Moving Time

Dan was offered a new job on the 23 in Klamath Falls, Oregon.  We are excited to move and very excited to be closer to family, but sad to leave all of our friends in Cheyenne. A new chapter to begin, an old chapter to end. d It seems hard to turn the page sometimes, but we are excite for another new adventure.  We are hoping to stay there until Emma graduates which for us is next to forever.  We'll see what happens.  More news to follow along with some Christmas pictures hopefully.

Happy Halloween!

 The kids decided to do a pirate theme this year with their costumes. Eliza was the parrot.  Gabby, the princess hostage, Emma, the undead pirate, and Gideon and Ben were Captain Jack Sparrow.  It's not perfect, but the closest that we have ever been to having a theme.  Ben really looked like Jack Sparrow. Gideon lost parts of his costume throughout the numerous parties we went to, so by the time Halloween came he was pretty bare bones.  We were excited to have decent weather for trick or treating and the kids had a lot of fun.  Then next night we got about 6-8 inches of snow!

 Here is the pumpkin line-up:Ben, Emma, Eliza, Gabby, Dan, Ben, Me/Dan, Gideon.  Ben did one for cub scouts as well as ours.

Here they are in the dark. Ooo-ooohhhh!

Anderson Farm 2011

We made our Annual Trek to a Corn Maze this year to Anderson Farms.  We had gone there two years ago and loved it much better than the one we went to last year.

Here are the kids on the hay maze.

Check out those GIANT PUMPKINS!

They weren't as big as some, but they were still pretty big.

The kids still enjoyed the barrel cars, although they weren't as fast as they were the last time we were there.  The last time, they flipped, but we weren't on them at the time, so we think they might have made some new speed rules.

The kids were able to feed the big cows and bulls.  They ate right from their hands!!

Don't worry we bailed them out before we left!

The new addition this year were the pedal cars.  We had a lot of fun racing them!

And of course we can't forget the corn maze.  Kudos to Dan for making punches in about 10 different cards at each of the 18 different stopping points only to come home and have all of the kids throw their cards away. :)

The Itch

I grew up in the same house until I left for college.  Dan lived in the same house from the time he was two until he went to college.  Why do we feel the itch to move every couple of years?  We have lived in Cheyenne for two years now.  We have a beautiful home, lots of great friends, and Dan has a decent job, but we are feeling it again.  We are happy here and know we could be happy here for along time, but we still feel that itch.  I don't know if it inherent in our make-up or we are just weird or we are searching for something, but we feel that itch.  At one point, we were hoping to settle someplace for along time--you know five years or so--and maybe we will do it so our kids can be stable during their high school years.  We'll see what happens and where our next adventure takes us. Maybe we both have gypsy blood buried deep in our ancestries, but we still feel that itch.

October Conference

Dan, Emma, Ben and Eliza went to Salt Lake to see General Conference in person.  They were able to get tickets for the Sunday morning session.  They had a good experience and enjoyed being in the same room as the prophet and apostles even if it was with about 20,000 plus other people.

 Our niece, Kathy, her husband, Scott and their daughter, Myra, hospitably put them up for the night.  They enjoyed visiting with them. It was a fun road trip that we had been waiting for Eliza to turn 8 to do.

Eliza is 8!

Eliza turned eight a while ago, but I just downloaded the pictures and realized I never posted about it.  She decided to forego a birthday party in favor of a "try scuba" experience in Fort Collins.  Dan drove her down and they both got in the pool and got to use scuba equipment.  She loved it and can't wait to get certified.   

 Of course she was also baptized.  There weren't very many people there, but it was a lovely service.  Her primary teacher gave the talk on baptism and I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.  Emma and Ben gave the prayers.  Now she doesn't get any freebies.  I have to write down this story and hopefully she will forgive me if she reads this. About a year ago, there was a book fair at school. She wanted money for it, but we told her no. Well, a couple days later she had this bug terrarium.  We asked her where she got it from and she said a kid from the bus gave it to her. It had a $20 price tag on it so we told her to give it back. The next day I asked if she was able to give it back and she said no that he wasn't on the bus. After a few more days of this, I was extremely suspicious, but wanted to believe her.

I was looking for something of Gabby's in her room when I found a receipt and a bunch of twenties. I asked Eliza about it and she had taken a $100 bill from our money stash in our dresser and bought the terrarium and a chocolate calculator. I asked her if she knew that it was wrong. She replied that she knew, but it was okay because she hadn't been baptized yet.  It took her over ten months to pay us back, but she has done it and she did not get to keep the terrarium.  We think she learned her lesson.

No More Diapers!

After 11+ years of changing diapers, we are now officially potty trained!  Gabby and I decided the time had come and so last Tuesday we went for the underwear.  She had lots of accidents on Tuesday and Wednesday and then on Thursday she didn't have a single accident!  She has had a couple of number 2 accidents so we are still working on that, but she has been doing really well.  It is strange not to have to change diapers all of the time anymore.  Hopefully I didn't gross you out too much.

Back to School 2011

Four of my babies are starting to school today.  6th, 4th, 3rd, and all day Kindergarten.  It is very quiet and Gabby and I miss them already.

Here is the lone Blake baby at home with me for three more years and then I don't know what I will do.

The End has Come!!

Tomorrow is the last day of summer vacation.  Tomorrow night we go to Back to School night and the kids start on Tuesday.  I am so sad!  I hate this time of year where my children leave me.  This year is even harder because Gideon will start and it will just be me and Gabby at home.  My babies are growing up:(  I keep thinking each year will get easier, but t seems to only get harder.  I worry about them and what they will do, but they thrive in school.  They all do very well.  They make friends and they learn how to get along with others.  They learn all the things they need to and they learn to be independent from me--it's a good thing, right?  Well, I have one more day to enjoy them and hopefully we can have some fun and make some memories on this last day of freedom.

