THE NEWTON'S

Rich had a milestone birthday this month... 40 years old. I have to say he doesn't look it or act it and is in better shape than he was when he turned 30!! :) I made his favorite German chocolate cake with half full of the yummy coconut pecan frosting and half with chocolate mousse and whipped ganosh for the silly kids that don't like the coconut pecan frosting. It was a split personality cake. He got 40 things that reminded us about him. From notes from the kids, to his favorite candy and snacks to items representing all the many things he does for our family, with the big present being a new bigger and better tv that he enjoys! :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICH!!!

I realized the other day I hadn't unloaded photo's off of my camera in awhile.  This month has been busy and we have had loads of fun.  Here are some of the highlights.     Alyssa wanted floam and goop for her birthday, and was thrilled to finally get some after years of requests mom "forgot" about.     Then a couple days later she gave herself a birthday present- first place in the Butterfly at the all city swim meet!  Way to go Alyssa!    Rich's parents came and visited us for a few days right before school started and right before Alex's birthday.  I failed to take any pictures while they were here.  We didn't do anything special, just spent some time together and talked and played games- a great relaxing visit.   Then we had the first day of school, and Alex's birthday the following day...  Lucky for me Alex just wanted a cake with frosting- he didn't have any specific characters or battle sc...

  Jewel Cave- Is aptly named... it really is beautiful inside.  Again my photo skills can't capture the beauty.      We had a wonderful tour group and tour guide.  It was filled with kids- probably a third of the group was kids and they all enjoyed it and kept it funny for everyone.      There is another tour you can take to explore, but you have to be able to fit through this concrete block to go on the tour- the girls wouldn't have any problem! The Badlands Anyone that is into western novels or movies has to have heard of the Badlands.  When we realized that we were driving right past Badlands National Park, we had to revise our itenerary to include driving through it.  The layers of rock and sandstone and the formations that have been made- I just loved it.   One thing I thought was so neat was how we would be driving and one one side of the road it was meadowland and flat and basically...

Archaeology is something all of our family thinks is neat so it was great to be able to stop in and see a live archaeological site.  The Mammoth Site is an archeological site that was found when a developer began to break ground to build a subdivision.  Luckily when they dug up a mamoth tusk they stopped and were able to make this amazing discovery.  It is an old sink hole that is literally filled with hundreds of bones of creatures that got stuck and died in the sink hole crater and later were filled over with through years and years...   We took the tour and it was really neat to learn more about the history that they have uncovered and what they can tell from it.    Out of the hundreds of Mammoth bones discovered- all of them are Male! After that we drove past Crazy Horse (we weren't "crazy" enough to pay the entrance fee to see it up close) and on to Mt Rushmore.   A great view as you walk towards it... ...