Daddy's little helper

Okay, so how cute is this?

As most of you know, my lovely car has been out of commission for awhile. It started about a month ago when the clutch started slipping! Yes, we needed to get a new clutch. I had my car back from the shop for a couple of days when suddenly my car decided not to start! Completely at random, sometimes it would start and sometimes it wouldn't. STRANGE. It ended up we needed a new starter. It was going to cost us about $430.00 to have the mechanic do it at the shop, so we decided that Aaron would do it....Um....I drove my dad's HUGE Cadillac for about a week and a half until Aaron actually had some time to fix it. With work, school and studying Aaron doesn't usually have time for anything.

So, on Halloween afternoon Aaron fixed my car, and Teague was so excited that he got to help. And he really truly felt like he was helping tons. He sat in the oil stained garage with the old starter a couple of screws and an electric screwdriver. And of course he also helped by rearranging the socket set, and bolts and all the other little tools.

I also have to give a shout out to my dad here. He is the greatest. He has helped Aaron and I and our little family so much through our ten and a half years of marriage, I don't think that there is an appropriate way to thank him. Even though I was totally embarrassed to drive the big gold Cadillac, what would I done without that car? I think he just gets it! He understands that my sweet Aaron works full-time so I can stay at home with my kidlets and he is working on his MBA/TM so our little family will be better in the long run.

My dad worked a lot when I was a kid, but because of that my mom was able to stay home with the five of us, and we had a great childhood. My dad has worked so hard all of his life, and it has payed off. He and my mom finally have everything they have wanted and more, including my mom's dream kitchen. They have traveled the world together. And I must say, I can't think of anybody that deserves it more.

Here is my dad's website. If you need a home elevator, this is the place to go.

The Elevator Company

Carving Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins with the cousins at Grammie's house on Sunday.

Piper and Teague both chose huge pumpkins. Teague told me he wanted a medium pumpkin, so I was surprised when he chose the hugest one on the hay at Albertson's. Piper also chose a huge one.










When it came time to carve, both kidlets wanted to "brainstorm" so they got paper and pencils and started drawing faces for their pumpkins! Teague drew one picture: Square eyes, an arrow nose and a sharp toothed smile. Piper on the other hand drew about 20 faces and finally decided on ghost type eyes, a triangle nose and a vampire mouth.










My kidlets are just like their momma when it comes to sticky, dirty, nasty hands, so guess who got all the guts out of the pumpkins? Aaron did Teague's and I did Piper's, and I hated every second of it.








When all was said and done, the jack-o-laterns turned out great! We came home and immediately put them on the front porch.

New Tradition?

Well, I'm not sure yet.
Last year we went and saw "The Nightmare before Christmas, 3D." I thought it was a one time thing, so we (actually Teague) were pretty excited when we saw an advertisement for it this year. I think Teague only saw the advertisement one time, but everyday since then he told everyone that he saw that we were going to go see it. Teague LOVES this movie, he is obsessed with this movie, particularly Jack Skellington, he even sleeps with a Jack doll. He is constantly drawing pictures of Jack, even in church. He has sheets and pillows and his favorite blanket is his Jack blanket. He goes to sleep listening to the soundtrack. Could he be more obsessed? Yes, he wants a Jack room.
Anyway, our little family met Angela and Seth at the movie theatre for the movie. We all got drinks, popcorn, nachos and candy. We wanted the full movie experience. For some reason my kids really like getting Popcorn AND nachos AND Junior mints. I like to see how much of it they can eat before getting sick, not really. Teague was mostly excited for the 3D glasses that you get to keep. He and Piper and Seth pretty much put them on and kept them on the entire night. Luckily they did take them off when we went to Wingers to get Aaron some chicken wings. Which he had been craving for a couple of days.
So, I guess we will find out next year if this is going to be another Salazar family tradition.

My Little Hockey Player

Today was Teague's first Hockey practice. At first, I got a little teary eyed because he was struggling. I wanted to go out there and rescue my little boy. But I didn't. Luckily the coaches did their job and coached him well. He fell a few times, but he got right back up.

