Midway Ice Castle

The kids enjoyed getting together with cousins and venturing out to Midway to see the Ice Castle there. It was a pretty ingenious structure made from sprinklers and lit from within with changing colored lights.

Most thoughtful Christmas Present

 The most thoughtful Christmas present award goes to Paige.

She has been concerned about Ashby's picky-eater-ness and wanted to do something to help him want to eat dinner with his family.

So she made him his very own place mat!  Complete with pictures of some of his favorite things - Ninjago (those are spinning tornadoes under them) and Skylander characters, and a snowflake smiley face.

He loved it! (But that doesn't mean he has started eating dinner).

Letter from Santa Claus

Merry Christmas, Blumers!

Thank you for the wonderful treats you left for my reindeer and me. They will help keep us energized throughout our long journey tonight. And thank you for the wonderful spirit I feel every time I enter your home. I can tell you are a happy family and you love each other very much, even though you sometimes forget and fight or argue. That's why I love Christmas so much - everybody looks for nice things to do for each other, ways to help each other, and presents to make each other happy. I'm sure that if you try really hard you can do what Mr. Scrooge promised to do: Keep Christmas in your heart all year round by treating each other with love and kindness.

I know that Blumer Family has had a very busy year. With school, preschool, Sunday School, soccer, basketball, softball, bike rides, and lots of good, hard work around the house, you are all growing, learning and staying busy doing good things. But I see that 2014 will be an even busier year, because you have a new baby coming in March! How exciting! I look forward to getting to know him, just as I've gotten to know each of you.

Well, I'd better get back to my work. I do love my work! So, Cody, Levi, Ashby, Paige, Tara and Brian, HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

Love, Santa Claus

Photo shoot

 LEVI

 ASHBY

 PAIGE

 CODY

 We were all wearing white, black and red! Had to try for some group photos.

Our attempt at a family picture before heading to church. Should have known better...

UVMCO concert

In September the kids and I joined Utah Valley Millennial Choir and Orchestra. MCO has choirs in Orange County and Mesa and just started one here. Tasha and Gayla participate in Mesa and told me I should definitely do it.

It was neat to have the kids in choir and learning new things. Ashby and Levi were in the littlest choir and sang "Picture a Christmas" and "Up on the Housetop". Paige learned more songs and her favorites were "When Christmas comes to Town" and "Riu Riu Chiu".
I loved being able to sing at rehearsal each week in a choir of 260. It was pretty amazing. The concert was a great experience as well, especially singing with a full orchestra in Abravanel Hall.

The night of the concert was actually the biggest snow storm of the winter. It was pretty scary driving up to Salt Lake - just me and 5 little kids in the car. But we made it past the dozen crashes and abandoned cars slid off the road.

It was a long concert day and I was nervous about Levi. Especially since he had been having trouble in practices and some of the adult supervisors and expressed concern about his behavior. I wasn't able to keep an eye on him the whole time, but really I think he did great and especially during the performance. Brian said our kids were the best ones up on the stage! Hooray!

Paige took the choir pretty seriously and always wanted to make sure to practice her parts at home - especially the Spanish to Riu Riu Chiu. She had her part down pat. I should have followed her example. It was a lot of work memorizing the words and parts to 15 different songs. I shouldn't have procrastinated so much, but luckily I didn't really mess up.

It was a really great experience and I'm looking forward to doing it again next semester - although a bit nervous with a baby coming and all.

Newest member of the Blumer Bike Club

We had a couple days of nice weather, so I thought what the heck, lets see how Levi does on a bike.

We had loaned out our littlest bike, so instead Levi tried the bigger size. Although his legs aren't long enough to reach the ground!

He is already really good at balancing because of his balance bike, so he just needed to figure out the pedaling motion. The ride to the park was a lot of stop and go, but the ride home from the park was completely non-stop. So cool!

Now the paths are covered with snow, so who knows how long Levi will have to wait before he'll get to use his new skills again. Hopefully he'll remember how!

When everything is quiet, I should know better

Sometime after 4:00pm
The kids were all playing nicely in their bedrooms. I had originally tried to convince them to go out in the backyard and enjoy the nice fall weather, but I wasn't going to interrupt their bonding time. I thought about washing dishes and spent some time staring into the pantry to figure out what to make for dinner.

Around 4:30pm
I was thinking things were awfully quiet and wondered what kind of trouble the kids were getting in to, but decided to just enjoy the peace instead.

