Tis the Season

The holiday season is in full swing in the Bradley house and we are keeping both our UPS driver and Target cashier very busy! The kids also seem to have extra things going on at school adding to the already crazy month. Here are a few things that we have managed to get in during the first two weeks of the month:

Decorating

The kids were super excited to get the Christmas decorations up this  year. Abby seems to really enjoy them and I have to play clean up a couple time a day to put back together the Fisher Price Nativity and put a few decorations back on the tree. It is fun though and the kids had a great time doing all the decorating. 

Christkindlmart

Laine was asked to participate in this festival this year. It is a German Festival and we had fun walking around and seeing all the fun crafts and booths, hearing the accordion music, and sampling some of the treats.  The boys had fun finding answers to the scavenger hunt and we had a great night learning about another culture. 

It was really cold that day so we all bundled up. 

Laine as a snow angel

Eve with Krampus

Bradley family party

Christian's extended family gets together every year to celebrate Christmas together. This year we celebrated at the Classic Fun Center. We spent the morning with our family enjoying good food, good company and some roller skating. 

Matt and Christian helping each other skate. 

Cousin time!

Zoo Lights!

We love attending Zoo Lights each year. It was another very cold evening but having learned our lesson from a couple days earlier we bundled up even more. The zoo was just about empty and we had a fun time walking around and seeing the light displays and even getting to sere a few of the animals. 

The line for Santa was non-existent so we jumped in.
Matt was pretty happy about that. 

The light tunnel. I think my kids could spend
the entire time we are at the zoo on this bit. 

Ward Christmas Party

I tried having Abby sit with Santa when we went to the zoo and she freaked out. I was surprised because Santa is one of the words that she knows and she is quick to point him out on TV, in books, or in pictures. We tried again and the picture above was the result. She was traumatized and clung to me for about 15 mins after, she did however like the stick candy he gave her. 

Regular tasks

Okay I just included this picture because I thought it was cute.

Hope your holiday is fabulous! 

September fun

September is always a busy month in the Bradley household as we adjust back to the school schedule and piano lessons, and kung fu lessons. We also get out a bit more with the cooler temperatures, though there were a few weeks this month that I was pretty sure it was still summer time. We've spent Saturdays working in the garden and enjoying its produce while also prepping it for the winter. Here are a few snapshots of what we did this last month: 

Family Reunion

We attended a Bellamy family reunion. The kids had a lot of fun
climbing trees with their cousins, I actually had to call Laine on the phone
to find where they had gotten too. 

Greek Festival

After a two year absence we went to the Greek Festival with Grammy and Poppa
we enjoyed fabulous food and fun dancing.  The kids really enjoyed touring the church that their
great-great grandfather attended too!

State Fair

Our three middle kids participated in the Tractor Pull at the fair this year.
They each did very well with Matt pulling 50 lbs, Eve 175 lbs, and James 200 lbs.
James actually pulled more than everyone participating, I guess all that kung fu training is
working. 

I love the butter statue, each year it is the highlight
of my fair visit. This year there was a pokemon theme. 

I think the kids liked the fair rides the best, that our the delicious
fair food. 

Zoo Visit

The kids had a random day off in September, it was a bit cold
and rainy, so we did what anyone would do and
headed to the zoo. It was quiet and the kids enjoyed
having the animals to themselves.

The great Rhino picture, every time. James even stops and
poses for this picture. 

Abby decided to make friends with the
otter statue. 

She also got a ride on a carousel for the
first time

Dance Class

Christian went along with my crazy plan to take
a dance class. We go to a ballroom class every Thursday
with some friends, one of them snapped
this picture of us. It is a fun date night and great exercise! 

Not sure where the summer has gone

There are only 12 days left of summer vacation...something that the kids are not very excited about. The past month just seem to whiz by and for a while I didn't think we had done much but then I started realizing how much we had actually done and it helped me figure out why I have been so tired this month...we have been going non-stop and plan on sprinting to the finish of summer as well. So here is a quick recap of our awesome July! 

