5 years old!

On the 8th, one week ago today, Katelyn turned 5 years old! She has been waiting for this birthday to come forever (well I think it seemed like forever in her mind). She now loves to tell everyone that she is 5. She will be a young kindergartner, but is so excited to go to school with Luke.
This was Katelyn's off year for a big party with friends, but instead she got to pick something fun to do and invite a friend to come along. She had some great ideas in store for this day.

We started off with breakfast at McDonalds.


Then throughout the day she opened presents. She got new pjs, more play doh toys, some princesses, a microphone, some fun coloring books, and stuffed animals.
Before lunch she decided she wanted to go to the Butterfly park and play in the water areas. So we loaded up and hit both water parks. She LOVED it!
She really wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese to play and invited her friend Anneliese to come along. But instead of eating at Chuck E. Cheese (thank goodness) we ate at Taco Bell (one of Katelyn's favorite places to eat). Katelyn wasn't so into playing the games, but she did love riding all the little rides they had.


I really like to make my kids' birthday cakes, but for some reason it did not work this year. Here's the proof. I have never had this happen to me. Katelyn was very understanding and had fun picking at the mess and eating it. It actually tasted really good, but didn't look so great.
Kevin saved the day by picking up an ice cream cake on his way home from work.
And here is the birthday girl in front of our traditional birthday signs.




5 things about Katelyn:

1. She loves to color, paint, and draw.

2. She loves to be active and doing something. She usually asks the night before what we will be doing the next day. When she is bored at home, she will often run around inside the house.

3. She loves music! She really likes for Kevin or I to sit at the piano to play and sing for her.

4. She loves playing on the computer.

5. She has a love/hate relationship with her little sister. I think it has something to do with Ashley being kind of bossy. But that is just my guess. :) They can play really well together and they can fight really well together. She usually gets along well with Luke and enjoys playing with him.

We really love this cute, 5 year old! She is a blessing in our family and usually just goes with the flow. Heavenly Father knew we needed someone like her in our family.

We Love Our Silly Katelyn!

Our weekend

So much for my goal to catch up on posts by Memorial Day. Instead I will just post about our weekend. Our 3 day weekends usually consist of projects and cleaning, but we wanted to make sure we did something different this time. Don't worry we still worked on a project and cleaned like crazy, but we managed to fit in a couple fun things.

Friday night Kevin and I were able to go to the temple and out to dinner. I love date nights! It was a great way to start off the weekend.

Saturday morning we left our house around 8:15 in the morning and headed to Valley of Fire. Kevin had been there with the scouts, but our family had never been there. It was so much fun and we did the perfect hike for our little family. Lots of pictures to follow from our adventure.

How could we not take pictures in these cool holes in the rocks?

The hiking begins. We hiked Mouse's Tank. It felt like we were walking on the beach. I am still finding this red sand in shoes, the van, and our laundry room.

We saw lots of different animal tracks and several areas with petroglyphs. The kids thought the writing was so cool.


The sandy part ended and there was some fun rock climbing.

I was there too. :)


Ashley worked so hard she popped the elastic in one of her pony tails. But that didn't stop her from wanting to carry the backpack that was her size.

The weather was a little warm in the sun, but perfect in the shade. There was a nice breeze to keep it from being too hot. We did one other short hike to see some petrified wood. They had several of them surrounded by fences. Doesn't sound too exciting, but it was actually interesting to see.
Valley of Fire was so cool! I would love to go back and spend more time exploring.

Monday we had some friends over to barbecue. The weather was amazing on Monday. We had so much fun eating and visiting. Sorry no pictures, I was only good about taking them on the hike.

On Sunday we explained to our kids the reason for Memorial Day. I loved being able to tell them how grateful I am for the men and women who so bravely defend our freedoms.

3 on the 3rd!

My baby...

grew up too fast and is now a big 3 year old.

Some things about Ashley at 3...