At one point, he gave his coach his stick and told him he didn't want it anymore, so he skated without it for a few minutes. My favorite part was watching him hit the puck! HOLY COW, he can really hit that thing. He was there for an hour and 15 minutes and he never got discouraged and never wanted to quit. Every time he fell, he got right back up. As I was watching him watch the older boys play hockey I could see the determination in that little body of his. I cannot wait to see him keep up with the other players. He is the littlest one there, and there is only little boy that is younger, but he has been playing hockey since he was in the womb. I am very proud of him.


















Piper and I had to leave a little early since she had rehearsal, but on the way out, I talked to the gentleman that is the coaching director and he was also the one that ordered the jerseys, he told me that Teague is going to be #0. This is great! 0 is Teague's favorite number. Yesterday, Teague said to me, "I wonder what number I am going to be." I said, "I'm not sure, but we did request 0 or 00, so we will have to see!" Then he said, "But what if I'm 39?" So when I found out that he was going to be 0, I was very happy. The man said that he had never had that request before.

Hannah Montana?

So, two sick kids at home. You think that I could get something done, such as fold the laundry that has been waiting to be folded for a couple of days, or mop the kitchen floor, but nope. Guess what i did all day long?
Yep, I watched Hannah Montana Pop Star Profile over and over and over and over again. However while watching my brain kept thinking and thinking about strange and interesting things:

1. The main boy attraction in this movie's name is "Jake Ryan." This got me to thinking of "Sixteen Candles." The boy that Molly Ringwald (Samantha) has a crush on is also named "Jake Ryan." Which got me to thinking about "Mermaids", which has the same actor, Michael Schoeffling, in it playing the love interest of Winona Ryder. So anyway, where is Winona?

2. Billy Ray Cyrus, um.....he's just not the same without his Achey Breaky Mullet.

3. The girl that plays Hannah/Miley's best friend Lilly/Lola is Emily Osment who is Haley Joel Osment's little sister (they look exactly alike) again...where is Haley Joel?

4. Obviously Dolly Parton has had work done! There is no way that somebody that is 61 years old can be that skinny and look that good. she literally looks like Barbie. Anyway Dolly Parton got me thinking about "Steel Magnolia's" which got me thinking about Daryl Hannah, and "Splash."And again, where is Daryl?

5. Really? Did I really just sit and watch this movie over and over again? Did I really just sit and think of all of this ridiculous stuff?

Now I am in the mood to watch all of the following movies: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club (oops it's rated R!), Pretty in Pink, For Keeps, Mermaids, Lucus, Beetle Juice, Edward Scissorhands, Reality Bites, Steel Magnolias and Splash. All because of Hannah Montana.

Calendar of events and such

You may have noticed our new "Calendar of Events and such" on the left side of this blog. There is a link, "Piper and Teague's calendar" by clicking on this link, it will take you to the calendar that lists all of Piper's Nutcracker and HONK! performances and all of Teague's hockey practices and games (no games on the schedule yet).

I have also put a link to the HONK! information, The Nutcracker information and Davis County Youth Hockey information.

Thanks to all who have supported our little family in all of our "goings on!" And by the way....we would love more comments on the blog! I know that you guys are checking it out, so why not leave a comment?

Pollyanna

We rented Pollyanna for the kids the other night. Um....for some reason, it wasn't a huge success. I don't know why. I remember loving the movie and crying at the end. I don't know, maybe it was too late or something. I will try again.
I now want to watch the original silent film version of Pollyanna I wonder if I can find it.

HONK! Revival

Wahoo for Piper! She was so excited to start up rehearsals again. When we got there, the first thing that I noticed was all of the new faces to the cast!! Unfortunately they lost Eb, the man that played "Ugly," Steve the guy that played "Bullfrog," Shelby the girl that played "The Cat," And about four or five other original cast members. But it looks like they got really great replacements. That is the one thing about a revival/encore performance, you never know what it going to happen in the next four months. But I am sure that it will still be as wonderful as it was the first time. There are definitely some really talented kids in that cast.
Piper was very excited to see Theresa, she is always asking me if Theresa can babysit, and I would love her to, but Theresa lives in Murray, so it is going to have to be a time when Aaron and I do something out there and we take the kidlets to her house while we go out. She was also excited to see Quita, the girl that plays "Dot" and also Andrew (her little crush) the boy that plays "Turkey." And of course Robyn, one of the "Ducklings." There seemed to be only three original froglets; Piper, James and Alyssa, so that will be fun to see what they do with that.
Anyway, it is very exciting to see this all unfold again, and it is always nice to see excitement in your child's eyes.

