santa, a butterfly, a rainbow, or a unicorn. Her most popular answer is a butterfly. Santa is new. Good Luck Bleu!!!

Zach's first day of 3rd grade

This is Zach and his 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Kidd, and his friend Ford Ballard (yes, THAT Ballard). I wasn't that good of a mom this year. This is the only picture I have of the first day of school. This isn't even the first day, it's back to school night. AND....Zach is the only one of my children with a picture. For shame! Someone really needs to take over this department.

WOOF!

Diesel Big Daddy McTruck. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

My Kids' AWESOME Experience

Grandma Char hosted 2 kids from Kenya this month as they were touring for a dancing and singing group. She requested kids that were similar in age to Madison and Zach. Sarah (age 11), and Randu (age 12) were fun to be with. Sarah was very shy and beautiful. Randu was full of character and life. He loved to dance and even taught Madison and Zach the "Macaraina".

Madison, Zach and Lucy were able to spend the whole day Thursday and some of Friday with these great kids. They went to McDonald's because Sarah and Randu had recently discovered the great joys of french fries. YUM! At Hollywood Connection, they rode rides and played miniature golf.

Lucy had it the best. She didn't have to walk for 2 days!! Randu or Sarah packed her all over the place.

The children's choir from Africa put on a show for their host families that was great! I loved the my children got to have this experience. They bonded so well with Sarah and Randu I couldn't have every asked for more. I hope this will be something they remember forever.

Lucy's Birthday

Lucy turns four!!!

Lucy Bleu's birthday was August 13th. No one who has been around her would be able to forget it because she tells everyone the date very clearly. She has been waiting, not always patiently, for this day. She is so excited to finally be four. She now gets to have her own "Lemonade Stand", or so she says anyway. In the meantime, she has been having "Nerd Stands" where she eats most of her inventory before it sales.

We had a small family party at McDonalds (YUCK!). She has even said some "garbage words" since it's her birthday and "You can swear on your birthday". This is Brandon's fault, but I'll spare you the details. :(

Fun at Lagoon

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Lucy's Dance Recital

Dance Yourself Silly

Lucy had her dance recital on June 24, 2008 with Expressions Dance. It was at Woods Cross High school and Grandma Adair came up for it. She was very excited to be on the stage and stood their beaming for a while before she could dance.

She also got to wear makeup and was constantly concerned if she still had lipstick on. Her hair had to be in a side ponytail, so this is what we came up with. Not to bad. She had so much fun that, unfortunately, Brandon is going to have to sit through more dance recitals in the future.

Traveling Summer 2008

"Camping" trips during the summer of 2008: (as of 9/2/08)

1 . Moab 5/23

2. Spruces in Big Cottonwood Canyon 6/29

3. Bear Lake 7/7

4. "The HUT" 7/11

5. Mirror Lake 8/17

6. "The HUT" 9/1

7. Timpooneke Campground 9/14

Timpooneke Campground is up American Fork Canyon. It is one of the most beautiful places. There were two bull moose fighting one morning out in the meadow, but we missed it. Brandon did get a picture of this bull and then came and got the kids to see. Diesel was growling at it, but then decided that we were safe.

This is a picture of Zach and Diesel after a long day of playing. They were both tuckered out! Zach always chooses the "mummy bag" and Diesel chooses where ever he wants. Always.

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For Labor Day we went to The Hut with ALL the Adair family. All of Grandpa Adair's siblings were there except 1 (tsk tsk LoriLee). Grandpa Great was there, snug as a bug in a rug. He was cold and wrapped up in a blanket all weekend. We didn't see much of the older kids this weekend. They were making a "little hut" with all the tree branches lying around. It looked like a tee-pee and was made so well that it even help up through all the rain. Lucy made a new best friend in Paisley. Clyde (the golden-retriever) was in hog heaven because all the kids would throw his stick as many times as he wanted. Poor Clyde and his O.C.D. He could really use some medication for his fetching issues.

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Brandon gets to go to Boy Scout camp once a year to the high Uintah's. He loves it here and was very excited to share this beautiful place with his family. We rented a canoe in Kamas that came with life jackets. The kids loved this!!! Madison and Zach were constantly competing to be the front oarsman. Lucy liked to hang over the edge, which made Madison and Zach both really mad because it would make the canoe tip to the side. Diesel even got to go in the canoe. The highlight for the kids was spotting golden eagles with fish in their talons.

The hut is what we call Grandma and Grandpa Adair's mountain property. It has a great little cabin that they have renovated. Grandpa added camping spots for everyone to be up there together. We ride the four-wheelers, play in the dirt, and then ride again. Lucy is always excited to go for a "wheeler" ride. Zach spends his whole time looking for more animal bones for his "collection". Madison likes to figure out what Grandpa has done new around the place.

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Bear Lake is hard to top. We love the beach and the clear water. We stayed at the KOA this year and the kids loved it. They do a great job there and I highly recommend paying their inflated price if you go with kids. They swam, jumped on the "jumping pillow", rode on a hayride, painted shirts, had scoops of ice-cream.... WOW! They said it was the best place to camp EVER!

Diesel loved swimming in the lake so much, he thinks he is a lab now. It didn't take much to coax him into the water. He did have a life jacket that I'm sure he felt really stupid in, but since he's a "sinker" and not a swimmer it was necessary. He would let Lucy hold onto his jacket handle's and then tow her into shore. He was a tugboat! The lake is crystal clear so you could see his legs working overtime doing the doggie-paddle. It was great!

Wouldn't you think that the beach would eventually run out of sea shells with the McDougald kids picking up as many as they do each trip? Not to mention all the other shell hunters out there. I remember there were shells when I was Lucy's age and would go hunting for them with my Grandpa Baggs. The kids do love to shell hunt, though, and play in the sand. We LOVE Bear Lake!!!

Fishing, fishing, and more fishing, but never a fish. This is our story. We go to Tony's Grove to fish and take in the scenery. It isn't far from Bear Lake, maybe 30 minutes. This place is so beautiful and peaceful. There is a man-made lake nestled in the rock at the summit of the mountain that you can walk around. Diesel did some fetching of wood, branches, and eventually trees there also. He is getting very confident in his swimming abilities. He still sinks.

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Spruces is always a favorite of our family. This year we were able to take all the bikes. We can't keep Zach off his bike since he learned how to ride it. Lucy took her tricycle and pedaled her little heart out to keep out. Brandon would have to carry the trike up the hills then she would go from there.

We love the hike to Donut falls. It is an easy hike for the kids that only takes about 30 minutes. There is nothing too treacherous to make them start whining, AND you get to walk through the river to get there which makes them feel all grown up and capable of climbing Mt. Everest even. Madison caught her first fish this trip. I have video of the catch but no picture. She's pretty upset about that.

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Moab was great. It was the inaugural trip for the new camper. For more information, see the post below.