Murder Mystery Party - The Class of '54

My sister Lindsay gave me a murder mystery game for my birthday over 7 years ago and I never have done it. Finally, this year my friends and I decided to do it for New Years Eve. I was really excited to do it and tried my best to get Jordan and myself looking the part.

The theme of the party was the Class of "54.

Here is a description of our role:

Jordan:

Calvin Q. Layder:

The son of prominent Roley City insurance salesman, C.U. Layder "Cal" is a certified genius. While at many schools a science wizard would have no chance of joining the "in" crowd. Cal was a social success during high school largely because he was a terrific practical joker. His jokes, often directed at school administration and occasionally at city officials, earned him such high standing among the students at Roley High that he was a welcome member of any group.

Jodi:

Penelope Lofer

Penolope is the former Penny Roley. Rock N. Roley twin sister. She and Rock grew up in a wealthy family that lived in a big white mansion called "Roley House". During her youth, Penny made sure the house was filled with constant teen-age activity. Today, Penny is a hometown girl who married her high school boyfriend and lives in a pretty house not far from her former home.

It was a fun night playing these characters and getting to find out who killed Rock N Roley. It turns out that Jordan (Cal) was the one who killed Rock N Roley because he was heart broken because the girl he was in love with was killed in High School and Cal felt it was Rock N Roley fault.

We are excited to do another party with a different theme and feel it was a fun activity to play with some good friends.

Christmas with the Rowell Family

We had the opportunity to have the Rowell's come to our house in December to exchange gifts and spend some time together before Christmas. We had a good time and enjoyed each others company. We had breakfast, built Christmas gingerbread houses and opened presents. It was a fun day and we enjoyed spending time with each other.

Here are some pictures:

Grandma and Grandpa Rowell

Ryan and Lucas working diligently to build the best gingerbread house.

The finally product. It looks great!!!

The dynamic duo working on beating Ryan and Lucas at having the best gingerbread house.

The proud builders Jared and Dylan showing off their gingerbread house.

Mason and Savannah working on their gingerbread house. Mason was in heaven working with
Savannah on this. He was all smiles!!!

Mason loved building this gingerbread house but I think he likes eating it better!!!

Jodi opening up her gift from the Ryan. She likes gift cards!!!

Ryan getting some studly clothes from the Rowell's.

Jared opening up his gift. A new sweater always brings a smile on Jared's face.

Savannah getting excited about her new clothes. Pink is definitely her color.

Kenny getting the perfect gift... A transformer!!!

Luke died and went to heaven when he opened up his present from Grandma and Grandpa and it was a MP3 player. He couldn't stop smiling.

Dylan opening up some Bakagans from Grandma and Grandpa.

Mason opening up his first present of the Christmas season. It was more fun watching him tear the paper than anything else. He wasn't sure if he was going to get in trouble for tearing the paper. Once he realized it was O.K.,then he went to town. He got a CARS race track and love it.



Dad trying to open up the CARS race track. They make it almost impossible to open up the toy because they have so many ties and straps that it takes 20 minutes just to open the toy.

Overall, it was a fun day and we feel blessed to have family close by to share Christmas with.

Halloween 2009

It is Halloween time. My kids always get so excited about Halloween and all the dreams of getting a ton of candy to eat and going out in their costumes. One of the activities that we did last Halloween season which the kids loved was going to a pumpkin patch and picking out a pumpkin. So we bundled everyone up and headed off to the pumpkin farm. Part of the activity is getting on a tractor trailer and riding over to the pumpkin patch and picking the perfect pumpkin for each family member.

Here are a few pictures of them at Days Farm.

Just a little side note. When we came home and started carving out pumpkins, I was shocked by how Luke reacted to the smell of the pumpkin. When he carved into his pumpkin and took off the top of the pumpkin he couldn't handle the aroma of the inside of the pumpkin. You would of thought by how he was reacting, that he was carving into a dead body. He was covering his mouth, gagging and just couldn't handle it. We decided that next year he wasn't going to get a pumpkin or he just needed to paint the outside of the pumpkin instead of carving one out. My kids never cease to amaze me.

The big decision that every kid has to make in October is what are they going to dress up like for Halloween. We decided that since Luke lost both of his front teeth a month or so before Halloween and all you could see was his fangs anyways, then a vampire was the perfect costume for him. Dylan really didn't have much of a choice in his costume. I got his costume last year after Halloween. He was going to dress up like Prince Caspin. But, he was happy that he not only got to wear a costume, but also have a sword and a shield. As for Mason, I had a sheep costume that I had both Luke and Dylan wear when they were 2 years old. But Mason wasn't going to put that costume on for anything. He freaked out about wearing something on his head and body that was white and fury. The only thing he would let us do was color his hair. So, we decided that he would be a punk rocker. His costume turned out really cute and he loved wearing it.

Here are some pictures of the boys in their costumes:

Luke was all about wearing the make up and putting a lot of red blood around his mouth. He really got into the role of Dracula.

Dylan loved wearing his costume and showing everyone how heroic he is.

He is a natural rocker. He has the attitude and the look.

Overall, they had a great Halloween filled with a lot of candy and good memories.

Here comes Batman!!!

