Holiday Weekend

What a crazy weekend we had.

We all know that last Friday was Pioneer Day. (I love living in Utah and having such fun holidays so close together) We had plans to go to my aunt's that night and watch the fireworks at Liberty Park. (My aunt lives just south east of the park)

Well, we had Tanis' birthday party with his friends planned for the next afternoon, so I had to do some multitasking. Friday found me baking cupcakes, while cleaning the house all at the same time. It was a crazy morning/afternoon. Luckily for me, Nathaniel was an angel and had a nap for about 3 1/2 hours so I could get a bunch more done.

Around 4:30, I packed the kids in the car and we headed to pick up Eric. We figure since Eric's office is already about halfway to my aunt's there was no reason for him to drive home, just to turn around and leave again.

We arrived at my aunts around 6:30 and spent the rest of the night hanging out with my immediate family. I'm not sure why that happens, except that my little sister and I have our kids and my uncle, while very patient, is still very anxious with kids around and that makes us that much more anxious as parents.

Anyway, when it started getting dark, we headed out to my aunt's front yard to wait for the fireworks to start. The kids had fun playing just in front of the gate in my aunt's yard and my little sis and I were tired, and when we are both tired and we get together, we get crazy, so we took a bunch of pictures of us. But I am only sharing one of them, because most of them are just too cheesy!

Nathaniel was getting tired and decided to chill with another of my aunt's whom he's never really met. This is how we knew he was tired. But, it made for a great picture!

The fireworks were cool and as soon as they were over we left. We had a long drive ahead of us and a big day the next day.

I woke up on Saturday morning and got the last minute things done for Tanis' birthday party. The party started at noon and ended around 2. The theme Tanis chose for his birthday was Super Mario Bros. Super Sluggers, so we started the party out with an impromtu baseball game in the backyard. It seemed like the kids had fun.

Then, because it was so hot everyone headed inside for the next activites which included: Hot Potato, Put the Ball in the Glove and a pinata. We then had a pizza lunch followed by the traditional cake and ice cream.

I think Tanis had fun, but it left Eric and I worn out. Eric was my right hand man and pretty much ran the party while I made pizzas for lunch. Without Eric I think the party would've been disastrous.

After the party was over, I spent a couple hours decorating the cupcakes for the family party on Sunday. Then, it was time to head to the Bees game.

My father in law had gotten a couple extra tickets, so I invited my little sister and nephew to come along. My little sister was feeling kind of sick and wasn't able to go with her hubby to visit with some of his family, so I thought she needed something to do.

We got to the game on time for once and we were able to get food without standing in line forever. Eric and I opted for BBQ, while the kids got pizza. The BBQ sandwiches we got were yummy, but mine had so much meat, that all I ate was the meat...I didn't even get to the sandwich part before I was full..

The game was a bummer and the fireworks had some issues, but overall it was a good night and I did enjoy it. My little nephew was so cute and actually wanted me over his mother, for once. He was even so cute saying the last name "Rodriguez" (last name of a player) because he naturally rolls his 'r's. My kids, of course, had fun hanging out with Uncle Greg and Greg's girlfriend. My mommy was sweet and watched Nathaniel while we went to the game.

On Sunday morning, I woke up to Shaylyn telling me that she had thrown up the night before. She didn't come get me in the middle of the night, so it was a bit more difficult to clean. It took a 1/2 hour to get everything cleaned up and by that time, there was no way we were all going to be ready for church in time.

So, we spent the day relaxing and just chilling before we headed to Eric's parents for dinner and Tanis' family birthday party.

We headed to Eric's parents around 3:00 and had a yummy dinner of steak and baked potatoes. The kids (Eric and Greg included) had fun playing a ring toss game in the backyard before the party. The party started at 6 and Tanis had lots of fun visiting with family members and celebrating his birthday.

We had a good night and we enjoyed the weekend for what it was worth, but we are exhausted! We have another exciting week coming up full of fun activities that I will post sometime next week!

What Happens Next...

Number 9

Yesterday was Tanis' 9th birthday.

I am still amazed at how quickly 9 years has gone by. It's still weird to think of him as being 9 and heading into 4th grade.

Tanis had the opportunity to spend the night before in Park City with his aunt, so yesterday afternoon found us travelling to West Valley to pick him up from my mom's. He had fun in Park City and I was so happy to have him back home. I really missed him - even though he was only gone 1 day...

