Princesses & Pirates

Hello again to Blogger. I haven't blogged in so long. There are a few posts I need to do so I won't forget these fun events.

Logan turned 4 in June! As I always say, I can't believe it. Here are some pictures from his parties. He had a friend party before we went out of town to Utah. Then he had 2 more cakes (one from each Grandma) while in Utah! What a lucky kid. Daven kept saying how next year he wants to celebrate his birthday in Utah. I wonder why?

Logan was already happy as a clam and the party wasn't until the next morning! Logan and Daven watched me make the cake the night before. They were both so excited. They enjoyed tasting lots of the frosting!

Our guests. Everyone looked so cute all dressed up as princesses and pirates. Logan's friends: Elise, Sadie, McKinley, Nate, and brother Daven. A few more friends arrived after we snapped this picture.

He had so much fun! I love the pictures of them opening their presents. The smiles are contagious.

What a cute pirate sister. Good thing she has two pirate brothers to protect her!

In June, Avery learned where her belly button was.

Party # 2 at Grandmas in Idaho.

Party #3 at Grandma's in Utah. We're obviously smiling for the other camera. oops.

Turning 30

Well, it's official. I turned 30 in June! I think I'm still in shock. I was so nervous about officially hitting this number. I dreaded it every day for a few months. I guess I just felt like I've done so many wonderful, fun, exciting things so far in my life. How can it possibly get any better than this?

But, after being 30 for a few weeks, it hasn't been all that bad. I've been thinking a lot about all the things I want to do in this next decade. Here is my wish list so far:

1) Run at least 3 more half-marathon races! Maybe I'll be bold enough to attempt a marathon, we'll see! If I could just beat my times each race that would be awesome.

2) Go back to Europe on a European cruise.

3) Spend lots of time volunteering in the kids' classrooms at school.

4) Travel to Canada. I really want to see the Canadian Rockies and Banff.

5) Enjoy the baseball games, soccer games, dance recitals and all the other fun stuff kids bring.

6) And maybe, maybe, we'll see....add one more baby to our family. Some days I feel like I have more than I can handle, but I think deep down I would like to have one more. We'll see :)

I'm sure there will be more I'll add to the list, but this is where I'm starting for now!

Before we left for our Utah vacation, Mike threw me a GREAT surprise party! I was so impressed at how well he pulled it off. It was so much fun. The food was delicious..Mike did ribs and chicken. Then, everyone brought sides. He coordinated it quite well I thought!

I wasn't suspecting anything until that morning. My friends had all casually informed me of all the FUN plans they had on memorial day that didn't include me :) But, they told me they wanted to go shopping that morning to celebrate my b-day before we left on our big vacation. As I was getting ready to leave, Logan asked what we were going to do when I got home. I told him that maybe we would go swimming. We always go swimming every memorial day in our pool. But, Daven overheard me say this and said, "LOGAN, DID YOU TELL MOMMY the SURPRISE?" It was at this point that I started to suspect something was up. But I didn't know for sure.

My friends did a great job of explaining their busy afternoons and why they needed to leave early from shopping. I didn't catch on. Then Brenna did a great job of getting us lost on the way home from the mall. She is so sweet and I know it was really hard for her to keep coming up with lies. She came to the door with me saying she needed a drink really bad since she is pregnant. A legitimate request, and I think she really was thirsty!! When Mike opened the door. SURPRISE!!!

Thanks to everyone who was able to come. I know it was so crowded, but it was the best day. I had so much fun! That is one thing I am very grateful for is all my wonderful friends that I have at 30 years old. I hope when we are 60, we will still be friends and will still be having so much fun!

Brenna, Karen, Maddy, me, and Michelle

The guys all trying to push Mike in the pool. Mike, Mark, Dustin, Mike and Craig.

See, all guys just LOVE this thing!

Cheers to everyone that is THIRTY!

MURDER

Let the Party Begin! But....wait....there's MURDER involved!

Meet our characters: Detective Neville "the Knows" Nutella and Donna Wannabe

I hang around with movie stars. My brother, Don Wannabe doesn't approve of my friends but gives me my allowance. Someday, I'll be on the big screen, hopefully playing Scarlet! The cigarette is fake, by the way. I had to wear bright red lipstick. I learned that it is hard to wear, it gets on Everything!

