How To Train Your Dragon Party!

We love dragons around here, so for James' 5th

and Jack's 3rd birthday party we hosted a

"How To Train Your Dragon" party. 

We gave out to our "Dragon Trainers" invites to

come to "Dragon Training".

 A sign on the door and a dragon to greet

When the kids got there we first had lunch!

 Complete with "dragon" themed food:

Dragon Teeth= pretzels

Dragon Eggs=Grapes

Dragon Fire Balls= cheeto puff balls

Dragon Food= Goldfish Crackers

Viking Hotdog Ships

 One of my favorites...Dragon Trainerade :)

 The incredible cake 

made by ShaRee Shupe

 Cute little fondant Toothless on top with Hiccup

 Everyone getting directions so that we could

get our food and head outside

Everyone eating outside, that was a great idea,

and the kids still loved it!

Then we sang and blew out the candles so we could eat

our cake ouside too picnic style. 

Less cleanup for mom and dad :)

P.S. Fondant will catch on fire and smells

like roasting marshmallows

After the food and cake we had games.

To become dragon trainers and earn their

viking hats, shields, and swords, 

everyone had to go through the challenges

There was an obstacle course where you had to

jump over dragon eggs (balloons taped to the ground),

go through a tunnel, then knock over a tower with your

new sword (made from cardboard).

Jack sporting the viking hat, he 

loved it and didn't want to take it off!

 Listening during games

We had a bean-bag toss where they had to 

"feed the dragon".

Then finally we had to slay the big bad

dragon (like in the movie).

The kids loved running at this dragon to

take a whack at it.

After games we opened presents.

This year I got smart, and even though we combined

a party for their shared birthday, I invited James'

friends for him and Jack's friends for him.

That way kids weren't feeling obligated to bring

a gift for James and Jack. 

Jack showing off a new train

James was covered in presents

Everyone got to take home their

swords, hat, and shield along with their goody

bag that had a little dragon inside, a few pieces of candy,

and a toothless party blower.

 

So the whole cake was edible, except for 

the inside of Toothless and our Hiccup actionfigure.

After the party I heard "hmmm, Toothless is yummy!"

Wha????  There is Jack, chewing off the black fondant 

from the tinfoil center?!  James too.

 Playing with their baby brother after everyone had left.

So that's a party :)

A big shout out and thank you

to friends Suzanne and Brittney who stayed

to help coral the kids around, and for holding

Jonathan when he got fussy!

What it's like having 4

The last day of June Kristie had baby Daisy, so we went

down to visit them soon thereafter.  

What a cutie!  I love new babies.

We are so happy that they were able to

add another baby to the mix.

Kristie and Daisy

Look how pretty they both are

Mommies and their babies :)

To help out with recovery we asked if we could take Lilah for a few days.

She's easy enough, my boys adore her, it's a win for all involved.

So last minute we brought her home for the weekend.

What fun having 4 little ones 4 and under.

Friday we went to Nathan's Equation Annual Party.

There were snowcones, face painting, and awesome

balloon making people there.  

Saturday we found a salamander in our backyard,

so we caught him and then took him down to 

the lake to let him go :)

Before letting him go I have hit a new one

of being a mom of boys.

We kept the salamander in that little

bug box, and were watching him until

Nathan got home from a bike ride.

Well, he was by the front door, and then James 

said "opps" I need some help.

The salamander had been trying to climb the

sides, which he couldn't very well, so James was

"helping" him.  That resulted in spilling muddy water

in our front entryway all over.  Not too big a deal,

he helped to clean it up.  Then I sat on our luckily

brown couch, and it was wet! With what I then realized was

dirty salamander water! That was the first place that 

James had tried to "help" the salamander climb the sides.

Yep, offically mom of boys after scrubbing the dirty 

water mostly out of the couch :/

We went to Snowbasin to play on the playground

and had a picnic there.

Cuties :)

Daddy wearing Jonathan

Then that night we made smores and

had a fire in our "awesome" firepit

(we didn't do a garden this year, so we 

keep the weeds down and dug a hole in 

the garden area, and will occasionally

build fires there now)

The kids loved it!

Sunday we took them all to church.

Mostly they we pretty good.

It showed me what it would be like to have

four kids someday.

This also showed me how girls are different 

than boys.  Lilah had gotten a mosquito bite on

her foot, so at church she had to keep taking off

her shoe because it itched.

