"Critters and the Creators" Murder Mystery Dinner

We had a Murder Mystery Dinner called "Critters and the Creators". It revolved around all the players being in the play "The Wizard of Oz" and doing all the jobs behind the scenes. "The DIVA" was found murdered and one of the players was the murderer. This is the fourth complete Mystery Dinner that I have written. It was very fun to play. Our guests were fantastic at hamming it up and playing their parts; they made it so much fun!
Kade was the Tin Man/Mechanic, I was the Understudy to Dorothy/Caterer.Kandice was the Good Witch of the North/Cosmetologist & Dave was the Cowardly Lion/Artist.
(My daughters loved the "Good Witch" Dress!)
Christabel was the Wizard/Chemist & Dane was The Yellow Brick Road/Construction Worker.
Sarah was the Wicked Witch of the West/Costume Designer & Scott was the Scarecrow/Musician.

As part of the Mystery Dinner we had a "Show & Tell". Each player was to bring something that their character would have created. The winner of the Show & Tell received an extra clue to help them figure out who the murderer was. This was one of my favorite parts of the game because it allowed each person to show off their acting skills or personality a little more. This was very entertaining!


Dave was an Artist and did all the scenery and painting for the show. He created a masterpiece of artwork (we put it on the wall and he is pointing to it). He also interpreted his art and it was hilarious.
Kandice was a Cosmotologist and did the make-up and hair for all in the show. She showed us one of the the hair and make-up designs with her model. Very fashionable!
Sarah was the Costume Designer for the show and she gave us each a scarf with our character name on it. She created it using a new print machine she won. This was very nice!
Scott was the Musician and organized all the music for the show. He entertained us with his musical skills on the xylophone and by playing "Mary had a little lamb" on his cell phone with the buttons. (Scott won the Show & Tell and received the extra clue. He also guessed who the murderer was!)
Dane was a Construction Worker and built all the backdrops and stages for the show. He showed us his first masterpiece, his foot stool. Very nice!
Christabel was a Chemist and in charge of all the special effects for the show. Her latest and greatest creation is a youth potion! Amazing!
Kade was a Mechanic for the play, in charge of all the electrical and mechanical things. He created a model of a truck. His "heart" was in it!
I (Kelli) was a Caterer for the show and I created cupcakes (The DIVA's favorite) with fresh raspberry butter cream frosting on white cake and peanut butter butter cream frosting on chocolate cake. They were yummy.

Thanks so much to all our guests! You made it memorable and very fun! Thanks for coming!

Kade and the Truck Project

Kade is doing a basic restoration job on this 1962 Ford Truck as a surprise Christmas Present for a client.
The client wants it the original color, so here are some before pictures and we will keep updating the progress as it continues.
Here is the engine. It is pretty much ready to be pulled out with the cherry picker (a big ol' tool that is used to take engines out of vehicles and put them on engine stands to be rebuilt).
There were some challenges in getting all the bolts off the engine to get it out. This is the first time Kade has ever broken a wrench. I guess there is a first time for everything.
Hooray! After the whole afternoon of trying to unbolt this rusty engine, it is out and progress on the truck can move forward. (The big red thing is the cherry picker.)

Kari Lost Her 1st Tooth!!!

Kari has kind of a funny face because we were trying to see where she lost the tooth in the picture.
Kari kept on telling us that her tooth was loose for about a week and a half. They talked about teeth and how to take care of them in school. The Dental Hygienist Program from Dixie College is helping out at Kari's school.
Grandma Beth helped Kari pull out her tooth and then the Tooth Fairy came! The Tooth Fairy let Kari keep her first tooth and gave her some money. Kari keeps the money in her doll house with her Reflections money. She is so proud of her tooth, she shows it to everyone that comes to our house, anyone we are near at the grocery store, and everyone we talk to. She is a proud little girl. Kya (age 3 1/2) now says her tooth is loose too and she tries hard to make it wiggle, but I think that one will take some time before it comes out.

Kolden and our attempt at Rice Cereal

Kolden has some great examples of "being big" with his three big sisters. They all love him and dote on him. Some have even tried smuggling a sucker into his mouth a few times. Kolden is already wanting to be "bigger". He lunges at food and wants whatever we have so we decided to try rice cereal.