The party was so much fun. The funnest part was getting dressed up & seeing everyone else's costumes. We got most of our things at Savers and a costume store. I totally want to do it again. I wasn't the murderer, nor was Mike. I don't have a picture of Michelle, the murderer. But, she stole my pearls and I'm still mad about it :) We had a blast!

The Sherlock Holmes Pipe.

We were encouraged to bribe, kill, blackmail...whatever it took. What a gang. We said next time, we are going to go bowling or something after, just to see what people think! It was such a fun night!

Trouble in Action

You might be asking yourself, Am I Really Trouble like my Mom says?

How could a face as cute as this be TROUBLE?

Or a face like this?

Ha, Ha, Ha, let me just show you how I can be TROUBLE.

Just imagine my mommy is gone. Daddy realizes it is getting VERY QUIET in the house. "Where is Avery," he wonders? Hmm...Let's see.....

I LOVE MARKERS!!! What can I say?

It was really fun, even if I did get in trouble. Daddy was just glad I didn't draw on the WALL.

Sidenote: I think part of Avery's trouble is our lax parenting skills as she is our third. I'm sure we let her do way more than we ever let her brothers do. Plus, her brothers leave all kinds of messy things, like Markers, lying around. And, she is a born rock-climber. She's sees it, she goes and gets it!

Daven Turns Six - Star Wars Birthday Party!

I am so behind in my blogging. My mom keeps asking for the pictures from Daven's birthday party. Sorry it has taken me so long, mom, to get caught up.

I can't believe I have a six year old running around here! I love our Daven so much. He has grown into such a handsome little boy. I am so proud of him for all he has been learning this year at kindergarten. He is a smart boy. Life is always more fun with him around.

Here is Daven on his 6th birthday. We take the kids out for dinner on their birthday. Last year Daven chose ARBY's. Mike and I decided to go with it, since, hey, he probably won't choose that again. This year he chose one step up - PETER PIPER PIZZA. The kids had fun using all their tokens and buying army guys with their tickets! It was definately fun and the pizza wasn't as bad as we were expecting! Maybe next year, we'll work up to Chuckey Cheese's.
I usually save the big cake for their birthday party. This is why Daven is blowing out a birthday candle from an ice-cream sandwich above.

This year Daven wanted a Star Wars party. He has been crazy about Star Wars all year.

I found a cake store on-line. I ordered these printed stickers to put on his cupcakes. They are made out of edible frosting. You put them on and they melt into place. It wasn't too hard. I was really glad that Mike's mom was here to help me while we initially tried to figure it out. They didn't turn out as great as I was expecting, but the kids loved them. Each cupcake had a picture of a different Start Wars character on them. We learned a lot for next time & it was fun to try something different.
Party Day. We played some fun star wars games inside. The kids had to pretend they were in Jedi Training. We put their senses of hearing, taste and touch to the test. They passed!
Then, we went outside for the Jedi Training Obstacle Course. The kids had the most fun doing this. Here are some cute shots! Amy from Daven's class jumping through the rings.

An Intense Jedi - Look at that!

Alex from Daven's class. Check out those cool sunglasses!

Next, we tested their light-saber swinging skills with the Pinata. We had to get something harder to get the box to break! I think we eventually used a golf club. Daddy had to give it a final swing at the end. I'm sure everyone's parents thought their kids came home with way too much candy...sorry!
Bless the girls' hearts. They were so sweet to come. Daven really wanted Mikenna to come, she is his friend that he met up at the Kunz' cabin a few months ago. They were inseparable. This was more of a "boy" party the girls said! But, apparently, according to Mikenna's mom and dad, she had a really good time at the party. I was so worried about the girls the whole time. They were a little afraid to jump in and try things. I'm really going to have to learn how to throw a girls party.

Nate, Daven's best buddy since they were like 2!

Bailey, she goes to Daven's school and we carpool with her.

We played a crazy-mixed up Dress-Up game. Here are the final costumes. We did it like musical chairs. If they were holding the bean bag when the music stopped, they had to put on a crazy dress-up item. The girls were especially nervous about this. What was I thinking? I didn't have ANY girl dress-ups:).

Present time is always so much fun.

Daven had so much fun. This was a fun party to give this year. We were excited to have Mike's parents there for all the action.