Tubing at Soldier Hollow

The kids have had such an enjoyable time while being "off track" (school break due to year round school). It's been a long relaxing month. However, I think all of us are ready to get back into a routine. For one last hurrah before the kids returned back to school, Mark and I decided to take the kids to Midway, Utah (about 45 minutes from Riverton) and go tubing at the Soldier Hollow Resort before they return back to school on Monday. We went last year and spent a few days in Midway and loved it. However, this year we decided to forgo the over nighter and just travel up to the mountains for the afternoon. I found a great deal on Groupon dot Com and saved us some money on tickets. We had a great time enjoying the tubing slopes and each others company. The snow was pretty sparse this year at the resort and they had snow machines running. With little snow and man power, we were only able to go tubing down the hillside about 6 times over a two hour time period. Last year, we were  able to go quite a few more times. Soldier Hollow typically has two pulley systems pulling you up the hill but this year they only had one. Regardless, we had a great time and the kids requested we go again next year and make it a family tradition. I love seeing the kids have fun and I really enjoy spending time as a family.

Easter Weekend

For the past several years we have gone down to Southern Utah to celebrate the Easter weekend with our Families. This year we decided to go down on Thursday and we stayed with my sister Kamberee and her hubby Tyler and their son Karev for the weekend. I am always so grateful to her opening her home up to us and letting us stay. We always look forward to going down to Southern Utah in the spring because the weather is always warmer than it is up here in Northern Utah and it is so nice to be able to get away from it all and have some much needed family time.We didn't do too much on Thursday after we arrived but visit and catch up with Kam and Tyler and Karev.

 On Friday morning, we headed down to Grandpa & Grandma Frisbey's house in Santa Clara, Utah. When we arrived, Bob and Laurie had hidden some eggs around their yard and in their house for the kids to look for. They had hidden pink and purple eggs for Karmindy and green and blue eggs for Kaleb. The kids had a great time searching for the eggs. They both got ten eggs with $1 in each egg. They were pretty thrilled with their money eggs. After the kids had their egg hunt, Bob and Laurie let the kids color some eggs. The kids had fun spending time with their Grandma and Grandpa Frisbey.

 After the egg hunts and coloring eggs, we headed to eat lunch at the Pasta Factory on the Blvd. in St. George. Mark and I sure miss the Pasta Factory and their yummy pastas, raspberry lemonade and their yummy bread sticks. We always look forward to visiting southern Utah to get a taste of our roots! We met Rex and Misty and R.J. there for lunch. It was nice to see Mark's brother and spend some time with him and his family and Bob and Laurie.

On Saturday Morning, we took it easy, slept in and then got up and got ready for the day. After getting cleaned up for the day we headed to Grandpa and Grandma DeMille's house in Hurricane. We had a yummy picnic with my parents, and siblings. We missed having Tiffany, Ryan and Kenley there. They are in Hawaii because Ryan is stationed there with the Army for work.

After the picnic, we all headed outside to ride shoot balloons out of Grandpa's grape vines. Kaleb brought his airsoft guns and Dad got out his BB and pellet gun for all the kids to shoot. After shooting we went for four wheeler rides, scooter rides (Uncle Karson's scooter), and Uncle Karson's girl friend, Brittany's go kart. The kids all had fun, and even the big kids enjoyed themselves!

After having fun shooting, four wheeler rides, scooter rides and go kart rides, Grandpa and Grandma had their tradtional egg hunt. The kids always look forward to my parents egg hunt and look forward to trying to find the Golden Eggs. My mom hid 2 gold eggs this year and one Silver. Kaleb, like every year, was stressing about getting the golden egg (because the golden ones have money in them.) I had to reassure him that it would be fine. He was happy when he found the 2 golden eggs. I was proud of him because he gave one to Karmindy to have. He was so thoughtful! I am very proud of  Kaleb and the awesome big brother he is to his little sister.

We sure had a great weekend with both sides of our family. It was nice to spend time with all of our brothers and sisters and our parents. I feel very blessed to come from such a great family like mine. I truly look forward to seeing them now that we are all older and have our own families. It makes the time so worthwhile and precious!
On Sunday morning, we all woke up and the kids raced downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny left them. Kaleb, Karmindy and Karev were so excited to see that the EB had came! They were happy with their treasures!

I am so grateful for my own little family. I am truly grateful for the knowledge that we can be an eternal family and I am grateful we can have an eternal family because of Jesus Christ, and his sacrifice and atonement for us! We had such a great weekend! Happy Easter!

St. Patricks Day!

