Just in Time for Halloween

Each month, I host a recipe exchange. Each month has a theme to which we all prepare our given recipe. This month's theme was an easy pick. If you are interest in the recipes. . .check out the blog at Something Tasty. During the night, people were complaining about the excessive mosquitoes terrorizing our neighborhood. One lady confessed that she loved mosquito bites in comparison to spider bites. Shocked, I blurted out "I have never been bitten by a spider. That must be awful."

Fast forward to this morning. I am out trimming our unruly bushes in my week attempts at being a yard keeper. I had thought to pull out the gardening gloves, but didn't bother since I was planning on keeping a distance with my pruning shears. Lured in by the easy pull out weeds, I stooped to detangle our decorative grass. I swatted away some unseen pest that stung my wrist. I was irked by the apparent return of the mosquitoes. As the wound began to fester and swell and burn and cause a sort of tingling sensation, I realized that no mosquito bit me.

I finished my misshaping project and went to google my injury. Not promising. Every site listed my symptoms as worrisome to say the least. Too bad I hate going to the doctor just to feel like I am some strange hypochondriac, but at the same time, I love having two opposable thumbs. The scary reality is I have killed a few black widows and brown angry looking spiders and we live in scorpion territory. All my in house Doctor (aka Fernando) suggests is to monitor its "progress".

Croup and Flu

Sickness is really inconvenient. Not that being sick is ever a joy, it adds an extra dash of annoyance when it cuts into plans. For example, the camping trip that I actually became excited for---cancelled. Gym attendance or in other words Zumba attendance---impossible. Worst of all, Nursery calling----unable to preform.

I know, who loves serving in the nursery? I do. I have been so excited for my calling and the plans I have had to get it off and running. It just seems like every foot forward gets outweighed by the circumstances that set us five steps back. 2 out of the 3 leaders were MIA (one to a family vacation and me to croupy kids). I luckily found some amazing substitutes and proceeded to outline in detail the whole 2 odd hours. I also snuck me and the kids into the church during Sacrament meeting to set up the rooms so there was one less thing my subs had to do.

You may ask, why all the kafuffle over sitting around with toys and food? Well, I have, in perfect Rachelle form, created a sort of convoluted marathon I lovingly refer to as Nursery. Between room rotations, toy stations, music and body movement class, and just the set up for all of it, there was too much to explain and expect, but the subs were troupers. Hopefully our over two week sickness hiatus ends soon, because I ready to "Get'cha Head in the Game" --Troy Efron

Explorations

Monday holidays usually provide an easy base for educational activities. Fernando and I try to center the day around the holiday so it has a little more meaning. For example, one labor day a few years ago was spent as follows:
Labor day weekend is a chance for many to relax from the daily grind. Fernando, on the other hand, thought otherwise. He wanted to make the weekend full of labor. Luckily, he kept the kids and myself in mind when he was planning. The weekend kicked off with an early morning hike in the back trails of Black Hills Park. The trail was kind of creepy so I was glad that one could easily run the whole thing without really breaking a sweat. There were plenty of good finds though. Tiago was loving ALL the rocks and dead branches on the trail. Mia loved all the spider webs especially since there was Charlotte from Charlotte's web in everyone. We even found a cool silk worm dangling in the middle of the path. As you might notice from the pictures, the kids were already dawning their Cougar paraphernalia in preparation for the BYU game that night.
After some good neighborhood barbecuing, we headed over to watch the game in HD style on an obliging friend's big screen. Sorry if you missed it because it was awesome.
The weekend also brought a visit from my brother, sister-in-law, and their friend Josh from New York. Mia was so excited. Fernando was equally excited since my brother always was up for some good competition at anything. This weekend's competitions of choice were XBox tennis, how many sit ups in a minute, how many pull ups on a hang board, soccer, and football. Pictures are coming. To add to the fun, we picked some fresh raspberries (which were surprisingly difficult compared to other years we have done it. I think Fernando was glad.) Then used a borrowed ice cream maker to enjoy the fruits of our labor.