Northwest Vacation

We wanted to go see family in the Pacific Northwest, after consulting the calendar we could only come up with one consecutive week that would work, so we went for a whirlwind trip and saw who we could. Friday we drove for 18 hours to Portland.  We visited Dad and Claudia in Tigard and saw some of the local sights.

Emma dressed up at the End of Trail Museum in Oregon City.  The kids enjoyed playing games the pioneer kids would play.  They also dipped candles and enjoyed some old fashioned candy. 

We took the trolley and enjoyed learning about the city.

We took the municipal elevator that was originally installed so that people could go from their homes in the bluffs down to the factory by the river easier.

We had asked the kids what they wanted to do when we were in Portland and they said they wanted to ride the MAX.  So we went to downtown Portland and rode around the city.

We walked along the river walk and were able to see lots of boats and we were even able to see a drawbridge go up for a sailboat.

We also went to the international rose testing garden.  We were a little after peak, but it was still very beautiful.

On Monday, we drove down to Corvallis to see Mom and Dad Blake.  We went to the Finley Wildlife Refuge and saw eagles, herons, pelicans, frogs and inch worms.

We also went to their pool and played at the park.  Frisbee golf with five kids and three adults was ah . . .pretty interesting. We only lost one.  we are used to playing with a Frisbee in Wyoming where the plant growth isn't as prolific.  

We then went to the coast and drove up to Tillamook which Dan has been wanting to visit since we got married.  We enjoyed touring the factory and the free samples of cheese and ice cream.  We couldn't pass up getting sundaes and ice cream cones and it was delicious.

We then continued up the coast to Fort Stevens where we set up camp.  We then visited Ft Clatsop where Lewis and Clark wintered when they got to the Pacific coast.  We walked to see the Peter Irondale shipwreck and camped the night.

The next morning we went and saw Melissa, Owen and Nigel.  Sam was working, so we missed him, but maybe next time we'll catch him.  We then drove up to Everett and visited with Rebecca and Jerry and their kids.  We wish we could have spent more time with everybody, but we needed to travel back home.

Summer . . .

I just came to the horrible realization that school is going to start three weeks from today.  I don't think any of us are ready for summer to end, but such is life. I have been horrible about blogging, but here is what we have been up to:

cub camp (Ben and Me--I helped a couple of days)
dentist appointments (no cavities)
Soccer camp (oldest four)
Adult League Co-ed Soccer (Dan and Me)
Allergy shots (Me)
Speech Therapy (Gideon)
Devil's Tower

Swim Team (Emma and Ben)
Swim lessons (Eliza, Gideon, Gabby & Me)
Mom visited
Trip to the Northwest (another blog post hopefully)

Wow! It makes me tired just writing it and I think I forgot a bunch.

Germany--the highlights

I give up on detail posting about Germany.  It has become a road block to blogging.  We went, we had fun, we came back. Ta da! Here are some highlights:

Palace in Wertzburg. Dan's favorite palace because of the paintings that came to life. I can't remember the art term, but for example one painting had a leg sticking out of it, and it was hard to tell where the painting stopped and the statue began.

This is a picture of part of a walled city.  They had cities like these all along the romantic road.  Some of them allowed you to walk along the wall. This picture was taken from one of the big towers you could go up.

This is a picture of the castle turned hotel that we stayed in one night.

This is the Linderhoff Palace. Mad King Ludwig's hunting palace.

This is Neuschwanstein Palace. King Ludwig built this one to be the perfect Medieval castle in the late 1800's.  It is the castle Walt Disney styled Sleeping Beauty's castle after.

Here is another view.

Here is Hohenschwangau Castle. Ludwig's father's castle.  It was also decorated in reflection of Medieval Times.

We went to Dachau Concentration Camp near Munich.  It was sobering to go through, but I wanted to since we were there in Germany.  We learned more about World War II and what the prisoners there went through.

Festung Hohensalzburg, Salzburg, Austria.  This is the fortress in Salzburg.  It was never taken by force and we could see why.  It was almost even impossible for tourists to find the entrance.  We didn't see as much in Salzburg as we wanted to due to the fact it rained all day, but we did see the fortress and a Mozart museum.

This is the road through the black forest (you know black forest ham, black forest cake, black forest gummy bears, etc).  We wanted to get out and hike, but weren't able to find information and were short on time.

We stopped at Heidelberg Castle on our way back to Frankfurt. It was pretty amazing, but nearly as well positioned as the fortress in Salzburg. 

Here is a picture of what was a gunpowder tower until it was shot with cannon and exploded during the Thirty Years' War (I think).

These are some Roman Ruins discovered right in the heart of Frankfurt.

The Reichstag (German Parliament building) in Berlin.

This is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  It was a different memorial than what I'm used to, but was very impressive.

This is part of the Berlin Wall.  They marked the wall's route around the city, but this was part of the wall they actually saved.

Bebelplatz is a plaza in Berlin where Hitler had a bunch of books burned.  There is a memorial there with a quote by Heinrich Heine (a poet from the early 1800's) that says,  "Where they burn books, they ultimately burn people".

This is a garden gnome that we found in the DDR Museum in Berlin where they showed what life was like in East Germany during the cold war.

 Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

We traveled from Berlin to Potsdam, where we walked around the grounds of a bunch of palaces built around Frederik the Great's time.  Here is the one we were actually able to tour the inside of--Sanssouci.  It was my favorite palace and was in the French Rococo style.  It was just fun to see.

This is the New Palace in Potsdam.  It is in the same park as the Sanssouci palace.  we were not able to tour it because it was closed on the day we went, but it was fascinating to look at from the outside.

Well, that is the extremely short version of our trip. Now I can get on with the rest of our lives.