 Each year on St. Patricks Day, the Leprechauns visit our home. The night before, the kids leave out their shoes for the Leprechauns and the Leprechauns come to our house and fill the kids shoes with little treats or treasures. This year didn't disappoint. Kaleb is getting quite smart at this whole tradition and told Karmindy that if they put out their "BIG" shoes that the Leprechaun would have to fill their shoes with more loot. So of course, out came their big shoes. The leprechauns came and left the kids sprites, Lucky charms and their own boxes of Mack and Cheese. There were also gold coins sprinkled around by the front door. The Leprechauns must have tripped and their gold must have gone everywhere.When the kids woke up they sure were excited about their treasures.

Karmindy has afternoon Kindergarten which has been nice for her since she likes to sleep in. It is also nice because then I can have time to do fun things with her hair. I saw a cute hairstyle on Pinterest and decided to try it on Karmindy. We made a Shamrock with her hair. Karmindy was thrilled to have a pretty hairstyle to wear to school and not get pinched.

We sure love the Holidays at the Frisbey house! I love celebrating the holidays with my kids and making it magical for them. I hope they will never forget this!

Our Thankful Tree

 A few years ago, after hearing about a friends Thankful Tree Tradition during the month of November, I decided to start the Tradition in our little Family. It was a lot of work up front because I drew my own tree, and leaves and then cut it out and laminated them. However, all the work I put into it in the beginning has really paid off. It has been so fun to be able to pull it out each year and get the kids involved. Kaleb and Karmindy reminded me this year to get our Thankful tree out. I truly enjoy this tradition and it makes me happy that they do too! I am so grateful for my two little munchkins. The bring me so much happiness! I am sure Thankful for them....and of course our Thankful Tree!

Fall-Time Fun!

I truly love the Fall! Growing up in Southern Utah we didn't have the four seasons, so when we moved to Northern Utah it was a nice surprise to be able to enjoy each of the season! Another thing that I have enjoyed is being on A Track. The kids get several breaks throughout the year from school and their first break falls in October. I truly enjoy having them home with me! I really try to make their time off count. I enjoy spoiling my kiddos while they are off track and love surprising them with New Halloween Shirts to wear and field trips to some fun venues across the valley. Our favorite places to visit each year are Gardner Village to enjoy the witch displays and also Thanksgiving Points, Corn Belly's Pumpkin Festival. 

The first day that the kids were home, I surprised them with a new Halloween Shirt. The kids loved their shirts this year. I also was able to find some Halloween Cereal to eat and they LOVED  having their own boxes of cereal that they could call their own and not have to share with each other. 

The kids love helping me decorate the house for the Holidays. This year we went all out and DECORATED the fireplace mantle. It gave our Living Room a fun and spooky atmosphere that we enjoyed all month long.

 They love visiting the PUMPKIN PATCH and picking out their pumpkins and carving them.

DECORATING SUGAR COOKIES-(Kaleb loves to decorate them and not eat them. Silly Boy!) I didn't get Kaleb in the picture because he had left to go and play at a friends house.

We were able to get a pass to CORN BELLY'S at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. The kids and I went several times with friends (Nicole, Brandon and McKenna Rowe) and then we had Mark come with us one evening after work! The kids sure enjoy all the games, tractor rides and they even liked the Haunted House they had this year. Its so fun to take the kids places and enjoy time with them and make memories with them.

Back 2 School Party

I decided I wanted to throw a cute little back to school party for my kids to help them get excited for the new school year. I found a few free cute and simple printables on Pinterest that I printed out and then went to work making a family dinner a little bit more memorable for my sweet little chicklets. I didn't do anything extravagant for dinner. I made Knock off P.F. Chang's Turkey lettuce wraps, had Strawberry milk for the kids to drink and some veggies. For dessert, I made the kids some cinnamon rolls. Typically Kaleb doesn't get to gaga for desserts but I do know that he enjoys cinnamon rolls, so I made them for him. Karmindy loves all things sweet so she was easy to please. For their little favors, I made them little snack bags filled with chocolate-covered pretzels for an afternoon snack. Kaleb and Karmindy had a fun time at our Back to School little dinner party. It was a fun tradition to start with our family! I hope the kids have a great year. After dinner, it is also a tradition to have Mark give the kids gave priesthood blessings/father's blessings. Mark does a wonderful job with giving the kids blessings, and I am so grateful to have a worthy priesthood holder in my home. Mark blessed the kids that they would do well in school this year, blessed them to make friends and be good friends, and to choose the right. I am so grateful that Kaleb and Karmindy have such a good daddy! We love you Kaleb and Karmindy and are so proud of you both!

Happy Independence Day!!

