Our Lame-cation

We've all heard the term "stay-cation" over and over, which implies that one stays home, while having the fun of a vacation. This was almost that. Does it count as a vacation if you are only 25 minutes from home? We got a last-minute deal on a condo in Eden, so off we went...

...or so we thought. The stupid place we were going to turned out to be at the tippity top of mount Crumpit, which only snowmobiles, 4-wheel drive cars and chains could get to. So slap on some chains, you say? Easier said than done. I was supposed to work 3 times that week (I couldn't get it off, so that's why we chose someplace close) and I REFUSED to take chains on and off my tires each morning at 6:15. So we ended up in a hotel that night in good ol' Ogden. No pool, like the condo we were supposed to go to, so we improvised:
The bright side of this dilemma was that our hotel was across the street from the Ogden window lights.
The snow made everything so gorgeous that weekend!

The view from our 6th floor in the hotel:

The end of the condo story is that they put us in Wolf Creek, which is seven miles down Mount Crumpit from the original condo. Much better, with plowed roads and everything! (still no swimming pool:(

So we went sledding in the plethora of snow:

I am sad while I type this, as right now there is NO snow to be seen ANYWHERE!

Ethan wasn't too thrilled at first:

We sled all the way down the canyon to see this big guy:

(okay, that's not true, but we did go see Santa)

And then we went sledding some more:

They were so cute pulling the sleds up the hill!

Ethan was very brave and rode on Daddy

We decided we hadn't packed our suits for nothin' so we went swimming at a local pool. Somehow when we got there, we realized no one had packed Ethan's swimsuit. So he just had to wear a swim diaper and the plastic pants. He didn't mind.

That is the end of our Lame-cation. Lame that we were close to home, lame that I had to work 3 times out of a 7 day vacation. But Joel had taken the days off work, and we were NOT going to let them go to waste!

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In other news, Cassidy had her dance recital yesterday and did a good job, I think. It was hard to tell, because she was in the back and we had a bad angle and kept having a hard time finding her. But she looked dang cute!

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Oh yah, and Baby is a girl. ETA: April 8, 2011

Her name is probably ALEXA

CORNBELLY'S! The other happiest place on earth

Ever since Cassidy has been in school, Ethan has been sacking out everywhere, out of boredom: Poor thing
For Joel's birthday we went rock climbing in Sandy.
Joel is a better climber than I am.

This is the bouldering cave. Joel is really upside down, although he didn't stay that way for long before falling back down.

me, too.

my awesome friend made these adorable matching skirts for Cassidy and me:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!

Go check them out on etsy.com. Her name is sewitseamsbyme.

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CORNBELLY'S!!!

I know there are many cornmazes out there, but Cornbelly's is BY FAR the best of the best! They have a few cornmazes (which are impossible to get out of, by the way...we totally had to cheat.) Anyway, they have SO MUCH to do besides the corn mazes!

Here is the jumping thingie:

Lots of awesome slides:

fun trains to climb on:

The classic cow train:

Big chair:

fun little houses to play in:

pumpkin princess:

little train:

tractor go-cart races:

and a sandbox full of corn (cornbox):

These pictures don't even begin to show the fun that was had at the cornmaze! Things we did that are not pictured: Hayride, hay mazes, duck races, pig shows, big swings, haunted maze (okay, we didn't do the haunted maze, but we thought about it). The only problem is that Cornbelly's is at Point of the Mountain, so it took over an hour to get there! But it was totally worth it. If I lived there, I would SO get a season pass!

first day of school...long overdue!

For Cassidy's birthday in August she got a new bike and helmet, so we decided to get Ethan a helmet, too, since he FLIES down our little slanted street on his little push bike. His first time wearing the helmet, he turfed really bad and did a somersault. His helmet saved him.Cassidy loves her new bike.
Their helmets are the same size, and Ethan's fits tighter. hmm...

Silly kids

pretending to sleep

Cassidy's first day of kindergarten:

I so would have cried if I was there, but I had to work. So Joel took these pictures:(

She loves taking the bus. But Ethan thinks she rides it around all day, and then comes home. If I tell him that Cassidy is at school, he says, "no, Cassidy a school bus."

Cassidy and Bailee

Ethan gets really bored without Cassidy around. He climbed in the ottoman and told me he was sleeping. He was only pretending. Then 2 minutes later I looked again, and he was out for real.

So cute!

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I should probably update on all the Kieper happenings, since I haven't posted since August. School is going well. I only teach every other day, and I can't tell you how nice that is! I feel so spoiled. The High School students aren't quite as energetic but I'm getting used to it. I do miss my crazy, always-volunteering jr. high kids.

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We had a Chinese Teacher move into our house for the school year. She rents a room downstairs. It's been pretty great. She enjoys spending time with the children and teaching them some Chinese, but also keeps to herself a lot. So I don't feel like my space is totally gone. We have enjoyed taking her places, especially the fair. I think the fair is the most funny and perfect place to experience American Culture. She was in shock.

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If you didn't gather from the last post, we are expecting baby #3! The due date is April 8. Gender is still unknown, but the doc says we'll probably figure it out next time, so in about 2 weeks. We're thinking the baby is a giant baby boy (because the baby measured large at the last appt.), but we'll keep you posted!