School Pics

Ky 5th grade age 10

Hailey 3rd grade age 8

Kase 1st grade age 6

Hudson preschooler age 3

Alaina is having her individual picture taken on a different day so I don’t have a copy of that one yet.

Back to School Dinner 2010

We carried on a tradition we started last year called our Back to School Dinner. We prepare a fancy meal that our kids choose the menu for. This year it was Steak, Ceasar Salad, Potatoes, Green Beans, and 7 Layer Jello for dessert, YUMMY!!

The weird thing is….this is the same food they chose last year for their fancy dinner. You can tell we don’t feed our family of 7 steak very often.

Anyway…..it is a manners meal at the Ostlers where some of the glass dishes get used rather than the normal paper products that typically adorn our table. They get some bubbly sparkling cider to drink. We focus on etiquette and spend a ton of the meal time conversation reflecting on things that have happened to the kids the past year, we talk about the upcoming school year and anything else THEY want to talk about.

We also present a new Family Theme for the year. One that we will focus on as a family in many of our discussions, FHE’s, and reminders throughout the upcoming year. This year our new theme is “Return With Honor”. So, at the dinner we present it to the kids and discuss it’s meaning to us.

After the meal, Dan takes each of the kids individually to give them a priesthood blessing.

This hasn’t always been a tradition of ours, but for the past few years it has been something we have started and so far….we love it and the kids look forward to it as the summer comes to a close.

It will happen again next year…..but hopefully we can get more creative on the menu and change it up from year to year.

Kase and his "Spidey Skills"

This is one of Kase's favorite pass times :)

The Fair on a budget

I told the kids we were not going to blow a few hundred bucks at the fair, like we have done in years past. It is amazing how fast the money goes. Getting through the front gates is often the cheapest part of the day. The food, the rides, the souvenirs, and the CRAP that we just have to buy there pulls more bills out of our pocket than we would like to admit.

Anyway….the theme of the day was….CHEAP FAIR VISIT!

The first step was to get the kids on board with the plan. We laid it out for them. The rules of the day were 1-each kid got 10 bucks to blow any way they wanted. Food, games, crap, whatever. And 2- when their money was gone they weren’t allowed to ask for another dime to be spent on their behalf, PERIOD. Consequence of breaking rule number 2 was that the entire family goes home the very first time there is a request or complaint about it.

We got free tickets into the fair and discounted bracelets for the rides, passed out the cash to the kids, and off we went.

Hailey blew $5 on a bull ride right out of the gate…

…and Ky did a $7 thing where they put him in a huge plastic bubble.

When their tummies got hungry and they realized they didn’t have much money left they got smart and pooled it together and shared what they bought. AHA!!!! But let the learning begin. They now realized that an $8 dollar bowl of nachos that only contained 10 chips, split between the 2 of them, didn’t really fill their hungry tummies. It was pretty cute watching the kids notice and comment on what a rip off the cost of the fun and food really is.

All the kids enjoyed meeting up with their cousins there, who happened to have pigs in the fair. They all ran the circuit of rides in total bliss until after Kase hit his 3^rd or 4^th ride and begins to get the pale white face and the deer in the headlights look that only means one thing…..He Was Getting Sick! Poor guy. He began sitting out on rides and finding shady areas to hide and rest. After a while we called his grandpa and asked if he would come pick him up and take him home. Yuck Yuck Yuck. What kind of fun is that? :(

All of the other kids kept playing and riding rides until it was dark. When I went to pick up Kase from Grandma and Grandpa’s house he said,” even though he got sick, and was only there half the day, he had a blast.” Do you know what else Kase had? A full $10 still in his pocket ;)

Well, when it was all said and done….we succeeded in spending less money this year than any year prior. YAHOO. And the kids didn’t have any less of a good time. Well done!!

Backyard Bon fires

One of the funnest things about our house is the fire pit Dan built in the back yard the first year we moved in. With all the landscaping and yard clean up that was done, he was sure to find space for one of his favorite pass times…..Gazing into the fire on a cool dark night.

Well, the kids get their love of camp fires from Dan….they can’t get enough of them. Usually I let Dan handle it when they want to have one, but on this particular day when they came and asked for a HUGE BON FIRE, I thought….what the heck!! “Go build it, and I will come help light it” I told them. And off they went.

It was about 20 minute later when they came back in telling me they were ready to light it. So out the door I went, matches in hand.

