Brock's Birthday Bash!

After our marathon day of Fun in the Snow we celebrated Brock's 2nd Birthday. As I documented earlier it took us forever to drive home from Flagstaff so I had to enlist the help of a birthday fairy or two to pull everything off. So thanks to Aunt Kaley and Uncle Chase, Brock was thrilled with the Krispy Kreme Birthday Doughnut Mountain and Mickey & Friends balloon. Actually with those two things alone Brock would have been a very happy kid. Why we even buy presents I have no idea!


Oh yeah. It's that face. That's why we buy presents.


A Mickey Mouse birthday party wouldn't be right without Mickey himself. This one tells jokes and sings the "Hot Dog" song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse--Brock's favorite show.


It's hard to tell who is more anxious for Brock to blow out the candles!


Can we say a delicious end to a long day? Those are sleepy eyes I think. . . .

Snow Much Fun!

Ok, this story requires some background info. We promised the kids we would drive up to Flagstaff to play in the snow sometime before it melted. It suddenly occurred to me that the perfect day would be Brock's Birthday. All the Utah family had shifted plans (they're shifty that way) and since they came a day early and surprised everyone, they left a day early which left Saturday, January 2nd open for a frosty adventure!

Scott and I decided not to tell the kids ahead of time and just kidnap them. They had a Primary Activity to meet their new teachers Saturday morning so we got everything ready the night before. I dropped them off at the church and frantically finished last minute packing of gloves, scarves and hats and loaded the car. Scott picked them up, we let them in the house for a potty check and then told them to get back in the car. They are a little too much accustomed to being hauled away on errands NOT of their choosing so there weren't too many questions to begin with.

In my scheming-theme-ing mind I devised clues as to where we were going via movies to watch in the car. The first one was "Ice Age" and the second was "Backyardigans--Snow Fort." Bradley guessed right away but of course it was way to early to reveal if he was right or not.

We were getting really close. Bryson was asleep and all of the sudden Bradley noticed the snow on the ground. The scenery really went from nothing to big patches of snow covered ground in a matter of minutes. I thought Blake might actually eject out of his car seat, he was so excited! After waiting waaayyy too long to get into the park (Wing Mountain Snow Park) we got our snow stuff on and headed to buy a sled.

Our family has gotten to do some really fun things on vacations. This little day trip will hang right in there at the top of the Fun list! Probably because we don't get to play in the snow made it all the more exciting.


So unfortunately, Brock did not take to the snow so well at first. Here he is not so happy.


Here's Brock really not happy.


Now we're doing better. It's always good to be with Dad.


The building of the snowman!


Still working. . .


Still working. . .


Done! Ok, we don't claim to be Michelangelo but we had fun!


A few more fun pics from the snow.










Pinecone Popcicles--anyone?

We had to include some video of the kids sledding. The boys wanted to go down "The Big Hill" but Scott and I felt like this hill was big enough seeing as though we didn't bring helmets or football pads!

Bradley Sledding


Bryson Sledding


Blake Sledding


Brock and Amy Sledding



So that was our family adventure to Flagstaff. We highly recommend it to anyone who wants a fun day trip to play in the snow. It was just enough cold--but not too much!

The scenery going home was not quite as good as coming.


It started out like this.


And quickly turned into this. It took us forever to get home.


We did cross over this sign and the boys were ecstatic which helped us get through the next few miles of waiting in traffic. Even with the very long ride home it was a great day. It was just a lot of fun to run away for a while, be together and throw a few snowballs at each other!

Christmas Surprises

Christmas is always exciting. The rush of anticipation and anxiousness mixed with a good sugar high is a mark of the season. We were thankful for each other, the many blessings from our Heavenly Father and to not be dealing with a flood disaster like last year. Here is a festive snipet of our Christmas this year including surprises from Santa, surprise guests at Grandma-ma's (the Utah Crew wasn't expected to arrive until the 26th, and surprises at Grandma & Grandpa's. The biggest surprise was the refilling Christmas tree at Grandma's house. Never put anything past Santa and Cheryl!

