Happy Birthday to You!

This morning we woke up and broke camp and headed home. Joel was excited to come home and get his presents. He was quite disappointed that we weren't going to make it to church so they could sing him the birthday song on his birthday but spending time with Pa and Nama was an okay trade off.

Joel with his presents.

Joel opening his presents.

Joel with some of his presents.
You can't tell from his face but he was
excited about his box of legos.

After opening up his gifts from Tj, Vance and me the only thing left was the gift from Nama and Pa. Joel was pleasantly surprised to find the Wii he had said he wanted (on a side note Tj was also excited that Joel got the Wii he said he wanted). Unfortunately we had to say good-bye to Pa for this trip and Nama for the night. The sting was short lived (sorry Pa) as the boys drowned their sorrows in the Wii.

All in all it was a great birthday weekend; a surprise visit from Nama and Pa, a fun camping trip with our friends and family, and presents. Not too shabby for Joel's fifth birthday.

Letterboxing and a hike.

Some of our friends introduced us to LETTER BOXING. So we went on a hike Saturday morning with our friends. It was a really great morning. We hiked up to a little water fall and let the kids play and then hiked back. It was a beautiful day and a really great hike.

The kids on the trail.
Vance apparently needed his space.

Carter and Vance making "silly" faces

Carter and Kate playing on the mountain.

Family picture near the waterfall.

Silly faces

The boys with Nama and Pa by the waterfall.

Me with some of my good friends,
Kathy and Jonelle.

Birthday Camp Out

About a month ago Tj was talking and asked Joel what he wanted to do for his birthday. Joel said he wanted to go camping. We talked to him and asked if he wanted to do that instead of a party and he was adamant that's what he wanted to do. Shortly after he decided he wanted his friends to come camping with him. So we invited a few friends to go with us who were so gracious to come along with us. We were then pleasantly surprised to have Nama AND Pa come camping with us too. It was a great trip!

The kids playing.

I spent lots of time and effort on his cupcakes. lol

Singing happy birthday, and blowing out the candles.

Joel with his friend Carter.
(Some of the pictures are fuzzy but you get what you get.)

Joel with Kayla (and some of the other kids).

It was pretty fun night. Of course a camp out is not camping without s'mores.

Check out these monster marshmallows!

Vance modeling the yummy but uber messy s'mores.

We had so much fun with our friends. It was so nice of them to take the time to go camping with us and the boys had so much fun camping with their friends and Nama and Pa. :)

SURPRISE!

Last Monday we had a surprise visit from Pa. He had a job "nearby" and we got to have dinner with him. It was so fun!

Vance and Joel throwing peace signs.

At dinner with Pa.

On Thursday the boys got a second big surprise when Nama showed up for Joel's birthday! It was a great week. :) We picked her up from the airport and then headed to a Lebanese restaurant for dinner. Then we headed home and got ready for the big day (aka Joel's birthday).

Crafty Manda

Lately I have been feeling a bit crafty and creative. I have had really good intentions (going clear back to Easter) but just haven't made the time to post them. So finally, here are some of my latest creations.


My creative streak started when I was watching TV with the boys and saw a Rice Crispy commercial where they were making "Egg Rice Crispy Treats". I thought it was a cute idea. You can find it HERE. I had sprinkles left over from something or other in my pantry and they made the perfect coating.


Also around Easter time I saw these cute buckets at Target. I fell in love. They are just so SPRING. I knew I had to find something to do with them. And then it hit me, I've been wanting greenery for over my kitchen cupboards.
So after a trip to Michael's and hitting their sale rack I had my greenery. Unfortunately I stalled out in the kitchen decorating after that. But it's a great start and I love my grass buckets. lol

The next creative streak came in the form of sewing. I had seen these sensory blankets awhile back HERE. I had bookmarked it under my crafting wish list and when two of my friends had baby showers (one is even having TWINS!) I knew I had the perfect excuse to try it out. I also made one for Tj's newest little cousin and LOVED how it turned out.

My last and favorite attempt. :)

The ones for the twins (boy-girl set).

It was really fun getting crafty but not something I want to do for a side business. I am going to make one more and a mini-apron later this week. We'll see how it goes.

The Father's & Sons Campout that wasn't.

Our ward had planned it's annual Fathers' and Sons' camp out for last weekend. The boys talked about it and couldn't wait to go since they heard about it. Thursday night we played outside with our friends (see previous post) and Friday morning Tj woke up feeling pretty awful. So much so that he ended up calling into work. Things did not look good for the boys camping trip with Tj. The more the day went on the more I started wracking my brain for ideas to make up for the camping trip that wasn't going to happen. I bought a hibachi grill and fixings for foil dinners and s'mores and decided to have an indoor camp out. The boys were a little dissappointed but after Tj promised to take them camping another time they enjoyed the home-bound festivities.

Joel with our foil dinners. Yum!
Luckily Tj did feel well enough to man the "grill".

Vance eating dinner.

Roasting marshmallows.

Mmmmm, S'mores!

Vance roasting his marshmallows.

S'mores- so messy and but oh, so worth it!

Our indoor fort.
We loaded it up with blankets and pillows and watched a movie.

I knew that I had done a pretty good job when
the boys asked if we could do a home camp out again.
Man, I love these boys!

Cinco de Mayo

My cute friend Jonelle planned this whole impromptu Cinco de Mayo pinata smashing in our common area. It's so nice to have so many friends living in the same condos.

The kids modeling with the bird before the brutality began.

Joel swinging at the bird.

Vance taking a turn.
We may have a baseball player on our hands with Vance.

Thanks Jonelle! It was so much fun. =)