Balloon Fest 2008!

What is so fun about this is that often the winds bring the balloons right up to our neighborhood. We had one land within 200 feet of our home. The children have helped the balloon crew pull the balloon down and pack it up. We love to get on our bikes and chace the balloons all over our neighborhood.

A Home-Made Errosion Table (Basically a diversion to summer blahs)

We went to the dinosaur museum the other day (the largest in the world, so the marquee states). And it was a blast. The favored part was the erosion table. It was a very large "table" which had sand and a little stream of water running down it. The children would build up sand islands and place dinosaurs all over it and the little stream would wash through the sand and communities of dinosaurs would rise and fall right before our eyes. I decided it was time for our family to have our own "erosion table" and I tell you what! It was soooo much fun watching the children design it, build it and finally play with it. I bought what things I thought they would need: Large plastic blow-up pool, and 200 pounds of sand. They placed bricks under two of the legs of the pic-nick table, we used an old pump, a modified garden hose, and a large garbage can to siphon the water through our erosion table, and the children have been playing with it for hours. We change the water every few days and add a little chlorine to keep the bugs out. What fun!

A Quick Catchup (hold the mustard)

Ya, it's been a while since I've last blogged. In between forgetting passwords to uploading new cameras, I've felt a bit like I'm tripping up a hill just trying to blog something. I've been working on this update for 2 hours now and I've got two whole sentences written. (ok, now that's 3). So, to catch you all up, well, I'll let the pictures and the video speak for themselves.

Daniel and Lisa are bowling during Lisa's break from BYUI. Marshall took the children to the BYU bowling alley, something he enjoys doing about ever 8 weeks or so.

Rebekah has been decorating cakes lately. Here are 2 cakes she made. One is for a wedding, the other for a baby shower.

Marshall has picked up a new hobby: Digital Photography! Yea! I don't have to take all the pictures now. In fact, all the pictures on this post were taken by him. This picture he titles "Sarah: Energy Times 2"

Daniel went to State in woodworking. Here he is with one of his projects. He designed this corner desk to fit perfectly in our family room. It placed second in State. It's made out of black walnut. He started with the raw wood and ended with a beautiful piece of furniture. He was offered $3000.00 for it, but being as he gave it to me (mom) he couldn't sell it :)

Amber is also involved in woodworking. She entered this desk in 2 competitions and placed 2nd in one of them. She is currently working on 3 amazing bookshelves that have glass doors, and the works. I am so lucky! (Ya, I get those too)

SOOOOO fun to have Grandma come to the competition. We love her enthusiasm!

So, Thanksgiving was so wonderful! You can check out the pictures that Grandma took on the following slide show. Debbie made some amazing cranberry bread, Stephen and Jenny made cheezy cauliflower and yummy pumpkin pie, Grandpa Richardson made Apple Pie, Uncle Dan made amazing creamy mashed potatoes, Grandma Richardson made to-die-for sweet potatoes, Amber made very popular fudge (not enough leftover to appease mom) Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce (by Hannah), Ham, Scallopped potatoes, ect, ect, finished out the meal. Yes, all 20 people sat around 1 large table. Everyone wrote down something they're thankful for or some other comment and signed their name on the table cloth, which we will use every year. LOVE having family around!

Check out my Slide Show!

Yellowstone!