About 4:40pm
Ashby came into the kitchen looking for something and I asked him what they were up to. He said he was reading in his room. I asked what Cody was doing. He said he didn't know because Cody wasn't with him. Hmmmm...I looked in the bedrooms...no Cody and no Levi.
The backdoor was still locked, so nobody was playing out there. The front door was unlocked, and I knew I had locked it.
I ran outside and looked up and down the sidewalks. Nothing. I ran around the back of the house and looked in the shared grassy area. Nothing.
I ran back inside and told Ashby and Paige to get their shoes, jackets, and scooters quickly because we had to form a search party to find Cody and Levi. I jumped on my bike (since I don't have a car) and we split up. Paige and Ashby were sent to knock on neighbors' doors that Levi may have ventured to, and I went riding around the neighborhood.

Around 4:50pm
I wished that I had thought to pull the big kids aside and take a moment to pray together before we frantically left the house. I tried to say a silent prayer while I sped around the block behind my house.
I wanted to call out their names, "Levi! Cody!" but every time I tried, I just started crying. I didn't know how long they had been missing already. It'd been at least a half hour since the house was quiet. I wasn't really worried about them being kidnapped, but Cody is only 2 and Levi is only 4 and walking for that long could get them very lost. But I also was pretty sure they wouldn't have crossed any big roads, so I focused my search just around the square block.
I saw a mom (Emily) I know only a little at the small playground. She waved and I pulled up closer, trying (unsuccessfully) not to cry. She asked if everything was okay and I said I couldn't find my boys. She grabbed her kids and said they would go look at the big park and I continued my loop around the block.

Sometime after 5:00pm 
Arriving back at home I saw my friend (Amy) walking down our driveway and I hoped for the best. But she didn't have them. Panic! She got in her car to broaden the search and I continued on my bike.
I was sweating and crying and my quads were burning (I didn't know I could ride my bike so fast - but it turns out its much easier when you're not hauling any kids).
I made another loop around the block focusing on areas behind homes and the back way to the park. Ran into Emily again, but she hadn't found them. I stopped by another friend's home (Jennifer) and asked. She gave me a cell phone so I could call if I found them and they got on their jackets to join the search.
I stopped by my house again and saw Ashby on the corner. He said that Amy found them and were in her car somewhere. Really?! I hustled back to Jennifer's to return the phone and tell her the news. I still hadn't seen my boys yet, but I felt fairly confident Ashby knew what he was talking about.
I went back home and Ashby said, "Bad news." My heart sank. "She has Cody and Levi but now they're trying to find you." Oh! That's okay! So I sat on the curb waiting for their return.

5:15ish
Amy's black minivan pulls up with my two little boys inside! No jackets, no shoes, just a sippy cup and a ball.
I don't really know the timeline of their adventures or where all they went, but they were found headed toward the school. 
Later I heard a phone message from a mom on another street informing me that Cody and Levi were outside her house saying they were lost. (One more reason I need a cell phone!) And another mom seeing if she should call the police.

I'm so grateful for all the people that were totally willing to drop whatever they were doing and help out a frantic mom. I'm grateful for Ashby who said his own prayer for help. I'm grateful for Paige who got everyone worried for me. I'm grateful that Cody and Levi were protected and watched over by their much more attentive parent, their Heavenly Father.

And now, I'm going to start using our front door security latch.

This is Halloween, this is Halloween

The kids have been singing that song over and over for several weeks now. Every time someone sings it, Levi stops them, saying, 'no no its like this.' And then he sings it in a deeper scruffier voice.

Here are some of the things we did this Halloween...

Ward Fall Festival

Pumpkin Carving

I always get stuck doing the dirty work.

Paige's clown pumpkin design

Ashby's own design

Date Night Halloween Party

We were trying to dress up like Juno and Pauly Bleaker.

School Costume Parade

 

Brian dressed up like a minion for work. :)

 Jack-o-Lantern Pizza Dinner

Trick or Treating

 Cody would not wear his cute skeleton costume again. 

As soon as he saw it, he started screaming. 

Luckily we had this giraffe from when Paige was 2yrs old.

Candy sorting and graphing

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Leaf Jumpers

Gender Ultrasound

Yesterday we took Paige and Ashby out of class and we all hopped into the car for a family outing the doctor's office. The kids were so excited, of course, telling everyone they passed by that we were going to find out if the baby was a boy or a girl.

Paige has been pretty vocal about hoping the baby was a girl. Brian felt strongly it was a girl. I figured it was about time for a girl. Levi said he wanted a little sister. Ashby was adamant it was another boy. And Cody just says Woohoo.

We thought viewing the ultrasound together would be a fun experience for everyone (though we knew it would be a lot of work for us - well, mostly Brian. I just had to lay there).

The room was tiny, and it was very dark. The technician began her job looking around at things, and measuring things, and finding all the organs....and it was all pretty boring for the kids. We tried to make it exciting, but they mostly just wanted to go back to the waiting room and finish the movie.

