Disasters In Geocaching

Well....I think it can officially be said that we are the worst, most horrible, embarrassingly bad, geocachers EVER. And I'm not kidding. This past weekend, we spent 4 hours, over 2 days, searching, and we found a total of ZERO geocaches. I have determined that it must be an equipment malfunction. We really can't be that bad. For example, one geocache was found by all 128 people who searched for it. Which means, We were the only ones not successful!

We first started off quite close to our house. Eric and Jackson finding the exact longitude and latitude:

Jackson was mostly in control of directions. Hmmmm.....maybe that was our problem?

We searched for about an hour before giving up. We then moved about a block away to search for another, so called easy geocache, at Tropical Breeze Park. I have no pics, but as you can ascertain, it was another searching fail. At this point it was dark, so we stopped for the day.

Day 2: 2-15 and Pecos area. The information on this geocache said it would be a short walk into the desert. I was hopeful. I believed yesterdays disaster was an isolated incident. We started walking:

After about 1/4 a mile, we were directed to walk off the dirt road, and directly into the desert:

At this point, we realized we had quite a ways to go, so we did a bit of running:

We finally reached the destination, and found nothing.  But the trip ended up being more than worth it. It was dusk when we finally got there, and the light and sunset were gorgeous.

The sunset:

We did not want to give up, but alas it was becoming pitch black outside. So we abandoned our efforts, and started the long hike back to the car. Picture us walking dejectedly, with our heads down.

But wait! On our way back Eric discovered we would be walking right by another geocache. I had high hopes, but they were soon dashed.

We were using an app on Eric's phone, and I believe that was the cause of the failure. I am sure it was not human error. I will not give up!!!!! But next time I am bringing official equipment.

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving.......Although not quite as high maintenance as Halloween, still full of parties and activities.

Sade's had 2 parties. The first at her friend (as she calls it) pre-school. They made butter:

And it totally worked!

Plus played games, and made Pilgrim hats:

She also came home with this adorable Indian hat the week before. Sorry but I am including every picture I took because I love them all:

Especially this one:

And of course she had the traditional Thanksgiving feast at Kiddie College. I was so excited when Sadie was able to bring her Thankful Feather. This is the 5th Thankful Feather I have helped decorate! (2 each with Megan and Jackson, and Sadie's first):

On Wednesday Sade was beside herself with excitement over Thanksgiving being the next day. She informed me that Thanksgiving was her very favorite holiday. When I asked why, she replied, "Well on Thanksgiving you get to eat lots of food, and I LOVE to eat!" So very true Miss Sade.

Jackson also had a big party at school with all of the 2nd graders. They made Pilgrim hats, ate lots of food, played games, and made a craft:

The big day finally arrived. We spent the day with our good friends, and ate a lot of seriously good food. The turkey was grilled, and came out so incredibly moist. Probably the best I have ever had. I made the green bean casserole, with fresh green beans, and homemade sauce, which was actually pretty awesome. Plus we brought the sweet potato casserole (which Eric made, and I especially enjoyed), and the rolls. Now I find rolls fairly intimidating, and have never made any! But they turned out just fine, thanks to the recipe and Bosch my good friend Nancy let me borrow. Thank you Nancy, you saved my bacon!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Five For Friday

Just a bit of a weekly update.......

1. As I was doing Sadie's hair, she asked: "Why don't you do a Chinese Braid?"

Me: "Chinese Braid?"

Sadie: "Yes. You know, the one your grandma taught you how to do?"

Me: "Oh....You mean a French Braid?"

Sade: "Yes!"

2. Jackson wore this googly eye taped to his forehead for 12 hours.

As I was taking his picture, I kept asking him to open his eyes! He kept saying, "I AM!" It took me asking him about 5 times, before I finally realized he was talking about the third eye.

You may notice he is not wearing a shirt? Well, he isn't wearing pants either. Because the kid does not enjoy wearing clothing. He will wear his unders, but nothing much else if given the choice.

3. This week brought Megan's Science Fair Project. She came up with idea herself, and executed it very well. She decided to make glowing water, and then.........add dry ice to it to see if the fog also glows. Her hypothesis was that it would not not. And she was right!

Did I mention that a girl in her class built a HOVERCRAFT!  A HOVERCRAFT! And a big one at that. I was picturing it to be Hotwheels car sized, but it was big enough that she could ride on it. Seriously impressive! HOVERCRAFT!! And it worked.

4. I also attended Megan's Awards Assembly. This quarter she received an award for A/B Honor Roll.

I am used to Awards Assemblies, where a handful of students receive all "A's", and a slightly bigger handful receive all "A's and B's." But not at this school!  The majority of kids received awards for good grades. My kids are so fortunate to go there.

Jackson received all "A's" this quarter, but for some reason there was no assembly.  Maybe the school isn't so great after all! (This is when a sarcastic font would come in handy).

5. And one last thing. My next door neighbor, who is in his 80's, moves my garbage can from the curb and brings it back to my house, every garbage day.

 I think it is the nicest thing ever.

12 X 12 - November 2011

Saturday. I had a lot of plans in my head of how my Saturday was going to play out, but it turned out very differently. Not necessarily bad, but not very productive either.

I woke up (not very early) to Jackson practicing his "juggling."

The kids had these 3 different types of cereal for breakfast. Megan: Apple Jacks, Jackson: Mini Wheats, and Sadie: Special K

After breakfast Megan worked on her fashion designs. Now if someone could just teach her how to sew!

A bit later, the kids and I went bike riding. I had to fill up flat tires, which is a job that has always fallen to Eric. But since he was out of town, I had to pull through.

We ended up playing ball and frisbee at the high school:

After coming home and showering, I read for a bit in bed:

Jackson and Sadie joined me:

After a while, Jackson left, but Sadie stayed and her and I ended up taking a 2 hour nap!

Upon awakening, I did some household cleaning up, while Megan worked on her homework:

For dinner, the kids had "Little Caesars", or "Little Sleazelers" as Jackson thinks it is named. It was packed! The wait for pepperoni pizza was 30 minutes. Luckily they had one cheese left, which I procured.

We spent the evening, watching TV, and playing. Meg and Sade playing on the couch:

These alphabet magnets have been one of the best toys I have ever purchased. I bought them when Megan was small, and they still get weekly use:

Before bed we did our nightly scripture reading:

Still in Alma!

Eric was in St. George all day on Saturday. First to compete in a Sprint Triathlon, and then to do a job that he forgot to inform me of. So instead of getting home at 1 pm (which is when I thought he would arrive home), he got home at 10 pm. I have ALMOST forgiven him.