Max's 4th Birthday

Max in his cool birthday crown he got at preschool. He is licking the batter from the cake I was making him.


His birthday banner. He wanted a monkey theme, which was really fun.


The cake and cupcakes I made.


The birthday party table. We celebrated at Pappy's Pizza with some family friends. It was a great time!

We had some cool sparkler candles. All the kids were amazed.

Blowing out the candles.


All the fun gifts he received from friends and family. Thank you! He was one happy boy!

Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas! This was the first year that all 3 kids were beyond excited for Santa to come and to open all the presents under the tree. Just before 5 am I heard footsteps upstairs. Ryan went up to investigate and all the kids were in Ellie's bed snuggling and talking about the pillow pets that Santa had left by their bed. Ryan snuck away before he was spotted and at 5:30 I went upstairs to get them. They said they didn't want to come down and wake us up because it was still to early. How sweet. They were thrilled with all their gifts. Max got a green DSi and Magformers, Ellie an ipod nano and Harumika fashion designer kits, and Caden a lego castle and Star Wars action figures. We also got a Flip video camera so we can now capture the kids and their activities on video. We also recieved many fablulous gifts from family. I think we all were a little spoiled this year.

Ward Christmas Party

Santa came to visit at the Ward Party. The kids were super excited to see him but soon figured out it was the Bishop by the sound of his voice. Next year we will have to get the real santa to come.

Ellie and Caden were asked to be in the nativity play at out ward Christmas party this year. Caden was not happy about being a sheep but when he got on stage he was the cutest sheep ever.

Caden as a sheep.

Ellie is the shepherd with the crook and caden is next to her.

Caden and his 2 BFF's Finney & Max.

Christmas Villages

I love all my Christmas villages. The kids think they are magical. I wasn't sure how I was going to display them all but I got them all up. And Ryan doubted me :)

Happy Hanukkah

We celebrated Hanukkah by lighting the menorah, eating latkes and matzoh ball soup, and playing the dreidel game. We also read a book about the Festival of Lights. The kids enjoyed learning about Hanukkah, especially since their grandpa was raised Jewish.

O' Christmas Tree

We started a new tradition this year. We moved our artificial tree upstairs for the kids and got a live tree for the living room. The kids thought it was awesome to get a real tree. It smells so good and I just love the way it looks. I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep it alive all the way til Christmas but so far so good.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. Ryan's brother and his family came to visit us for the week. The kids loved playing with the cousins and we loved having family visit. We went to Sunriver for Thanksgiving dinner. We love to go out for Thanksgiving. We ate delicous food and had no clean up. Ellie said it was the best Thanksgiving ever. We came home, lounged around, looked at all the ads and planned our Black Friday shopping trip.

Father's Day

Ryan is such a great father. The kids count down the minutes until he comes home from work and always look forward to the weekends when he is home with him. They love the attention and playtime he gives them each evening.

This year we made a Happy Father's Day banner and wrote all the reasons we love Ryan behind each letter. The kids also were excited to give him a fire bowl so we can have a fire and smores in our backyard. We bbq steak and finished it off with Ryan's favorite, a chocolate cream pie. It was a great day for a great dad.

Caden's 5th Birthday - Party Games

We had lots of fun planning Caden's Super Mario Party. He wanted 8 worlds and to defeat Bowser at the end, just like the game. He helped me come up with some really cool games to represent each world.

World 1: Coin Hunt - I hid 140 gold coins around the yard and the kids had to collect them and store them in their mushroom pouches that I made.

World 2: Power Up panel - We all know you need power ups in Super Mario Bros. We made a matching game that looked similar to the Mushroom Houses in SMB. Each guest had to match a power and they won the corresponding prize. I gave Glow in the Dark Stars for Star power, silly putty mushrooms, bouncing putty fire and ice flower, and flying helicopters for heli hat. Everyone really loved this game.



World 3: Goomba Stomp - Ah those pesky goombas. The Marios and Luigis had 20 goombas to pop before we could pass this world.


World 4: Water Level - I ordered a bunch of fish squirters from OTC and each of the kids filled them up with water from buckets and then squirt the "Mario" as he swam past them. We repeated this until each kid that wanted to had a turn to be "Mario". It was funny b/c some kids ran and some went slow because they wanted to get wet.


World 5: Ghosty House - We filled up a bunch of white balloons and drew ghosty faces on them then put them in the playhouse. I opened the Ghosty House and gave each kid a balloon. We then played a form of red light green light. Mario stood at one end of the yard and all the ghosts at the other. When Mario was looking at them they couldn't move but when he turned around they moved forward and tried to tag him. This was the kids favorite game.


World 6: Yoshi Race - Mario and Luigi raced their Yoshi (green balloon) to Princess peach. They had to hop to keep the ballon between the knees so it was pretty funny.


World 7: Hot Bob-omb - Basically hot potato but we used a bob-omb instead. Always a great party game that the kids love.

World 8: Bower's Castle - The trampoline was his castle and inside were 72 mini porcupine balls. The kids had to jump and throw the balls at the Bowser pinata. Then they came out and we hit the pinata until Bowser was defeated and the party goers got their reward.

Caden's Birthday Part 2

I made one up and mushroom cupcakes for birthday. I forgot to get a good picture of them though. Caden also got a bunch of great gifts from friends and family. Thank you to everyone!




Ellie & Max got him this Mario shirt and Ryan & I gave him those Super Mario figurines. Love this picture of him doing the Mario pose.

Caden's 5th Birthday

We celebrated Caden's 5th Birthday on Saturday. We had a fun Super Mario Party with his friends. My neighbor made this plaque on a CNC machine and then Ryan painted it. Caden loves it and is going to hang it in his room.


Bowser Pinata before he was defeated by the party goers.


The goody table. I painted Mario and Luigi hats for each guest and made mushroom pouches for the coins they collected. I also had sticker sheets and found power up prizes.

The birthday banner I made with my Cricut. I thought it turned out so well.

More about the party to come.