My Baby is 6

Yesterday my baby boy turned 6! Unfortunately, I didn't make cake this time. In the last week, I have made cupcakes, brownies twice, & gingersnap cookies. I didn't have time or energy to make birthday cake too. And since we had cupcakes for his party, and leftover mint brownies, we put the candles in the brownies and sang to him. It's a good thing he is pretty easy going.

Zak, We love you. We love your happy disposition and your intense desire to choose the right. We love your laugh and the silly things you do. We love that you love to run and play and be active and that you love to eat fruit instead of treats. We love the way you focus so hard on your school work and on your play time. We love that you love to play by yourself and that you love to have lots of friends to play with. But most of all, we love being your parents.

Happy 6th birthday to my little man!

iRock

For Zak's birthday, we took the kids to iRock and to dinner. After we had been climbing for a little while, Zak told me that he had been nervous about climbing, but that it was easy and lots of fun! They all did really well, but lots of the grips were too far apart for Zak to get very far up the wall, but he had fun and kept going up and down and loving it.
Amber climbed and climbed, but never could make it all the way to the top.

And Les made it all the way to the top on his last climb. It was a long way up but he was SO determined to make it all the way.

Brian and I decided to just belay(sp?) the kids and not pay to climb. I know that you can't tell that from this picture. He had to give it a try. It didn't help that the kid who worked there was a former student and told him he had to. Oh well, I guess if you have permission from the guy in charge, it's OK...right?

We went to dinner at the Pizza factory and had the best chicken Alfredo pizza ever. I wish I knew how to make it. It truly was to die for, and I am craving it as I type. Zak was just commenting that he was totally stuffed when they brought him a huge sundae for his birthday. We were all stuffed, but it sure was a yummy treat to share. I wish I had taken a picture of both the pizza and the sundae. Yummy! What a fun night!

Piso Mojado Concert

Last weekend while we were watching my nephews, their dad (my brother) performed at Ogden's Acapellastock with his acapella group Piso Mojado, and at the Ogden Farmer's Market earlier that day.

They were really good. It was a fun show to watch.

Les & Cub Scouts

A few days ago, my nephew received his Arrow of Light award. His Cub leaders were wonderful, and invited Les to help with the program. Les was quite honored.

They also helped retire a flag that flew over Brian's old school. The Scout leader who did the retiring of the flag was kind enough to let us have the grommets. We gave one to Hayden, and one to Les. Brian & Les. Blair & Hayden and Zak Grandpa's scouts. Good Job Hayden.

Zak's Birthday Party

While my nephews were staying with us, and before Brian started back to school, we decided to have Zak's birthday party. He decided to go to the splash pad and have pizza with his friends. Unfortunately, it was quite a cool day, and so most of the kids didn't want to get wet, but they had fun running around and playing on the playground anyway.

Ya gotta love little boys. It doesn't matter where they are, there is no shame! My nephew just changed into his swimsuit and went to play! He left his underwear right on the ground.

Eating pizza & breadsticks.

Ty claims that he doesn't like pizza and was upset with us for choosing it for lunch.
Zak enjoyed having his friends there with him.

And he wanted chocolate mint cupcakes and Oreo ice cream.

The boys loved it!

We had SO much fun. Zak has great friends.

I love you buddy.

Breakfast in the Canyon

Before Brian's dad died, it was a tradition to go up the canyon and cook breakfast every summer. I think we did it once after he died, but we haven't done it for quite a while. So, this year, we decided it was time to start that tradition again.
Brian & Lynn did the cooking (see why I like to do this?)

And we all enjoyed eating.

And as Grammy always says, "It always tastes better in the mountains."

The kids also spent a few minutes fishing with Grandpa Lynn. I know that Amber caught a small one, but I don't remember if the boys did.

Annual Day in SLC

Every year we try to spend a day in Salt Lake just to spend a day as a family. Usually we don't spend much money, we just do lots of fun free things downtown. This year we had a free family pass to the Discovery Gateway. The kids loved it.

Then we spent a little time at the fountain at the Gateway.

There was a cool breeze and the water was cold, so they didn't last very long.

But they had lots of fun.

We also took a tour of the Conference Center. I didn't realize my kids had never seen the inside before. These pictures are taken from the gardens on the roof.

Roy Days 5K

So it has been a ridiculously long time since I updated our family blog, so here goes a month worth of catch-up.


*****

This year Amber chose to race a little more instead of playing soccer. She hasn't done very many races yet, but earlier this month, she did the local city celebration's 5K. Brian ran with her even though he wasn't registered to run. Since she hasn't done this race before, she asked him if he would.

She finished the race, and took 2nd place in her age division.
Way to go Ber! Keep it up.

Pictures at the Park

Right now I'm really just working on studio photography, but I had a bug to take the kids to the park today and get some pictures there. I am trying to apply the things I am learning with some of the stuff I have read. I'm not sure what I think of the results, but I figured they were fun enough to post.

AMBER

LES

ZAK

Mantua Lake

Last week we helped out with girls camp for one day. We took several canoes and met the girls at Mantua lake for a day of fun. Enjoy!

Les paddled all around on Brian's pontoon boat. He only got in a canoe for a minute.

Amber loved jumping off the dock.

Brian taught some of the girls how to swamp the canoe and then right it again.

Les had as much fun as any 8 year old boy with a rope.

And Amber got swamped with some of the girls!