For Columbus Day, we focused on exploration. Breakfast was an exploration into English foods like scones and eggs Benedict. Then we watched an episode of Man vs Wild which is a particular family favorite show. Bear showed us how to survive in extreme situations while sustaining life with various bugs and jimmy rigged tools. We were going to explore a trail head in a near by park called OP Schnabel, but naps interferred with that plan. In the end, we finished the day with a trip to Wal-mart to outfit ourselves for an upcoming camping trip. Of course, we needed to have a trial run of our purchases and Fernando even tried to light a fire in our backyard to no avail. After the kids were in bed, Fernando and I watched an interesting show about Columbus and explored our eyelids with an early bedtime. I guess Columbus day can be positive.

Happy Halloween

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Thanks to Lynette.

A few other fun Utah Adventures

So all those people who rag on Utah and having to live in the State obviously haven't had the chance to explore what it has to offer. Aside from amazing mother nature everywhere, the place is teeming with various family friendly activities.

We had the chance to ride the Front Runner, a train that connects Ogden to Salt Lake City. That in and of itself was fun for the kids.
And Fernando found the perfect competition for us. He challenged me to a strength and balancing contest. The goal: hold yourself up longer then your opponent while the train was moving. I am amazing. To be fair. Fernando was actually engaging is triceps for the whole of it while I relied on my skeletal structure to support me. Even still, the last minute or so of the competition was sheer will power on my part to win. After the ride, we walked to the nearby Treehouse Museum and were blown away by all the hands on and educational activities.
The two story phenom was chalk full of themed rooms and play areas. We were there for several hours and still didn't have a chance to hit every room. The only trick was supervising the kids in the various areas. Tiago and Talia were fascinated by the toy train tables and the giant train made out of foam blocks. Then there was a fire engine of joy.



Mia was in heaven with this little giddy up.


Tiago appears to have taken after me with the inability to play chess in the Days of Knights area.

Mia felt it was her duty to show her true character there.

Cecret Lake

What did people used to due before Mapquest and gps situations? Aside from making it to our Alma Mater, the other big destinations of choice were found in the mountains. We had to stick to fairly easy hikes so we weren't backpacking the whole crew, but we wanted it to be a decent destination. Secret Lake was a top pick. Even my mom with her gimpy knee made it most of the way. It took a bit to find since Secret was spelled Cecret in reality. It was beautiful. Talia was hilarious with her BYU visor. She insisted on putting it on herself.
Tiago got cold and opted for Talia's jacket to keep him warm. I guess only confident men can pull off the too tight fleece with the decorative fur.
It was well worth all the angony that came in the prep and onset of the trip. Who knew a Lightening McQueen car could cause such sorrow? Thanks to all my family members who toughed it out and even endured much to let me enjoy the mountains again.

Our Mini Mecca

Is it so wrong that our family vacation request falls in the first few weeks of school? The way it works with the military and residency is that you put in your requests for two separate weeks of vacation each year. Some how one of our requests fall during football season and we find ourselves returning for a little Alma Mater fun.

For all those who are a bit confused by the horrible loss BYU faced against FSU, I think I know the answer. Fernando and I waited a bit too long to ascertain tickets for said game. Luckily, we both have siblings who are still currently enrolled at BYU and bought season tickets under their names. Then, we borrowed their ID's and sat in the student/best section for the game. Even with all our positive karma and loud cheering (almost leaving me hoarse), one cannot overcome the illegalness of our attendance. We are sort of sorry, but it was worth it. The best part of that game: seeing the players run off the field into the locker room. Fernando and I figured out pretty quick that some fans are a little fair weather. As Fernando and I cheered our team players, the gathered crowd threw fiery looks as if we hadn't just watched the same devastation. The next week at the Colorado State game, the messed up on the ticketing so we didn't even need the fake student ids to get in. We grabbed Daniel's to score some free food, but ended up not using it. Again, we were punished by having to drive the id back to Daniel. Who loves a semi pointless 2 hour roundtrip drive just because you wanted to save a few bucks on concession food?