James took Lilah to primary with him,

such cute little second-cousins :)

Lilah ended up not wanting the dress she

had packed for church.  Well, it just so happens that

I have a few dresses from when I was little that I'm

saving for a little girl that I hope to have. 

I brought it out for Lilah, and she LoVeD it!!

Then she let me curl her hair for church too,

and we had matching hair! :)

What a cutie to get my girl fix with:)

Thank you Tom and Kristie for sharing your little girl

with us!  And Congratulations on another little princess!!

Mid Summer Outings

We discovered a new playground at Snowbasin this summer.

So we'd head up for a picnic and play time.  

Great part, is was free ;)

Brothers pause for a quick picture

 We sat and watched

 Everyone all together now

Back home we enjoyed a leftover cupcake

from family night.

(The boys are big into picking out the

family night treat, we've been on a 

cupcake kick for a little while now)

All tuckered out from the day

Broken Elbow Round 2

In June while at Grandma and Papa's house,

right when parents came to Grandparent Week,

Jack had an accident and broke his elbow...

...again...

...in the exact same place :/

The doctor said it was just really unlucky.

Jack did it by falling over a cushion and 

catching himself just wrong.

We had it in a brace for a few days,

 then when that came off he barely 

bumped it and yelped in pain.

We knew we'd need to go in again for

another x-ray. (They had already

reduced it because it was probably 

dislocated again as well).

The doc that we saw for his last broken

elbow we have ended up switching as 

our primary pediatrician, and 

he saw us again right away.

No question from the x-ray, it was broken.

So another two week cast:

 

 This time around he went with green,

it was his big green band-aid.

Bad timing too because I had just convinced Nathan

the previous day that we should get a trampoline...

needless to say that went out the window pretty quickly.

July 1st we got the cast off:

 This little guy is super brave! 

Not even a flinch.

However, when they took it off it was

with the instructions that he couldn't fall again

on it for 2 weeks or he could seriously injure it!

Aahh!

Have you ever kept a two year old from falling for 

two weeks?  And the teachers in nursery at church just

hovered over him for those two weeks as well.

It was not an easy task, but he is all better, and

fingers crossed we are good to go for awhile in

the broken bone department.

 

All better!

Happy 4th of July!

I love the 4th of July!

The parades, the fireworks,

 everyone wearing red, white, and blue 

and remembering our country and the 

men and women who have fought to keep it free.

This July 4th started out with going to a parade in

Morgan.  Think small town Americana and that is the

Morgan parade.  Complete with throwing candy :)

After Nathan came home from a long bike ride that day we

headed up to Snowbasin and thought a hike after the heat

of the day would be a good idea.

It was...until the mosquitoes came out :/

Then we were running back to the car.

We jumped in the car and headed down the canyon to 

Grandma and Papa's house to watch some fireworks

from Papa's cousin's porch (they live right around the 

corner).  What a great view.

And what a SHOW!  Seriously rivaled the city

shows.  The fireworks just kept coming and coming!

 

 

 

 

 It was great watching everyone's reactions, 

and the fireworks were so close! 

 I haven't been that close since the time

Nathan and I went with Great Aunt Carol to Fort Hood.

We also have some really cool neighbors, and we 

set off all our fireworks together and all the kids 

watched.  Doing this a few days after July 4th helped

to spread the holiday out a little more.

Mommy and Jack looking on

A few days later...to keep just keep 

dragging out the 4th for as long as possible,

We headed back to Grandma and Papa's house.

Cory and Karissa were visiting from Vegas,

and so with Jason, Nicole, and Emily,

we did a few more fireworks:

This girl isn't a year and can already sport the piggies! 

She also reminds me of the baby from the movie "The Croods"

with her pigtails and how fast she can move!

Happy boys love the fireworks,

especially this year the "parachute guys".

A rocket that launches up at when it explodes it

ejects a parachute that slowly (when it deploys)

comes back to Earth.

Getting snuggly with mommy because of the big booms, what a sweetheart

Karissa with two of her older brothers

I loved it when we were all at BYU together

Karissa is pretty close to her due date here, about 

6 more weeks to go with their first son Rondo!

We are excited for them to be parents, and

for another boy cousin to run around with!

Our week was packed, Happy 4th of July!