Monday, July 30, 2007

Surprise your 50

So, both of my parents turn 50 in August and we thought it would be a great idea to throw them a Surprise birthday. My nephew's birthday is July 29th so we used that as the cover. It was a lot preparation with a dinner, live entertainment, and a video Mr. A created using all their photos of the past with some songs they would recognize! Here is the initial surpise! A family from our ward performed some Samoan dances for the family! My parents got up in front of everyone and danced!

It was worth it just to see their surprised looks!
I didn't get a picture of the kitchen but after we served the cupcakes for dessert, Rex and my niece made their way into the kitchen and found the remaining cupcakes. Let's just say that it took a family friend and me a while to scrub all the chocolate frosting off the floors and cupboards!

Pioneer Days

I made Bella a pioneer day dress for the Primary parade that our stake put on. It was fun and I think the outfit turned out great too! I bought Obi & Rex straw hats and made them handkerchiefs to match the princess' apron. Here is a picture of the kids waiting for the Washington City Pioneer Day parade. All in their costumes except Jack-jack who was happy to just be there.Obi & Bella are waiting patiently for the parade to start and the candy to be thrown their way! We sat in a great shaded spot with the family but we were towards the end of the parade so most of the floats ran out of candy by the time they got to us! Next year we are bringing our own bag of candy. My kids all looked adorable and loved their costumes! I woke up early and did a 5k that morning with my dad and sister! I was a little beat.


Here is the little ones sitting on a "horse" made completely out of horse shoes! Our stake puts on a huge Pioneer day activity with booths done by each ward, a dinner with 20 pies donated per ward and lots of games! They even included a Primary parade that circled around a large tent in the middle of the baseball field between the two churches! It was lots of fun for the kids!

Rex rode the whole parade with his baby brother!

My sister kept my niece in the picture long enough for me to get a quick snap!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Our Family Vacation...

Mr. A & I decided to take our family vacation during the Independence day holiday this year. First, we had planned to go north during the later half of the week but Mr. A thought it would be fun to surprise his parents and show up at a 4th of July breakfast put on by his grandfather. It is also his dad's birthday. It didn't work quite as planned. We arrived in Provo late on July 3rd and stayed at my sister's apartment. It was a bit crazy! Rex took off out the door in the middle of the night so we were on guard duty for the night! On the 4th we were headed up to Millcreek canyon by 6:30am.



As you can see it took us a little while after we arrived to get them dressed for the day! They had a blast climbing trees and playing in the water. The food was great. Rex tried everything they had. Jack-jack was very well entertained, as most of the family had not seen him before! After breakfast we headed to visit with Grandma B. We stopped over at Kmart and bought a little kiddie pool to keep the kids cool and happy! Later on, we went down to Provo to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks over at the field across the street from the MTC (I have been doing that whenever we have the chance, since my family lived at Wymount when my dad went back to school). It is one of those traditions that I feel makes the holiday! My family all met us there. The lights are always so fun to see!
On Thursday, we took the day easy! We had been up for over 22 hours on the 4th of July with little sleep the night before. We played at Trafalga: miniature golf, arcade, etc.. Later we watched a movie at my sister's house. All the kids were up for naps!
We spent Friday at Seven Peaks water park! The kids loved it! The princess and Obi went on the big rides with their dad. Rex and Jack-jack spent their time playing in the water. Jack-jack loves the water as much as the others; they are all little fish! We drove up to Kamas and went up to the National Forest. We spent the night in our van as we had borrowed a tent that was missing the poles and stakes! Rex was the only one who struggled with getting comfortable. He was worried that bears would come and eat him. The concerns of a 2 year old. At about 3 am he passed out from pure exhaustion. We got up early and drove to Park City to purchase a large 8 person tent! I was a little concerned about sleeping under the stars with only the protection of a tent. A 12 year old boy had recently been ripped out of his tent in middle of the night by a bear and killed!
We arrived just in time for the children to play games. The kids all enjoyed the treasure hunt! There was lots of candy for all the children. They always have many activities for everyone to participate in. Our kids enjoyed seeing their cousins. It was a very eventful family reunion with all its little quirks that families add! Wink, Wink, LOL!
When we headed out of SL we had been warned of a fire in the area of Cove Fort. We took an alternative route that kept us out of harms way. After arriving home we found out that the fire is the largest wildfire ever in Utah!