Thanksgiving in Bear Lake 2009!!!

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Bear Lake with the Toone side of the family. It was bitter sweet to all be together for this holiday, after the loss of Clair this past April.

Travis's Mom has an amazing cabin that we all stayed in comfortably. It was so much fun to be together and play games, watch movies and visit. We played a new game called Speed Scrabble and it is soooo fun. If there was ever a minuet where we needed something to do we would be playing this game.

Thankfully the weather was really nice and the kids could play out on the sports court, or in the basement on the Wii. It was so nice that there was enough space for them to play and for the adults to hang out as well.

This year we started a new tradition of making Humanitarian Kits that we all took a hand in assembling. We turned them in and they will be sent to countries or areas in need of these supplies. It was a good experience for the kids to see the video of other kids in places where they have nothing. We also made Jingle Boxes for the distribution center to distribute as well. It was nice to do projects that you know are going to benefit others that need it so much.

We spent every night at the hot tub which was Grandpa Clair's favorite thing to do. When we would be at Bear Lake with Grandpa Clair he would always ask the kids, "Who wants to go down to the hot tub?" Well that tradition is not forgotten. It is the kids that now ask, "Who wants to go to the hot tub?" Thank You Grandpa Clair, for starting such a fun tradition, we love you so much!!

NaTiVe AmErIcAn PaRtY.......

Oh to be in Kindergarten! Jackson and all the other Kindergarten classes got to spend the day before Thanksgiving Break making and playing Pilgrim themed activities. I was so glad I was there to snap a few pictures of Jack and his classmates making Indian headbands, Pilgrim hats and crawling through the bear cave, and swimming through the river to throw rocks at the Buffalo.

This was such a fun day for the kids. Jackson and his friend Jordan were running from place to place. It was cute to watch them and reflect on my own time in Kindergarten, (centuries ago)and see them laugh and smile while learning about Indians and Pilgrims.

Ok, Ok, I am soooo excited this movie is out!! I love the books and really liked the "Twilight Movie" (although it was so low budget). I got the amazing opportunity to go to a pre-release showing of the movie on Thursday the 19th at 8 o'clock pm, (the movie did not come out to the public till midnight on the 20th). It was the BEST movie I have ever seen!!!!!!
I know I am going on pure love of the books and their characters, but WOW!!! This show had a much larger budget and was so close with the book at all times and so action packed. It was so good, that when the 2 hours were over I wanted more!! (of course)
I am a FOREVER "Team Edward", but Oh My Goodness, 2 words: "Jacob Black." He is amazing!! WOW!!
It was so much fun, even though I am an adult (sometimes), this was such an experience! A group of my friends and I went to the pre-release and had so much fun. That is what helps to make these experiances so memorable. I have never waited in line for concert tickets or anticipated a movie release like this. It is soooo fun!! I loved the movie so much I am going again on Saturday with another group of friends. We are going to dinner and then hanging out until the movie starts at 9:50pm. What fun to be with friends that mean so much at a movie we all love! I can hardly wait!! :)

BaCkYaRd SuPeR StArS.........

Swing batter batter!! Jake and Jackson were playing baseball in the back yard and by the way they were dressed it looked like September instead of the first day of November.

I am so happy to have 2 boys that love to play sports and for the most part with each other! They are so fun to watch and cheer on!! Go Team Toone!!

On the 12th day of Halloween.......

Just when I thought this holiday was over and we were moving on toward Thanksgiving, we dress up again!! My Mom and Dad decided to uphold the traditional Bott Halloween Dinner that we have done every year that I can remember with my Grandma and Grandpa Bott. We all would dress up in our costumes so we could show all our cousins, Aunts and Uncles and then my Grandma would make a Halloween themed dinner.
It is Chinese Haystacks, but she would name all the fixings to go along with Halloween. Instead of rice it was crushed skeleton bones, instead of Chinese noodles it was mummy wrap, instead of maraschino cherries it is bloody eye balls, instead of the gravy it is condensed vampire breath, instead of turkey it is chucks of vulture. We have all different names for all the foods we use for the haystacks. It has always been a tradition of mine and I am so glad that my parents have decided to carry on the tradition.
My brothers kids were dressed so cute also, Gabe was a Hobo, Caroline is a Vampire Princess, and Simon was a Lawn Gnome. They looked really cute. It was a fun night.

BoO....

Due to Halloween lasting for what seemed a week, we didn't carve our pumpkins until the day after Halloween.

Jake and Jackson are a little skirmish about pulling the guts of the pumpkin out, so I cut the tops and scooped all the gooey stuff out of them, separating the seeds of course.(Truth be told that is the only reason I like to carve these things.) Yum-o! Then Jake and Jackson worked together and carved the faces in them all!

For those of you that think I am crazy to give my 5 year old and 10 year old knifes sharp enough to carve a pumpkin, I highly recommend these little pumpkin carving kits. They really work great!

It was alot of fun to see the creativity that both of the boys have. They really worked together and were so excited to put them on the porch. Don't they look so cute? I have to say they are "Darling!!"

HaPpY HaLlOwEen!!!!

HALLOWEEN!! It is here!! The boy's were invited by their cousin Sage Bowen to go Trick or Treating with her around Huntsville, and since we used to live there, it was a great idea. We got all loaded up and headed to the Valley around 4:30pm. When we got to the Bowen's we ate soup in pumpkin shaped bread bowls, and then sent the kids out to start at the houses on their street. Next Tiffani and I loaded in the car and picked them up and started on our trip around Huntsville. There are some scary places in the town, so we hit them before it got dark, and to scary for even the protectors. (US) We drove all over Huntsville and then headed over to Grandma and Buddies (Bott) house and stopped at a couple of Jake's friends along the way. Next we went up to Great Grandpa and Grandma Skinners. They said we had been their only Trick or Treaters for the whole night, so they loaded the kids with candy (as if they needed more :))

We were all done with the Trick or Treating thing and decided to head back to the Bowen's and play the traditional Donut on a String game. The object is to eat the donut off the string with out touching it. The boys loved it! Of course we had to dump the loot and check out the goodies, I cant believe how much candy they had. Yikes!! I have already called the dentist!! :)

We had such a fun Halloween, until next year!!