Corn Maze 10/17

We went out to the Fear Farm - not for the fear part but for the Corn Maze.  Every year they make a design in 8 acres of corn.  You enter one side and hope to exit the other side.  We gave each of our kids the opportunity to attempt to lead us out of the maze.  In the end we had to have their Dad's help.
We went into the maze with alot of people, but we never saw them again.  I wonder if they are still there trying to find their way out.  We had alot of fun weaving through the maze.  There were even spots were people lost their patience and bolted through the corn stalks.  It was alot of fun and a great experience for us all.
At the end they had the "Cow Train".  The axles are bent and so when the tractor pulled the train it would jerk the kids up and down like a roller coaster.  They smiled from ear to ear. Even Samantha wanted to ride again.

Samantha is 3!

She is my baby and she is three.  I can't believe it!  I love this spunky girl.  We tried to take her to get her portraits done and she refused.  Refusal is a light way of saying she flat out threw a fit.  She didn't have any problem posing for me at home though.
I love this picture of her.  It truly is a reflection of Samantha's personality.  She loves to be funny and she will not be ignored.  She loves to have fun, and looks for the fun on a daily basis.  She never just sits around and she is in control of her life just about every minute of the day.  If I ask her to wait a minute, she says, "I can't do it!"
If anyone ever wonders why we nicknamed her Sassy just look at this picture.  This picture tells it all.  When she is being sassy, she likes to stick her tongue out, blow raspberries at you, or tell you "NO" with a smile on her face.

I really enjoyed watching her this birthday.  She really understood what having a birthday meant this year and it was fun to see her enjoy every minute of it.  She loved opening her presents.  I think her favorite present was a Disco Wow Wow Wubbzy.

She loves animals!  She has 2 pigs she carries with her almost everywhere.  She also has a little skunk that she has named Flower.  She is beautiful and we are so grateful that we are her parents.  She is Queen of our home.  She has her parents, brothers, and sisters wrapped around her finger and she knows it.  Happy Birthday Samantha!  We love you!

Glen River Dam 10/6

As a family we journeyed back up to Utah during Conference Weekend.  Matt's Aunt Jackie had passed away and we went up for the family funeral.  It rained most of the time we were there, and the children suffered from camper fever.  As we were heading home the sun came out.  We decided to stop off at the Glen Canyon Dam and take the "Dam Tour".    The kids really enjoyed themselves and loved learning about the Dam.
We were able to go onto the dam, and take the elevator all the way down to the bottom.  We saw the power generating station, and learned about how the dam is used to generate electricity.  It was very interesting and fun.  We also went to eat at Dennys.  A favorite family treat.  The kids were able to have rocket sippy cups that they have used ever since.

Matt's Trip With Hayley, Seth, and Jared 9/27

Matt took the older three kids up to Utah to see his Aunt Jackie one more time before she passed away.  He was able to do a little sightseeing and decided to take the kids to Timpanogos Cave.  This picture was taken at the start.  Notice unsuspecting grins.  Little do they know, the hike is 1.5 miles straight up switchbacks.  Happily they made it to the top and really enjoyed the tour of the inside of the cave.
Still going strong!  But they have far to go yet.  
This was a great view from the top.  This was taken on their journey down from the mountain.

Arizona Science Center 9/12

My kids needed a break from school, and so we headed off to the Science Center.  My kids love the Science Center.  We were in luck because they still had the Narnia Exhibit.  It was awesome.  I could not take any pictures, but I will try to describe it as much as I can.  We entered the front gates into the wardrobe of coats and came out into snowy Narnia.  We saw the lamp post and many of the set pieces and costumes from the movie.  My kids loved sitting on the ice throne of the Evil Queen of Narnia and touching the ice waterfall.   They were also able to see a catapult in action, and feel the weight of real armor and swords.  The exhibit ended by showing us a preview of the upcoming movie and another they are working on.  It was so cool, we spent an hour just in the exhibit.
This was Jared's favorite part.  Emilee and Hayley loved helping him dam up the water table and watch the effect it had downstream. This was the first time we all got to go into the planetarium.  We watched a presentation on Black Holes.  All of the kids really enjoyed it.
Seth was helping Samantha and Emilee create smoke signals.  They were able to send them very high up into the sky.  My kids also really like the new interactive exhibit about weather.  We got to feel the winds of a hurricane, and the heat from a volcano, and feel an earthquake.  It was a fantastic exhibit.
All of my kids loved racing in the wheel chairs.  They had a mini competition.  It was very fun to watch.  Tank and Sammie really had to work very hard to get the wheel chairs to move. Needless to say, they all went to sleep on the way home.

Children's Museum of Phoenix 8/22

On Friday our family decided to have our first field trip.  I have heard of this museum from some friends and decided to check it out.  I can honestly say that my all of my kids had a great time.  It entertained my two year and those in between up to my ten year old.  Hayley loved the kitchen room.  They had lots of different fabric cut in various pieces that are used as they cook. They had a brick oven for pizza and every pot and pan that you can imagine.  
In the art room Seth and Jared had a blast painting this house.  Just so you know the house is painted a different color everyday.  This day happened to be blue day.  I don't know how many times my kids of asked to help paint the house, and because I somewhat value my carpet, I say NO!  Here is a place where that dream for them can come true.
Emilee loved this part of the museum.  They had cones and different color balls, and she used a scooper to put the "ice cream" into the cones.  Then she would sell them to customers.  Another favorite was the grocery room.  They had fruits, vegetables, and boxes galore that the kids could put in their grocery carts that are their size and checkout.  They would take their full carts to a lighted up check out counter and check out their groceries.  They loved it.
Tank's favorite part was the track area.  They had three different long tracks in this area.  He would get a car and let it rip and then run and retrieve the car and do it again.  It was very hard for him to leave this area.  Next to this were some instruments on a pulley system and he had a great time making music stomping his feet on the pedals.

Samantha loved it all!  She really liked the kitchen area as well.  Here she is making a pizza to be placed into the brick oven.  She loved the trike wash, and the art room where she could paint and glue and everything else.  We came home with alot of completed art projects.  She also loved the ball maze room.  Here is something interesting - the kids were painting the Olympic Flag and I was reading the meaning behind the flag.  It said that the five rings represent the 5 inhabited continents of the world.  HMMM!  Aren't there six?  Curious!

1st Day of School

This year we are trying something new.  We are homeschooling through Arizona Virtual Academy.  Last year Hayley wanted to try homeschooling and loved it.  Her brothers and sister decided they all wanted to do it this year.  So I will be teaching my four kids this year.  The first week was insane, but the second week was alot less stressful and enjoyable.  I love having my kids home, and feel lucky that I get to spend more time with them now.