Is this what they learn in scouts or did their dad teach them this strategy? Oh well…..doesn’t really matter….it burned, and they loved it.

Notice Kase, our resident firefighter. When he noticed a couple ashes float a few inches away from the fire, he didn’t miss a beat. Way to go Smokey the Bear!

Eenie Meeine Miney Moe.

Hudson’s version of Eenie Meenie Miney Moe :)

Summer Camps

Boating with the fam

Today we packed up the family and drove an hour or so out of town to meet up with the rest of the fam for a day of boating on the Leslie & Gary’s boat. Everyone pot lucked food and the cousins had a ton of fun playing around in the roped off swimming area.

All of the kids went out for a little tubing run…

…then most of the adults went out for their turn on the boat. Instead of skiing or tubing we ended up boating up a ways to check out a fire that had been burning all day. Miles and mile of land, all along the shoreline, were torched. Smoke coking us out as we got closer.

We ended up by Gary’s friend’s house/farm. We saw how close the fire was getting to their property so we boated up to see if they needed any help. It was SMOKEY!

Finally we spotted firemen who were shoveling and spraying a burn line to prevent the fire from getting any closer to their house.

After our exciting, adrenaline filled boating trip it was back to the shore for more food and fun.

We decided that Kayleb hadn’t gotten wet enough today so we sent down Dan and Gary down to take care of it :)

Peeing on the run

Normally when my 3 year old uses the toilet he has to stand on his tip toes to make it into the water. More often than not he ends up spraying all over the toilet seat, lid, and floor. Today as I walked passed the bathroom I had to do a double take to see if Hudson had grown 6 inches or if my toilet had shrunk.

No stilts needed. Roller blades will do the trick. And guess what, he actually hit the water. :) Maybe we will just leave these by the toilet from now on if that is all it takes to keep a clean toilet seat.

Fun summer trip, to Utah, with Alaina.

This week I was able to take a little rode trip with Alaina to visit my sister Megan in Utah. Alaina’s growing up so fast so fast. (She’ll be in Young Women’s in April. Holy Cow!!!!) Needless to say it was a ton of fun spending a whole week of one on one time with her just doing girlie things. (Road trip picture at a rest stop in Idaho. We’re half way there only 5 more hours to go :)

We spent the first day in Utah at the Lagoon. Normally in the middle of August it would be blazing hot but today was totally overcast and breezy. Not cold or anything… just perfect! (We ended up running into the Glade and the Bayles families while we were standing in line for rides. Seeing people from your home town, somewhere 3 states away from your home town definitely makes you do a double take)

I decided to take a quick pic with Alaina as we were standing in line for our first ride of the day. This is how it went. “K… Alaina… Smile.”

Take 5. Close enough, it’s a keeper.

On our way home we ate at Zuppa’s. Yummy! I want this restaurant in the TriCities! You go along the counter and choose a combination of 2 things between soup, salad, and sandwich. It was really good!

The next day we ate at a fun Chuck E Cheeselike, pirate themed restaurant. The server spoke only pirate and didn’t brake character once. You know…Aaarrrgghhh Matey, Shiver me timbers, Buccaneer, walk the plank etc.

After lunch we spent the day shopping for a few new school clothes for Alaina.

Day 3 was more shopping and lots of driving. It’s amazing how much driving you do to get to all of the fun places in Utah. Everything is so spread out. After a while everyone started getting a little car sick so to lighten things up a bit we turned the car into a photo both and took a ton of pictures.

Later that afternoon we ended up getting to meet Megan’s boyfriend Aaron and went to a movie with them that night.

Day 4 in Utah started with a haircut for Alaina, then we spent the rest of the day at the waterpark. Fun times! It was going to be our last full day there so we also hit a ton of Utah restaurants that we were still wanting to eat at before we left. Noodles & Company for lunch, Cafe Rio for dinner, and the Mayan for dessert.

Yea! We did it… Crammed a whole ton of fun and memories into one week. Now it’s time for the long ride home. Booooo. Thanks for hosting us Megs!

Begging for a date night

Kase has been begging for a date night with his dad all month. With Dan's busy work schedule, it was long over due and Kase was beginning to wonder if he would ever get his one on one time he was wanting. So, tonight, Dan came home with a surprise for his little man. It dang near made all of his dreams come true.