Free Slurpee Day

When I was a senior in high school I remember going to get a Slurpee every day, it was a staple in my life at that point. I mean who doesn't love that cool sugary   bit  of heaven? My kids seem to feel the same so we celebrated free Slurpee day with most the rest of the city, we did limit ourselves to only one visit though, something to celebrate. 

Abby takes selfie 

Abby loves phones and she loves the camera on the phone. When going through my pictures a couple of weeks ago I found out that she had taken her first selfie, definitely a child of the 21st century. 

Swimming at the Murray Pool

We had a fun morning swimming with our neighbors and just having a blast. All the kids love the water and Matt was even brave enough to go on the slide all by himself. 

Abby is our water baby, she might be part fish

In addition to swimming we made pyramids and James found a kindred spirit in his friend, Bear, when it came to picture taking. 

Block stomp

Our neighborhood is super cool. Once a year one of the neighbors hosts a neighborhood stomp. There is music and dancing and just all around fun with our great neighbors. 

Aquarium 

We haven't been to the aquarium in a couple years and we sure hadn't been to their new building. It was so much fun, the kids loved it and I loved the extra room to explore and play in. Abby loved the fishes and would cry when we moved her away from an exhibit until we reached the next one. 

Pioneer Day- our own special Utah holiday

My brother Adam and his family came in for a visit from Florida. It was so nice to see them, we hadn't seen them in a couple of years and it was fun to watch as cousin bonds strengthened and  grew. We had two days of Pioneer Day celebration both of which included good food and fireworks. Oh and lots and lots of glowsticks. These two days of celebration also kicked off the biggest stay-cation I have ever done. Activities every day, cousin sleep overs or late overs almost every night. By the end of the week we all needed naps but we were happy. 

Zoo Trip

We decided to tackle the zoo on a 100 plus day, not sure if that was our best idea but everyone was a good sport and we had fun.

Abby decided that she liked her Uncle Adam a whole lot. She even let him carry her. 

We got all of them looking at the camera, a great feat. 

Abby the amazing escape artist, Poor James was a bit sad that she
ruined the picture with his super cool pose. 

 Laine and Ezzie were great friends. Ez adored her and Laine seemed to reciprocate. It was fun to watch their interaction each day. 

Since it was so hot the kids decided to cool off in the splash pad, they might have had a bit too much fun.

This boy loves being wet. Look how big that grin is

Abby decided that she had quite enough of  the zoo and
decided that it was nap time-right as we were leaving. 

Alpine Slide 

I had never done the Alpine Slide despite living in Utah all my life. It was a fun adventure, even if I was the slowest down the mountain. The kids loved it though and I am sure we will be back. 

Thanksgiving Point

Grammy and Poppa decided to buy a grandparents pass to Thanksgiving Point so that meant we got to have a fun time playing at the Museum of Ancient Life and the Museum of Natural Curiosity. The kids had so much fun running around and learning then later zip lining and making a big water mess. 

Lagoon 

It had been about ten years since I last visited Lagoon and my had it changed. So many fun roller coasters and places to visit. Matt had a blast, even if he got a bit nervous on some of the rides. We decided to visit on a day when it was 102 degrees outside, not the best idea that we ever had but we survived, mostly due to a ride on Rattlesnake Rapids about 2:00 where we all got drenched and were wet until we left that night.  Some of us were even brave enough to try Cannibal, best roller coaster I have ever been on. 

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This is James' grumpy man face. I can't decide if he is Carl
from Up or Mr. Magoo. 

Waterfight

Our last night together we went to Grammy and Poppa's for a pizza dinner. The kids then had an epic boys vs girls water fight. 

It was pretty evenly matched until James and Boston decided to turn on Poppa and they learned the greatest lesson in a water fight....

Don't mess with the guy who welds the hose. 

Abby and Sam avoided the water fight and just had fun playing together

It was a pretty successful July one for the memory books!