Office Olympics

This year for the retreat at work I planned Office Olympics with a service project at the end.  It was a lot of work, but it was also a really great day bonding as a staff and giving back to the community.

The staff were divided up in to different colors where they had create a country, a flag, and come up with a national anthem. There were several different events that everyone competed in with award ceremonies after each event and then a trophy for the overall winner.  

Sharpie Archery

 Coffee mug racing

 Stapler discuss

 Book ping pong

 Trash can basketball

 The winning team, I think the second hand dance trophy really made the day.

 Here are the rest of the teams.

And a small video of one of the award ceremonies with a national anthem being played.

 After the Olympics we left the training academy and headed up to Salt Lake City to Primary Children's Hospital where we made lunch at the Ronald McDonald house for the families with children in the hospital. This was a really rewarding experience that all of the staff enjoyed and want to repeat again.  

The Con-Quest staff. I am really lucky to work with amazing people.

BYU Football

This year we bought season tickets for BYU football.  As affiliate faculty I get 20% off athletic events so it was pretty affordable.  We had a great time this year taking the kids and other family members to the different games.  We were lucky to hit a few games together. Hopefully, this is a tradition that will continue for years to come.

Pumpkin Carving

It wouldn't be October without pumpkin carving.  This year we were blessed to carve pumpkins we grew in our own garden.  We had one pumpkin plant that went crazy, look at all of these pumpkins from just the one plant.

The kids enjoyed playing with them before the carving, still not sure what Alden is doing here.

First time touching the goop from inside the pumpkin, he wasn't quite sure of what he thought about it :)

But it wasn't too weird as he kept cleaning it out.

Transferring the stencil to the pumpkin. Alden did really well this year with helping on all the steps of carving his pumpkin.

Gracie wanted to help for a little while too.  It was really cute.

The finished products, I think they turned out pretty well.

And you can't carve pumpkins without a picture of the family behind the pumpkins :)

Happy Halloween!

Cornbelly's

There are so many activities in the valley around Halloween time.  We tried our best to hit as many as possible.  The kids and I went to Cornbelly's one day after work.  It was quite an adventure.  Cass forgot to send jackets to the babysitter that morning and it was quite chilly so we had to make do with what we had in the bag.  Gracie ended up in her footed pajamas over her clothes and Alden and I just stuck it out until arms started to turn colors and we decided it was time to leave.  

On the bright side we were some of the first people there so for a while we had the place almost all to ourselves.  The giant air pillow was a big hit with both kids.

The slides from different equipment are always a hit.  There were a couple of tractors along with this train.

We may need some more practice milking cows :)

We may also need additional practice in roping cows.

The giant corn pit was a hit for obvious reasons as well as the fact that there was a tent around three sides of it so the wind was not as bad in there.

We have one incredibly strong kid!

And finally a selfie with the cast of Peanuts.  We had a great time, but next year we will try to be more prepared so we can spend a little more time.

The Ivory Tower of Terror 2016

Once again Utah Department of Corrections held the Haunted Ivory Tower of Terror.   I was watching some of our friends that day so I brought Grandma along to help me with the 5 kids.  It was the most impressive year yet, but unfortunately it is also the last year.

This is our entire group with the director of Corrections and his wife.

One of the suites was decorated for Zootopia.  There was an obstacle course the kids had to go through to graduate from ZPD (Zootopia Police Department).  

After we got our certificates we went through the rest of town and came across the sloth at the DMV.  He was incredible at being slow.

Posing as one of the bad guys in the town.

One suite was the Nightmare Before Halloween.

And one was decorated as Harry Potter.  We made wands and got to be lifelike posters.

I don't remember what room this is, but it was fun.

Just a candid shot going through the building. It turns out it a lot of effort was required to get 5 kids and all of their stuff through 4 floors of activities.

And out of order, but here are all 5 kids at Sherrie's office before we left. This was our attempt to see all of their costumes well.

Celebrating 30 at the Aquarium

In keeping with spending our birthday money on events for the family when Cass turned 30 we went to the Living Planet Aquarium for the first time.  It did not disappoint.  We spent a few hours there and could have stayed longer.   Here are some pictures from the adventure.

Climbing on the giant frogs.

The awesome rope bridge that takes you over the bottom floor.

Of course the penguins were a highlight of the trip

There was one room where the fish that like the dark are displayed.  There was this fun little submarine thing for the kids to play in.  Alden and Gracie enjoyed this for quite a while.

Viewing area to see the otters. It was feeding time so they were really active and fun to watch.

Not sure what is going on here, but it looks fun :)

The shallow pool with star fish and rays to pet.

Unfortunately the adults were the only ones that were brave enough to touch anything.

Family selfie in the tiny bubble viewing area for one of the aquariums.

Someone was amazed at what she saw.

Hanging out on Shamu!

Turns out I thought this was funnier than Alden did :)  He was not traumatized for long though.

Exploring the shark tunnel. 

We had a great time and hopefully we will go back to visit again in the future.  Happy Birthday Cass!