After leaving my mom's we stopped for lunch at a KFC/A&W. I was sick from Saturday - Monday and because it was an infection in my throat, it was difficult to eat anything, so I ate very little those days. Thus, when Tuesday came around and it was lunch time, I was starving! We had a good lunch, even though birthday boy didn't really eat any of his. (I later found out he had a cancer sore, and it made sense why he didn't eat).

After lunch we headed back out our way and stopped at the store on the way home. I had items I needed to get and Tanis had to pick out his presents. He decided since we let Lex do it, that he should do it as well.

Tanis decided he wanted an iPod. Well, I knew that was definitely out of the budget, but I told him we would go see what they had and see if anything was in the budget. Well, we found an mp3 player that was in the budget and he was pleased by it.

He still had some money left over after his mp3 player so we next headed to the toys. We found the little Star Wars action figures that he absolutely loves and he was able to get 2 packs of those.

So then I start doing the shopping I needed to do. We pass by the boy clothes and Tanis turns into that section and says to me, "I can't get pajamas, huh?" This is the phrase he uses all the time when he wants something but is afraid he will be told, "no."

I told him that he actually could get a pair of pajamas, but then he couldn't have the action figures. He took a moment to decide and then decided on the pajamas. It was even more convenient that the pj's he chose have the same theme as his desired birthday party theme this year.

Tanis is the best helper to me ever. He is always asking if there is anything he can do for me. Or he will ask if I am feeling tired or whatnot and then he'll ask what he can do so I don't have to do it. He is good to take care of his baby brother for a minute here and there when I need the extra help.

Tanis is so sweet to everyone he meets and tries so hard to be a peacemaker. The other day one of his friends was upset about something and he said, "I'll go calm her down." He is sweet like that.

And after witnessing this scene for a good part of the night, last night,

I've decided Tanis definitely takes after me.

Happy Birthday 9 year old! I look forward to this weekend when we have Tanis' parties.

What Happens Next...

Scrappin Smiley

So, I finally got around to devoting a blog to my "crafts."
It's mostly scrapbook layouts as that is what I spend most of my time doing, but it's there that I will post about all the other crafts I do as well.
The addy is: http://scrappinsmiley.blogspot.com/
Hope you will all take a look and let me know what you think!

What Happens Next...

Best Weekend EVER!!!!

I have got to say, this was one of the best weekends we've ever had!!!

Eric got Friday off of work and when he asked if I had plans, I gave him a couple suggestions:

- Have lunch in the mountains somewhere

- Hike to the caves at Mt. Timpanogos

Well, after looking at the prices for the caves, we decided to just drive to the mountains and have lunch. (It ended up being a good thing we didn't decide on the caves as tickets were all sold out, anyway)

Well after having lunch soon after we got into the canyon, I decided I wasn't ready to call it a day and we decided to go on a hike.

The road to get up to the hiking trail was a dirt road and very bumpy. The kids loved that. We could have turned around there and called it a day and the kids would've been fine with that. Even Nathaniel who wasn't quite sure of all the bump, bump, bump going on - eventually was laughing and having a good time.

We finally got to the trail and started on our way. It started out fairly easy, but as we got further on it got steeper and steeper...I would love to say that we got to the lake, which would've been the destination, but we just couldn't do it.

I am so out of shape (There, I said it), and 2 of the 4 kids kept whining...Take a guess at which kids they were and you'd be wrong! Nathaniel and Shaylyn did great! Eric didn't complain (He was even carrying Nathaniel for a majority of the time) and I tried my best, but just couldn't do it.

Anyway, enough with the blabber, I will just post the pics!

Friday night we met up with some members of the ward to have a Firework party thing. Well, funny thing - almost no one brought fireworks. So, Eric donated most of ours (we were planning to use them on Saturday) , and just as we were almost done, another lady donated a pack to use. Our good friends donated one of theirs as the grand finale. Nathaniel had a blast watching the lights, he even clapped for most of them. All in all it was a good night, even if we were out a few fireworks!

Saturday afternoon we were able to spend with said good friends. The kids swam and I even got in for a bit with Nathaniel. He wasn't too crazy about the cold water and had more fun adventuring in the back yard. No one got burned, but me. Luckily it is just a bit on the shoulders and back and it isn't too ouchie!

Around 9, we headed out to the front to do fireworks and got quite the show. Not only were our friends doing their fireworks (and the few we saved), their neighbors were doing theirs as well and had quite the loot! It was awesome!

I hate weekends like this however, because when Eric has to go back to work on Monday, we miss him tons during the week.

- I apologize if this post is kind of sporatic and crazy, I'm feeling a little worn out and so thoughts may not come across the way they are in my head... ;) -

What Happens Next...