HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY!!! PAPA!

Last Sunday we went to my Dad's for his 60th birthday! We had a great time just eating, visiting, and playing volleyball. I don't think my dad looks close to 60, and I don't think he acts like it either. He says the only time he feels old is that first hour or two in the morning. Thanks dad for sharing a special birthday with us!

I had to get all the kids while they were munching. They were so cute putting the olives on their fingers.

These 2 are so cute! Carson couldn't stop licking the frosting off his fingers, and Chance loved trying to pick up the ice cubes with the tongs. I even caught him putting some on Trevin's head. He of course had no clue. He was busy trying to get his hands in the bowl.

So Jackie walks over with these glasses on, and right away I remember seeing a picture of my dad with almost the same ones on. I just had to get a picture. In the picture he's also holding Jackie. They also have the same mustache and goatee. What a resemblance. Such handsome men.

That sure is alot of candles! Look at all the smoke.

My step-sister Lori made this cake. Isn't that cool. I love the little golf club.

Look at all them grand kids. And just think, some weren't there and we're still adding more. Half are from our step side of the family. I didn't think to get their picture when we were taking them.

For Labor Day, we went to Payson Onion Days. I'm a sucker for carnival rides. It was really fun, and I got to meet up with an old friend. Her little boy, who's 4, rode the rides with the rest of the kids. The only down part of the night, waiting forever in lines. I don't know if it's worth it, to go on the first night. It might be cheaper, but they don't get to go on as many rides.

Kaden was in the Parade again this year. So we got up early and walked down from Collene's house, since it wasn't to far from there. The kids got lots of otter pops to keep them cool. They sat on the curb and watched the parade go by.

He loves to kick the board in half. Makes him feel so tough.

Next time we're sitting on the West side. They sun was in

our eyes the whole time.

After, we headed down to Mi Rancherito for some lunch. Then spent the rest of the day just chillin'. It felt good to spend the day, doing really nothing.

Sunday was a very interesting day. We planned to go

feed the ducks and had are bags of bread. When we walked up to the pond Manny noticed there were a lot of Carp. So when we started throwing in the bread pieces to the ducks, we were shocked when the Carp started swarming over the pieces.

I could not believe how these fish would swim out of the

water to get to the bread. I hate to say, it was more fun and exciting to feed the fish than the ducks. There were people there throwing in whole dinner rolls. And the fish would just gobble them up. So after all the fun, we took a stroll down the river and took some pictures. Trevin wasn't into it, but I got some cute ones of Kaden and Eli.

And the day just got better. After feeding the fish, since the day was still early. We picked up my mom(because see new the way) and headed out to climb(in the truck)West Mt. Why? Because Manny wanted flat rocks(for are yard), and I guess this is the spot to get them. It was a nice, slow, bumpy ride to almost the top. When we got there, we started looking around. The kids stayed near the truck with my mom, as me an Manny went further out. I had a couple, and was coming back to the truck when I looked down and noticed about 10 to 15 spiders all on the top of weeds that were about knee high. Every where I looked I could see black dots on these weeds. I never thought of myself as being scared of spiders, but I started screaming. I finally made my way(very loudly) back to the truck. Where I stayed and made Manny finish collecting the rocks. This picture we got on are way out, which we didn't notice on the way in. I swear there were SPIDERS everywhere!

Last weekend we threw a surprise party for my sister Chris's 40th birthday. She had absolutely no idea, and it turned out perfectly. We made some special gifts for her, and let her know how much we love and appreciate her being our sister. As I was looking for sayings about sisters, I came across one that I really liked. "Perfect sisters we are not, but thankful for the ones we got". I love my sisters so much, no matter our arguments, or disagreements. They will always be there for me, and I'm thankful for that. Now on to the fun stuff! We rented a Bounce House for the kids, but it was so fun we had to join in. There was really great food, as well as the chocolate fountain, with lots of fun stuff to dip in it. So there's quite a lot of pictures below. I tried to pick my favorites, but needed to get everyone in there.

Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point! When Manny's mom came to visit we took her to see the dinosaurs. It's amazing that we live here at that's the first we have been. It was pretty cool to see all the different kinds of fossils. The kids loved it.

I have to say I love my Lego cake. I spent a lot of time on it and it turned out great. My mom helped me a little, and was there for support till 12 a.m. the night before the party. Eli would not go to bed until he saw it finished, and wanted to help with whatever I would let him. He was so excited when I was done, and the next morning when he woke up the first thing he said was " Is my cake still okay mom?" I have my sister Laura to thank for the invitation. I was so busy planning the cake, I was late with the invites. She came to my house and helped me photoshop my picture into something perfect.

For Eli's birthday we went to.........

They loved all the planes, but their favorite is the B-52 Bomber (that's the airplane below).

And of course we had to go to Krispy Kreams.

Lighting fire works on the 24th. Then watching the big ones from our back yard.

I love watching the parade. Ya it's the same stuff, but I guess it's just the tradition. This year my niece and nephew were in it. It was fun watching them go by.

Kaden's cousin came to play after the parade. I loved watching them rock out.

Who knows maybe one day they'll start a band!

THE THINGS KIDS COME UP WITH!!!

When I went to check on the kids playing, this is what I found. Kaden has pulled out his dads car jack, along with some of his tools. I guess the Escalade had a flat. In the middle picture, that's Eli under it, Kaden behind, Bayler pumping it up, and his friend Jade standing by for support.

These are my favorite flowers. It's to bad they don't last for very long.

This Monday and Tuesday we went to Laura's pool. It's just right for the kids, not to deep but deep enough for them to jump. We had a blast!

My kids are the best (most of the time). Kaden and Eli made this card for me, then surprised me on my birthday when they gave it to me. But the surprise wasn't over.

Manny had a card hidden in his truck, that him and the kids picked out. This is the first CARD in 12 yrs. It was the cutest card, and inside Kaden had written "we well wosh your car today" I cried so hard because it was so special. THANKS BOYS! Of course they got in water fight. Eli ended up crying because he was all wet, and Kaden got mad because he didn't get dad wet enough.

I LOVE FIREWORKS!!!!!!!!!!!! We gathered at the Ericksens for food and fireworks, the 2 best things in July. We might have some pyros in the family, j/k. The kids loved lighting the fireworks, with adult help. Then toward the end, my sisters surprised me with a Better Than .......... Cake. It was so good!

PROVO PARADE..... I like the traditional stuff, and the parade in front of my brother-in-law's mom's house & BBQ after is one of them. They are so nice for inviting us, and the food is fabulous. Thanks Clair and Jan.

Last weekend we took a "stroll" down to Otter Creek. Are plans were to meet up with my bro-in-law's family, pitch in to rent a pontoon boat, and fish away the day. But the weather turned out not to be the best. We headed down anyways for the adventure,and I'm glad we did. Even though it was really windy, we had a great time, and our kids had an even better time. They spent the whole time exploring around the camp ground, and spinning on the playground thing that was next to camp ground. They made friends with some of the boys there, and had fun on a four wheeler ride. Thanks a ton Chris for inviting us. Maybe next time we can actually fish.

On our four wheeler ride Eli fell asleep half way through.

Spinning playground thing"don't know what its called". We took a drive down the side of the lake on a dirt road and Manny let Kaden sit on his lap and steer. He loved it!

We stopped here on our way to Otter Creek. I couldn't believe how yellow the mountain is.

When A big rain storm passed through, we went outside to watch(in the garage). I wasn't going to post them, but I thought they turned out pretty good.

The little white spots are HAIL.