Mason really likes Batman. He always wants to wear his Batman pajamas. One night I found a Batman mask and he just went wild. He started to do some Batman moves and was running around the house trying to save us from the villians. It is nice to have a superhero in our home.

Mason's buddy Emma

Mason loves playing with Emma Brinkerhoff. He talks about her all the time and how he wants to go play with her. Whenever we drive by their house, he always yells her name and says he wants to go see Emma. She is such a cute girl and they play really well together. I feel really blessed to have such great neighbors who not only help us out a ton but are fun to play with as well.

The year of losing teeth

This has been a year of losing teeth for both Lucas as well as Dylan. The tooth fairy has had to give up some money this year and will continue to do this in the next. Here is a picture of Lucas with his tooth as well as a toothless smile.

Spending Time with Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Pat

One of the things the boys love is when Uncle Pat and Aunt Lindsay come and visit. They are a ton of fun and the boys always have a blast. They play with their nephews and always make them smile.

Pat had the pleasure this summer (after a lot of coaxing on my part about how he needs to learn this skill sometime) of bathing Mason and getting them ready for bed for the first time. I have to admit I had a ulterior motive when I asked him. I really did want Pat to learn how to bath a child but I wanted a good laugh too. I knew Pat would be a good sport about it but would make humorous comments along the way. He didn't let me down. It was pure enjoyment watching him put Mason through the night regime of getting ready for bed. He did a great job and I can't wait for him to do it again when he comes back to visit. What is the saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and he feeds himself for a lifetime". Just kidding Pat. We love you and appreciate your help!!

Take a look at the pictures Lindsay took of Mason getting ready for bed. Priceless.....

Are you ready for some Football!!!

I was visiting teaching Amy Sorenson and I brought up the subject that I really want my children to be active in some type of sports so they can have a good time plus be healthy. She suggested that I look into football with Syracuse city. The football league starts kids playing football at age 7. Luke actually brought up wanting to play football several times with me, but I think it was because he really wanted to wear all the gear not because he wanted to actual play the game. Luke is all about the uniform.

When I found out that they actually did have a program that he could play, I asked Luke if he was really interested in playing football. He answered with a resounding "YES". I told him that it would be very hard and that football isn't like all the other sports he had played previously. They were really going to make him work. I tried to scare him a little so he knew that it wasn't going to be easy. But, that didn't deter him and said he was very excited to play.

Honestly, I didn't even know how much of a commitment football was going to be. They had drafts and expected a 100% commitment from the boys once they were on a team. We are the Syracuse Storms. Football has been our life for the past couple of months. They practice Tuesday thru Friday for about 2 hours, and then they play a game on Saturday. We have gone to almost every single practice because we wanted to support Luke and know how he is doing in practice. Jordan has been really committed to football and has even offered to take stats for the games.

Overall, the season has had a lot of ups and downs. We haven't scored a touchdown the entire season. We still have one last game, so I am crossing my fingers.

The first game we played was a rough one. We played against Bear River. They must have been on steroids because they were HUGE. Luke was playing Center and was against the "X" man. He weighed about 105 pounds compared to Luke's 60 pounds. He rammed Luke over every single play. After the first hit, Luke was terrified and was crying saying that he didn't want to play football anymore. I felt really bad because he was getting pummeled the whole game. But he finished the game and was a good sport. After the game, I asked him what he liked about the game he said "Half Time". I just laughed. This poor boys first experience with football is getting tackled by a boy who probably looks like Goliath to Luke.

After that experience, Luke had a lot of head trash. It effected his practices and the coach finally had to switch his position because he was too scared. Since then, he has had some good moments and not so good moments. But, overall I think he will have good memories when he thinks about football. One thing that I have been amazed by is Luke has been doing football for a month and a half and he never once whined or complained about going to practice or going to a game. That is amazing because I have whined and complained several times about how I wish football was over because it has been such a huge time commitment for our entire family.

I don't know if he will want to do football next year. He is really a tender hearted boy and hitting and tackling people is really against his nature. Jordan and I have really tried hard to get him to believe that it is O.K. to hit people hard when you play football. It is the only time he is allowed to tackle someone and he won't get into trouble. But, he still has a problem with it. He wants to be everyone friend, not the guy who tackled and hit them. But, I am really proud of him for completing something that has been hard for him.

Here is a couple of pictures that Lindsay took of Luke playing football. They are amazing!!!

Hanging out in Logan Canyon

For Labor Day this year we wanted to go outside and enjoy nature. We decided to head up to Logan Canyon and go on a hike. Even though I went to USU, I don't think I realized how beautiful it is up there. I really didn't appreciate the beauty of this area when I was a college student. Logan has a walking trail at the beginning of the canyon that we walked on. I knew the boys were going to last long on the trail, but we took a couple of hours and let them play, climb and skip rocks in the water. They had a good time and enjoyed getting outside and burning off some of there energy.

Here are some pictures of the boys doing a little rock climbing.

The one thing my boys LOVE to do is skip rocks. Luke finally mastered the task of skipping rocks and having them skip at least 3 times on the water. Dylan tried really hard but still couldn't get it. Mason just dumped every rock he could into the water.

Mason is happy as a clam throwing rocks into the water.

Here is glimpse of the trail that we walked on.

The boys had a great time and wants to come back and do it again.

Happy Labor Day!!