Tommy's 6th birthday party

We celebrated Tommy's 6th birthday on his half birthday this year.  He was a good sport about waiting. I told him he could have a plain party on his birthday in December or an awesome dinosaur party if he waited until his half birthday and that was a no brainer for him!

Here he is with his favorite friends:

Jax, Colter, Whitney, Tommy, Taylor, Tucker, & Josh

 I made a fun dino sign to welcome everyone.

 His friends were so excited to come that they came early so I had them draw the dinosaur footprints for me.

 When they came inside they were greeted by loud dinosaur sounds and given a hat and their own dinosaur name.

 We had them made binoculars for the big dinosaur egg hunt.

 Here is his dinosaur table. I had a lot of fun putting this together.

 The kids LOVED calling their drinks swamp water and hot lava. We had plenty left over and they called it that until it was gone.

 I made Tommy's cake out of rice crispies. It was HUGE and took forever to let each layer dry so I could add another batch!

 I hid a cup inside so I could surprise the boys with smoke. The boys went nuts and I heard the word "AWESOME!" over and over ;)

 Crazy kids eating lunch.  We had great weather all week and of course it decided to be windy on this day!

 While they ate lunch I ran over to the park and hid dinosaur eggs all over.

 His cousins came late, but just in time for the hunt. Here they all are at the beginning.  I tried to hide half of them pretty good, others were in the grass.

 This one doesn't show a lot... except Uncle Evan. (It's my only picture of him at the party!)  He acted like a dinosaur throughout the party and the kids loved it and played with him a lot.

 Cousin Ivy looking for eggs.  I was surprised how much the kids actually used their "dinoculars" instead of just racing around.

 Tommy finding the last birthday egg.

 He was pretty tickled pink that he got a bonus special egg.

 We walked back to the house and had a dinosaur egg race.

 Then I had one last dinosaur hunt for them in the yard.  They had to find a "nest" of eggs.

 These were special dinosaur eggs that we made out of baking soda.

 Here they are being little paleontologists.  I gave them a popsicle stick to dig with and then when they got their plastic dinosaur mostly uncovered they got a vinegar spray that made the last of the baking soda bubble off.

 Lastly, we ate the cake & rice crispies! Here is our happy birthday boy with his cake.  We tried putting the candles on the cake, but the vapor from the dry ice kept putting it out so we put them in the cupcakes.

 Tommy happily got lots of dinosaur presents.  His favorite was the two dinosaurs in his hands that roar and their eyes light up.

He has since made great use from all of his toys and convinces all of his friends to love playing dinosaurs too!

June Cabin Visits

We spent every spare minute we had at the cabin the month of June!  We went 3 out of the 4 weekends and used some vacation days to make them long weekends.  Here we are the first weekend... barely warm enough to play on our raft.

 The kids had fun testing how far they could jump after running down the dock.

 The next weekend it was pretty chilly.  We tried to teach Whitney to ride her bike without training wheels.  She went a long way without help, but refuses to try again!

The kids found a massive log to play on and made a little play ground out of it. 

 Here is the "balance beam".

 Our final weekend was a work weekend.  We sanded the outside rails and re-stained them, worked on putting new ropes on the tree house, put a tongue and groove ceiling in the basement room, and put in new wood floors in the kitchen.  Here is my busy crew pulling up the staples.

 [NEED FINISHED PICTURE!!!]

After working 2 days the kids could hardly wait to put the jet ski in the water for the first time this year. Here they are waiting in the driveway!

 Playing in the sand.

 Each morning we had pelicans greet us, I love seeing them up there.

 It must have been a while since we've had a fire as Tommy was SUPER excited about the fire!

 Eating lunch by the campfire :)

Snake River Run

I wanted to get in shape with the kids so I signed the whole family up to run a 5K.  Vic didn't want to pay money to run, but I made him do it anyway.  He wasn't in shape, but practiced running twice the week of the race and finished in 21 minutes!  That stinker!  I felt like I trained, but I was dehydrated and felt crazy the entire time.  I thought I was for sure going to get a terrible time, but finished with the exact same time as the last race, 34 minutes!

 Tommy did really good for his age, but was grouped in with the 5-9 year olds so he was bummed to have not finished first.  He finished 1 mile with a time of 8:56.

Whitney went running by herself and she said a nice man helped her tie her shoe when she stopped so I'm not sure how long that took, but she finished with a time of 10:42.

 Vic won 1st place in the 5K.... I was SO proud of him!! He is awesome!

 Whitney won $50 at the raffle afterwards!!! She reminds of it constantly!

June Happenings

June was a crazy busy month! We were running up to the cabin every week and smashing all this stuff in on the week days.  Vic and I decided to coach our own t-ball team again.  Here is the team picture.  Almost everyone was in Tommy's kindergarten class.

 Tommy up to bat... he improved a lot this year from hitting it 3 feet in front of him to out to second base.

 Tommy's favorite position to play was 1st base, followed by pitcher.  He was not happy if his own teammate left their position and fought him for the ball!

 Whitney loved being catcher.  She did not like to rush and chase the ball around so she was happy to be the one to put the ball on the tee.  She especially did not want to be pitcher. It was too much pressure for her!

 She improved on batting as well, but still hit it right to the pitcher almost every time.

 When it was Tommy & Whitney's turn for treat I made these cute snacks.  I was hoping the healthy treat would catch on, but of course it did not!

 We went to movies in the park.  The kids loved the idea of an outside movie and special treats.

 We bought a bigger pool with a filter this year and we have loved it!  Here is the kids with a few of their friends.

 Whitney's best friend, Whitney W.

 Lana brought me these beautiful flowers and I had fun enjoying them all week.

 On the not so flowery side... here is Whitney throwing one of her epic fits... pretty much sums up why I struggle to be happy all the time!

 We threw a virtual baby shower for Katie. She wanted a woodland theme so I helped my mom & Aunt Pam decorate the final touches.

 Here is a cute little guy I made.  I hated to eat him at the party, but he was good!

 Destiny and I at the shower.... lame I didn't get any during the shower!!!

 We bought Vic a hammock for Father's Day.  He loves it!

 Vic took each of the kids on their own special daddy date.  Tommy got to go to the circus.

 Afterwards he got to ride an elephant... he is in the back.

 Tucker chose a swim date so they went to the splash park and got shaved ice.

 Tucker loved it so much that he insisted the whole family do the same date later that week so we went again!

 Vic took the kids to a Chukar baseball game too... Dad of the week!

 One of the offices that I work for had a going away party for a coworker that I really adored.  Here is our staff, all of them have the biggest hearts, it is an awesome office to be a part of!