Mother's Day 2015

 I love these people!

Seriously, they are awesome. I'm so glad I get to be their mom.

Oh, and I can't forget my other "kid"

Sure love this sweet girl  :)

Cinco De Mayo and Diecisiete De Noah

We spent time with family on the 4th and included some Cinco de Mayo fun!

Cousins are the best!

Little Levi had to get in on the sombrero action too :)

Then on the 5th Noah turned 17!

My kids are seriously growing up too fast!

Anyway, I think he had a great birthday.

He requested an omelet and some toast and homemade jam for breakfast.

He got a cool book called What if?

Some IBC cream soda and $50

Some of his wishes included...

No chores

Get out of school early

Drive dad's car

(I think this is one of his favorite birthday wishes ever!)

Five guys for lunch

(I didn't mind joining him for that wish, yum!)

Eat candy

To have the giant sugar cookie I bought the other day

(I think he was surprised that I granted that one :) I love those cookies)

Watch Avengers: Age of Ultron

(We all loved it!)

Stay up late

Eat ice cream out of the container

We did his cake brownies and ice cream on the 6th because of the movie

Got a video of him blowing out the candle...

We all think it's pretty funny...enjoy!

Isaac is 12!

Happy Birthday Isaac!

This fabulous kid turned 12!

He started the day off wishing for breakfast in bed.

He wanted a cinnamon crunch muffin and some mango, yum!

Other wishes included...
no chores
game day
open presents in the morning
He loved his cards and candy and book.

He was very happy with his big present, a 3DS!

go to the temple

go to school late
stay up late twice(Sunday and Monday)
watch Once Upon a Time twice(Sunday and Monday)
candle control

He wanted a smash ball for his cake this year.
I did the best I could, and he liked it...so that's what counts :)

I love the picture of him in the dark with his cake, he is so silly!

His last wish was for backscratches and songs.

I can't tell you how much I love that my kids wish for this. I love spending time with them :)

(Since his birthday was on a Sundaysome of the wishes were made on Monday)

When our kids turn 12 they get to spend the day with mom and dad.

We started off the day by granting Isaac's wish to go to the temple.

He had gotten his recommend on his birthday the day before.

Luckily the Provo temple is open on Monday mornings :)

It was such a sweet experience being there with him.

I could feel the Spirit and I just felt so strongly as I watched Mike baptize him,

that this is the kind of thing that matters. It was just so special!

He was able to be baptized for some family names, on Mike's side.

Also while we were there, it was pretty empty. Another lady came in with some of her

male family names that needed to have baptisms done. She asked if there might be a young

man who could do them and was delighted that Isaac would do them.

I could tell that she felt the Spirit as those names were done and she could see, as I could,

the light shining from Isaac as he experienced the temple for the first time.

Then we headed to the BYU Creamery for a treat.

...a treat before lunch? It must be a birthday, ha ha!

He also wanted to go shooting, so we went to a shooting range.

He loved it!

He did a pretty good job too...and I did ok as well :)

Later that evening he and I went and did the traditional photo booth pictures that I have
done with all of my kids when they have turned 12.
I can't seem to find Isaac's right now...I know I have them somewhere.
I probably put them somewhere safe so they wouldn't get lost, ha ha!
I'll scan them in and add them to this post as soon as I can.

Anyway, I think he had a great birthday.
He's excited to start going to Young Men with Noah and Dallin.
He really is growing up!
We sure love him!

18 Years Going Strong!

We had a wonderful day celebrating our anniversary.

When Mike asked me what I wanted to do for our date, it was easy...

I asked him to take me to the BYU Ballroom Dance company performance. 

They have this every year right around our anniversary...just for us, ha ha! 

On our way there.

It was so good! I absolutely love watching these talented dancers!! 

It's especially fun to watch our friends Jessica Kirkham and Kayci (Kirkham) & Casey Treu 

(We even lucked out and got to visit with Tracy and Paula Kirkham after the show for a few minutes)

They are amazing! So amazing!

