Happy Birthday Dylan and Gavin

Gavin had been asking for weeks if it was his birthday yet. He mostly wanted it to be his birthday because he wanted a scooter like the girls have. He also just wanted it to be his birthday because, let's face it, birthdays are fun. He's at a good age where he can enjoy his gifts and really decide what he wants to do for his birthday. We took him to McDonalds for lunch. He loves that place. Every time we drive past it, he asks if we can go there. Then we went up to the cemetery to celebrate Dylan for their birthday.
Dylan got a spiderman balloon as well.
The kids wanted to release balloons for his birthday again. It was fun to watch the balloons float out of sight. I love going to the cemetery in late May because everything is green and beautiful, plus the wild rabbits are out and about!
After the cemetery, we went to Plant Fun/Pizza Pie Cafe. It's all you can eat pizza and games. Gavin loves pizza so he was super excited. They bowled, played video games, rode rides, and even played laser tag. This was Gavin's favorite. He couldn't get the gun to work very well, but he had a blast running through the dark and shooting at us. I have to admit that I had a lot of fun playing laser tag as well! Of course we finished with a Thomas cake. He got tickets to go see Thomas again because he loves the trains so much!

A Royal Ball

We went to "A Royal Ball" at the American Fork library. The girls dressed up in dresses and Gavin went as a Knight. They had lots of fun activities. They got a wand from the fairy godmother. They searched the library for glass slippers.
They sang a little princess karaoke.
Even Gavin wanted in on the singing!
Then they did tattoos for the boys and nail painting for the girls. Gavin wanted his nails painted so badly! This is his sad puppy dog face! So we let him get his fingernails painted. They got to dance with some princesses and princes in the "ball room" as well. I thought it was really well done considering it only cost me a few dollars for the whole family.

Yo ho ho ho ho, a pirates life for me!

Gavin got to go to the pirate party at the library. He wore his pirate costume and bandana. I forgot his sword so he was sad when he saw that the other "pirates" had swords. They had a fun snack for the kids.
Then he made a pirate hat and played with a parachute.

Usually he is hard to please, but he had a really good time and he looked so cute!

A fun, but busy week

I meant to blog about last week before now, but it was crazy busy! I still haven't fully recovered. I finally got most of the dishes done and the floor swept. I still need to clean up a lot though. It was spring break for the kids so I took them to a few fun places so they could enjoy their break. We got to go to lunch, breakfast, and dinner. We went to Monkey Island and played on the blow up toys. Brian was gone for most of the week in Georgia on a business trip. He got back late Wednesday. We got to go to breakfast with him Thursday morning. The kids had a really good time. On the weekend, we had lots of family come because we were putting together a playset, and we had Taygen's baby blessing. The kids got to go swimming at the hotel where their Grandpa and Grandma were staying.
Maya showed off some of her swimming skills and raced with her Uncle Logan.
Everybody pretty much stayed in the hot tub because the pool was freezing!

On Saturday morning, our ward had an easter party. They kids got to go on a little easter egg hunt.

It was super cold outside so we didn't stay long. We stayed to see our bottle rocket launched and they we took off. Then the kids got to color eggs with Grandma.
That kept them busy while the other adults put together the playset. I feel really bad about the playset because everybody was putting it together for two days.

They hardly stopped to eat and it still took that long! They didn't finish until late Saturday night. The kids were standing there waiting impatiently to get on it! We had to let them play on it even though it was dark by then! It was really nice of all our family to help out. We never could have done it without them!
We prayed really hard that Taygen would be good for the blessing. Alas, she started to cry as soon as we got to the church! She was reasonably good during the blessing. She started to get really fussy toward the end. I put all three pictures of my girls in the blessing dress. I can't believe how much they look like each other!

A sweet little boy.

I was running errands the other day with Gavin and Taygen in the car and Gavin struck up this conversation with me. Gavin: mom, where's Dylan? Me: he's in heaven buddy, he died. Gavin: he died?!!! But I wuv (love) him so much. Me: I know, I love him too. When we get to heaven we can see him again. Gavin: yay! I see him again! He's my big brother!
The kid sure knows how to melt my heart. He understands so much more than I expect him to. We are so lucky to have such a beautiful spirit in our home!

Pass it on!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to put this out there. My sister-in-law Hillary and her husband Tyler are looking to adopt. I put their picture with a link to their profile on the side of my blog. They are awesome and are going to make great parents! My girls just love to visit their Aunt Hillary! So if you know anyone that is looking to place, pass along their info!

Happy Birthday Brian!

Brian's birthday was on Sunday February 27th. We had a party at our house the night before for my Dad's birthday as well.

Brian wanted to eat at Dickey's BBQ for his birthday. So he went there to pick up food and eat it at the house. It had been awhile since we had eaten there. One of the things we miss the most about Texas is the BBQ. It is tough to find good BBQ here! Luckily, Dickey's finally came here. They have pretty good food. Brian was happy, so that's all that matters! I was worried about pulling off a good birthday for him with a brand new baby and very little sleep. At least there always Mario Kart!

He got everything he wanted, except sharing his birthday with the new baby! He is pretty easy to please! Eventhough he can't seem to make it through a birthday without having a cake that his mom used to make or frosting that she makes. What is it with boys and their moms?! It's hard to measure up, but I am happy he loves his mom so much!