All Dressed Up

I resolved a long time ago that if we never had any girls in our family I could still make boys look cute. And the benefit is they take a lot less time to get ready than a house full of girls would which makes more time for me! The Sunday before Christmas I dress the boys in coordinating but not matching outfits for church. Usually Scott and I coordinate with the boys as well--it's that whole theme thing I have. Anyway, here are my handsome big and little men:


Bradley: Almost 10-1/2


Bryson: Almost 8


Blake: Almost 5


Brock: 2 on January 2nd.

I am so thankful for these boys in my life. I am a different person today because of what each of them brings to my life. You think you know what you want when you're just starting out as a newly married couple. Turns out life throws some really funny curve balls at you. For me, the total girly girl, non-camper or outdoorsy anything, hates to get dirty or have dirt in the house Mom, got 4 darling boys, who wouldn't trade all the dirt and stinky shoes for anything!

Johnny Appleseed Day

We are so fortunate to go to an elementary school that has some truly amazing teachers. Bradley and now Bryson has Mrs. Bretzing, who is one of the most inventive, caring, patient, creative (I could go on and on) teachers I have ever seen. She is an expert at showing the kids how what they are learning applies to the world outside the classroom. She is famous for her garden on the west side of the school where the kids plant vegetables and sunflowers, chart their growth, harvest the crop and get to take some home after a tasting day at school.


On this occasion they were doing a unit on Johnny Appleseed. They worked on a play including costumes and scenery. One thing I loved about this play is that it incorporated poetry that the kids memorized into the story of Johnny Appleseed.


Bryson was one of four narrators and he memorized his part all by himself. Scott and I were very proud of him. One of Bryson's friends was the younger Johnny Appleseed. It was hysterical. The whole class did a great job!


Behind the apple tree curtains they had apple pie and ice cream for refreshments after the play. You can't really tell from the pictures but the classroom was completely full of parents and grandparents. I'm sure we were a fire hazzard--but a really talented and tasty one! Great job Bryson!

Halloween with Character

This Halloween Chris & Cassi's kids and our kids dressed up like Disney Characters. I mentioned in an earlier post I like themes. My life is just happier that way. I am such a lame mom to take away the fun of letting my kids choose what they want to be for Halloween but such is life. Someday they'll torture their own kids!


Bradley as Indiana Jones (Hey, if the ride is at Disneyland we felt like it should count).


Bryson as the energetic but momentarily upset Stitch.


Blake as Mr. Incredible. Enough said.


Brock as the loveable Nemo, who sometimes wanders away from his parents and gets lost (See the June 2009 post about Disneyland to catch up on that story).


We ventured to Mom and Dad's block party where as you can see Brock won at the cupcake walk. We played here for a while then went to our own block party, and finally on to Grandma-ma's for one last sugar rush before bed. We should've gone into dentistry!

Fall in AZ

Fall or Autumn really only exists in people's wardrobes here in sunny Arizona. I'll give the weather credit for about two weeks in October or November where we can turn the A/C off and enjoy a few breezes before the heaters go on. But that's it. At best it's a 2 week season here. We still try to fool ourselves and bundle up in a jacket in the evenings but really, who needs a jacket when it's 75 degrees outside?


There's the cutest pumpkin patch nearby and we love to go there each year and let the kids pick pumpkins. The whole "this is what people do in Autumn" charade. I bundled the kids for the journey to the pumpkin patch and we were all sweating by the time we got there. But aside from all the sweating and needless jackets which produced needless laundry later, we had a great time picking the perfect pumpkins!


Blake is clearly ready to run and find another pumpkin.


Brock enjoyed being fed fruit snacks as a trade to pose for pictures. He had hay all over himself by the time we were done.


I have pictures of each of the boys when they were about 2 here at this pumpkin patch. I can't believe how big Bradley and Bryson are.


In the end we had to find a wheelbarrow to load our hoard of gourds. Because it was so close to Halloween we didn't carve them (we came home with 5). We just let them tan outside the front door!