Several days before the 4th, I got a call from one of my favorite people in the whole world, my cousin Roxanne Frisbey Ball. She is actually Mark's first cousin but we have adopted each other as sister's and cousins. She invited us to spend some time with her family, my cousin Christine Gunderson's Family (Roxanne's sister) and my Uncle Gordon, Auntie Wanda and Roxanne's Mom, Sharon and Step Dad, Leon. Dave & Roxanne, and Uncle Gordon recently bought some land in Ogden and it is nestled right in the heart of Ogden but you would know about it because it is literally hidden from view. It is such a fun place with several ponds, places to four-wheel, BBQ, fish, jet ski and just hang out as a family. When I got the call from Roxanne to join their family, Mark and I jumped at the chance. We love spending time with Mark's Uncle Gordon extended family. They are such good and kind hearted, down-to-earth people and we just love being with them!

On the morning of the 4th we headed up to Ogden and we arrived around 10:30 am. We spent the day four-wheeling, jet skiing, fishing, and four-wheeling. For lunch we BBQ'd hot dogs, and roasted smore's for dessert. It was such a very fun day and it will be a Fourth of July that we won't forget! I am so grateful for our family and extended family and I am so thankful we could spend the day together.

 Karmindy loved riding the four-wheelers with me and riding the jet ski's with Roxanne. She is quite the dare devil in our family and loves to experience life with out any fear or hesitation. Love this little dare-devil of mine!

Kaleb loves anything to do with camping and being outdoors. He enjoyed whittling a stick for roasting smores. He is getting to be such a cute boy scout!

 Karmindy was obsessed with the jet-ski's. She loved having Roxanne and Mark (didn't get a picture of the two of them together) take her for rides!

Roxanne, myself and Christine spending some time together. I am so thankful that they have adopted me into their family. I love them both and I am so grateful to call them family even though they are Mark's cousins. We have become so close over the passed few years and I just love having them in my life and appreciate their support and love.

After a day of play, we headed home to spend some time with our neighborhood friends. We got ready and headed down to the Matt and Misty Pidcocks home for an awesome firework display. Each year Matt heads to Evanston, Wyoming and buys quite a few "BIG Fireworks." He really puts on a show for the whole neighborhood. We had such a wonderful 4th of July! I am so grateful for my family, extended family and living in America. I am so grateful for all the service men and women who dedicate their lives to making America a wonderful place to live. So Blessed to live in this great Nation!

Happy 4th of July!!

Stay-cation Park City, Utah 2013

 Since we are on a year-round school schedule it cuts our Summer Vacationing time in half. Luckily, we are on A track so we get a longer summer compared to most kids. We get six weeks while some only get 4! Having a shortened summer break really cuts down on what you are able to do in those 6 short weeks! I really try to jam pack our Summer Vacations with the kids with a ton of fun outings and activities. Mark and I decided that between swimming lessons and all that we had planned this summer we would try doing a stay-cation. We decided it would be fun to take the kids to Park City which is less than an hour away from our home. I did some research prior to our vacation and we decided on staying at the Marriott Mountain Side Resort. It is a beautiful Mountain Resort and it is close to the Alpine Slides and Coaster. In fact, the Alpine Slides and Coaster are right on the property! So we could leave our roon and with a short walk out of the Hotel we were at the Alpine Slides and Coaster all ready to play! We thought this to be the perfect set up. 

I was able to book a villa for our  family. It was one bedroom villa that had a large Living Room with sleeper sofa for the kids, Kitchen, Laundry Room and a Large Bathroom with a tub the size of a Jacuzzi!  No joke, our whole family could have fit in the tub! It was the perfect little set up for our family. It was plenty of room for us and having our own spaces made it nice. We left on a Sunday afternoon and came home on a Tuesday afternoon. So it was a quick trip but we jam packed in all that we could. 

On Sunday afternoon, we arrived at the resort, checked in, unpacked and then headed out to explore the facilities. We were able to find all that we had planned to do on Monday. We also found out that it is the perfect resort for families. They offer activities all day long for their guests at an additional fee. Ex: river rafting, horseback riding, arts and crafts, movie afternoons and nights, chocolate tastings. Think excursions on a Cruise. You name it, they probably offer it! We loved this and look forward to coming back in future years with the kids.

After we checked out the what resort had to offer, we headed back to our room to make dinner. It was nice because we brought dinner to make in our kitchen. We made chicken spaghetti for dinner with garlic bread and broccoli and then made gigantic chocolate chip cookies for dessert. The kids were in heaven and it was nice to be able to save a little money and cook in our room!

After dinner, we had a movie night. We ate our cookies and popped popcorn and drank soda. We had so much fun!

On Monday morning we got up and headed to arts and crafts. They were painting with water colors. So we let the kids get involved. Kaleb and Karmindy had so much fun!

