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!

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!

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.

Double Digits for Anna!

My baby girl turned 10 years old!

We did some celebrating the day before because her birthday was on a Sunday.

Whenever that happens, I usually let them make some wishes on Saturday.

Her wishes (which were with Grace's wishes that I misplaced) as best as I can remember.

On Saturday she wished for

No chores

Game day

Chick-fil-A with Mom and Dad

Ride in the trunk on the way home from the church Christmas party

Then on Sunday she continued with her wishes.

open her presents and cards before church

She wanted Jolly Ranchers and the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book

For her big gift, she got a doll and some clothes for the doll.

She loved it!

more wishes...

get to do the advent calendar

have Dad make her a parfait

drink Sprite straight from the bottle

She also wished to stay up and watch Despicable Me 2 (her gift from Grandma and Grandpa)

We didn't get to do her birthday "cake" that night because we went

over to my brother's house for dinner. 

We did have cookies for dessert though, so I think she was fine with that!
Plus she got to spend time with Julianne, her twin cousin, and that is always fun!

Then on Tuesday (since Monday was really busy)

she got to have her birthday requested breakfast.

She wanted a cinnamon crumb muffin.

That evening we were able to do her "cake"

She wanted cookie bars.

I think that she had a great birthday weekend!

We sure love her and all the fun she brings to our family :)

Grace is 13!

We have another teenager in the house!

Her day started with her requested breakfast of

eggs, bacon a clementine and some passion fruit juice.

I seem to have misplaced her list of wishes :(

so I'll try to remember most of them

No chores (a favorite wish)

She wished for me to straighten her hair

I think she is beautiful either way!

Lick the batter bowl

Play on the computer

She wished to stay up late

To watch her new movie from Grandma and Grandpa

and to have a whole bag of popcorn to herself!

She asked for a chocolate raspberry trifle for her cake

and wished for candle control :)

 She enjoyed opening her gifts and cards

Anna made her a little birthday treat from pie crust

Her candy was skittles

Book was Atlantia

Her big gift was horseback riding lessons!

 She's really excited for that.

She will get 3 one-hour sessions :)

Other wishes I remember were...
playing flight control with mom
getting a backscratch from mom
mom reading a chapter of Atlantia out loud before bed

She is such a wonderful girl and we LOVE her so much!

So glad that she is in our family.

Hope she had a great day.

(Hopefully I will find her list of wishes and be able to update this post.)

My Birthday

My kids all wore purple for me to grant one of my birthday wishes :)

I love it!

 ...and I really love their goofiness :)

I also got an extra hour for my birthday,

who wouldn't love that!

I taught in Relief Society that day too.

It was a lesson on prayer and I sang a song at the beginning of it.

I sang Prayer is the Soul's Sincere Desire, the Sally DeFord arrangement.

I think it went pretty well.

The RS Presidency stopped by and gave me a little birthday gift, that was nice of them.

I watched some Little House on the Prairie and Leave it To Beaver with the kids.

Mike had to be at drill today so he was gone most of the day,

but when he finally got home he took some time to spoil me a little too :)
Since he knew he would have to be gone on my birthday he took me out on Saturday night.
We went to a formal event for Corporate Alliance.

We both agreed upon arriving there that "formal" here is a little
different than in Washington D.C. We felt a little overdressed at first,
but then decided not to worry about it and have a good time.
(There were some other people that were dressed formal too, so we weren't alone)
Anyway, the dinner was delicious and it was just nice to spend time with my man!
Oh and he also gave me some cute flowers

All in all, it was a nice, happy, relaxing, good birthday!