*nerds are cool*

We have made it to October. And it is before Christmas.

I have hope that I may get one hundred percent caught up before the end of the year.

Poor Liam had to wait for what seemed like an eternity to have his friend birthday party. It was just over a full month before we could make it happen. We were going to do it just a couple weeks after his actual birthday but his little friend planned his party for the same day, football was sucking up our Saturdays, and I was just so tired to make a valiant effort to get things going. If I wasn't so excited about the theme of his party I may have scrapped it altogether. And my mom came to help which was so nice and kept me sane.

I am so glad I didn't because it turned out to be super fun.

Liam has been interested in how things work for as long as I can remember. He loves space and science and getting down to the nitty gritty. He was over the moon excited when I suggested we have a mad scientist theme for his party. And to be honest, as I started planning it and looking into all the fun experiments we could do, I think I may have been more delighted than Liam.

I kept the food simple since it was in the middle of the afternoon.



We had jello with gummy worms in petri dishes,


molecules made out of toothpicks, grapes, and yogurt covered raisins, lime koolaid with dry ice (which the kids loved by the way),


and of course, cake. My cake decorating skills have much to be desired but I found this relatively easy cake on Family Fun. It is hard to tell but it is indeed a flask, which none of the kids knew what that was, so I probably would have been fine with good old fashioned simply decorated cupcakes. Oh well.



I didn't really get any pictures of the party favors but I filled test tubes with nerd candy, glow sticks, little magnifying glasses, bug tatoos, and pop rocks. There truly was so much to choose from and in my "I-just-want-to-get-this-party-over-with-lets-just-do-the-least-amount-possible" mode, I was happy with it.

For our first experiment, we made Liam's most favorite thing in the whole world. Slime.



It is so easy and at one time I was asked to help him make it at least once a week. Thankfully it is not as often now because although it is easy to clean up, he has a habit of dropping little pieces of it everywhere. I am sure his friends' moms are thrilled with me.

J was not so sure about this stuff at first. He warmed up to it after a minute.


This experiment was also easy and we did it over and over because the kids thought it was so cool. All it takes is milk, food coloring, and a toothpick whose end has been dipped in dish detergent.


Then we blew up balloons with vinegar and baking soda.


And then the big finale. The party goers waiting in anticipation...


...setting up the experiment...


...success!


We made four diet coke guysers. I am glad I bought enough 2 liters of diet coke to make this magic happen multiple times. I mean, look at these faces. I wasn't even sorry that I didn't have any left over for me.






Oh my goodness Liam, I love you so much. Thanks for letting me be your mom.



And I cannot find any pictures of the boys' games this week vs Judge. It was a pretty cold morning and I think I just didn't want to make the effort to take any pictures. It was a pretty crappy week for football though--we lost all three games and Nick got a concussion. Awesome, huh? Luckily, it was mild and everything checked out okay. He hated that he had to take it easy the next week in practice but he was thrilled when the doctor cleared him to play in his game vs. Juan Diego.

*more fall fun*

I was lucky enough to accompany the fifth grade on their field trip to Timpanogus Cave. I don't think I had been there since my field trip way back in the 3rd grade or so and had always wanted to take the boys there but never got around to it. I also had an ulterior motive: I wanted to spy on Luke. You see, this third son of mine is a little shy and sensitive despite his tough exterior. The move to our new home was the hardest on him of all since he doesn't make friends easily and left his bestest friend in the whole world (his exact words) back in Herriman.

So I wanted to make sure he was making friends. I wanted to make sure he was included. I wanted to make sure he was okay.

All my fears were calmed and I was relieved to see that he interacted well with his classmates and was sincerely having a good time.

Luke and I were able to drive ourselves there and back which was quite lovely. I love having one on one time with each of the boys and it is getting harder to come by since life is so busy now a days. We stopped at the gas station to get a treat which thrilled Luke to death. He said "I have never stopped for a treat on a field trip before!"

All the students were divided into groups and there were three parents in each group. One had to be at the front, middle, and the back. Since my son wanted to be in the front, I was volunteered to be there as well. Let me tell you, the boys cruised up that mountain like no tomorrow. We would catch up to another group who would be irritated and rudely stated multiple times that this was not a race. Sorry about it, I can't help it. I didn't want it to be a race either--I was so sore the next day and being early on in my pregnancy didn't help my energy level either.



This was the end of our group. It was pretty drizzly on the way up but not too bad.


It made for some pretty amazing scenery to view on the hike. I broke the rules a couple times and stopped where there was a red line to take pictures. High rock slide danger you know. It was just for a second though.


We made it to the top!


It was a pretty interesting field trip. We had a great tour guide that kept the kids interested and engaged. The tour was a little longer than I remember--it is a great place to visit but after going, I felt like my boys could get their fill on field trips, I didn't feel so bad about not making a special trip down to see it on our own.




It is a pretty hike though.


The boys also had a break that weekend from school because of parent teacher conferences. We went to Gardner Village to see the witches and get jelly bellies.


We didn't have the official scavenger hunt paper but the boys remember most of the witches from previous years and we set out to find their favorite ones. This is a new one and I thought it was clever. A witch talking on her EYE phone.




This is their most favorite one: Witchy poo. Ahh, boys.



No pictures of football this week because I was at a wedding shower for one of Justin's cute cousins. My sister also blessed her sweet baby Jane.



Love this darling baby girl.

*lovely weekend*

I think I have learned my lesson about waiting until after football season is over to post about every. single. game. It is quite tedious going through all the pictures all at once and making sure the right pictures get with the right game. And the right player!

For some reason I don't have any pictures of Luke this week, I think my battery was dying on my camera.

They played Taylorsville and all three lost. Oh well.

Here is Andrew:






and Nick:


This is his signature pose on the field when he is waiting for something to happen.


What a block!


The next day was the dedication of the Brigham City temple. We sluffed the ceremony at our ward and decided to head up the canyon for a picnic.

Oh my goodness it was gorgeous. Fall beauty in all its splendor.




We all had turkey sandwiches (except for me who had peanut butter and jelly...no listeria poisoning for me thanks), chips, drinks, and of course cookies. I absolutely love being in the fresh air, marveling at the spectacular colors of the leaves, and just enjoying each other's company. We found this perfect little spot just off the trail so we were surrounded by the trees. There were fun little trails to try out and also secret little places where the boys could let nature take its course, when necessary. They had little fire pits so I want to come back and do smores.





Of course there was exploring to be done. We found this furry caterpillar, threw stones and leaves in the river, and not surprisingly, got a little dirty.






The boys made me work to get a half decent photo of all four of them.


Luke wanted to pose in front of the sign so we would remember where we were so we could come to the same place next time.


I snapped so many pictures coming down the mountain because pockets of heaven would show up every time we turned a corner.




Love.

*vs park city and a little extra tidbit*

The games against Park City went a little better than the week before. Andrew's team was the only one that lost so it was a little more tolerable around our house that afternoon.

Andrew:








Nick(running the ball):




and Luke.

He is hard to see in this first picture, he is behind number 51. :)









And here is a sweet moment I captured of Liam. It was super quiet which usually does not mean good things around my home but I walked in on such a cute scene. Here Liam was, on his tiptoes, washing the dishes, and singing "and the love that I found/ever since you've been around" over and over. It melted my heart.


Oohhh, I just love my boys.