In fact you should check out Kayci & Casey"s facebook page 

Oh, before we got to BYU for the show we visited the two apartments we used to live in when we were first married.

Our first address

 Our second

 We were the top apartment.

I remember those stairs very well!

Anyway, after the show we went to the temple.

We did sealings and it was particularly special because we were able to do the sealing for Mike's maternal grandma and grandpa. Now they kind of share an anniversary with us :)

We went to dinner at Red Robin (because we had a gift card and felt like it). 

We beat the dinner rush and had a great dinner and got in and out pretty quickly.

Then we went to Cold Stone for a treat. Yum!

(yes we purposefully aimed our spoons to our noses...we are weird!)

Happy Anniversary to us!

Mike Turns 40!

Mike didn't want anything big for his 40th...believe me, I pestered him about it A LOT! 

I decided to just honor his wishes and keep it small and simple.

We had family over for cake. He wanted Jell-o cake.

I made one blue raspberry and one strawberry. 

They were really delicious!

I surprised him by having each of the kids either tell a story about him or impersonate him. 

So fun to see what they came up with :)

I got out a bunch of pictures of Mike as a kid and everyone enjoyed looking through them. 

Here's one close up for you. I can really see some of my kids in this picture...can you?

He's such a great guy! I hope that he had a good birthday and felt the love that we all have for him. 

I wish I was better with words and I could write a wonderful tribute to him

...but sadly that is not one of my talents...so I'll just say 

Happy Birthday Mike! 

We love you more than you know and we'd be lost without you!

Super Baby Shower

My brother and sister-in-law, Greg and Blythe, have spent years trying to have kids.

We are all just super excited that their first little one is on his way here!

My mom and sisters and I put on a baby shower for Blythe. 

She wanted a superhero theme! 

I think it turned out really cute.
(Thanks Pinterest for some good ideas)
We had yummy food, played some silly games and enjoyed being together.

Blythe got some great gifts and we all had a SUPER fun time!

I made some sugar cookies and had fun decorating them. Some turned out better than others :)

Had this scripture framed to go in the baby's room.

We also had some super advice cards for people to fill out for baby Asher.

 My sister made a diaper cake topped with a plush captain america toy.

Blythe's step sisters (I can't remember their names) made this awesome quilt!

All the logos are hand done. Seriously...SO COOL!

 We also had the nieces and nephews  

do some superhero art to go on Asher's wall.

(some of them are still working on theirs)

Happy Birthday Dallin!

15 YEARS OLD!

For his birthday breakfast he wanted a tall stack of homemade pancakes.

Some of his birthday wishes

No chores

Game day

Ride shotgun

Go to Dairy Queen with Mom and Dad

Eat candy (he's still going strong on the no candy for a year)
He didn't go crazy with candy, he just wanted to eat this sucker that his friend
gave him, and I think he had a few other pieces of candy too...but not much.

Leave his water cup in the fridge water dispenser place.

Kind of a funny wish. He says it makes it easier to get water when he wants it :)

Light his birthday candle

Eat in the living room

I had been at my Grandma's house earlier that day with my mom and my sister Marcy. We were cleaning some things out and my mom thought it would be funny for me to take this bunny birthday wreath home and tell Dallin it was a present for him. He thought it was hideous and was only slightly amused :)

He wanted a pizookie from Firebird for his birthday "cake" so we ordered several of them.

I'm not exactly sure what the pose was about in the first picture, but I'm glad I captured it, ha ha!

He also wanted to put his candle out with his fingers - I think that was one of his wishes

One of his cards, his treat and

his book choice by his favorite author

This was his big gift and he absolutely LOVES it!

 So glad I could find one that fit him, thanks Amazon!

It's a replica of the jacket that Clark Kent wears in the last season of Smallville

before he dons the iconic Superman outfit.