Thanksgiving 2013

This year we headed south to spend Thanksgiving with my family in Northern California. Mackenzie couldn't go with us because she had to work and we missed her but we sure had a great time.

 It felt good to back in sunny California once again.

 Tuesday morning we went to the Sacrament temple.

 It was fun to have the older kids with us. My mom and dad were working at the temple that day so they joined us in the baptistery and to do sealings.

 Most of the grand kids slept on air mattresses in Grandma's living room. One gigantic sleepover!

 Wednesday my brother Gregg arranged to take us all shooting. This is the first time that Brooklyn had ever shot a gun.

Family pic!

 Steve getting ready to shoot the skeet.

 Brooklyn trying out Uncle Gregg's pistol.

 Grandpa Smith even did some shooting.

 I had fun shooting at the targets.

Brooklyn and I shooting the skeet at the same time.

 The field where we went shooting had this old tractor. So we took a couple of pictures on it.

 The adults wanted in on the tractor pose too!

Uncle Alan took all the kids on a crazy truck ride through the fields before we left. It felt exactly like we were on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.

 Alan and Lisa hosted Thanksgiving dinner at their house. Here is the cousin table.

 And the adult table.

 After dinner we went outside to take some family pictures. We missed you Mackenzie!

 Brooklyn was in heaven spending 6 days with her cousins. They loved playing Wii in Grandma and Grandpa's bedroom.

 Brooklyn with her cousins Jack and Kathryn.

The day after Thanksgiving Alan arranged for all of us to go paint balling. Here are Steve and Brooklyn all geared up and ready to go into battle.

 Dividing up the teams.

Refilling Brooklyn's ammo.

After a couple of rounds both Steve and Brooklyn had some war wounds but they were still smiling!

Love that bright orange paint on your face Brooklyn. That was a first time paint balling for Brooklyn and she had a lot of fun.

 Saturday morning we pulled all my mom and dads Christmas boxes down from the loft and helped them decorate their tree and house. It was so much fun and went so quickly with everyone's help.

 That afternoon we all went on a 12 mile bike ride. It was a gorgeous day...almost felt like summer to us. We rode a beautiful trail around Lake Natoma.

Grandma and Grandpa even rode the 12 miles on their bikes with us. Nice job mom and dad! I hope when I'm pushing 80 years old I will be able to ride my bike 12 miles! That's pretty impressive.

We sure had a fun week spending time with family. We feel blessed to be a part of such an amazing family.

Disctric Smiw Meet 2013

It has been a fun swim season for Brooklyn her senior year. She was chosen by her coach to be one of three swim team captains. It's been a good experience for Brooklyn as she has lead her team this season. Here are a few pictures of Brooklyn's last meet at Districts.

 

I have enjoyed helping Brooklyn this season doing fun things for the girls on the team. A few days before Districts I put together these cute goodie bags that the three captains delivered to all the girls during school that were going to Districts.

 The bags were filled with swedish fish and gold fish crackers. Steve helped me create the cute tag on the computer.

 Grandma and Grandpa Smith came to visit and to watch Brooklyn swim. The day before District finals my mom and I made 60 rice krispie bears to give to the girls. It was so nice to have my moms helping making them.

 Grandpa Smith even got in on the bear action!

 Steve did the frosting piping. He always does such a nice job with that.

A close up of the bears. I put them in cellophane bags and tied them with red and grey ribbon. They turned out so cute and the girls really enjoyed them.

 Brooklyn warming up.

Brooklyn with her awesome coach...Eric. She is really going to miss swimming and her coach.

 We have sure enjoyed being a part of Brooklyn's four years of swim team in High School. Steve has taken lots and lots of videos and pictures for the team and I have been a timer at all the home meets. We are really going to miss watching Brooklyn swim. She had an amazing year.  In most events she was the 3rd fastest on her team behind two girls who swim competitvly throughout the year. Pretty impressive Brooklyn! Thanks Brooklyn for letting us be a part of your amazing swim seasons.

Halloween 2013

Halloween traditions...

Halloween isn't Halloween without homemade sugar cookies!

For Family Home Evening Monday night we made sugar cookies and frosted them.

Lots of yummy pumpkins and ghosts!

Then we each designed our pumpkins.

And Steve carved them using his jig saw.

Check out our 3 cute pumpkins. Brooklyn's design is on the left. It's our favorite!

All carved and ready for Halloween night!

 

Brooklyn dressed up like a 1920's flapper girl for school.

 

And Steve dressed up like a prisoner for work. I love his pose! So funny!

Happy Halloween!

Our annual LeBaron Family Scarecrow is...

It's that time of year again for our family tradition of making and putting up our Halloween scarecrow.  Drum roll please....ta da...

Captain Hook!

Here are a few pictures of the making of Captain Hook. First we start with his body made of a frame of welded re-bar steel covered with foam tubes and carpet pad. This year Steve used the body that we had used for Woody a few years ago. This is what he looked like before Steve started adding some more carpet pad to him to bulk him up a little as Woody was quite slim and trim.

We then dressed him partially and then Steve and Brooklyn bent his legs and arms to the desired pose.

More bending - it was tough to bend his knees and hips to the desired angles.

Steven then put on the wig and started working on the face.

He drew the face on the computer and then traced it onto the pumpkin. The pumpkin is a fake pumpkin that holds the puff paint well.

Here's Steve puff painting the face on. You can see the neck fitting that is glued onto the bottom of the pumpkin - that fitting screws onto the body frame.

Here I am sewing some of the costume - the ruffles around his neck.

And here's Captain Hook - just waiting for everyone to come visit. 

Like in recent past years, his re-bar frame has a chain that comes out the back by his waist and Steve locks that onto a metal post that is driven into the ground. You can see the metal post behind him between his legs. Steve puts him out each morning and brings him into the garage each night for safe keeping.

Happy Halloween Captain Hook!