"Stay"cation

Us in 1998:

Us in 2008:

Dave and I spent our 11th anniversary cleaning the garage and attending a ward dinner. We really celebrated this weekend. We shipped our kids off - Alexis to the cousin's house and Camryn and Seth went to the Shafer's (they owed us form taking their kids for a few days in December). We borrowed my mom's ClearPlay machine (it edits movies) and rented all the rated R movies we could handle. We watched movies, went out to eat, slept in, and just spent some quiet time together. We loved it, but next time we need to make it a little longer!

Alexis' Twilight Party Part II

We went back to the house for cake and ice cream. The cake had the images from the 4 Twilight books made of fondant. The cake was white with strawberry filling (Alexis wanted it to look like blood - nice, huh?).





Next it was time for the birthday girl to open presents.

When it got dark enough, we used an LCD projector to project the Twilight movie on the wall. The girls snacked and watch the movie. These pictures show the girls pretending to be scared.

We sent the girls home with their shirts and these apples that were drizzled with carmel and chocolate. The tag says "Fangs for coming to my party".

The cousins stayed the night and this is the result of them giving each other makeovers with blindfolds on.


The party went really well and all the girls had a good time.

Alexis' Twilight Party

Alexis wanted a bowling party this year. She then asked for a Twilight cake and pretty soon we both went a little crazy with the Twilight theme (I account being a 1st grade teacher for my love of themes). We made these invitations. They were printed with "Twilight" font and put onto black cardstock that I splattered with red paint. We tied them with red ribbon, a paper apple that had bite marks, vampire fangs, and a tag that said "Missing this party would bite."

We decided to have 2 teams for the bowling and game - Team Edward and Team Jacob. My SIL helped us print these transfers and we ironed them onto shirts. They all had a Twilight Logo on the front, then their team name on the back.

We headed off to South Point for a game of bowling. Team Edward won!

We went back to the house for a pizza dinner. Team Edward was served 1st as a reward for winning.

Next we went to Target for a Twilight Photo Scavenger Hunt. Each team got a camera, a list of clues from the books or movie, and 20 minutes to take pictures. Here are Team Jacob's Pictures for - a red apple, a silver Volvo, vampire baseball, and sparkle. Team Jacob won!

The Ford Family Reunion Part II

We spent Sunday at the cabin. There was a short meeting, where everyone introduced their families and laid guilt trips on grandkids for not visiting enough. The rest of the day included less than holy activities, such as playing cards, shooting guns, hiking, and arguing politics. The kids kept busy with Dodge Ball, Kick the Can, and Red Rover. They played pretty hard.



Monday was spent the way all mom's love to spend their birthdays - trapped in a car with their tired kids. I did get a really cool gift from Dave - an iPod Touch. He had already played with it so much, the batteries were close to dead. We decided to join my brothers family to the Grand Canyon before heading home. It was Grand in size, but I think Bryce is my favorite canyon - "Sometimes more isn't better, it's just more." At least I can say I've been there now.

It was a surprisingly good trip, but we were tired and ready to be home.

The Ford Family Reunion

For the past the years my siblings and I have been whining about my grandma and my mom being in charge of the family reunion. We knew we would be obligated to go (although Lee got out of it - it pays to be Mom's favorite) and we would be given assignments. the reunion was over the 4th of July weekend and i would say we even had fun.

On the way to Kanab, we stopped in St. George to grab some Subway and go to the temple. Apparently, there are Subways on every corner in very town in America, except Bluff Street and that Main Street in St. George. we opted for Wendy's, but then saw subways every 5 minutes the rest of the trip. The kids enjoyed the Temple Visitor's Center, my brother Bo and I particularly loved the exhibit about families, that reminded us of the episode of Gilmore Girls when the town created a really creepy museum.


We had tried to have a theme for the reunion (The Ford Reality Reunion), but it didn't really catch on. The first night we had Ford Idol. my BIL's and Cousin Laura were the judges and did their best impressions of Randy, Paula, and Simon ( with Bo wearing a REALLY tight white shirt. My girls sang and danced and Camryn won the competition for her singing of You're a Grand Ol' Flag. She got a 100 Grand (candy bar). After the talent show and a really bad Sing-along, the Dad beat the tar out of their kids, in a game of Dodge Ball.

The next day was spent in town. We went to the parade and spent the rest of the day at the park. It was the longest day ever, with crazy weather that included blistering heat, rain, and a bit of hail. To break up the time, I took the kids swimming at the pool there. It had a cool play set, a big slide, and a lazy river.

After an awesome Dutch Oven Dinner at the park , we went to Cousin Jane's house to ride horses. The girls loved it, but Seth whimpered through hid short ride.

It was finally time for the fireworks, so we headed back to the park. It was a pretty good show, for a podunk town in Utah.

Toothless

On Monday, Camyrn had to have 3 teeth removed. Her adult teeth started growing over her baby teeth and needed more room. We had started calling her "Shark Girl" because her teeth were in rows. Cam did great at the dentist but was totally out of it the rest of the day. She was excited to get money from the Tooth Fairy. We have to go back in August to have 3 more done. She will be practically toothless.