July 2012

July was a fun month of family activities and birthdays.  Ah, looking at these pictures makes me long for the summer again as I sit here staring out the window at the 2 feet of snow outside.

Fun times riding Uncle Luke's lawnmower.  This is the closest he will get to a vehicle anytime soon.

Paige was invited to Riley Webb's birthday party full of slip-n-slides and octo-dogs. The Webbs sure know how to party.

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July is the big month for Bonnie's girls Abby and Baylee.  They both have July birthdays so they celebrated at the rec center and had a swim party.

My dad visited from California with the 3 little boys and Norma for a couple days in July.  It was pretty fun.  Thanks to Whitney and Ashton for their really cool back yard.

Cam and Grandpa David

Norma and the whole crew (We're just missing McCoy)

My work had a great family summer party this year and treated everyone to a Real Salt Lake (soccer) game. It was so fun but SO HOT!

SWIMMING LESSONS!

Dark Knight Marathon- July 20th, 2012

The Dark Knight Marathon

Braiden and I, in a theater from

 6pm-3am.

Lots of Batman...

In case you were wondering, yes, I am a cool Mom.

The rest of June 2012

We had a lot of stuff going on in June.  The months of May and June always feel crazy for us between all the birthdays, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, end of school, beginning of summer, and our mad dash off to some long-awaited/needed vacation.  

As you might have guessed, we ventured west again to our favorite place but this time we went with our good friends, the Webb Family (Chris & Amy).  We love hanging out with those guys, our kids get along, AND they share our love for all things Disney so they just get us and we get them.  Its nice to be understood.

We met up with them in Las Vegas for a couple days where we stayed at the Stratosphere hotel.  They even got me to go up to the top of the tower (which was terrifying, by the way) and we got to watch Amy's brother do some crazy jump off the top of it.  Yikes.

We made a little stop at my Pop's house overnight and hung with my other brothers from another mother.  

 

Even though that rat is obviously fake, isn't that disturbing? Ew.

On to D-land!  

We timed this trip perfectly to coinside with a couple VERY important dates, in chronological order:

#1:  The opening day of Cars Land at California Adventure (June 15th).

#2:  Baby Max's 1st B-day!! (June 17th)

For me, you know, the Disney parades never get old.  Even if I see the same one 3 times in a year, I still just love sitting to watch them and especially watch my kids faces as their favorite Disney characters come dancing and singing by, close enough for them to touch.  Its magical.  How often do they get to experience magic?

Some of the trips best Kodak Moments:

And some more:

This was about all I could get on Camera of the opening day at Cars Land.  As you can imagine, it was packed.  People were fighting shoulder-to-shoulder, to get down the street just for a glimpse of the place and we heard there were people waiting in excess of 6 hours for the new Radiator Springs Racers Ride.  Eh,eh.  I may be a Disney nut but I am not crazy.  

This actually worked very nicely for us because Disneyland was nice and empty!  

(Dont worry, we made our way back to Cars Land in 2012, post to come)

 June 17th was Max's 1st birthday so we celebrated by doing the character breakfast buffet at Paradise Pier PCH Grill.  The food is so yummy and the kids got to see all the characters they cared to.

Max got some special attention from Minnie and Daisy and his very own birthday brownie (that he didn't touch because he was so full).

Christmas 2012 (real time)

I know that I still behind on my posting and I do vow to catch up but I am tired of putting today's blog-able moments on hold just because I haven't caught up!  There's just no excuse and I am only going to create a perpetual lag of posts...so instead, I have decided that I am going to confuse everything and blog the present and the past, as I see fit until I get all caught up.  Sorry if this confuses anyone but this is my blog, so my rules.  The truth is, I am probably the only person that ever reads this anyway, right?  ha.  Well, the truth is, I do this for me.  

So here it is, in real time, Christmas Eve 2012 only a day after... please hold all applause till the end, and Christmas Day 2012 the day of!  Woot Woot!