After water-coloring, we headed to the game room where we played pool with the kids. The kids never have played before and it was so fun to watch them try and hit the billiards balls with their sticks.

 After pool we headed outside to ride the Alpine Coaster and Alpine Slides. The kids LOVED it!! Too bad each ride costs our family a whopping $60 bucks for each ride! I remember coming to these exact Alpine Slides for a year book camp I went to in High School and if my memory serves me right, there were around $5 bucks to ride then. Jeez. Gauging your customers much?  We decided that we were paying for the experience and we were making memories, so that softened the blow!

It was amazing how hot it was on this day in Park City because we were looking forward to escaping the heat from Riverton. I guess Mother Nature was not a force to be reckoned with and had other plans for us. We decided that we were glad we only spent what we did on the rides because it was bloody HOT!!

 After we rode the rides, we headed to get some burgers, fries and shakes for lunch and take it back to our villa to cool off. After lunch and watching TV for a bit, we headed down to the pool. The pool was wonderful and we enjoyed spending some time there. We found out that there are BBQ grills located around the pool so we look forward to taking advantage of them next year! We also found out that they have dutch ovens that you can use free of charge. You just have to pick them up, fill them with your own items and then bring them back down to the pool area and they will dutch oven your food for you so you can have time to play with your family. I think it's a pretty sweet set up they have at this place.

After pool time, we headed back to the room to go and clean up and head out to dinner. We found a delicious Mexican Restaurant with in just a short walk from our villa. It was called the Baja Cantina. They had the best Chile Rejeno's and this sweet and salty drink. Think 7- up that has been doctored up with salt around the edges of the cup. I know it sounds gross but it was really quit refreshing and no it wasn't alcoholic!  After dinner, we found out there was a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory just across the street so we picked up an chocolate covered apple for Mark and I to share and the kids got ice cream. We headed back to our room and spent the rest of the evening in doors vegging out to cable. We don't have cable so we enjoy watching it when we go on vaca!

Our little Stay-cation was the perfect getaway and the kids are already asking if we can go back and make it a yearly tradition. I think we just might and are already planning on next Summer's Getaway. I think next year we will just stay a few more days!

Love the beautiful view from our villa!

Riverton Rodeo

 For the past two years, our family has attended the Riverton City Days Rodeo here in town. My kids look forward to it and so do I. I have always loved going to Rodeo's and have fond memories of going with my family as a child. So going to our city rodeo has become a fun family tradition for our family. It is also fun  because we have met up with my second cousin Amber Odekirk and her cute little family for the past two years. Each family brings their own dinner and we sit and eat while we wait for the Rodeo to start. The gates open early and to get a good seat you have to arrive promptly.

 This year, it was a sweltering 100+ degrees and we were dying!! Reaching over 100+ degrees is typically not normal for Northern Utah this time of year. We tend to stay in the mid to high 90's. This summer has been especially warm for some reason! You would think that this born and raised Southern Utah girl could handle the heat but I think I have acclimated to the more mild Northern Utah summer weather. Luckily, we came prepared and we had plenty of water to keep us hydrated and treats to eat while we passed the time waiting for the show to start. 

At 7:45 pm, the skydivers jumped from the airplanes and landed around 8 pm. Just in time for the show to start. My kids always look forward to watching the skydivers! Another favorite is all the kids ages 7 to 11 are called down from out of the stands and they get to head out onto the field.The authorities then release several cows that have dollar bills duct taped to them. The kids then run after the cows and try and get the money. It is pretty funny to watch and quite entertaining. Kaleb has enjoyed participating for the past two years. Last year he didn't get any money and was quite disappointed but we reminded him that there are over 100+ kids out on the field and very little money to go around. This year he was determined to get some money and he did!! Kaleb is getting quite a quick little sprinter. He did an awesome job and we were so proud of him and his efforts. After it was all over, he said he wished he would have used both of his hands to grab the money off the cow. You live and learn!

Karmindy was a little sad she wasn't old enough to run for the money and I was a little glad. It makes me nervous watching those baby cows run around. She seems so little and it worries me that she will get trampled. She is on tap for next year though to participate and when we told her she could do it next year she didn't to be so disappointed. She was so funny to watch during the whole night though, she loved watching all the bull riding and bronco busting. She got really into it! Also, she enjoyed dancing to all the music they would play in between the riders riding the bulls and bronco's. She is such a funny and silly little girl. I love her zest for life!!

Even though it was so hot and we were melting it was a fun night to spend as a family at the Rodeo. You can see in the pictures how hot it was. My hair was wet from sweat and all of our family's cheeks are pink from it being so warm.

We look forward to going next year!!