Joshua's Birthday

Hard to believe my little boy is seven!  He generally acts like he's five and looks like he's ten.  So I guess seven is a good in-between number!

I sure love this little scallywag!  

As usual, the kids gave him presents.  Strangely, he received many of the same types of gifts that Bronson got a few days earlier.  Now I get why Katie and I were treated as twins when we were little - when you've got two kids with birthdays close together who are close in age, you want to give them toys that they will use to play together.  Also, you want to keep them from getting too jealous of each other's gifts.

He had a wonderful day at school.  It was a Friday, so he got out of school early.  Plus, his class has a whole singing/dancing birthday ritual in Spanish which made him feel pretty special.  When he came home, he took one of his presents outside - it was a gem digging kit - and played with the neighborhood kids.

His choice for dinner was home made pizza, home made bread sticks (and by 'home made" I mean Rhodes rolls) and egg drop soup from our local Chinese restaurant.  Works for me!  

After dinner, he chatted with our family and opened a couple presents.

Grandma Smith gave him with huge, cool looking cobra toy.  Within minutes, he had whipped Quinton in the face with it (accidentally), leaving a welt. Ouch!

Josh isn't a huge fan of cake - especially since he's the fourth birthday in a month around here.  He gets caked-out.  So for the second year in a row, he got a giant doughnut.

That night, after the extended family went home, our whole family (minus Quin) watched Jurassic Park. It was the first time for our kids.  It was a pretty scary show for Bronson, so I kept whispering to him how it was all fake - just robots and cartoons.  That helped.  Josh thought it was a-maz-ing!  It was a good way to end his birthday celebration.

Pictures From Our Annual Pumpkin Patch Hay Ride

Another year at the pumpkin patch.

Loading on the trailer.  Katie, Adam, Megan,and McKenna.

There's Grandma, Ali, Bron, and me.

You know all of us, right? Same as the last picture, plus Quin, Josh, and Grandpa.

Nicki and McKenna.

Ali's search for the perfect pumpkin took her far and wide.

Payton, Bronson, Megan and Adam loading up their pumpkins.

Josh's pumpkin was too heavy for him to carry.

Bron, Nenna, Meg, and Adam all ready to head back.

Will I Ever Learn?

Quinton is my fifth child!  Will I ever learn to come running when it gets strangely quiet in the house?!?!?

Here's the deal.  I was helping Nicki straighten her hair for the portraits my kids were taking in a half hour.  Suddenly, I realized my little barnacle, Quinton had gone missing and that the house was quiet.

Don't worry.  I found him.

He took my mascara when I wasn't looking and applied it quite liberally to his lashes. He was not very happy when I took the makeup away before he was finished.

There are so many one-liners, I hardly know where to start: He's going for the smokey eye look, he's trying to be a skeleton, he saw a how-to-apply-eye-makeup video by Tammy Faye Baker,  hes's got a black eye, he's channeling his inner Gene Simmons.

Don't worry. It washed off (of him AND the rocking chair) pretty easily.

Bronny's Birthday

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who wanted more than anything to turn five.  And one day he did.  And it was the best day ever!

He had pancakes and strawberries for breakfast!

And his siblings brought him presents!

He loved each one and screamed (in ultrasonic high pitched tones) with delight each time he saw what it was. 

He got a lot of fun toys, which he shared and played with his siblings all day long!

He had to take a break from the playing to go to church, but the primary children sang to him so he loved it! 

That evening, Gramdma and Grandpa Smith and Uncle Scott came over.  Grandma gave him a huge, cool book about dinosaurs.  It was awesome!

For dinner, he chose hamburgers.  He wanted to force everyone to eat them with ketchup only because that's the way he likes them, but his mom wouldn't let him . He also had cornbread  (not the most hamburger-friendly side, but his favorite food none the less) and a salad,  Everything was delicious.

His birthday cake was in the shape of a hamburger and french fries.  Inside, the cake was marble. He also chose a favorite ice cream flavor or two to accompany the hamburger cake.

He loved hearing everyone sing to him.  

He made a wish, and blew out the candles.  

And he lived happily every after!

General Conference in Idaho

We drove up to Idaho to spend conference weekend with our family this year.  I forgot my camera, but luckily, Nicki remembered hers.

We left after Josh's soccer game on Saturday morning.  It was a beautiful day.

We listened to the first session of general conference while driving.  To keep the kids quiet/engaged, I packed a ton of little snacks and treats.  They got a new thing for every talk. Here, Ali is showing us her fruit snacks that were all stuck together.  

It worked like a charm!  I think we heard more of that session than any other one. Even little Quin was pretty good!

At Grandma and Gradnpa's house, we let the kids roam while we watched the second session. Alison watched most of it with us.  Nice picture, Al!   

Nicki loves to play on Grandma's keyboard.  She apparently took pictures of herself playing.

That evening, I visited with my good friend's daughter while the rest of the crew ate Chinese food.  They saved me a plate and it was delicious.   David and his dad watched the priesthood session of conference at home while Kristi's family and Suzette and a couple of her kids came over to play.  We had a fun night.  

The next day was "candy conference."  I don't know if Nicki took this picture when we first started or when she had eaten most of her stuff, but her bowl was much more full than that.  Grandma watched the session upstairs in peace and quiet (lucky!) but Grandpa stayed down with us and had a few treats.  

Between sessions, David took the non-napping children to the farm.  

It was lovely, as usual.

This little fella lives in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard.  I wonder if Grandpa is like Farmer McGreggor to him.  

That afternoon, the whole gang came over (minus the Kunz crew). Get ready for a while bunch of pictures Nicole took of the fun:  first, we have Isabelle and Ainsley.  

Here are David, Pace, and Kristi.

Grandpa in the background, and Kami.

I had to throw another adorable Pace picture in here.  Nicki took a million of him and they were all cute!

Isabelle playing on the keyboard.

Uncle Shawn. 

Looks like Josh is playing some sort of walkie-talkie game.

Alison, Maddie, and Abbey.

Ainsley.

Cute happy Eli.

Ellie, Uncle Terry, and Hazel (who was just starting to think about taking her first steps while we were there).

Darling Hazel and Aunt Kristi.

Uncle Terry and Grandma Gee (with I THINK Ellie in the background).

Sam.

Grandpa Gee

What am I DOING?!?! Do human bodies even bend that way?  Anyway, that's us packing up and leaving after a wonderful weekend!