Jackson Turned 10!

 

What a decade it's been for all of us! James and I have loved being parents to Jackson because he is such a smart and curious kid! I was telling him how when he was born all of the nurses back in VA just couldn't believe how much blond hair he was born with. Every time I took him in for check ups they remembered the beautiful baby with blond hair. His pediatrician always commented on how alert and observant Jackson was from the start. He said he knew Jackson was very smart...and he was right.

I mostly took videos of Jackson's birthday, but we did go to the reservoir and had Poppy over for the birthday dinner (Grandma Ce-Ce had to work). For dinner, Jackson chose meatball subs which the kids gobbled up. And I can't believe that I didn't get a picture of his cake! He picked out an ice cream cake with a chocolate cookie crust and homemade toffee and caramel on top. His love for archery is still going strong, and so we gave him a target. His grandparents gave him a really nice quiver to hold his very nice arrows that Uncle Caleb made.

I'm having a hard time thinking that in 8 more years Jackson will be going on a mission and off to college! We don't have much time left, so we will have to make the most of it!

Ferris Wheel...

Hanging out with George Washington

Alanna and Blaze's first ride on a Ferris Wheel

Jackson's 2nd ride on the wheel. Paul opted not to go....he didn't enjoy his 1st ride!

One of the off-track activities the kids wanted to do was visit Scheels because of the $1 Ferris Wheel rides and lots of funny photo opportunities. We hit Costco after that for samples (and shopping), and the kids had the perfect day!

Cow Appreciation Day 2014...

Grandma Ce-Ce helped the kids weave place mats out of these leaves. They turned out very professional looking :) 

Right after Alanna's Birthday dinner, the 3 older kids went home with their grandparents to party there. Jackson was really concerned about going to Cow Appreciation Day at Chik-fil-a for his free meal, so they promised to dress the kids up as cows and take them. It happened to be free slurpee day at 7-11 also! The kids have been talking about forts they made in the backyard, and a little river they formed from the creek and sailed paper boats down also. I wish we had my parent's backyard! The kids wouldn't ever be inside! They had access to all of the "junk food" they wanted, and the roasted marshmallows around the fire pit. They love playing with my Great Gran Perkins dog, Sadie, and cat, Molly too. Obviously, they didn't want to come home!

James and Blaze couldn't miss the free meal either!! James had fun making his cow shirt with old man groaner jokes that he's notorious for:  "Don't be a COWard, eat more chicken", and "I love cows, and that's no bull!"  And now we have costumes they can all wear every year instead of scrambling at the last minute like we usually do!

Our Princess is 6!!

French Toast with Nutella and bananas

In the early morning, Jackson and I taped a vinyl table cloth around Alanna's door and filled the space between the door and cloth with balloons. She heard us at some point and opened up the door and was flooded with balloons. I was a little worried because she can be a little grumpy in the morning if woken up, but she did a summersault through the door covering and came out with a huge smile on her face as we all yelled "Happy Birthday". She was thrilled and kept talking about the "millions" of balloons in her room!

My awesome visiting teacher, Julie, brings sugar cookies for my kids on their birthday. She was actually one of Alanna's nursery teachers who spoiled her, so Alanna already loves her!

Alanna chose a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake from one of my favorite blogs. It was fun to make and decorate, and Alanna asked me everyday for about two weeks prior to her birthday if I was still going to make if for her.

Alanna is such a beautiful little girl, inside and out! I have always loved her smile and giggles!

Grandma Ce-Ce and Poppy gave Alanna a bag full of crafts that she couldn't wait to get started on. Among them were a loom, dream catcher, melting bead pictures, make your own bracelet, kinetic sand, etc. That should keep her busy this summer :)

One of Uncle Andrew's friends had met Alanna last month and though she might enjoy some jewelry, perfume, nail polish, and other girly nick knacks she didn't use anymore. It was basically a treasure chest for a 6 year old girl, and Alanna was quick to say to me "can all of this stuff just be for me to use, not for you to use!" Well, shhhh I've already used some of the nail polish! Alanna couldn't wait to paint her own nails, wear some of the jewelry, and shower herself in perfume! Uncle Andrew seems to always steel the show with his gifts, and this was his gift by association!

Alanna has been begging me for a tumbling mat so she can practice some of her more advanced tricks at home. They are a bit pricey, so I wanted to make sure it would be something she's going to get good use of. I don't think we have anything to be concerned about as far as her practicing goes! She's only been taking tumbling this summer (not any dance) and she really prefers tumbling. It's so fun to watch our little monkey do her tricks and giggle in delight as she pulls them off. I think pretty soon she will have her back handspring!

Paul was really trying to convince Alanna to smother the candle with her fingers, "like Uncle Caleb does". She licked her fingers and got really brave, but we just heard a sizzle sound and the candle didn't go out. I finally convinced her to just blow out the candle instead, because she was going to give me a heart attack!

She liked the cheesecake, but after a while it was "too sweet"! I have a hard time with cheesecake as well!

