Random Ketchup

Here is some Random Ketchup for you...

The Aweome Traina's and Homemade Noodles
We have an incredible couple in our ward named Tony and Lona Traina.  They are amazing, and of Italian descent.  Recently they offered to show us how to make homemade meatballs, sauce and noodles...
 
The kids LOVED using the pasta machine!
 



Lots and lots of pasta...

Such an awesome night!!

The Gordon Family Olypmics
Back when the Olympics were going on, my kids decided we needed to do our own Olympics at home.  So everyone picked an event and for our next Family Home Evening the games began!  Sydney thought the women's gymnastics was amazing, so of course she chose a balance beam...

Carter felt that the Balance beam routine could definitely be improved upon by the addition of a ball...

One of our events was Tennis.  Only we flicked buttons over the net.  A little tricky at first, but even Carter caught on, winning his match against Daddy...

One of the boys chose shooting...



Also included in our events were archery and volleyball.
Here are the gold medalists.  If you notice the chocolate on Carter's mouth, that's because he had already eaten his medal...



Really Random Summer Fun
These are really random, but I thought they were kind of cool.  One day Spencer and Sam decided to play around with some water balloons.  So, they filled up a balloon (well, several, actually) and then they would pop it and try to catch some cool footage with the camera.  All these pictures were taken by them.
First the unsuspecting balloon...
 
The spectator, prepared for the worst...
 
And the water balloon, sans balloon...

Pretty good timing on the shutter, I thought!  Oh, I miss summer!

The First Day of School 
Alas, the day had to come!  And while I really did feel ready for the kids to scoot off to school again,  I felt kind of sad at the loss of our freedom!  Back to homework, crazy schedules and early bedtimes!  But, here they are!  The 2012 Gordon students...
First we have Spencer and Tyler, who rise at the crack of dawn to catch the school bus at 6:40.  Yes, you read that right!  I am so glad they are boys and can get ready super fast in the morning!  Sad thing is, in these pictures it is light and sunny outside.  But, already it is dark when they walk out the door!

They look thrilled to be getting their picture taken, don't they?

Next up is Sam!  Who actually looks excited to be on his way!  Sam was really excited that this year, he finally gets to walk home from school alone! (Not like it's a long walk) And that deal was sweetened when Sydney got placed in Morning kindergarten, so he doesn't even have to walk with his sister.  It's just him and the road...
 
And now the newbie!  The Big Kindergartener!  Sydney! (And yes, the others got one photo, and she got three)
 
I really wondered how Sydney would do starting out.  Last year, when she started preschool, she wouldn't let me leave without big tears.  This year, she was chomping at the bit! Off she went, no worries...

Come on Mom, we've got some Kindergarten waiting...

And, the one left behind...

Carter followed me around all morning asking, "Where Sydney go?", "Where Sam go?" On down the list.  Poor guy didn't quite know what to do with himself.  He is adjusting now, but still misses his buddies.

The Half 
Steve conned me into signing up to run a half-marathon. (I blame him, it was his idea) So, we began training together, which was the best part of the whole thing.  With Steve's super busy schedule, those early morning runs together became my favorite part of the day.
Here is the before shot (thanks to Jim and Jacob for the pictures, and for being our cheerleaders)
 We look pretty spunky, pretty confident, pretty naive...
 
The start...
 
The end.  Notice Steve looks happy.  Still looking spunky, confident.  I, on the other hand, look like I want to die, which at that point I pretty much did! :)

Contrast this one to the one at the beginning.  I don't know about you, but when I look at this picture words like: wasted, death warmed over, and whooped come to my mind.
 
I am glad we did it though, and it was awesome to do it together!

There you have some random ketchup!  Hopefully I can stay on track better from here!

Ketchup!!!

So, I have been a big blog-slacker lately and I am way behind on my posting.  I have been reprimanded and am here now to try and make amends.  So here is a quick, "ketchup" post...

Summer Vacation in Utah
One of our favorite and most looked-forward to events of the year.  This years trip included...
The early morning Hot Air Balloon launch on the Fourth of July.








Our favorite part of the balloon launch is the company (somehow Lonna dodged the picture)...


Rock-climbing with the Jensens. (This was a first, and a favorite) I stayed home with the little kids and when I saw all the pictures I was secretly glad.  We are all happy to not have a bunch of pictures of my backside (just sayin').




