Fire Safety

First of all, this is my 100th post on this new blog!  Woo!

Ok, so Layton City did a big fire safety night on October 2nd.  I took Kaden to one in North Salt Lake last Fall, but the girls couldn't go because Ari was sick and Lexi had just had her tonsils out.  I thought I knew what to expect from that one, but Layton goes ALL OUT.  It was awesome!!

Right when we got there we watched life flight land.

Lexi couldn't find her jacket so she stole mine when it started sprinkling (right after we got there).

 I waited in the line to ride the fire trucks while Shane took the kids to go shoot a hose.

The windows would push backwards if you hit them with the water.

No one got a ride in life flight, but the kids got to see the inside and thought it was pretty cool.

They also earned these hats for shooting the hose:

While we waited for a ride in the fire trucks, we saw them use a fire extinguisher and the jaws of life on a car with people "trapped." (Fake people.)  And the Layton Police Dept. brought an attack dog and we got to see a couple of demonstrations of the dog attacking the "bad guy."  I don't think it helped my kids' nervousness around dogs....

We finally got to the front of the line and Kaden refused to sit up front with Lexi, so I hopped up with her and he, Ari, and Shane sat in back.

It was HUGE inside!  And the siren was actually really quiet compared to how loud it is when you're outside the truck.

We only went around the block, but I had the chance to question the fireman who was driving the truck.  Really interesting stuff, actually.

Fun in the back!

Loving life!

 When we got back from the ride, it was POURING with no chance of letting up any time soon.  We hit the booths inside the fire station, then headed home.  The kids got new bags (backpack type bags with reflector strips down each side) that had so much fun stuff in them!

There were coloring books, coupons, slap bracelets, badges, tattoos, and stickers.

Loaded up with all their gear.

Scary/mad faces.

It was a great night and we'll definitely go back next year!  

And pray for sunlight next time.  ;)

More soccer

Tallest one on his team.

My mom got to come to this game!

Sunday Cruisin'

A few weeks ago we decided to go on a Sunday drive up to Park City.  Partially to scout for locations for my next book cover and partially just to get out of the house.  We went after dinner, so I put the kids in jammies so they could fall asleep on the way back.  We ended up going farther than I'd originally intended (there was just no lush green anywhere!) and ended up in Wanship (a.k.a. middle of nowhere).

No thanks.  I'll hold it.  You should have seen the inside. *GAG*

 We decided to let the kids run around for a while.

Ari didn't want me to take a picture.

Super cool dude.

It was a nice, relaxing drive and good to know not to drag my photographer and model up to Park City since it wouldn't work for the cover.  I thought of a great spot on the way home, though.  More to come on that later.  :)

Kaden's 6th birthday!!

Kaden turned 6 on September 10th!

Before I post about his birthday, here are the stats from his well-check:

47 inches tall (90%) 

(Also, he's grown THREE inches in one year!)

47 lbs (55%)

His overall BMI dropped from the 55% last year to the 25% this year.  I took him in to the doctor in May and he had gone down then as well (we thought it was because he was sick).  Doc was concerned because he had continued to decline.  She said that he isn't at an unhealthy level yet, but the concern is if he continues to go down.  We're starting with having him drink more milk and see how much that helps.  This past six months or so he's only been interested in ice cold water and rarely drinks milk, so doc thinks it should help get his BMI up a bit, or at least maintain the 25th percentile he's currently in.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff!

I made sure he had a fun way to wake up:

He was excited.  Promise.

Mario!

He's not mad.  He's posing.

Opening lots of presents!

We teamed up with my mom and got him the new Skylanders Giants game for the XBox.  He LOVES it.

Having his cake and eating it, too!  ;)

Graysen's party

Our friends, Sam and Jess, blessed their baby, Brielle, on September 8th and had their sons' 3rd birthday party right afterwards.  Kinda genius killing two birds with one stone (with the luncheon after).  Jess always does such a good job with the parties.

Jess made this.  All by herself.

All the kiddos.

Pin the "S" on Superman!

Gray's turn!

Lexi's turn

Kaden totally cheated and could see through the blindfold. (That always happens to him!)

Spiderman obstacle course to earn a goody bag.

Yummy treats from the goody bags!

More soccer

I'm still loving having Kaden's soccer games on Saturday mornings again, even with the weather being a bit more nippy each week.  Kaden is, of course, loving every second.

Running drills

Patient girls

Ward party

Our ward did a fun end of summer barbeque at the beginning of September for the whole neighborhood (Mormon or not).  There was, of course, a potluck with plenty of funeral potatoes to go around as well as free horse rides for the little kids.  It was at the park/playground near our church.  One thing the people in charge didn't plan on: bad weather.  It was raining off and on all day long, and still semi-sprinkling when we got there with more black clouds on their way.

Someone in the neighborhood (not a member) smoked a ton of pork for the party. YUM!

After eating, the kids ran off to play, but two minutes later, Ari came running up to us scream-crying like she broke a limb.  What had actually happened was that she didn't watch where she was running and ran through some knee deep (for her) mud and was covered.  I hadn't brought any diaper wipes (didn't think we'd need them!), so we used napkins, wet them down with water, and wiped her off the best we could.  She was still a mess when Lexi ran up saying she needed to go to the bathroom.  Seriously, this girl has a bladder the size of a pea.  I ran her to the bathroom at the park, but they had been locked after Labor Day.  Grrr.

I made a quick, executive decision that we were DONE.  No, we hadn't rode the horses yet, but the approaching thunder was making them jumpy anyway and the skies looked like they were about to open up on us.  Shane carried a still very muddy Ari to the car while I carried Lexi and begged her not to pee on me.  Kaden ran along beside us asking if we could come back to play on the slide another day.

*Sigh*  Why is it every time we go out, it ends up in a story involving Lexi, pee, and leaving early?