Seth's Birthday

I remember the day Seth was born like it was yesterday. When the nurse brought him to the window of the nursery to show us all, Grandpa John said, "It is Angela, he looks just like Angela." I was only only about 4 months pregnant with Piper at the time. I was working for my dad and when we found out Angela was in labor, I left my dad's office and Aaron left his work. Gina, Jason, Morgan and Josh were also there. And if I remember correctly Grandma and Grandpa Johnson were there too. Wow.
That was SEVEN years ago. He had his birthday party at Fat Cats in Midvale. My kidlets were so excited to go bowling, they LOVE bowling. Seth got a PSP for his birthday,so Teague got him Spiderman the movie to watch on it, and Piper got him an air cannon.My kids have a limit of $10.00 for a birthday present, so we thought we could get him one $20.00 present or 2 $10.00 presents, we opted for the 2 presents, because 2 is usually better than 1.
Seth invited some friends from his neighborhood, Thomas and Nathan and all of his cousins; Morgan, Josh, Zac, Piper and Teague. All 8 kids bowled on one lane, it took forever. Angela, Aaron and I bowled on another lane, it didn't take so long. Whenever we got a strike or a spare, we would do a back spin. That is some strange thing we started when Aaron and I were dating and we've done it ever since. Grandpa John, Grammie Annie and Gina were also there, however, they didn't bowl. It was very fun.
Unfortunately we didn't get any good pictures. We got pictures, just not good ones, but this is our awesome nephew Seth.

Autumn at Home.

I LOVE the neighborhood that I grew up in! Not only because of all the kids my age and the night games and the bike riding and the church hill for sledding and rolling down and the kiddie walk and the parties and all the great kid stuff, but the actual street(s) itself...breath taking. In the winter when the trees are covered with snow. In the spring and summer when the trees are covered with green leaves. But mostly in the autumn when the trees are covered with various colors of leaves, such as; Red, Yellow, Green, Orange and Brown. Unfortunately there are no red leaves this year because apparently the summer was so hot that it bleached the color out of the leaves, but it is still beautiful. Take a look. This is 750 East.




















This is 550 North.





















This is my house and the gutter.




















I remember raking leaves in all of the yards and hauling them over to one of our yards, usually ours or our neighbors across the street, and having the biggest leaf pile in the world to play in. I remember our moms coming out to remind us not to put them in the gutter (they didn't want us to get run over). I remember laying down in the pile and then having my friends cover me up while I close my eyes and mouth tighter than I ever had before. I remember jumping out of the leaves being able to breathe again. I remember running and sliding into the pile and seeing how scattered the leaves would get. I remember it being chilly enough to get hot chocolate when I went inside after playing. I remember the sad sad day that we would have to clean up the leaves before it rained or snowed, loading them into a HUGE black garbage bag and putting them on the street for the garbage man to pick up.

It's funny how more than 20 years later these wonderful memories flood my mind, and I even get a little teary eyed watching my kidlets do the same thing in the exact same neighborhood and yard that I did it in.

Piper and Teague buried.




















Piper and Teague running and jumping to scatter leaves.




















Piper and Teague, and Piper and Teague with the next door neighbors.

Grimm Reaper?

You would think that a little girl that loves dancing and theatre and princesses and cute things so much would choose something "pretty," or "cute" to be for Halloween, but no, she has decided to be "The Grimm Reaper!" Why, you ask? Well, I really don't know. But I did start thinking about it. Her first Halloween she was an Elephant, one that Aaron and I chose.Her second Halloween she was a Persian Cat, one that my mom found on sale somewhere. And I must be the worst mom ever, because I cannot find a picture!

