Birthday Boy Logan

Logan celebrated his 5th birthday on the 18th. He wanted a pirate themed party so we accommodated his desires with pirate eye patches for all to wear, a treasure chest cake, little treasure chests filled with necklaces, rings, and money for the kids to take home, and a parrot pinata. Logan was showered with lots of gifts from his friends and family. He certainly is a loved little boy!

Logan, the serious pirate.

Cheesin' it for the camera.

Acting silly with the eye patches.

Aunt Kenda and Grandma BJ were very generous! Big thank you's to the both of you!

Larry's influence...Star Wars. Logan wanted this Storm Trooper helmet and a Storm Trooper gun. The helmet hasn't been used much but the gun certainly has!

We are very lucky to have a little boy like Logan in our family. He is so full of love and compassion and is a joy to have as a son and brother.

We love you!

I can do it!

I have been trying to make it to the gym at least 3 times a week since April 1st. I usually run on the treadmill and then lift weights. I started out only being able to run, with out stopping, a mile before I thought my head was going to explode. I have worked my way up to 2 miles and have sort of stopped there. Well, this morning I decided to push myself and see if I could run 3.1 miles. Guess what?!!! I did it! I actually ran 3.1 miles in 33 minutes and 15 seconds. I feel so good about myself. In the back of my head I have wanted to run a 5k with my sister. We talk about it but that's as far as it goes. I am too afraid of failing or I worry about what people will think if I am walking part of the 5k. I worry too much about what others think. I hate that my face gets sooo red when I run that I am worried people will judge me for that. Anyway, those are some of the reasons I have never really considered signing up for a 5k. Now that I have accomplished it on a treadmill I am going to go and map out a run in my neighborhood and try it there.

Happiest Place on Earth

I'm not sure if any of you read Larry's blog but as we were planning to make our trip to Disneyland, which calls itself "The Happiest Place on Earth", Larry wrote on his blog about what his Happiest Place on Earth is. I was thinking about what mine would be this morning as I was getting ready for work. These were some of my thoughts...

• I love lazy mornings when Larry and I are still in bed, the sun is shinning through the curtains and I can hear the birds chirping in the tree outside our window and the boys climb in bed with us. They are mischievous and like to try to tickle us and jump on us and hide under the covers. It usually ends up that we gang up on either Larry or they gang up on me and we try to pin them down and tickle them. Mostly it is Larry and I torturing the boys with tickles. We laugh and giggle and completely enjoy being with each other. I love mornings like these.
• It doesn't happen often but I love being on a beach that has warm sand. It makes me feel happy to bury my feet in the sand and to pick up the sand in my hands and have it fall slowly through my fingers. I love the feeling of that. I love the sun on my face and hearing the ocean and waves. I was in heaven a couple weeks ago when we were sitting on the beach early Saturday morning. Not many people had made it to the beach yet so it was like we had the beach to ourselves.
• The last Happiest Place I will mention is when Larry and I get together with some friends of ours. I feel happy being with Larry and sharing our time with these friends. When we make plans with them it is something we I look forward to. It is relaxing, comfortable, and enjoyable to be in their company. And for the evening, it is my happiest place.

I wonder what your happiest places might be and I can just bet that whatever or wherever your happiest spot is your family is there too.

Dresden

Well, it is official, my kids are getting old. Dresden had is 7th birthday on Friday so we had a weekend full of parties. Dresden invited a few of his friends to a Luau party at our house. It was crazy having 8 boys and 2 girls packed into our living room...the snow kept us from being outside. The kids were crazy, loud, funny, exhausting, and enjoyable! The party was a great success and we are just so grateful that Dresden has such great friends.
Happy Birthday, Dresden. We love you with all our hearts and are so happy that you are ours!

I have always tried to make a themed cake for the boys and this year was a bit of a challenge. I wasn't really sure how to make a volcano cake but I think it turned out o.k.

Here is Collin posing in the Hula girl stand-up. All the boys wanted their pictures taken as a hula girl.

Logan as the surfer dude.

One of the things we did at the party was have a hula hoop competition. I was surprised these kids could hula hoop. In fact, there were a couple boys that could have hula hooped all day if they had the opportunity.

You can't have a party without going through the spanking machine!

Pink DS

Logan has a birthday in a couple weeks so when I picked him up from daycare we talked for minute about what he would want.

M- What do you think you would want for your birthday? Maybe a scooter or a bike so you can play with Hunter and Dresden?

L- Maybe a pink DS for you.

M- Logan, it's your birthday, what would YOU want?

L- It's my birthday so I can get a pink DS for you. And then we will have four DS's and we can all play together.

My heart melted that he was thinking of me and wanted me to have a DS so our whole family will have our own DS's and we can all link up and play games together. Seriously, this kid is going to get away with EVERYTHING when he gets older because he knows how to work it! Who am I kidding...he already gets away with TOO much. Don't get me wrong, he is a stinker and sometimes says things that aren't as charming but mostly he is a thoughtful caring boy.

By the way, I still don't know what HE wants for his birthday.