Happy Birthday Dude! Part Dos

Last Thursday we had Steven's official birthday party. Mike returned from Qatar on the 5th, and there was a good chance his plane would break down, so we made sure to give him plenty of time. Steven wanted his party to be at Battleball, since we all had so much fun pegging each other with air soft nerf balls. ;) Steven invited Amelia, Tatiana, Drew, Kaidence, Austin, Gavin and Jayden. They all had a great time. We played a game, then took a break for pizza and gifts and played some more. After the party the kids ran around and played tag on the miniature golf course.

The frosting looks slightly pink in the picture, but it was red. Steven chose the wording. (As I'm sure you can assume)

Aaaand he's home!

It's never fun when Mike leaves, but always wonderful when he gets home. He came back on the 5th and brought gifts and an ugly mustache. ;) We ditched the kids and went skiing on the 9th. Have I mentioned how wonderful it is when he gets back?! (It's June 18th and he's been on another trip for a little over a month. Only two more weeks!)

Happy Birthday Dude! Part 1

A couple weeks ago Steven turned the big 1-0. Double digits for the Dudemeister. Since Mike was deployed we held off most of the festivities until he got home. Steven still got to choose his birthday menu, and his choices weren't a big surprise. For breakfast he wanted to have finger foods again that he could throw into his mouth along with lots of ice cream. He wanted me to bring him McDonald's for lunch and we had Panda for dinner.

Steven has gotten into solving Rubix Cubes and is pretty good at it. I've never tried it, but I'm guessing it's a learning curve I'm okay to leave alone. 

Steven continues to be our sweet, energetic, incredibly social, early rising optimist. This past year he seems to have taken a leap in the maturity department. When I ask him to do things, he does them. He has been a lot of help while Mike has been gone. He is very creative and has started to love reading, which is always a giant plus in my book. We love him and are grateful we get to be his parents. Happy Birthday Dude!

Salt Lake 5K with Ben (and temple run)

When I was 5-9 years old (or so) my mom was married to a man named Mark that had three kids named Ben, Tiffany and Nick. Ben and Beck are the same age, as are Tiff and I and Nick and Jess. We all got along great, and have stayed in touch through the years. It's the only time in my life I've had brothers, so I still claim them. A few months ago Ben posted on Facebook that he wanted to get out of his introvert shell and try new things. I recommended signing up for a race and told him I'd run it with him. He took me up on the offer. He hadn't ran much in preparation, yet still managed a 10 min/mile, which is great. It was fun to catch up.

The day before the race I ran from the Draper temple to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Not only was it a neat run, but it happened to be the longest I've ever ran, since it was a little over 14 miles and I'd "only" ever ran half marathons before.

Adam the cup master

I've found,  in my almost thirteen years as a parent, that kids don't need all the junk they're given. Battery operated toys are generally a waste and unless the toys sparks creativity it will soon become obsolete. I brought home some plastic cups for a school lesson and Adam immediately started building with them. He kept playing with them so much that I bought him a giant pack from Sam's club. He built with them over and over again and they're still in his closet after five months. Money well spent. :)

Sarah's first school dance

Sarah is in sixth grade this year, which is Jr High at her school. She and her friends were all really excited to go to their first school dance together. I failed to mention to her that 6th grade boys don't dance and the whole purpose of going is to hang out with friends, but they still had a lot of fun. Her friends came over after school and they got dolled up together and then walked down.

Adam's Jr Jazz

Adam has decided he's going to be a professional basketball player when he grows up, which means he needs to keep signing up for rec ball. He really enjoyed it, especially since his team won a good number of games this year. He made a few baskets and was an excellent defensive player. We missed picture day, but he got a trophy, which he was happy about.

Sarah had church ball and EVERY. SINGLE. GAME. she played was at the same time as Adam's. I was bummed I didn't get to see her play. I'm pretty sure one got postponed so Mike got to see it when he got back from his deployment.