Her third Halloween she was a Lion, not a Lioness, a Lion. She chose it. Teague was the elephant the Piper was.Her fourth Halloween she was a witch, a costume that I made. If I remember right, I talked her into that one. Teague was her cat.Her fifth Halloween....a Quarter....yes, a quarter. How strange. Another costume that I made. Teague was Mike Wasowski.Last year she was a mermaid. My mom made this costume, I am definitely not that talented of a seamstress. Teague was a skeleton.So, the Lion and the Quarter are a little strange. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised about the Grimm Reaper. Teague is going to be Optimus Prime (still waiting for the costume to arrive).

We took this picture because her friend had a costume party for her birthday on Saturday. I think she looks very freaky.

This is my Ward/Neighborhood

To listen to Bishop Edgley's talk Click here.

I have to admit, it is a little intimidating having both Lynn Robbins and Richard Edgley in our ward. But at the same time, it really is the best ward ever, at least that I have been in, with the exception of the Young Adult ward that Aaron and I met in.

Our ward really is amazing! There has been so much tragedy, not only with the deaths with the five young people the Bishop Edgley talked about, but with other things as well, such as: cancer, comas, strokes, infant deaths etc. One night I couldn't stop thinking about everything that had happened in our ward, so I got out the ward directory. There are 15 families in our ward that have lost one or more children, weather it be still born births, infant deaths or otherwise. That really struck me. 15 is a lot. There is about 110 families in the ward.

There is definitely something special about our ward, I really feel like 8 years ago, Aaron and I were led to our neighborhood. We were actually going to build a house. Somehow, our lot got sold out from underneath us and we decided to just look for a home. We got a great deal and moved in the first week in January of 2000. Of course, the elders quorum was there helping us move in pretty much immediately. It has been a wonderful eight (nearly) years. The past couple of years, our ward has definitely grown closer and closer with everything that has happened.

If I ever need any help with anything, I can think of at least two dozen women off the top of my head that will be willing at a moments notice. I can think of at least two dozen men that would be available for a blessing at a moments notice. I have used these women and men a few times. Our ward has been really great with helping me out when Aaron is in school and babysitting the kidlets when I have been at Western Nut (an entirely different post)We are blessed to be a part of it. If we ever do leave, it will be hard, but at the same time, is there a bad ward? No, but probably not one as exceptional as the Ricks Creek Ward in Centerville, UT!!!

Gremlins

Do you remember this movie?
So on Friday night after an expensive (expensive for our little family) dinner at Outback, which we haven't eaten at since before Piper was born, we went to Target with the list of kids movie suggestions in our hands. We had decided earlier that day that we would build a fort and watch one of the movies on this list with the kidlets. We mostly just wanted to have good family time together since we haven't for awhile due to Aaron's school schedule.
The kidlets really wanted to look in the Halloween section, so while Aaron was with the kidlets, I looked through the movies. Of all the movies on the list, the only one that Target had was "Mary Poppins," but I wasn't going to pay $20.00 for it, especially since we had just spent most of our paycheck at Outback. So, I found 3 others that I thought they might like; Jumanji, The Sandlot (one of my FAVORITES) and Gremlins. I found Aaron and we discussed it. Upon further inspection of the movies, we realized that The Sandlot was a sing a long!? And so we were now deciding between Jumanji and Gremlins....Gremlins it is...mostly because it is just strange...and so are we!

I'm going to go off track here for a minute and tell you something that happened at Outback. I placed the cash(we pay for everything in cash) in the thing to pay the bill, the waitress came and got it and I told that I just wanted $3.00 back. I was counting the cash in my wallet, I didn't say anything, but I thought to myself, "How have we gone through this much cash already?" So, the waitress came back with the $3.00 and said, "Were you aware that you gave me two twenty dollar bills, not just one?" ......Anyway, I was so impressed with the waitresses honesty. She could have easily made an extra twenty bucks that night, and I probably wouldn't have thought about it again. I made sure to talk to the Manager on my way out.

So, back to Family time. We got the kids all psyched up to build a fort and watch Gremlins, so When we got home we took all of the kitchen chairs downstairs and got a couple of blankets and built a fort.
Then we piled in and watched the movie.