The baby's legs were tightly closed so the technician did some jiggling and kept looking around. Eventually she found a pretty good shot and felt very confident in her analysis. When all the kids were paying attention she tried to describe and point (but who can ever really tell what's going on in those pics) and finally wrote BOY!!! on the screen. 

 

Paige stood there silent. Ashby read the screen out loud to everyone and hooted and hollered. I probably just laughed (I've been laughing a lot the last day). When asked what she thought, Paige slunk to the floor against the wall.

When things had calmed down a bit Levi suddenly started crying and shouting hysterically, "I hate you Ashby!" 
I was so confused, Ashby wasn't even standing next to Levi. "Why do you hate Ashby?" 
"Because I wanted it to be a girl and he wanted a boy! Its all Ashby's fault!!"

Poor kid. He definitely took the news the hardest.

So, we get to have another boy at our house. I can't complain too much, they're pretty cute boys.

Believe, Dream, Inspire

...that is the theme for the Reflections art competition this year.

I thought the kids did a really great job being imaginative and making it happen.

MY PERFECT DREAM

 

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The night before my birthday, I had a strange dream. Right after I fell asleep, it popped right before my eyes! There was a Cockachookoo soaring through the air, (a Cockachookoo is an animal that is half lion, half Predicon. Have you ever seen a Transformer in the movies? Well, a Predicon is just like that but instead it’s a dragon!) There was also a Unicorn eating an apple pie for breakfast. A Nightfury catching fish, a Basalisc fighting a Wizard, a Brachiosaurus eating leaves, and finally, I was building a robot that bakes food. After I finished my robot, I observed animals. I love my dream! THE END!

CANDY WORLD

 

I hope that someday my dream of living in a candy world will come true. YUM!

Provo River Halloween Cruise

What a great night for a Halloween cruise!

Glad we went before it turned really cold. 

I'd always wanted to take the family on the cruise down the Provo River, so we finally decided to go for it for our FHE activity. It was pretty fun and leisurely.

We listened to ghost stories and looked at a hundred carved pumpkins reflecting in the water.  

 There was even a pirate that tried to board the ship to pillage our pockets, but instead gave treats to all the kids.

One of Paige's favorite birthday presents

Excited for General Conference

All I did was a leave on a note on the garage door for the kids to read when they got home from school. (It was early out so I knew I would most likely be napping next to Levi in his room).

The note said, "Tomorrow is General Conference and we need everything CLEAN! Look around and be helpful!"

When I awoke from my nap Paige had been working like a busy bee. She cleared the table, wiped down the bathroom, tidied her room, picked up toys in the family room, encouraged Ashby to do the dusting, and washed all the dishes in the sink!

I was so impressed by her good attitude and hard work.

Football game almost

I won another Facebook drawing! (I've been pretty lucky with some of those, just not any of the big ones - you know, like a free car!)
A couple weeks ago I won a free BYU blanket. Earlier this summer it was tickets to a Freedom Festival gala. 
This time it was 2 tickets to the BYU v. Middle Tennessee football game. The game is going on right now. I had to turn the tickets down. Pretty bummed about that. It was probably my only chance to see a BYU game this year. But Brian is at a scout camp out and we don't have money for a babysitter and it was just going to be too complicated to make it work out. So, instead, I think about the lucky people who did get to go to the game. Although, they are probably freezing their tushes off.

Nine Years Old at Lagoon

Paige says, "My birthday was so awesome! My very first roller coaster was the wooden one. It goes up and down and up and down and zoom. I tried to go on the spider ride but I was already sick just looking at it. My favorite ride...  (that's a toughy) was Bombora and the Bat. I went on it a ton of times with Ashby."

This year we decided to celebrate Paige's birthday at Lagoon. We were fortunate enough to get some free tickets  so we were excited for this opportunity that we would never do otherwise.

It was an absolutely beautiful day. The weather was perfect and the lines weren't even too long!

I was worried about being allowed to ride anything while pregnant, but there weren't any restrictions. That was good because Brian doesn't ride roller coasters. So I went on the first few coasters with Paige and Ashby. But then I couldn't handle it anymore. It took all my strength and energy not to throw up and to keep a happy face. Eventually I found a moment to put my head in my hands and cry a little. Then I felt better. Man - I don't want to get too old to ride roller coasters!

I thought the river raft ride was pretty fun with the kiddos. Even though we got pretty wet, the sun felt nice afterward.

We brought picnic food and a bunch of cupcakes to eat. Everyone had a good time, except for Cody - he definitely wanted to take a nap, but we kept him entertained.

It was a fun day. But, for future reference, we found out that Lagoon is definitely not worth the money.