My Favorite Place

The following is a Descriptive Essay written by Sam.  I love this!! 

My Favorite Place

As  I glance out my window I view the rolling green mountains and trees stick to them like moss. Cabins dot the rocky side and lights shine inside. Its summer and we only just got out of school as we make our yearly trip up to our cabin in utah. The lake gets smaller as we get higher. Rocks clink and ping against our car and four wheelers dart past leaving dust in our faces. A couple minutes later we pull into our cabin.                           

  We rush inside to see our cousins and aunts and uncles. We instantly start to get hot and try to find a fan. when i walk outside I whiff the hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill and hear them sizzle. I see my cousins play frisbee golf and hear the frisbees smash against the trees. Finally at dinner as we all talk when I bite into my hotdog and taste the ketchup. Later that night when we start a fire I feel the warmth, hear it crackle and see it dance and sway.

The next day we go down to the lake and I see the mountain encompass us as if it was protecting us. I find a life jacket and try to climb into a boat but fall the water biting me and i get out and shiver. I try again finally getting in as I realize I forgot the paddles. I see the paddles on rocks and I groan. I look at the freezing water it was a murky brown and I climb out and trudge through the gunk. I slip and hear the splash as I strike the water and I hear laughing as i get back up.  We leave soon and head back to the cabin for more fun.

When we get back to the cabin we get some cousins and play frisbee golf. I hear frisbees smack and ram into trees and smell pine cones and see them scattered around. I feel twigs and branches scrap my legs and arms. Mosquitoes bite me as I try to swat them away. As it gets darker cousins start to leave and I hear engines start and the cars drive away. Later that  night we leave and I hear nothing as we all stare out the window into the forest as we drive to grandma’s house.

March Madness

     Each year as March Madness comes around, every member in our family fills out a bracket and our family competition begins.  The winner of the competition gets bragging rights, and the choice of where our family goes out to ice cream to celebrate.  Kind of a win-win situation.  Up until this year, the only person to beat me has been Spencer (yes, despite my basic ignorance of college basketball I have been a consistent winner, and I especially enjoy the bragging rights that come along with that).

     I was dethroned this year by a cute five year-old boy with a decidedly unique strategy to filling out his bracket.  When it was Carter's turn to fill out his bracket, Steve sat down with him and read the two team names and then Carter would decide which team would win that game. Well, once Steve got to Duke Carter got really excited.  "Duke!?", Carter giggled.  "Like the Duke of Weasletown?"

     Well, if you don't know who the Duke of Weasletown is then you need to go watch the movie Frozen.  If you have seen it, but have forgotten who that is, then here is a reminder...

Well, that was enough for Carter.  Every time Steve read off the name Duke, that was the team he chose.  And, if you followed the tournament then you know that the winning team was, indeed, Duke!
So last night we loaded up the car and headed out to ice cream.  Carter's choice?  "TCTB".  Which, being interpreted, was actually TCBY.  In the car on the way there Carter called up to me.  "Mom? Do I have to pay?"

Here are a few pics of the fun, if you can count Brain Freeze as fun. 

 

Congrats to Carter! Maybe I will have to try your strategy next year!

Happy Birthday Carter!

 Another birthday has come!  And what an exciting one at that!  Carter informed us a few weeks ago that we WOULD be having a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party for him this year.  He had it all planned out, and who can argue with a 5 year old?  It turned out perfect because his birthday was on a Saturday this year, so we invited a few friends, made a birthday cake and off to Chuck E. Cheese we went.  What is this strange looking cake you wonder?  This is Jay from Ninjago. That should clear it all up for you.

 Carter has a buddy from school named Camren.  He was so excited that Camren actually got to come to his birthday party, and so was I.

 Here is the birthday crowd... Sydney, Ella, Carter's BFF Logan, Carter, Camren, and our neighbor boy Jackson.  Spencer, Tyler and Sam were also honorary members, which was all good with them as far as the pizza and soda was concerned, but as soon as it came time to dance and sing with Chuck E Cheese, they were less than festive.

 Here's the Mouse himself...

 I was actually quite shocked that Carter would pose with Chuck E.  As you can see from his expression, this mouse was not the reason he chose this venue for his party.

  Here is the Family shot.  Hey!  Who is the Steven look-a-like?  That is Steve's brother Lynn who came to visit for the weekend!  He is a father of nine and had never been to Chuck E. Cheese before.  Well, we hooked him up!  He has also never been to any of the iconic sites in Chicago, and did we take him to any of those?  Nope, just Chuck E. Cheese.  So, all of you who are wondering if you should come and visit the Gordon clan, you can clearly see that it is only the very best for our visitors!

 Blowing out those five candles!

 As part of the birthday party package, the birthday boy gets to go in the ticket blower and collect as many tickets as he can.  If you look carefully at these pictures you will recognize that the gentleman inside the blower is NOT the birthday boy at all.  That is because the birthday boy had no interest in going inside that tube of blowing tickets.  The reason might be because he had recently watched this Studio C episode with his brothers.  Whatever the reason, Carter was given permission to elect a stand-in, and he chose big brother Sam to do the honors for him.

 Sam made a noble effort to collect as many tickets as possible for Carter, and he so sweetly handed them all over when he was done.  What a good big brother!

 The kids were super excited to see this sign hanging up, they are huge Studio C fans!

The rest of the day included a massive snowball fight with Uncle Lynn, some yummy pulled pork, and a rousing game of Quiddler.

 

All in all, a super fun day!  Happy Birthday Carter!!

Daddy's Boy

     So Steve went with me the other morning to drop Carter off at Preschool.   And, being the good Daddy he is, he took Carter in while I, you know, kept the car warm (it was the least I could do).
     When Steve got back in the car he was laughing, and recounted this conversation he had with Carter's teacher.  She stopped Steve and said, "I wanted to ask you a question.  We were doing a project with the kids the other day and were asking them what they want to be when they grow up.  Carter said he wants to be what you are."
     Steve thought, "Ok, he wants to be in marketing or sell spices, that's not so strange."
     But Carter's teacher continued to say, "I'm not sure what you do, but He said he wants to be a Bishop."