For the first little while, the kids kept saying things like, "This is a fun movie." and "This was a good decision for the movie." They thought that Gizmo was so cute, and that they old lady that went to the bank was so mean. But then....as you know, the cute little Mogwais if fed after midnight turn into GREMLINS! They started getting a little uneasy, and they were up cuddling in between Aaron and I. THEN....the science guy was killed by a Gremlin, and Piper was freaking out! She was crying. Teague was just sitting there, but you could sense the fear in him. The scariest part for Piper was when "Stripe, the leader" was in the swimming pool multiplying, she was sobbing saying, "What's going to happen, what's going to happen?" At this point we ask her if she wanted us to turn the movie off, Teague was quick to say "NO!," but Piper had to think about it for a minute, she said that she wanted to watch the rest. After a couple of minutes they were back down below Aaron and I laughing hysterically at all the funny things the Gremlins were doing. The Gremlins in the movie theatre was among their favorite.
Teague won't stop talking about the movie, and he can tell you the three rules of taking care of a Mogwai. However, Piper will only talk about the "cute" parts of the movie. She is still a little worried that a Gremlin may show up somewhere in the house.
Even though it was a little scary for the kidlets, this was a fun movie night.

Volunteer

I volunteered in Teague's class on Thursday. I was only there for 45 minutes, but I learned a lot in that short amount of time.
I helped four children read and one with lower case letter recognition. I absolutely cannot believe what different levels these children are at. Of the four readers, they all did a great job, however, it took one child about 20 seconds to get through a book and it took another about 10 minutes to get through the same one. The other two took about a minute or so. The child that I helped with letter recognition also was amazing I think there were only 3 or 4 letters she wasn't quite sure on. Then Ms. Jana read a Halloween story to the children while we waited for parents to come pick them up. I loved to sit and watch the children. Some really participated in the story a lot. Some just sat there and listened, and of course there are the select couple that are a little disruptive.
My point is this: There are only 12 children in this class. As I was there I was thinking about how hard it must be to cater to each child and the level that they are at, and do a good job at it. I know that Ms. Jana (and Ms. Megan) do a GREAT job, because I have seen the incredible results with both of my kidlets. So, I am so grateful that Aaron and I are fortunate enough to be able to send our kidlets to this school, because I am not sure that my kidlets would be catered to they way they need to be at a public school with 26-32 students per class and one teacher.
Don't get me wrong, I am sure that there are plenty of great public schools with great teachers that can teach appropriately. I am just feeling especially blessed after this experience.

Sandcastle Academy

Mueller Park

One of our favorite family traditions!!
Every fall in September or October we go up to Mueller Park and roast hot dogs and have smores for dessert! We go with Aaron's family. This year the following were there: Aaron, Karlyn, Piper, Teague, Grammie Annie, Grandpa John, Gina, Morgan, Josh, Zac, Angela, Seth Randy and Danny (Angela's friend and his son), Grandma Wilma, Grandpa Paul, Aunt Val and Uncle Doyle, Jared and Jen.
This year, our little family got up there at about 2:30 to get a site. Unfortunately the one we usually get was already taken(the one in the picture on the link), but fortunately we found a better one! Angela, Seth and Grammie Annie got up there at about 3:00 and everybody else got up there at about 4:00 (the planned time) with the exception of Grandpa John, Randy and Danny. Randy and Danny got there at about 5:00 and Grandpa John at about 5:20.
This year has definitely been the best year so far, I think this is our fourth year. Last year it was way too cold, the coldest, and the other years were also cold, and too dark. This year we went before daylight savings and before it got too cold. We had so much fun. When we weren't eating we were looking at all the pretty leaves and trees and the creek. And the kids had fun playing four square and frisbee. When I say kids, I also mean, Aaron, Angela,Doyle and Grandpa John....and myself.
The hot dogs were great, the smores were to die for! (If anyone knows me, they know how much I love the messy goodness!) And the drinks were very fun. Val and Doyle brought some Jones Soda Halloween flavors. And the smell of the canyon..........AAHH, I love the smell of a campfire and the smell of autumn.