-she talks really well and loves to boss us all around
-she has a great imagination and loves be a mommy to her dolls
-she still favors mom over dad, but will give us both the best hugs
-loves to play on the computer and has mastered using the mouse by herself
-likes to sing and dance
-has been potty trained for several months now and caught on fairly quick
-LOVES nursery and joy school
-can play really well with Katelyn and can argue really well with Katelyn
-says "scritchpures" for "scriptures, and "skabetty" for "spaghetti"
-favorite shows are Olivia, Little Bear, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates
-very afraid of bugs, our tortoises, and dogs
-favorite foods: most fruits and veggies (yea!), beef jerky, waffles, hot dogs, pizza, and pudding


Her birthday was on a Sunday so we had a quiet family party with cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
Opened presents(her one request for a present was a pink chair with her name on it, you can see it in the background). She also got the Tangled movie, which has been watched every day since her birthday, a cookie play set, and a doctor's kit.
She has wanted bunny cupcakes for her birthday since her last birthday. When she was 2, our friends had a big Easter party and it happened to be on her birthday. She thought the party was for her and has talked about it often throughout the year. So she wanted to have bunny cupcakes this year because she thought she had a bunny party last year. :)
My attempt at bunny cupcakes...
We spent the rest of the day watching General Conference and playing with her new toys. She seemed to have a great day and kept saying "thanks" to all of us.

We love our cute girl and are so grateful she is part of our family!

(I realize that I have been a horrible blogger lately and birthdays are about my only motivation to blog. I need to go all the way back to October and document some things, but it seems so overwhelming. But it needs to be done so I have some journaling done for that time of my family's life. Hopefully I can catch up before Easter or maybe I should say Memorial Day. :) )

4 Days of Celebrating

At our house we just do big birthday parties every other year starting at age 4. On their odd birthdays they get to choose a fun activity and invite 1 or 2 friends. So this was Luke's off year for a big party, but I think he still had a fabulous birthday, if I don't say so myself. :)

FRIDAY
The girls and I took Krispy Kreme donuts into Luke's class. I have not had one of those donuts in forever and forgot that they were so yummy.

SATURDAY

We let Luke take 2 friends to FlipNOut (an indoor trampoline place). They had a great time and were all red in the face from jumping around for an hour. McDonald's ice cream sundaes were the treat after the fun at FlipNOut.
Later that night we went to Red Robin as a family. Luke was so surprised when they came out with his free sundae (that's right two sundaes in one day :) ) and started singing to him.

SUNDAY (His actual birthday.)

It has become a tradition for the kids to come down in the morning on their birthday and see how the kitchen is decorated. I love the "right after you wake up" pictures.Opening presents...money from grandma & grandpa, double sided light saber, kinex, and a remote control dune buggy from us. A lego game and Star Wars lego vehicle from friends.

My attempt at a double sided light saber cake. This was Luke's request for a cake. I'm not sure I met his expectations. :)

We had Luke's boy cousins and his aunt and uncle come for dinner, cake, & ice cream. Tacos were the requested dinner by the birthday boy. I love this group shot of the cousins for many reasons...the placement of the blue balloon, Katelyn's fruit punch moustache stain, Ashley's helmet along with her ladybug Halloween costume.

MONDAY

There was no school on Monday and that was probably the best birthday present for Luke. He loves a day off from school and it works out that he usually gets a day off close to his birthday.

Seven

That's how old my oldest turned today!

Happy Birthday Luke!

Has it really been 7 years since I held this sweet baby in my arms and kissed those chubby cheeks?

It is hard for me to believe it's been 7 years. Now I have a handsome, fun, smart, and good 7 year old boy who will sometimes still let me give him hugs and kisses.
(7 years old, holding his newest Star Wars lego vehicle)

7 things about Luke
1. Loves legos and puts them together so quickly.
2. Loves to play the Wii (favorite games right now Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars)
3. Still a picky eater, but loves pizza, tacos, quesadillas, and jello.
4. Tries really hard to do what is right
5. Great student (enjoys math & science the most)
6. Likes Star Wars & Tron
7. Really likes practicing karate moves with his Dad

I love my Luke who is so patient with me and teaches me so much!