Trip to Sunny Nevada

The weekend before memorial day, we went down to visit my Uncle John and Auntie Mo. We had a GREAT time. The kids swam in their pool, played with their dogs, roasted marshmallows and generally got spoiled. We also went to my Uncle's drag race time trials, I got to ride in his dragster, and I got to take an awesome bike ride with my aunt. It was a great weekend. Here are some pics...

 Auntie Mo and Uncle John, trying to stay cool before the start.

 Our oldest son, chillin in the golf cart at the track.

 Uncle John and his dad's (my grandpa's) namesake.

 Me riding back in the dragster.

 The kids in the pool.

 This is what our baby does when he sees a camera and you say, "Say Cheese!" Squinty eyes and big open mouth. It's soooo darn cute!

 The kids found a geocache on the mesa with their dad.

 One of the kids' favorite things was riding to the time trials in the motorhome. They thought that was SOOOOOO coool!

 At the track...earplugs in place.

 My honey taking pictures of Uncle John.

 Two cuties in the dragster.

 The boys playing football with their second cousins.

 The cutest baby around if I do say so myself.

Happy 10th Birthday Kiddo! Video Game Party and BBQ in Nevada

Our second son turned 10 this month. He had quite the extended celebration. We were going to be out of town on his actual birthday so we had his party with friends a week early. He wanted a video game party. So I made a XBox video game controller birthday cake. HERE'S THE LINK to my other blog on how I made the cake. It turned out great and he told me I should be on one of those cake decorating shows. It was fun to make and I could really get into that sort of thing, but alas, no time.

The party was complete with pizza, soda, licorice, video games, glow necklaces, and fun. He had a great time. Fortunately he has a small group of friends so it wasn't too crazy. I can't believe how grown up he's getting.

Then we went down to visit family in Nevada while dad had to do some work there on the actual birthday weekend. They made his day special by having a BBQ, bonfire, and singing happy birthday to him. What a lucky boy...2 parties.

Then finally, Nana and Papa came over the evening after we returned and gave him their gift and shared some Peach Pie with us (this pie was the special request of the birthday boy). It used up the last of my frozen pie filling I made from our peaches last summer. I just hope our trees end up producing this year so we can make more.

Here are the photos from his many celebrations...

XBox Controller Cake made by his mom (me)...he was stoked!

Playing video games, TEAM 1

TEAM 2. Glow necklaces included.

Lego Rock Band...They Rocked!

The Birthday Boy getting ready to blow out the candles.

The Party-goers

Mom decorated like an arcade in the basement.

Great Aunt Linda's strawberry cheesecake bday dessert.

On the actual Birth Date...Yummy dessert!

Grannie & Papa weren't there but sent a gift...

or two. Thanks Grannie and Papa.

relaxing by the bonfire

Back at home, day 3 of celebrating, gifts from Nana & Papa

Thanks Nana and Papa

And special request, Mom's Peach Pie.

Black Belt Test

After 3+ years of Martial Arts, our oldest son tested for Black Belt. He passed and we are very proud of him. The journey doesn't end here, however. It's only the beginning. He hopes to earn his second degree black belt in another 3 years and see where life takes him from there. His Master, Master Royal West, is an 8th degree black belt and was one of the earliest, what we now call mixed-martial artists, to do full body fighting on TV in the 70's. Martial Arts has increased our son's discipline, maturity, respect, and obedience as well as developed many other aspects of his physical and spiritual characteristics. Great Job! Here's a slideshow of his test.

Easter 2011

The only thing that could've been better about Easter weekend was the weather. If it wasn't so darn cold and rainy, we could've had our annual picnic out on West Mountain instead of indoors. But we had fun anyway.

We started with a little face painting, but only one kid wanted it. But she makes a darn cute bunny.

 Then we did an Easter craft...blew out the center of raw eggs and made egg animals.

 AND made confetti eggs (hollow eggs filled with confetti).

 We played games indoors instead of the usual frisbee, bb guns and kite flying out on the mountain.

 The egg creatures and confetti eggs. See if you can spot the Frog, 2 Dogs, the female Deer, the pig, the chick and the peacock/bluebird (and 2 plain confetti eggs).

 The beginning of the egg hunt.

 Hunting eggs in the drizzling rain in the backyard.

 Baby boy loved shaking the eggs. So cute!

 Confetti egg smashed on my head by my son.

Easter Sunday Morning

 We got to make it an extra special church service by going to my brother's baby's blessing. This picture was taken outside of us afterward.

Spring Break 2011

While dad went back to work for the first time since his surgery, the rest of us had a little "stay"-cation for Spring Break.  It was great! We did something fun every day. Of course I forgot my camera everywhere we went, but I had my cell phone cam...not as good but got the general job done.

On Monday we couldn't get going until after noon, but we went to an indoor rec center and went swimming with some neighbors. It was a great place and great fun. Our poor little baby boy was terrified of all the noise, people and water for the first hour and just clung to me burying his head in my chest. But then he really warmed up and had a grand time.

Then we went home and I taught my daughter how to ride a bike. She picked it up quickly.

On Tuesday we had some old friends over and the moms went out to lunch. It was fun to catch up with them.
On Wednesday we dropped dad off at work in Salt Lake City and headed over to the Planetarium. We saw a show on Black holes and explored the exhibits.

Then we met dad for lunch at the Lyon House Pantry on Temple Square.

After that, he went back to work and we met up with some other old friends at the Church History Museum. They had a special exhibit for kids upstairs but we also enjoyed the other parts.

Finally, we walked over to the Church's Conference Center and took a tour...ending up on the garden terrace roof. It was a good full day.

On Thursday we took it a little easier and went to see a movie. We saw "Gnomeo and Juliet." It was cute. The theater we went to has $3 tickets and $1-$2 drinks, snacks, and popcorn. All of us got in and got popcorn and drinks for a total of $20. NICE! Then we even got 2 free boxes of candy because of a mixup with the seating (you choose your seat on the computer screen at the box office, but I guess some of us chose the same seats at the same time so we let them move us.)
On Friday we dropped dad off at work again in Salt Lake. Then we drove over to Branbury Bakery and had donuts together before heading off to the Tracy Aviary where we spent the rest of the morning. It was an expensive hour and a half, but worth the educational value and experience. The kids enjoyed the birds and especially enjoyed getting to feed them.

Then we went up to my sister's house north of Salt Lake to spend the afternoon with cousins. On the way home, we stopped at Taco Amigo for dinner (one of dad's and the kids' favorite fast food places) and then let the older kids camp out back in the trailer.
On Saturday we wrapped up the week with a backyard campout...hot dog roast in the fire pit, games, and of course smores (ending with the kids sleeping in the trailer again).

It was a great Spring Break (now I need a break)!