Welcome Back Fall!

What a great summer, full of fun and adventures for the whole family. Glad there is a season for everything including getting back to regular routines, working, thinking, school and did I say school. Let's face it, our kids are great and summer is fun and loose...usually, free to sleep in, although,didn't do a lot of that. But, there is a time when we just need our own space for a moment in the day. Glad to have that back. It's been fun having Cameron home to help me with some of my chores. I've been working myself getting things back in order and the way I like it. Deep cleaning bathrooms and under appliances and also trying to get in shape. Back to regular exercising, this will work out nice since I got me a tread mill and a exercise bike for my birthday to help with that. I love to listen to General Conference talks while I exercise. Looking to get some projects done around the house. All I can say is welcome back fall, the time to get things in order, time to cool down. Yeah for school.

Bingo Summer Reading

This summer to encourage my youngest kids to keep on reading I discovered Bingo Summer Reading Cards
from Pinterest.com. So far it's been a great success. I allow them to earn a square per day by reading at least 30 minutes. These cards have named some creative ways to get the kids to read like reading under a tree or in my PJ's or maybe in the bathtub or in their favorite chair. When they get a bingo I have created some paper cards with rewards on them like a one free item from Dollar Tree, a frosty from Wendy's, back/foot massage, I do one chore or clean their room,. These too motivate the kids to read because they all want my massage :) or maybe it's the ice-cream cone from Arctic Circle, whatever it is, they are reading and that's what counts. They have discovered some really cool book series like Fablehaven by Brandon Mull, or Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites by Chris Heimerdinger something my older kids have already discovered. It's been fun reading these again myself, I might add.

Reading books are like going on mini vacations or watching a movie in your mind, you get into the story and you get lost in it, if it's written right. It's pure imagination, you get to envision what the characters or objects look like and it's fun to imagine or wonder what's going to happen pushing you to the end and you can't wait.

If you are looking for a creative and fun way for your kids to read this summer you might check out the Bingo Summer Reading Challenge.

Unplugged So Far

My kids were not excited to hear we were going to be unplugged this summer. I heard a lot of complaining. But, it is amazing some of the activities they have come up with to fill in the time they would have spent on wasted computer or video type games. Some things they have done so far:

• swimming at our neighbors pool on Mondays

• Service in our neighborhood and community with friends

• Building forts outside using blankets

• Playing soccer in the sprinklers

• Play Hide and Seek and Ghost in the Graveyard in the bottom level of my house, there are a lot of spaces to hide and it's dark.

• Because of the Sons of Mosiah experience, my kids have created shields and breastplates made from cardboard. Every one of them is very creative I will put a picture up later. 
• play board games
• make cookies or other treats
• reading has been in abundance, they have discovered some great series out there.
• Play with friends
• Ride scooters
• Jump on trampoline
• Ride the blue machine 3 wheeler bikes with squirt guns
• Have a water battle using squirt games
• Go to the movies 
• Listen to music, do some karaoke performances.
• Play badminton
• Dress up and imagination play
• Build with Legos 
• Build marble maze with blocks
• Take the dog for more walks
• Play at the park
• Making their own movies.

This is so far. It's good to think outside the box. I still hear grumblings and they are always asking why we are doing it, funny how they always get the same answer. It's to have more interactions with each other, to build strong family and friend relationships, to help us be creative in our thinking, get outside and be active with nature and enjoy their summer.

I'm still looking forward to some the activities I have planned like canoeing and camping and spending more time as a family doing cool, fun and discovering new things. Unplugged so far.....a success.

Summer Activities...I Can't Wait

Our summertime will all be unplugged, no media, except a few movies here or there. In order to accomplish this I bought me a pretty sweet CD/Stereo player, it also has connection for my phone to listen to Pandora music. My kids are pretty addicted to Pandora and Playlist what teenager doesn't love music. I love music myself so that will still be part of our summer just not coming from the computer. I already talked about some of the places that might be on our hot list this summer but her are more ideas I had:

Outdoor Family Sports-  Badminton, Basketball, Soccer, Softball, Swimming on Mondays.
I was watching my son Dallon get excited watching our neighbor teenage group date, they were playing badminton. It occurred to me that that was an idea after examining our yard to see if it would work, so, we bought a badminton set and a couple of new basketballs. Dallon was so excited about buying one that he helped me and Ron put in our vegetable garden so we could hurry to Wal-Mart to buy it.Now, he is itching to play.

Service - It's time to make a difference. We will be calling ourselves "Zion's Service Patrol". I will be inviting my neighbors to make a difference with us. I will make the call on Facebook to join us at a place to do service. I have my first place all picked out, I'm pretty excited to do this. And of course I plan on serving cold treats afterwards. Danielle on her own wants to volunteer at the local hospital, I think that's cool.

Of course Church will be keeping the kids and me occasionally busy with activities. Cub Scout Day Camp, Young Men Adventure Activity, Sons of Mosiah Experience, Young Women Camp, Cheer Camp for Danielle, Achievement Days for me.

And we can't forget about Family Vacation (San Diego), a trip to visit Brother Jack in Montana for his play. A Cousin's Party Campout is also planned and hanging with my folks and brother Chris and his family for some fun. Along the way, celebrate a couple of birthdays, baptism and holidays, one being my favorite, the 4th of July.