We started the day with a massive snow storm out here in little Eagle Mountain.  I wasn't so sure I was going to get Eric out the door (he hates driving in the snow, or actually, when I drive in the snow) but we did leave and braved the drive back to Draper for our annual Christmas Eve Sugar Cookie Extravaganza (I made that up) with our group of best pals and kids from Draper.  It was really fun.  The kids decorated sugar cookies and made Reindeer Food while the parents watched, helped, directed and controlled the madness (there were 20 kids there between the 6 families..WOW!)

The question of the day: How do you keep little kids from licking the knife and putting it back in the bowl?  Answer:  Who knows!  We certainly haven't figured it out.

I love these ladies!  We have all been friends and neighbors for so long.  I am glad they still invite me back even though I don't live there anymore!

Reindeer Dust (a careful mixture of oatmeal, glitter and confetti) is especially good at attracting those magical critters!

Christmas jammie time!  (Braiden went to his Dads house the year and Max wouldn't hold still)

Max wasnt feeling so hot.  I hate it that he wasn't feeling good but nothing beats a super-snugly baby.

Santa knows how to party!!

CHRISTMAS DAY 2012

Paige, Cam and Max didn't require any coaxing to get into the gift-opening spirit.

Braiden got home soon thereafter for Christmas Morning #2 and found his was around his loot just fine.

Then Grandma and the rest of the fam came over....and the house exploded again.  We are so blessed. 

I think this year has been a little different and sentimental for Eric and me because this is our first Christmas in a different house than our Draper house since we have been married.  It has proven to be a great one but still, different.  Who knows, next year we might even be in a different house.  Not sure yet, but things can change very quickly as it turns out.

7 is (Build-A-Bear) Heaven

June is a busy month at our house.  Especially now that we have 2 kids with June birthdays along with school ending and usually some sort of family vacation.

  

Of course, I choose to punish myself every year and do birthday parties for Paige. I just cant help it.  It makes her so happy and I just love showering all my kids with attention on their b-days.  After all, these are the anniversaries of the best days of my life.  Fair's fair.

This year, however, since we had just moved and wanted Paige to be able to invite friends from her old school we decided on Build-a-Bear (bless their souls) for the 7th Birthday Celebration!  What would parents do without that store that makes it impossible to get through the mall without a tantrum?  Well, I am here to attest to the fact that it IS good for something.  The birthday party shindig was a hit and worth every penny!

The girl that was our hostess was a saint.  It took some serious patience to deal with our group and she was AWESOME!  Every kid came out of there satisfied and glowing with pride at their creations. (Front left to right, top to bottom: Abby, Paige, Rylie, Kiera, Megan, Baylee, Cameron.  Notice Cameron was the lone boy? Not completely uncommon.)

After the Build-a Bear party was done and paid for, we headed over to the bless-ed food court, had some bless-ed Chick-fil-A, birthday cake (thank you Walmart bakery lady) and present opening.  Who could ask for an easier set-up and clean-up?  It was perfect.

Paige was one happy girl that day.

A new bike from mommy and daddy.

The next day we had some fun cousin time and went to see Mirror Mirror (LOVED IT!)

Someday they are going to love this picture.

Before...

After... (the sign ended up flat on the ground).  Pretty funny.

My nightmare begins (Braiden turns 13!)

Braiden is one lucky kid.

The 13th birthday party was easy:  a few buddies, pizza, cake and X-Box pretty much all night.  He picked red velvet cake.  Who is this kid?

Buddies:  Max, Trevor and Nate.  They are pretty good kids.  They haven't caused too much trouble as of yet (that I know of) which is the only reason why I let them keep coming back. 

I love this picture of Braiden.  He has cut his cute Justin Beiber "do" since then but I liked it for the short while that he had it. 

Remember when I said Braiden was a lucky kid?  This is b-day party #2 at his dads house.  More people, more cake, more presents!  I suppose I can be glad that we are all able to get along well enough to have a big party together.  

As you may have guessed, his highlight birthday gifts were his Facebook account and his cell phone (the 2 gifts of MANHOOD, right?)  Well, this is pretty-much the side of him that I have seen since then.  Could I not have waited one more year?

He's a cute kid.  Heaven help me.