Our Pioneer Day Birthday!

My sweet little boy turned SEVEN on the 24th of July! Wow, seriously. How is time going by so fast?! I guess time flies when you're having fun, and generally there is plenty of fun around here.

Pierce had a great birthday. He had been counting down the days and could not wait for the big day. Anticipation of birthdays is one of my favorite things for my kids. They are just SO excited! He and Madi both woke up bright and early ecstatic for the big day- we started the morning with our traditional breakfast muffin. A favorite of Pierson's.


Then it was off to the Pioneer Day parade, which the kids loved (good thing they are easy to please, there was not much to it.) They had fun sitting with Grant and Annie and cousin Jackson.

Madi, Annie, Grant, Jackson, Pierce

And then it was on to races! Pierson LOVES the races! There are lots of perks that come with having your birthday on Pioneer Day- parade, fireworks (although unfortunately not this year) and the races! He was almost as excited to race as he was for his birthday! First here is a look at Annie and Madi racing with the 4 year old girls...

Annie was all business and ran so hard, she beat Madi by quite a ways, Madi cracked me up prancing along with a little smile on her face. Love it.

Pierce's race was so great, these pictures speak for themselves...


He was so proud of himself, he knew he had won, and by quite a bit! He loves to run, he definitely didn't get that from me. Way to go Pierce!

Then it was home to get ready for the big "Star Wars" Party! He had 9 friends come and they had a ball playing "Jedi, Jedi, Sith" and Musical Chairs- to Star Wars Music. Of course the pinata was a hit! It's always the highlight of our parties and this year was no exception, except they busted it open before all the kids even got a turn! I've been making them this way since Pierson's 4th birthday and it was a sudden realization to how big he is, that my good ol' pinata isn't going to work anymore. I've got to come up with another method for next year.


Present Time! So many fun gifts from his great buddies! He is in Heaven with all the cool new toys he got!

Cake Time!

Our great little party guests: Brooke, Todd, Luke, Cameron, Matthew
Grant, David, Jace, Pierce, Joey, Madi

Pierce shares his birthday with cousin Jackson, who was turning 4. They had fun playing and exchanging gifts during the afternoon.

That evening we had a great get together with our wonderful friends the Woodburys and the Houskeepers. The kids went wild playing and us Moms and Dad enjoyed delicious food and lots of fun too. It was so crazy I didn't get any pictures of the kids, but we all had a fun evening. By the time the 2nd party was over, it was time for bed. But we stayed up a little longer for a few more surprises...

New Bike from Mom and Dad!

Episode 4! Wahoo! This was one excited, happy birthday Jedi!

And just a little side note, Pierson loves this shirt which says, "I've got an awesome Dad." The day before his birthday he got dressed and came out and told me, "I'm saving my awesome Dad shirt for my birthday." He loves his Daddy so much and loves wearing this shirt to show it off, what a sweet boy!

CATS!

I was thrilled to be able to take the kids to see "Cats" at Tuacahn this year! It is one of my favorite shows and I have special memories of my Mom taking me to see it, and listening to and loving the music with her. The kids and I had been listening to the music in the car for a few weeks before so they were familiar with all the songs and knew the names of all the Cats who my favorite songs are about. They were very excited to go and have this special night out. For once we were able to get there early for a show, (Ryan and I are usually racing just to make it in time!)so we had time for a little photo op. Here are a couple favorites...


The kids were so excited to be there and just giddy with excitement. They thought this was so funny.

Madi was so excited to be there for her first time, when the man doing the announcements before the show asked if it was anyone's first time at Tuacahn, she very excitedly raised her hand. It was so cute. We had the opportunity of seeing the show with the Deaf group, so it was also a great opportunity for me to watch the interpreters. They do an amazing job! At intermission a few of the cats came out for photo ops, this was great fun for the kids! Very cool.

Old Deuteronomy, quite a friendly old cat!

Rumpleteezer (I was hoping to meet Mungojerry who was played by Thayne from SYTYCD)

After the show Pierson and I got to meet two of my favorites- Rum Tum Tugger and Mr. Mistofflees
Madi was too tired for any pics at this point, but they did so great during the entire show! We loved it!

We LOVE Daddy!

The kids were very excited about Daddy's birthday and Father's Day this year, especially since they were just 2 days apart, this meant lots of fun and love at our house!

Father's Day

We had a nice relaxing day at home on Father's Day, something that doesn't happen much for Ryan! The kids were very excited to give him gifts, he got a handsome new shirt and a new hair cutting set. Every guys dream, right! Pierce was also thrilled to give him a BYU tie. (Just for the record, this is the only tie Ryan has ever received as a gift from us, and it was a cool one!) Both kids were also very excited to present him with handmade cards, especially since Madi has just recently learned how to write her letters-this was her first time being able to write a card herself, she was so happy about that! We also made him a delicious cake for dessert that the kids enjoyed helping me make.


We love Daddy!

And thanks to darling and creative primary teachers the kids loved giving him cute treats and cards they had made in primary that day!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Dad's birthday party had been long anitcipated since we had told the kids we would go to see Toy Story 3 for Dad's birthday. It was great timing since the movie opened just a few days before, plus I have to admit I think I was more excited to see it than the kids were! We had a super yummy dinner at Texas Road house and then hit the movie. I just wished I would have taken the camera to get a pic of the kids in their 3D glasses. We all loved the movie, of course Ryan and I couldn't help but get a little teary eyed, Ryan thought anyone who didn't was not quite human. And the kids were so cute, laughing out loud and then clinging to our arms during the scary parts. Great movie. Then it was home for cake! We tried the Red Velvet cake from Costco that we'd had our eye on, and it was delicious!


