Seven Peaks North Pole Evening of Fun

We spent the morning at basketball, but I will save that post for another day.

I want to tell you what we did with our evening. You know we have that Pass of All Passes, right? Well last year they added this new thing called Seven Peaks North Pole. It sounded fun, but we just couldn't fit it into our schedule, so this year I really wanted to make it happen. A bunch of their dates were listed as "blackout" where the passes didn't work, and this was the only Saturday not on that list, so naturally we had to make it work.

We got out of here about 5:30, picked up Grandpa at my sister's house, and headed for Provo. The kids were anxious to hop off the freeway in Orem and make a quick visit to Krispee Kremes so they could be awarded for their good grades. Somewhere along the line, Little Sis decided to join us with her family, so they were headed to Provo too.

The ramp

One more quick stop to pick up Princess and The Frog in Springville and we finally got there at about 6:30. They gave us wristbands and we headed for the slides. Honestly, they looked the most fun to me. We waited at the bottom for our turn to grab a sled and then we made the long trip up the ramp to the top of the slide.  Some of the kids were a bit nervous, including Curly, who was supposed to go on the sled with me. All the way up the long ramp he complained that he needed to go to the bathroom, but it turns out he just wanted to bail before we got to the top.

Resigned to his fate, he climbed in on my lap and we sailed down the slide. It was so fun!! I immediately got back in line (Prima Donna took Curly to the bathroom) and Scout became my new travel partner. We could each go down the slides 3 times and you can bet all 3 of mine were marked off before we moved to the next attraction.

I took tons of pics, but most of them were too dark to be useful. Here is one of the slides.

After waiting in line for more than 15 minutes, we gave up on the boat ride down the lazy river. We will have to save that one for next time. They had a bike trail set up in a large covered circle that told the story of the Nutcracker, but the bikes were anything but normal. They were these two-seater pedal things. My sweetie and I got on behind Curly and Sport, but they struggled and kept stopping, making it almost impossible to get moving again. We finally traded riders and managed to get to the end. It was super cute and I think I would have enjoyed it much more without all the drama.

Festival of Lights

Our last stop was the Christmas train and then we piled in the van and headed for the Festival of Lights. I know, we saw it last week, but some of the kids missed out and they were so disappointed! It has been a family tradition for many years handed down from my grandma. It is one of my very favorite Christmas activities and I think the kids feel that way too.

Denny's... it's always open...

We invaded the Denny's on the way home to grab a late supper, then dropped off Princess and the Frog, stopped at Little Sis's house to get Grandpa's car, and finally pulled into the driveway just before midnight. It was a fun and happy trip I'm sure I will pay for dearly tomorrow.

Even now I can barely keep my eyes open, and that's saying something.

Slowing Down

It's been so nice to enjoy a little bit slower week. The constant chasing wears me down. Yesterday we took our Wolf Den to City Hall to see the various offices and the candy windows. They didn't officially open until today, but in some ways it was even more interesting. Did you know that you can melt gummy bears with a blow dryer but if you get them too hot they will scorch? They were turning this huge pile of blue ones into what would eventually look like water. (I'll show you some pics when we manage to get all the kids over there.)

I've also spent a bunch of time getting paperwork in order although I've yet to write my Christmas letter and get my cards out. I did buy my stamps though. Baby Doll is always my big helper after school. See what a nice job she did of my hair?

We are doing another boutique at Curves this weekend, so I served my 3 hours this afternoon. I averaged one customer each hour and only sold $15 in Tupperware. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it. At least it was nice and quiet and I was able to work on the editing of my sweetie's grandma's family history. We have a deadline now of the first week in January and I have all but one chapter, so I'm anxious to finish it up. She was an amazing lady! I never met her because she passed away in January and my sweetie and I met in June of the same year. It's been so fun getting to know her.

Tomorrow we start basketball. Baby Doll was so excited about her new lightweight running shoes and this new adventure. I'm excited too, but not quite so much. I've coached for years and years and the first day is still always hard. I can't figure out why I would be nervous...

