Party, Party, Party and more Parties!

That is what has been consuming our life for the past month. It's been an absolute blast but utterly exhausting as well. We've been BUSY and are just going to get busier. Here are a some pics of a few of our little shindigs.
The week after we went camping we had a BYUH Samoan Club reunion, my great Uncle's 94th birthday, another BBQ and Brayden's friend's birthday all in one day. Unfortunately we only made it to the reunion and Brayden skipped out half way through to hit up the birthday party since it was just down the street.
We love getting together with all of our friends from school. It's CRAZY to see how quickly we've all grown. At first our get togethers were small and now we all have 2, 3, 4 kids running amuck. It's always so good to be able to catch up with everyone and reminisce on old times. This time around we decided to save someone the headache of hosting and all got together at the city waterpark. We swam, feasted, then swam some more. I didn't get too many pics but here are a few.
Kalei decided the berry salad would make a wonderful lotion for the two of us

Some of the crowd, we never got a big group pic

Junior in heaven with his pineapple pie (he lives for those things

The kids all lined up in a row and would jump up and down as one of them ran down the path. By the time I got my camera, they were all just running.

The next weekend was my birthday and oh what a party it was. I really wanted to go to a rodeo so we went on the Thursday before my birthday. We left Kalei with some friends and were SOOOO glad we did as we didn't get home until midnight. The rodeo was an absolute blast, I've always been a cowgirl at heart (I shoulda been a cowgirl, shoulda learned to rope and ride) and love going to things like that. The boys thought it was great and spent the next several days practicing mutton bustin on Bowzer.
The boys with their water bottles they won from the army recruits for doing pushups

Steer wrestlin

What would a rodeo be without a bucking bronco?

The rodeo clown was really a dirtbike stuntman known as "The Wild Child" This was the highlight of the boys night. (that and the bucking broncos but forgot to get a pic of that)

Ending the night with some good ole squishy faces!

Then on Friday I was out mowing the lawn and Junior told me to go in and shower because we had to go somewhere. Not knowing what the heck he was up to I complied and he dropped me off in front of a spa for a 3 1/2 hour break from the kids. I got pampered with a pedicure, facial, and back treatment. I'd never done anything like it and LOVED it. SOOO relaxing, just don't think I could make a habit of spending money on such frivolous things. It was a nice treat for sure though.
Then on Saturday (my actual birthday) we headed to the park for the yearly Pioneer Day celebration (the advantage of having my birthday in Utah is there's always a party and Junior always has the day off). The kids had a great time running around playing games, climbing on fire trucks, watching the Indians perform cultural dances and visiting the pioneer village. Junior definitely spoiled me ROTTEN for my birthday
Here are a some pics of their favorite activities
Swinging over a snake pit

Proudly displaying their vests they made

Riding the old fashioned fire truck, they thought this was way cooler than the new one

The new one was pretty cool too though

Kalei trying to find a "needle" in a haystack

Junior and my favorite was the prison!

I don't know why but this picture makes me laugh

We decided to lock Leilei up too

Trying their hand at the hoop races

Shooting bow and arrows

Lei LOVED this miniature horse

The boys taking a pony ride

Then of course what would a birthday be without cake.

The weekend after that we had a BBQ with a bunch of friends from Junior's work. We left that and went straight to our neighborhood Picnic in the Park. We were the ones that planned it but only caught the tail end of it (got it all set up then took of to Junior's BBQ that's what happens when you plan too much and accidently double book). It was a joke among everyone. Oh well, we'll do better planning next time.
No pics for that weekend!
Then this week, WOW did we party! Our anniversary was on Friday but we went out to celebrate Thursday. We always keep it low key. Since I was about to pop on our 1st anniversary and craved burgers, it's become tradition for us to get burgers and milkshakes. We also went to a movie and went on a nice long walk. I'll spare you of all the mushy stuff but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think how luck I am to have Junior as my partner in crime.
On Friday, Junior took the boys to our ward Fathers and Sons campout. The boys ALWAYS look forward to this every year. Junior knows how to show the boys a good time. They stayed up late laughing, telling stories, and being boys. Since it was threatening rain, they slept in the van and the boys loved the new adventure. The next morning Junior was in charge of the games and they played some Minute to Win It and it was a total hit.
Gotta have a mallow roast

Night Skits

Hanging out in the van

Candy Elevator

Oreo game

Elephant Walk

Playing Kickball

They got home from the campout around 11:00, were home long enough to take a bath then my mom whisked the boys off to Carls Jr for Brayden's birthday. They got home just in time for Brayden's birthday party.
He chose a Star Wars theme and we had a blast! As the kids arrived we gave them Jedi Knight costumes and a lightsaber. They played around for a little while and went on an astroid hunt. We then had a Jedi Master (a neighbor kid that teaches martial arts) come and train them to be Jedi Knights. It was HILLARIOUS watching them go through their "training".
Just as they were completing their training Darth Vadar (another neighborhood kid) showed up. He first took on the Jedi Master and defeated him so all the little Jedi Knights took their revenge and took Darth Vadar down. Brayden was deemed the new Jedi Master by being able to break a board with the "force".
We then had snacks (bananas, strawberries, and chips selected by Brayden) and of course cake and ice cream. I was practicing with fondant for my brothers wedding and it was a DISASTER but after a lot of stars covering the cake it worked for a birthday party.
We moved on to presents (the highlight for Brayden) then they moved back outside to fight Darth Vadar yet again (Brayden got a costume for his brithday and he wanted everyone to fight him). The new toys were busted out and they had a great time fighting with their lighsabers and running wild.
We summed up the night by going to the stake picnic. Needless to say we were POOPED yesterday. It's been a very busy summer with all theypartying, playing, pooling and more but we're having a great time!
These pictures are in no particular order because we had camera batteries dying left and right so it's a combo of our camera, Janessa's, and our nieghbors and I'm not even bothering getting the ones off of our video camera. Just imagine a bunch of kids mercilessly beating on Darth Vadar (we're lucky John was such a good sport) and Brayden blowing out the candles (they were the light sabers which he though was WAY cool)
The new Darth Vadar

The final battle

Victory over the dark side

Opening presents

Free for all fight

The cake

Blaize and Kea

Brayden and his good friend Bridger. I got a great one of Brayden jumping in the air as Brayden swung but it was in video mode. OOPS!
This was after he had lost both arms and legs

/this actually fom another party earlier this week but I loved it too much not to post

The majority of the party, couldn't get them all in one picture

Learning from the master

Tavita in battle

Brayden practicing with the master

Everyone fighting the master

Dum, Dum, Dum!!! It's Darth Vadar