I can't believe my husband is 35! The kids and I had such fun celebrating him. We love him more than I can say. I am so incredibly lucky to have such an amazing husband, seriously, I don't know how I lucked out with him. If you know "the story", I'm sure you'll agree with me. Luckiest girl ever. That's me.

Happy 35th Babe, I love you so much, thank you for being the best husband and Father ever and for loving me more than I have ever deserved. You are the absolute best.

Sweet Sailin'

Madi's dance recital was the sweetest thing ever! She has had such a fun year in dance and has absolutely loved it! She had a fabulous teacher, Miss Sherrie, that we just adored, she was so great with the girls! (We will miss her so much!) She was so excited for her recital, especially to have Daddy and Brother come watch her. Her class danced to "The Good Ship Lollypop" and their dance was absolutely adorable! (And as I mentioned, very sweet!) She loved the song and knew every word, she did such a great job dancing and singing!

I was lucky enough to actually get her to look at me with the camera a few times! She was so darling in her costume!



Off to the stage for their big dance!

She was so lucky to be in the same class with her 2 best friends and to make new friends as well! We especially loved getting to know Addie and her cute Mom, Heather.
Addie, Mia, Madi, Hailey, Annie and Ava

I seriously can't get over how stinkin' adorable these girls were, the looked so cute and precious and they did such a great job on their dance. It was definitely sweet sailing on The Good Ship Lollypop!

Adam & a Bit of "Gospel Principles"

Oh, my how this little girl melts my heart! A little background- One of the songs they have been working on in Primary is "Follow the Prophet". Each class is assigned a verse to sing for the Primary program (since there are 10 verses). Madi's verse is "Adam". This little girl loves to sing and loves learning the primary songs. She is always amazing me with how fast she learns them. So, since learning this song she has proclaimed Adam as "her prophet". She loves to practice her verse and was very excited to find it in the "Friend" a month or so ago, and find "her prophet"!

Well one day Madi picked up Ryan's Gospel Principles manual. She loved looking at the pictures and wanted me to tell her all about them. With her new love for "her prophet" Adam, she was especially excited to find a picture of him right in the front. I took these pics one day while I was cleaning bathrooms and she was just following me around, completely happy to look at her book. It was just the sweetest thing. I honestly had not picked up the manual at all, until my sweet little 4 year old wanted to know all about it! She literally carried it around the house for a week. She even took it to bed with her. I am so amazed at the great understanding and knowledge she already has of the Gospel. She is one strong, smart little girl! I am so blessed to have her. I hope I can keep up with her!

Goodbye 1st Grade - Hello Summer!

It is hard to believe my little boy is already done with 1st grade! This year has just flown by! He was very excited to be out of school but insists he is not a 2nd Grader yet, he's just in between. I think I like that too. 2nd Grade sounds way too big, and sadly I know it will be here before I know it. He had a lot of fun the last couple weeks of school, of course it was filled with lots of fun activities and very little homework, it was great. Here is a look at some of his fun days.

Hawaiian Day - looking very cool

Pirate Day

Pierce & Grant


Awards Day with Mrs. Angona - Pierce was very excited for this day...all the parents were invited to come to class and each child got to read their hardcover book to the class, he had been so excited about his book and working on it pretty hard, he couldn't wait to show it to me! He wrote a "Star Wars" book and did a great job reading it to the class. All the kids also received an award from Mrs. Angona, she picked something she would remember about each of them and gave them an award, Pierson received his for his "vast knowledge of every super hero". Yes, that is my son, such a proud Mom.

We were SO lucky to have our first swim of the season with our favorite Californians! We were so excited that our dear friends, The Rollins, made a visit to St. George! Erin and I got to spend a fun evening catching up on life while the kids swam and had a great time together!

Pierce and Ellie have so much fun together, I love watching them play. I love these shots, what fun it is to be 6!

Addie and Madi had a good time too, we just love these girls to pieces! Of course the evening went by way too fast and we needed a few more hours to keep talking, so we are really excited for their next visit! We were so happy we got to spend some time with Erin and the girls and to meet baby Kole (I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of him!) and to take a swim in Grandma Van's pool. Perfect way to welcome summer!

Out Comes Tooth #4!

Pierce's 2nd top tooth has been loose for quite awhile now, I knew it was close to ready and kept trying to talk to him about pulling it out. For some reason, beyond me, he acted terrified. He was refusing to let me try to pull it, even though I have pulled out his other 3 teeth very quickly and very pain free. I promised him I'd never hurt him and that I wouldn't pull it if I didn't KNOW it was ready. He refused. So you can imagine my surprise when he came running into the room to find me, with his tooth in his hand, blood in his mouth and dripping down his chin! He had pulled it out himself! Where this came from I'll never know. After we cleaned up his face and the blood that was splattering the sink, (very thankful he decided to do it while looking in the mirror standing over the sink!) he ran outside, excited to show Dad! He was so proud that he pulled it out himself.



Madi was excited too. She keeps talking about wanting to loose a tooth, and I just want her to stay 4. He looks so cute, but I'm so not ready for the awkward teeth stage! He's growing up way too fast!