We finished out the day with a laundry-folding party and Christmas movies from my childhood. Remember the Winter Warlock from Santa Claus is Coming to Town? He is my favorite. Sometimes bullies just need someone to be nice to them.

So do basketball coaches...

Ever Heard of Scrape-A-Round?

Ever heard of Scrape-A-Round?

Well, neither had I until the good people at Family Guide put one up for review. I sort of have this rule against doing review-type posts back-to-back, but I was notified yesterday that we had been selected from this national pool (of course it is limited by places that have snow...). I should have read through it more carefully, because I had to tell you about it today or they wouldn't send me one to try.

So this post is really an evil plot to get somebody... anybody... to scrape my car for me.

Since we have so many drivers living at home, and way too much stuff in our garage, we all have to park on the driveway and that means we all get frost. So far it has been pretty warm, but this past week I've gone outside in the morning to frozen ice on my windshield. It's worse than frost!

These Scrape-A-Rounds are totally different from anything I've ever seen before. Just check out this video and see for yourself.

I

They claim to be the best ice scraper on the planet for all these reasons: 

• Softer plastic, allows the scraper to conform to the window curvature.
• 18" of ice scraping surface.
• Comfortable grasp provides relief for the arthritic or carpal syndrome sufferer.
• Direct pressure to the window; no pressure lost through the ice scraper.
• The circular rotational motion of ice scraper.
• Double ice scraper action, leading edge and trailing edge.
• Multi functional, remove the cap and it doubles as a funnel.
• Scrapes windows frost and ice free in half the time.

Since my kids and my sweetie always have fun trying out new products, I'm excited to get this one!

At least I won't have to scrape my own windows for a day or two.

Beer Can Chicken

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, I got an email from my friends at Cave Tools asking me if I wanted to review another new product. I hesitated when he described it as Beer Can Chicken. First of all, I don't do alcohol and second, I was worried that one little chicken wouldn't be enough to serve my brood.

Fortunately, my sweetie understood the cooking concept and patiently explained to me that we didn't have to use beer, we could use apple juice instead. We also didn't have to use chicken, we could roast a small turkey the same way (and you've probably noticed they were pretty cheap this month). Of course he convinced me as we waited for our "Apple Juice Turkey cooker" to arrive.

My sweetie seasoned the turkey with a dry rub and then proceeded to sit the turkey up on the can. My kids thought it was pretty disgusting sitting up like that and we all laughed a bit as he tucked the legs down around the edge and onto a cookie sheet. We knew the turkey was bigger, so we didn't want to chance any spills.

Besides, it was cold outside, so we were modifying the cooking plan as well. My sweetie put it right inside our oven.

It wasn't long before it began smelling like turkey. He kept the temperature low and controlled to make it even more juicy and flavorful.We had it scheduled to be finished between the Pinewood Derby and the play. Unfortunately, the derby went long and the Dog Walker ended up removing the turkey from the oven to save for later while we raced straight to Ogden.

You have no idea how my daughters reacted when they opened the fridge and it was just sitting there! He made absolutely zero attempts to cover it with foil or remove it from the can or anything. He did keep it on the cookie sheet, (upright!) which at least kept it from getting contaminated.

We got home late Saturday night from the play and dropped into bed. After we got home from church, my sweetie pulled out the turkey and began to cut the breast up for sandwiches. I was afraid that it was going to be dry and tough. Can I tell you I have rarely had such good meat? Especially after it has been in the refrigerator all night uncovered.

The turkey was still juicy and delicious and made an amazing sandwich. Curly devoured his plain, and Crafty tossed small pieces into a salad. We were all very pleased with our choices.

Now I know you are thinking, "I got to get me one of these..." so I'm going to give you the inside scoop on a coupon code that will save you some cash. Just enter JMS68Z2V at Amazon or at Cave Tools

***We were given a free Beer Can Chicken Rack for our open and honest review of the product.***