The Heber Creeper

Back at the end of August we took a trip to Utah to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Ventura. We had fund shopping, buying new clothes, eating at restaurants, etc. But our favorite part of the trip was riding the Heber Creeper. Here are some photos from that ride.

Being held up by Black Jack Raven and his gang.

Eve was taken hostage.

Heber is a beautiful place to visit!

Gingerbread Houses

One of our Christmas traditions is to build gingerbread houses. Ira got to build his own for the first time. He was so excited!

Laura Lou even made a reindeer for hers.


Deb caught in the act of eating more candy.


Abby's creation. See her peppermint ball snowman?


I love how elaborate the girls start to get with their houses as they get older.


Marie made a melted chocolate walkway leading up to the door.

Eve wasn't done with her village when I took these pictures so I'll post it later.

All Hallow's Eve

We decided not to take the kids to the trunk or treat this year. We're trying to keep everyone healthy for Julia's sake. The girls didn't seem to mind all that much. The younger ones still dressed up in their costumes and then we had a campfire and roasted marshmallows.

Debra as a clown. Ira was taking a nap and didn't recognize her when he woke up.

Sara as a 1920's Flapper girl

Fairy Laura

Cowgirl Abby

Roasting marshmallows or as Ira says, "Can you fire my marshmallows?"

Laura turned 5!

Little Laura is not so little any more.


She turned five two Sundays ago on Sept. 29.


She was so good and patient and waited until daddy came home from church to open her presents and blow out the candles on her horse cake.


We love Laura "super tons" as she likes to say. She loves to sing songs, play with her American Girl Doll, Ruthie, and help cook in the kitchen. We love reading all the little notes and cards she makes for all of us.

B-17 WWII Bomber "Sentimental Journey

The "Sentimental Journey" is a fully restored B-17 Bomber. It flies to various towns as a traveling museum. Learn more about it here www.azcaf.org/.

We took the kids to see it last Saturday. It was so fun! We walked all around the outside looking at every detail and then went inside. We were amazed at how small the ball turret under the plane is. The man in that position must have been cramped. It's a tight squeeze even for someone my height (5' 2")!

Front Gunner Position

Ball Turret

Waist Gunner Position

Tail Gunner Position

Cockpit

Bomb Hold (I can't remember what it's called exactly)

We had a great time. Joseph only wished he had been able to hear it run.

On Tuesday morning we were out working in our garden when we heard an airplane coming our way. We looked up and there was the B-17 flying right overhead! It was headed to it's next stop on the tour. Joseph got his wish to hear it after all. =) It was definitely an impressive sight to see it flying.

Tie Dyed T-shirts

The bookmobile came on Monday. We had a great time tie-dyeing our t-shirts. Ginny made sure to bring vibrant colors for us to use.

The first picture is Ira's shirt. It will have lots of bull's-eyes. The next is an example of a swirl. Then there is Marie's big patriotic bull's eye.

It was hard waiting 24 hours before being able to take off the rubber bands. The kids were oohing and aahing over their shirts.

Mr. Ira used yellow and green to match his John Deere tractor pj bottoms.

Laura's swirly t-shirt.

Debbie's bright colors.

Abby has to have yellow in there somewhere!

Sara wanted patriotic colors.

Marie's bull's eye turned out great!

Eve used the turquoise blue to make sure her shirt turned out nice and bright.

Box Sliding

A couple of weeks ago Joseph brought home a huge appliance box. At first it was a little club house for the kids. When they got tired of that they tried rolling down the hill in it. Sometimes I wonder about these kids. Seriously. Rolling down a hill in a square box? Didn't work to well. When the box finally split open they realized they could make it into a slide.

Laura zooming down.

Abby being tricky. Notice the holes in the knees and one toe poking out of her sock.

Sara has to take her turn too!

Ira loved sliding as much as the girls. Notice his holey pants too. I can safely say that all pants have been patched now.

Just a side shot of the box sliding hill.