With all of this, I think summertime is looking great.

Vegetable Garden

Yesterday, I bought my garden for only $16. I'm pretty excited about the things I was able to get this year. Ron, Dallon and I hurried to put my garden together before the big rain storm.

This year I decided to plant:
 1 watermelon
 4 cauliflower
1 celery
4 corn
4 red bell pepper
4 green bell pepper
4 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 zucchini
4 lettuce
1 yellow squash
1 cucumber
1 spaghetti squash
row of carrots
2 rows of peas
1 celebrity tomatoes
4 Roma tomatoes
8 turnips
and 6 strawberries
and a handful of sunflowers

I already had 2 onions, 1 chives, 2 garlic

Sounds like a lot, I'm sure it's going to be work keeping some of them under control. I love looking at the garden, it looks nice next to the newest flower garden I put together this year. Are you planning a garden this spring? What are you planning?

Unplugged

This summer to my kids dismay I'm sure, since, I haven't told them yet, we are going to be unplugged from most all media. This sounds like insanity to some and maybe it will be. But, I'm tired of coming in second place when it comes to attention. I have been furiously planning other ways to have fun this summer. I'm calling it the Tour of Utah.
Some ideas:
Fort Buenaventura for some canoeing and for learning about the life of the American Indians and Trappers with a real life tepee. It only costs $1 per person to get in. Once in you can do some exploring and see true artifacts of the times. Canoeing is one of the things that attracted me to this place, it costs only $3 for 1/2 hour and also there is the trading posts and visiting center. If you prefer, you could camp there. It sounds fairly reasonable and located in Ogden, Utah

The Golden Spike Natural Historic Site along with The Bird Refuge and the Brigham City Swimming Pool will be another day. All this in or near Brigham City. Costs: $7 per car for Golden Spike, free for Bird Refuge and $5 per person for the swimming pool.


I'm looking forward to visiting the Museum of People and Cultures in Provo, Utah on or near the BYU campus, spending a day with cousins in that part of town and swimming in the local swimming pool. We could also add the Museum of Stuffed Animals (that isn't the name of it, I don't think) but, it has a whole section of stuffed animals, it's pretty cool. All free except visit to the swimming pool.

Temple Square - Museum of Church History, Visiting Centers, Joseph Smith Movie and City Creek for ice-cream and lunch. I'm hoping to do this on June 27th on Joseph Smith's Martyrdom.  Get this all free except lunch and ice-cream.

Natural History Museum of Utah- since we only got 20 minutes to explore on Dallon's 4th grade fieldtrip, I wanted to do this again. I was very impressed with the museum. it is more expensive than my other activities, with $9 for me, $7 for five of my kids, and $6 for two of them, but, on July 9th, there will be a free day. On July 3rd you need to reserve some tickets for that day online. I'm hoping to get these free tickets for my family. Crossing fingers, if not, I'm willing to pay, because, it's an awesome experience.

Antelope Island- only $9 per car. There is many things to do on the island. Hiking to Spider Mountain and many other trails, biking, bird watching, viewing wildlife, swimming if you dare and building sand castles on the beach, I thought we would take a picnic and fly kites. There is a visiting center along with a farm house to pet a deer and see a nesting owl. It's all about getting outdoors and enjoying nature. What more could you ask for? (for the stink to not be there, okay, but, mostly that is along the causeway)

So far this is what I have, I really want to see the new zoo exhibit and maybe hike up ensign peak. There will be more family outdoor activities and playing games as a family but, no computers (except for Pandora) or gaming devices. Maybe a movie every once in awhile. You may not see me on Facebook because of it. Do you have any ideas, what are you doing this summer?

A Tribute to My Ole' Friend

Good-bye my ole' green friend and bus. He has taken us to many places over the last 12 years or so. Over hills and valleys, near the ocean blue and up mountain passes he took the 10 of us. He allowed us to visit many beautiful and awesome places of our country on vacations together as a family. He was the one that traveled the Kaysville streets to take kids to soccer practice and games, to cheer, to school and a variety of other activities including trips to the grocery store and carrying heavy loads. He was good like that. He set the example for other families showing how cool a van like he could be for them. We have notice an uprising of vans like my green friend in Kaysville and we know it's because they first saw him and saw his awesomeness and talents. He was the one people recognized first, friends and family knew when they saw him,  there were also members of the Shapiro family inside. We got many waves of hello from neighbors and friends when driving this van then any other vehicle. There was no doubt he stood out from the rest, the reason we will miss him the most. I hope you don't mind if I pay tribute. Because like pets, vehicles become family, at least it does in this family. It's now up to him to make other people happy and to enjoy his talents of carrying up to 11 people. New adventures are yours, you will be missed. So long good friend.

We have been lucky to begin a new adventure as well, we have recently bought a new friend, someone who will help us out for a few more years as our family dwindles, as children grow and move on. This new friend is the same age as our green friend but has a few extra talents like a CD player (I know that for some this is so yesterday, but, not for me). She will be a nice addition to the family, and we look forward to getting to know her as we did our old one. Welcome to the family!