Gotta love the Aviary

We found out that there was free admission to the Tracy Aviary for UEA weekend, so we decided to collect our jackets and join the croud to see the birds. I am now one of those mom's who has to go to places when my kids are out of school because we can't just go on any old day because Max is in school. It kinda stincks because you know there will be a lot of people there because there is no school and because it's free. At least they were doing it all weekend and not just one day. The line was much longer when we were going out than when we were going in(we only waited behind one person who was returning a wagon). Here are a few pics from the outing. We had a good time and who wouldn't? You get to be outside on a beautiful day and you get to see flamingos! You can't say that everyday!

My 6 1/2 year stretch is officially over!

So, we have managed to go for 6 years and 8 1/2 months with no children needing stitches at our house. Well, that stretch has come to an end. Thursday morning about 8:30 am we were all getting ready do go to my aerobics class and Joey yells down the hall, "Um, Gus just got cut, I think he's going to need stitches!" NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! Turns out he was playing in the drawer in the nightstand that all of our children have played in over the years, but this time Gus found a scalpel that Joey got back in high school that we didn't even know was in there. He cut his hand with it and we ended up in the doctors office getting three lovely little stitches. I called the doctors office first and luckily they were able to do it and we didn't have to go to the emergency room cause that would have been a nightmare with four children in the ER waiting around all day long for three stitches. Those of you who have been there know what I'm talking about. He's good now and the stitches have already come out. Max is going to tell his class all about it in class tomorrow. His question of the week is, "What do you want to be when you grow up" and he was fascinated by the whole thing. He sat and asked the doctor questions while she was cleaning the cut and numbing the skin and giving a shot, stitching it up, then wrapping his hand.He now thinks he wants to be a doctor. Sounds like a win-win to me. Gus gets his hand sewed up and Max gets a homework assignment done!

one more pic from Boise

Hanging out in Boise

Max and Carly had an early day on Thursday and a day off on Friday Sept.24th-27th. We wanted to go somewhere and haven't visited Jeff and Wendy for a really long time, so we called them up to see if they were busy. They were, but said to come down anyway as their business wasn't anything that we couldn't join in on. For example, Jeff and Joey went to play basketball at the church on Thursday night. We went to walk the Boise River and play in the water with the kids(those not in school as the McDonough's still had school on Friday) on Friday morning. The fella's went golfing on Friday afternoon, then Wendy and I went to a scrapbook party Friday night. The ladies ran a 5K on Saturday morning, then joined the fella's for football games and cheerleading at the park. Then Wendy and I went to the women's broadcast and dinner on Saturday night. Jeff and Joey borrowed Guitar Hero from his brother in law and proceeded to beat the devil down in Georgia until the wee hours on Saturday night. Then off to church Sunday and a fun afternoon at home until we finally decided to hit the road about 5pm. We had a great time and the kids didn't want to leave. I thought it would be really overwhelming to have nine kids running around (yes, I said NINE!) but other than Leo, the others mostly entertained themselves. Here were the usual ranks: Carly following Kayla; Tyler,Max, and Mason; Cameron joined them ocassionally but spent some time with the neighbor kid too; Ellie and Gus; then Leo in the closet. So, thanks McDonough's for the good times. We'll have to do it again before the nine children come along!

Swiss Days 10K

So, over the last couple of years and last couple of pregnancies, my sister Steph has convinced me of the joys of running. If you would have asked me to go for a jog two years ago, I would have laughed at you and said, "I don't run." I was an avid walker for a long time. Running just brings back horrible memories from basketball practice in high school, running ladders and suicide sprints- yuck! But I can now report that when she told me it was addicting, she was right. Now I love to run and use the time by myself to think and to ponder alone.(Yes, it is also an excuse to get a little alone time too). So far this year I have done three 5K runs (West Jordan, Taylorsville Dayzz, and my stake's 5K they do every year), 2 10K runs (Deseret News/KJZZ marathon, and Swiss Days). And Steph and I are planning my first half-marathon on Halloween-the Provo half. I'll let you know how that goes. These pictures are from the Swiss Days 10K. Joey's brother Robert was so kind to come and cheer us on both before and after the race. He also took these pics for us. One is our sprint to the finish, two is our finish time, three is waiting for a doughnut after finishing the race, and four is the beautiful rainbow that became the backdrop to the finish line! Thanks, Steph for getting me into racing and being my running buddy!

My own kind of geneology

I know that it's the lazy way of doing geneology because I'm not really finding any decendents to add to the family tree but I do consider my scrapbooking to be my own family history. Someday I will be gone and my kids and grandkids can remember what we did and see pictures and read stories about when they were little. One thing that I have managed to do for all of my kids is to get pictures of them as babies with each of the living great-grandparents. When Max was born 6 1/2 years ago he had 7 great-grandparents as all were still living but grandpa Hazen. With Leo there are only three left; grandma Wilson, and the grand Allred's. That just goes to show that things do change in a short time. If I had not gotten their pictures with my children I may not have had the opportunity to have pictures of my grandparents to share. Here are the pics for your enjoyment.

This post is for Heidi(and anyone else who cares)

Hides, what do you think about my pictures of Max & Leo? Still think they could be twins? What about Gus? Can you tell which is which?