Happy Birthday to my 4 year old!

Today my little man turns 4! I can't believe it!

We had a mini celebration this morning. When I came home from the gym Xander was running around with balloons in his hand yelling that the birthday fairy came and now he can open his presents! He was so excited. We'll get to all the festivities tomorrow because we're not done with his day yet. I just want to tell a little about Xander at 4.

• Loves the Super Hero Squad
• Loves anything healthy and will try any food
• very good at sharing
• volume level is LOUD
• loves to tell jokes that don't make sense
• always asks me "what happens if..." questions
• great dancer!
• great singer. Favorite song to just break out at random times is "Pegate" by Grupo Treo (Funny story with this. I took him with me to Kohl's to get some workout clothes. There was a Spanish speaking family right by us and they were talking to each other. Xander asked me if I knew Spanish. I told him I didn't, but Dad did. Then he told me, "Mom, I know Spanish...Olvidalo! Aqui estoy yo...pegate pegate..." It was pretty funny.)
• So excited to be 4...just like his sister!
• Starts preschool with Miss Mary in September and is ecstatic about going
• Favorite outfit is his "fourf of July clothes" [seen above]
• knows all his alphabet and the sounds they make
• really good at making Taya laugh...or really good at making her cry
• loves to wrestle dad
• sensitive
• will randomly give me hugs and kisses
• always asks me if food is giving him Iron Man muscles...then he'll flex
• has a hard time making new friends...he's shy sometimes

We love ya buddy! Happy Birthday!

Happy Pioneer Day

On Saturday we ended up going to Veteran's Park for a Pioneer Day Celebration. It was really tiny, and kind of lame, but the kids enjoyed it and we got to see some celebrities. :)

Do you know this show: Sister Wives on TLC


We saw these 2 at the Park.

Here's Jace with a cheese. Mostly because I was taking a picture of the people behind him...

See those 2 hugging

Ahh, there they are...Yep. That's Robyn and Kody Brown. CRAZY huh!

I tried to get a good one, but I only had my camera phone, and I didn't want them to know I was taking pictures. I'm sure they get this crap all the time.

Anyway, back to our outing...

The kids started off by throwing darts at the balloons...but only after Aliyah got her face painted.

Taya playing with Aliyah's wallet. She loves my wallet too. This girl is already fascinated with money.







Then Xander tried his luck with the mallet. It was so funny watching him try to lift it up. He almost tipped over once.

Aliyah was there too, she just was too embarrassed to play any games. She spent her tickets on face paint and food. :)

We had a fun time at the park and it was nice because there is a lot of shade there. Hope everyone had a happy pioneer day!

good morning crazy hair!

Someone slept good last night!

Repenting Bench

The kids got to spend quite a bit of time here yesterday. So I thought I'd snap a picture to document. They're supposed to be feeling sorry for what they did to get here, but most of the time the fighting just worsens while they are sitting so close together. So we let them get it out of their systems and when they are ready to be nice they call me over and say they're ready to talk about what they did wrong.

Yesterday we had a lot of talks.

How come you can go days without sending one child to the repenting bench and then just like that there is one day where it seems both kids never get off?

brownie points

In my head my birthday is a BIG deal. Everyone should just know it's my birthday and treat me special and shower me with love and gifts.

The reality is that no one cares. Especially as I'm getting older...birthdays kind of suck now.

We happened to be up north for my birthday this year. And reality set in. Actually, we were staying with Jace's family that day and they remembered and wished me a happy day. It seems that his family was the only one that cared. Jace took me to a movie and got me some new work out shoes for my special day. I got lots of texts from friends and love on facebook which I really appreciated. Thanks guys.

And then I went to my family's the next day. Nothing. No birthday presents, no birthday cake (which is kind of a sore spot with me because I don't remember ever getting a cake. I'm sure I did when I was little...5, 6. But no recollection of a birthday cake or party...ever. Now to be fair, my birthday is July 2. Right before a holiday and the dead middle of the summer. We were usually gone for vacation or coming home, or just leaving. But still...) So, reality was at my parents.

After we got home the subject came up while me and Jace were talking. We were just saying how birthdays are just not the same when you have your own kids and you get older. And he realized there was no celebration whatsoever for me. No cake...nothing.