We were glad Grandma Ce-Ce and Poppy could join us for the birthday dinner of Alanna's favorites too. We had pizza rolls, black bean and corn salsa, broccoli salad (my choice), watermelon, and Pina Coladas!

We played that game where you tie a string to a balloon and then tie it around your ankle so everyone tries to pop it. It was so fun that the kids played about 10 rounds of it. Blaze maybe won one, but he was a very enthusiastic player! Every time his balloon was popped, he threw a little tantrum but then came back with a vengeance against his brothers in the next round. I don't know what it is about balloons that bring hours of entertainment, but I can always count on my kids being thrilled with them!

Happy 4th of July 2014!

Since we went to the Herriman Parade a couple of weeks ago, we veered from our usual tradition of watching the Riverton Parade. We decided instead to take a trip to the movie theatre and watch "Malificent". We loved it! It had such a good moral and many lessons to discuss with the kids.

We were so excited to rent some heavy duty rafts and "float" down the Provo river with the Saunders family. I knew it was going to be an adventure, because it always is with James! About 5 minutes into our trip, on of the kids lost a paddle and we saw it stuck in a branch. Without warning, James jumped out and started swimming back to retrieve it. I didn't think much of it because the water isn't deep or dangerous, but I was surprised that James didn't communicate a plan or anything. The Saunders yelled "man overboard", and they were trying to stop their raft and paddle back to James. I was laughing so hard that I couldn't do much paddling myself, but I figured that James would hop out on the bank and run to catch up to our boat. After a few minutes though, I saw his head bobbing up while he was hanging on to the lost paddle and he was getting pretty beat up by the rocks. Why he didn't stand up and get out, I don't know! We were finally able to slow down and drag him to the boat with another paddle, but he was too numb and cold to hoist himself in. I again was laughing so hard as he tried to blame everything on us etc. He finally got in and by the time his toes warmed back up, we lost another paddle and did it all again. Then there was a time when we literally ran into an old dead tree with lots of thick branches, and James fell over board, I fell off of my seat to the floor of the boat scraping up my arm pretty bad, Blaze got hit in the head, and the rest of the kids had enough sense to duck down inside the boat. The Saunders were watching and couldn't grab their phone to get a video fast enough. I'm sure it was a hilarious sight, and every time I think of it I laugh hard enough to provoke tears. I don't know how that stuff happens to us! We had originally though that we'd take two trips down, but one was exhausting enough...and we have the battle wounds to show for it:)

 

After that adventure, we met up with the Lombardi's for a lovely picnic at Vivian Park. It was so beautiful and green and hot, just the way I like it! Of course, we all wanted some ice cream from the BYU creamery to end the day. We first went to return our boats, and when we were ready to take off, our van wouldn't start. The worst time/day ever to have that happen! It was about 4:30, and Provo was starting to fill up for Stadium of Fire which turns into complete madness for the tiny town! Thankfully, our awesome and much loved friends saved the day and drove some of us for ice cream while James took care of the towing, and then we were all able to crowd into their two vans to make it home. It looks like the alternator went out, and also caused the battery to go out. Still working on the car thing, but not a huge deal now that it's back in Herriman.

We were so exhausted from the 100 degree heat and adventures from the day, we opted to watch fireworks from the deck. I don't think we've ever done that on the 4th, but we should start! We saw spectacular shows from around 9-11pm, and enjoyed all of the comforts of home and no traffic! After the fireworks over the valley died down, the kids were dying to do sparklers on their own. Poor Blaze was out cold, but the other three partied hard with James after I went to bed!

 

I'm so thankful for this amazing country we live in, and even more so to all those who have sacrificed so much to allow us the freedoms we enjoy! I hope that I can teach my kids how special our country is, and teach them to respect and contribute to it in a positive way!

 

 

Mini White House Reunion 2014!

Jennifer, Dana , Angela, me, Blaze)

It was so much fun to meet up with a few of my roommates from the White House! I went on a back packing trip through Europe with a couple of them 14 years ago, and we reminisced about some funny incidents that occurred there. One was when we rented motor scooters to drive through the Swiss Alps. None of us had ever operated a scooter, and it was so different from driving a car because the gas and brakes are used with your hands. This proved to be a little problematic when Dana almost ran into an old couple and then got off of her scooter which kept going because she was clutching onto the gas handle. The old couple just shook their heads as if they were used to us crazy American tourists! At the end of our trip we ended up back in London and rode the train back to the airport to catch our flight. Dana and I had hurried and grabbed our things, got off of the train, and were partially up the stairs when we turned back to see where Hilary and Angela were. I'll never forget the scene...Angela was still inside the train with her hands and face pressed up against the closed glass, and Hilary was running after the train calling for it to stop. As if anyone heard her or could stop! Dana and I were laughing so hard! Angela just had to ride the train out to the next stop and turn around, but we were really sweating it thinking she could miss our flight home.

 

It's great to see that we are all so happy being wives and mothers in different parts of the county...and that we will always be the kind of friends who aren't affected by time or distance!