Numa Song

and after dance lessons (thanks to Brad and Mandy for this one). . .

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Our New Kitten

We have a new pet at our house. I finally relented and let the kids have one of grandma's baby kittens. We are not sure if it is a boy or a girl yet. The kids are having a lot of fun taking care of the kitty. Sophie loves the kitten.

Trick or Treat!

One of the things I love about our neighborhood is that we know everyone. We go to church and school with all of them, so trick-or-treating is really fun for the kids. There is even a family in our neighborhood who pass out hot chocolate, hot dogs and show outdoor movies on Halloween. The kids brought home tons of candy, but were very tired afterwards. Sophie had to come home early, she only lasted about 45 minutes.

Antelope island

Our kids have been asking about the Great Salt Lake - a prominent feature on the Utah map, but something they've never seen before. We decided to drive out to Antelope Island and show them the sights. Lori and I hadn't been there in 20 years, so we were a bit curious as well.

We loaded Pepper in the back of the truck and made the 80-mile drive up I-15 and across the causeway to the island. The first snowstorm of the year had hit the mountains the day before our little trip, and the views of the mountains from Antelope Island were awesome!

The kids enjoyed skipping rocks in the GSL (there were millions of perfectly flat skipping rocks on the beach, as you see in the picture above). The kids tasted the water and Annika said it tasted "saltier than the kind of salt you put on your eggs". Pepper was absolutely disgusting. There were piles of dead brine flies/brine shrimp on the shore (darker looking spots in the photo above) and the stupid dog thought they smelled so good that she rolled around in them. I had to load her into the truck at the end of our little jaunt and she smelled like the Denny's dumpster on a hot August afternoon in Houston.

There was plenty of wildlife out there too. We saw a buffalo, and we saw some idiots walking up to the buffalo to take its photo. We waited around hoping to catch Mr. Sideways Hat do his best rodeo clown-in-distress act, but the buffalo was patient and wandered off.

We also saw a coyote, some chukars (birds), and some live, non-stinky brine shrimp at the visitors center. On the way out of the visitors center, we caught some European tourists taking a picture of Pepper in the back of our truck. Couldn't figure that one out. . .maybe Black Labs in pickup trucks represent something uniquely American in Slovenia. I felt like pestering them to buy some folk crafts (we had legos in the back of the truck).

Anyway, nice to get out and get some fresh air after the cold, snowy weekend!

Fall Break

The kids were out of school part of last week, so we decided to go to Lagoon. My kids love amusement parks. They did not get this genetic trait from me, I avoid roller coasters as much as possible. Earl has tried to get me on one for 13 years and has yet to succeed. I think he's given up. He has moved on to persuading Annika and Stockton to ride all things scary. Stockton is an old pro, he'll ride just about anything. Annika rode 2 roller coasters at Lagoon, including the old white rickety one, that I won't go near. It was a fun day with perfect weather. I had a good time taking Sawyer and Sophie on the baby rides, while Earl turned Annika and Stockton into little daredevils.

Annika's New Hair

Annika wanted to change her hair and since it has been a real pain lately to keep it washed, conditioned and brushed I let her. She is VERY happy with the new do and wants everyone to see it. I was happy that it took about 5 minutes this morning. Maybe, she can get to school on time now.

Redneck Chuseok

I used to travel to Korea quite a bit, and the Koreans celebrate a holiday in September called "Chuseok" (meaning Fall Harvest). Everything shuts down, and folks travel back to their hometowns so that they can stuff themselves with food, hang out with living relatives, and then fix food for and visit their dead ancestors (while wearing weird clothes). Kind of a weird hybrid of Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, and fermented cabbage.

Anyway, in the spirit of Chuseok, we decided to have our own celebration. No kimchi or bulgogi. Just guns and hostess baked goods.

We traveled west of pristine Utah Lake, to a point where the mosquito density appeared as precipitation on News4's doppler radar, and where mullets, minitrucks, and wrangler butts still reign supreme.

We set up a variety of targets - - cement forms, pop cans, water bottles, and other junk from the garage. Grandpa Ken, Grandma Retta, and Sippy joined us in our little celebration and we all had fun pumping lead into the targets.

Some highlights:
Stockton and Sawyer - 9mm pistol - rapid-fire urban assault on cement-form target.
Annika - Hitting a target with the 17HMR
Lori - Hitting a tennis ball with the 17 HMR
Grandma - Able to shoot both left and right handed
Grandpa - Sneaking a goose load into the shotgun behind a couple of target loads - nearly knocking Earl on his butt
Sophie - Eating dirt and playing with the "Da-Dog"

All in all - a good Redneck Chuseok.