So, last week I came home from somewhere and Jace made me a cake! Which is a big deal. Let me emphasize how big. The very first year we were married we had been married for 2 weeks when my birthday came up. He bought me a boxed cake and frosting. Sweet, right. Well, then I had to make it. Haha. So, for him to realize that a cake is kind of a big deal to me and make it for me...and surprise me with it was awesome! Unfortunately, my best friend was out of town and we really didn't have anyone to call over except my sis. Which is fine, they had some friends in town staying with them, so they brought them and it was a mini celebration for me. :) I'm so happy.









Yay. Now I'm an old 27 year old. It's all downhill from here.

the 4th!

We went up north for the long 4th of July weekend...and my birthday. (YAY!) Things were pretty uneventful. But the baby raccoons were a hit. They need to be fed from a bottle, so the kids loved helping with that.







Xander had a pretty rough day on Friday. He fell up the cement stairs outside and scraped his top lip and bit through it pretty good. Then he fell backwards off the swing and somehow hit a tiny rock that made a nice little hole in his head that was bleeding. Then he fell again on the cement and scraped up his pinky and ring finger pretty good. After that he stayed inside for a bit. But then Aliyah came in with a scraped knee. Seriously. My kids can't make it in the country. Xander was pretty distraught when his head was bleeding and came inside yelling, "It's bleed! If you don't clean it, Mom, I'll turn into the bleed monster." haha.

My birthday was Saturday and pretty uneventful, but Jace made me feel special. His parents watched the kids - who got to play with their cousins almost the whole time we were there, so they were pretty happy...and busy - and then Jace and I went to see Transformers 3 and then we ate at my favorite restaurant the Baja Cantina in Park City. Yum. He bought me some new workout shoes for my birthday too. :)

Sunday we went to church and then had a BBQ with the whole Vernon family. After, we headed to my parents. And when we got there I was informed Jace and I were in charge of putting blankets out for the parade. When we got to downtown Kaysville EVERY spot was taken. People have gotten smart and rope off sections. Rope... genius. We had blankets and bricks. But I guess we had the advantage because people trust people. Which is good, but you probably shouldn't trust Jace. We wedged ourselves in between 2 families. We just shifted chairs and blankets around. Still leaving them plenty of room, but also making room for us. Yup, we're the people other parade goers hate. What can ya do?

Monday...JULY 4th:

We made it for the annual breakfast at the Raymond's. Wasn't smart enough to take my camera there, but the food was delicious and it was good to bump into some of my old wardies.

Then we headed down to the parade. The kids were a bit pre-occupied. Therefore the following pics are as good as it gets.











First 4th of July. She didn't know what to think. But she pretty much sat on the blanket playing with fruit snack wrappers the whole time.

The kids were ready with their bags. And let me tell you...the Kaysville parade does NOT disappoint when it comes to candy and toys. We got tons of candy, necklaces, balls, Frisbees...we even got a tie.





















There were even some real floats. Way to step it up people!

Jace caught a tie from the missionary mall float

Here are the boys waiting to see if there is anything else that's worth catching.

The parade started at 11. By 12:45 we looked down the street and there was still a ton of floats. It wasn't even close to the water part (which is at the end so if you don't want to get wet you can leave). The kids were done, and all just sitting on the blankets, so we decided to leave early.

When we got home my dad started the grill and we had delicious steaks.

The kids got bored after a bit, so we took them down to the park

Jace put Xander right on the tire swing and almost made him throw up

Then Aliyah wanted to join and then he was really sick



Luckily Grumpy was there to push them in real swings. He was great with them and seriously pushed them for about 40 minutes.

We came home and did some fireworks of our own. Actually, my parents just bought smoke things that had different colored smoke. Wahoo. :) But the kids liked it.


They also bought the exploding snaps. The kids REALLY liked those and went through the 6 boxes pretty fast.





Jace and I called the night quits after that. We left super early the next day, so we didn't even go to fireworks. I was super worn out and tired and the kids kind of forgot about fireworks, so we just let them fall asleep. Actually, Xander was up a bit longer than Aliyah and I heard some "boom.....boom" so we went out on the balcony and watched some of Lagoon's fireworks and the start of the Davis fireworks. Xander was on my shoulders and got heavy pretty fast so that ended quickly. Luckily he was so tired that we just went to bed...and so did I.

We left at 4:30 the next morning and I was super glad Jace was driving because I was dead to the world. I could barely open my eyes. But we made it safe and sound.