After work Dan pulled up in front of the house on one of my dad's motorcycle. He just sat there reeving up the engine until Kase noticed and went running outside. Kase went nuts when Dan asked him, "Are you ready to go out on a surprise date with me?"

Kase didn't need to be asked twice. He was hopping on the back of the motorcycle within seconds. SWEET!

What Kase didn't know was where they were going or what they were doing. He was just excited to get a date. And the fact that Dan was taking him out on a motorcycle was a really cool start.

Dan had packed some swimming stuff in the saddle bags of the bike ahead of time and arranged with some of Kase's friends and their dads to meet up with them for a treat at Dairy Queen and then a trip to a swimming pool. The fun part was that instead of just going straight to the DQ (about 6 blocks away), Dan took the long route to get there. With a drive out the canyon, and all around town, it took about 45 minutes of motorcycle riding to finally reach their destination where all of Kase's friends were waiting to start the fun. After treats, the sun was setting and they all went to Holle's back yard, where Dan had arranged with the Holle's to bring the boys over for a night swimming party.

To go swimming is cool enough, but to go swimming in the pitch black night with nothing but a pool light on and a bunch of your friends hanging with you too.

Our little Kase was loving the way this date was going.

Thanks to Dad, from Kase. Thanks to Kase for being a rock star kid, from dad.

Where's Hudson?

I left Alaina in charge while I went to run a few errands today. When I returned home I found all of the kids (except for Hudson) watching TV. I asked Alaina how everything went and where Hudson was. She told me, "I think he's playing in the playroom." I looked, but he wasn't there. She looked a little panicked when I said he's not in the playroom because she didn't know where else he would be. We called for him and searched all around the house for him, but no Hudson.

K... now I'm starting to get a little panicked too. Finally, he heard us yelling for him and came walking in from the garage...

...and this is what he was wearing.

Hudson had been playing dress-up with the girl's old hand-me-down clothes tubs in the garage.

(Can anyone say BRIBERY picture)

A first and second for Hudson

Last week Hudson was trying to out run his 17 yr old cousin, Kayleb as he chased him through the house. They came sprinting around the corner, through the office where I was sitting and into the playroom. With Kayleb hot on his heels he leaped in the air hoping a soft bean bag would break his fall but instead... he made direct contact with the back of his head and the rocks that surround the fireplace.

We headed out the door and returned 1 hour later with 4 stitches in the back of his head. This was a 1st for him but he was very brave and he didn't even cry once. But on the car ride home he said,"Mom, I don't want to go back to that squeezing doctor again."

Today our neighbors left on vacation and asked us to grab their mail and paper while they were out of town. They also told us feel free to use their pool while they were gone. So today on Dan's lunch break he ran the kids over for a quick dip in the pool. Not 15 mins later he came walking back in with Hudson who had blood running down from his eye. He explained that when Hudson was climbing up the ladder to get out of the pool he slipped and slammed his eye into the metal hand rail.

Another trip to the ER here we come. I made sure to go to a different ER this time, I mean... come on... twice in 1 week? I didn't want some ER nurse calling CPS or anything. :)

Luckily they were able to use the glue stitches on this one. As we drove home today Hudson said, "Thanks for taking me to the soft doctor and not the squeezing one, this one is my best."

Good “Clean” Fun!

The kids worked really hard today, and after a long day of Saturday house cleaning chores, gardening, and yard work, I finally told them “ Okay, jobs are done, it’s free time.” They quickly ran out in the backyard to play and use the rest of the daylight hours they had before I called them back in for the night.

As I was looking out the window at how excited they were to finally be finished with chores, Dan and I decided we would play a little prank on the kids. (yeah, we’re mean like that.)

While they were playing in the backyard, Dan and I snuck out the front door to spread a huge sheet of plastic across the front yard. Once that was all set up I grabbed a bottle of Dawn dish soap and marched into the backyard to where the kids were playing and with a very serious voice I said to them, “ Sorry guys, I thought of another job I need you to do.” I heard immediate moans and groans as they begged and pleaded to, “please be done with jobs for the day.” I told them, “It has to get done. I need you to go wash something in the front yard. It’s going to be hard but when you’re finished you can get back to your playing.” I handed them the soap and said to head to the front yard. They slowly and unhappily made their way to the front yard and when they saw the plastic they were like, “What in the heck???” Dan and I just said, “ I know this is gonna be rough, but get to cleaning.” They did a pretty good job with the “chore” of “cleaning the plastic.” :)