Apparently we had a few "spider-men" we didn't know about...


The Gordon Family Reunion.




Complete with water-balloon launching...

and javelin-throwing...






The Drive Home via The Tetons and Mount Rushmore.


The kids were excited to see Mount Rushmore, but Sam was WAY excited!  At one point we were wondering about cancelling our plans to go home that way, but the thought of disappointing Sam was too sad. (I secretly think this great excitement had more to do with Phineas and Ferb and less to do with seeing a National Monument, but hey...)


This was our first glimpse of the Monument...
 

And this is documentation of the excitement level in the car.  Who do you think looks most excited?
 








Tyler was super excited that he got to help out with one of the demonstrations.  She asked for someone small and Tyler's hand shot up...


And there you have our Trip to Utah ketchup.  I will have more ketchup soon...

Backseat Driver

Ever had a really good backseat driver in the car with you?  Drives you a little crazy right?  The funny thing about the term "backseat" driver is, usually that backseat driver is sitting in the passenger seat.  In my car, however, the backseat driver not only does sit in the backseat, but he still uses a five-point harness...


Here is a little taste of some of the comments coming from my little "assistant" in the back row (most of these are yelled at me with much passion)...

"Not this way Mom!  Go THAT way!"

"I go Grandpas house!"

"Stop Mom!  Don't go fast!!!"

While waiting at red lights... "Drive Mom!!  Drive!"

"Don't boom cars Mom!" 

Not sure where that last one came from as I am not in the habit of "booming" cars.  Just so you know.

A little of this, and a little of that...

Alright, now that all the vacation laundry is done it is time for some catch-up!  No more excuses!  But before I can get to the vacation posts, I have some things I don't want to leave out..

Like Spencer's Spring Art Show.  This is a big deal in the Gordon household, and something we look forward to each year.  That said, you would think that I would have taken some pictures of the artist himself, but it was not to be, I guess I was too taken with his artwork!
One of the projects Spencer's art group did this year was the Sistine Chapel ceiling.  Dottie made color copies of the different sections of the ceiling and gave each student one section.  The students were then told to choose half of their section to draw and then shade.  They could choose any half they liked.  The completed project was then assembled all together and displayed at the art show.  It was so cool! (I suppose I should come up with some better "artsy vernacular")



At each art show, Dottie chooses her favorite piece of work from each student.  Spencer's Mosaic won that honor this year...
 
I think Spencer's favorite projects are the ones involving paint and messiness.  For the weeks that he was painting these two pieces, he would come home covered in paint, and very, very happy.


I know I have said this before, but I am so grateful for Spencer's art teacher!  She has made a world of difference in this boy's life!

A couple of weeks ago, we were given the gift of a lemon/lime juicer and some limes so we could make Homemade Limeade.  The boys were thrilled at the prospect and got right to work squeezing limes...
 
Notice the concentration in the form of a tongue sticking out, I think this might be a Gordon family trait...

Pretty good progress on the lime juice...
 
I haven't been a great photographer lately, and didn't think to capture any of the finished product or the kids reactions to it.  You might imagine in your minds some little puckered up mouths...
A couple of days later Sydney and her friend Ella made Lemon-Limeade.  I tell ya, this is a great little tool for keeping kids busy, they think it is way fun...
 
 
The Lemon-Limeade was a much bigger hit than the plain Lime.

Can't leave out Father's Day...
A couple of days before Father's Day, I took a poll from the kids to get their ideas for gifts for Steve.  Sydney insisted on a polka-dot tie.  The boys were not so sure what Dad would want, but Sam agreed to go shopping with me so we could find just the right gift.  After finding just the right polka-dot tie, and another green one that Sam and I really liked, we were stumped.  What could we get for Dad that he would be truly excited about?  And then inspiration came!  A Ukulele!  Yes, you read that right!  Doubtful are you?  Well, just wait and see...
The boys were so excited about Steve's gift they had a hard time keeping quiet about it!  Apparently Sydney leaked the secret to her Primary teacher who told Steve that she knew what he was getting for Father's Day, but she proved to be trustworthy, and didn't divulge the secret.
In order to heighten the excitement, the boys decided to make a Treasure Hunt for Steve in order for him to find his gift...

Searching for clues...

Found!

Now to open this strange looking box...

And the reaction...
 
Did we do well, or what!?

Well, that's all the catch up for now.  Back with more later...