Things didn't go so well. Kolden wanted his own spoon, so I gave him one and he did get it into his mouth to eat the cereal on it, but was frustrated when there was no more food on it.
After a few bites of cereal he didn't want anymore, in fact he would not eat anymore.
This shot is hillarious because it is dramatic "wooh is me". He doesn't want rice cereal, he wants the hamburger Kade is eating. We will have to try again another time.

Kari won 1st place in her school's Reflections contest!

Thanks so everyone that voted. Kari was thrilled that she won 1st Place!!! She got a certificate and a pass to the swimming pool and to Jumping Jacks and Lazer Mania. She also won $15. This was the coolest thing of all. She keeps it in her doll house.
Since the Reflections picture, Kari has started taking pictures of everything she can. We will have to include some of her pictures in our blog until she is old enough to make her own blog. We did have to get a better camera, because our old one only had 4 picsels and for a better quality picture we needed more. So, the old camera is for our kids to develop their talents with and our family camera has better picsels for better quality pictures.

Our Annual Staheli Farm FUN!

We had a blast at Staheli Farm this year. They have expanded their petting zoo and made it even better. They have added a playhouse and a swing rope. We went after dark and we just didn't have enough time. We could have easily stayed a few more hours. We loved it!
The girls were jumping on the Red Neck Trampoline, lots of fun!

Of course we had to ride the horse! Nope, we still cannot get one in our backyard.
Kya was in a dress, but she wasn't sitting side saddle. Maybe next year she will be willing to wear shorts or pants.

Yaah Kiera - but keep holding on. My student, Keltee, was the girl helping the kids on the horse. It was nice to have someone I knew would keep the kids safe.

The kids were able to go into the petting zoo areas and pet the goats, sheep, little piggies, mini horses and donkeys. The animals were so mild and were even willing to let the girls hug them and feed them hay.
This sheep feels so soft.
Kiera was very impressed with all the animals, although a little weary of getting too close to them.
Kya made a special friend with the mini horse.

Time to wash our hands. No spreading "swine flu", or 'slime flu' as some kids say.
One of the best parts of the farm is the corn slide. You can see all the dust and dirt that was just kicked up when I snapped the picture.
Corn is fun!
Although it gets down our clothes (even in diapers) and in our shoes.
I even got to go down the slide several times, thanks to Kiera. Kiera is a great slide partner. What will I do when I don't have the excuse of taking kids down the slide?
The girls loved the playhouse! I would have loved it too, if I could play on it.
Kari found the horse swings. Kya and Kiera couldn't pull themselves away from the playhouse to try it out, but Kari had fun.
One of my former students was running the cow cart ride and let us all ride for free. Kolden even liked it!
Kari found the mini golf...
...and the mini telescope.
More playhouse pictures...


The rope swing. I was hesitant to let the kids try this one at first, but it was lots of fun and no one got hurt.
Kari is naturally athletic and has good coordination.
I even tried it too because I've never done a rope swing.
Kiera tried it...
...and Kya tried it too! It was very fun! We had a blast at our trip to Staheli Farm. We look forward to going back again next year!

Biking Adventures

This biking trip was so much fun! We went from Snow Canyon High to Ivins. Kade looks so good on his bike with his electric blue biking shoes. Kari is on the tandem bike behind him and she loved it (our friends lent us the tandem bike because their kids are all bigger now). I have Kya and Kiera in the bike trailer behind my bike. Kolden was playing with Grandma Cheesman.
I love my bike, when it is shifting properly. I need to get the kinks worked out of it for the Triathalon in November. We are SOOOO blessed to have so many fun bike trails around our area. We love going bike riding!
This is how gorgeous the view was that day. I love how cloudy and overcast it was, it makes the desert looks kind of mysterious and romantic.
These pictures are from the first day we tried out the tandem bike. Kya had a broken arm at the time, but that did not discourage her from riding the bike. She loved it and did really well on it!
Kiera looks cute in her hat, but she wasn't quite big enough to be on the tandem bike.
Kari enjoyed it as well, and it is helping her learn about balance so she can start to learn to ride her own bike.