A Super Brayden Birthday!

I can't believe I have a 6-year old. That means he now needs two hands to show his age. That means he can ride his bike (no training wheels of course) around the corner to a friends. That means he goes to kindergarten. That means he's growing TOO fast!!!
This year his love is all about Mario so on the day of his party we transformed the house into Marioland. We had tubes, question boxes, adn bricks all over the walls with gold coins everywhere. Brayden was so excited for his party and showed each of his friends as they showed up.
The "lava level" cake (and no, nobody gave a 6 yr old flowers for his birthday, just so happens the day before Braydens birthday (aka party day) happens to be our anniversary)


As the kids arrived we made marshmallow guns (mario is a plumber, guns are made of pvc pipes plus they were the closest I could get to "fire flower powere" without risking serious injury)

While the finished and waited for others to finish they watched Mario movies. I came in to hear a whole lot of yelling looked downstairs and found this. Everytime King Koopa came on the screen the attacked, I was cracking up.

Then we had a donut eating contest (carry over from Tavita's party that Brayden really liked)

These two killed the competition

Wouldn't be a Mario party without pizza and all kinds of other food. Think the kids most liked being able to pour their own soda, we went through WAAAAY to much of that stuff. I'm sure all parents loved me.

Time to try out the guns, had I limitless supply of marshmallows, this would've never ended.

I of course had to have my own fun and turned them all on Junior

He conqured and neatly lined his dead up as he knocked them off.

Cake time!!!


Moved onto presents, made out like a bandit

The kids were mobbing him trying to get him to open their present. I told them to all sit down and we'd have them come up one by one. This brother and sister team were the only ones to listen, isn't it fitting they are the Good family.

Group hug to say thank-you.

Ended with a obstacle course going through the different Mario"levels" actually "games". First they did Mario Kart and rode the wiggles to collect balloons filled with gold coins.

Then they hopped on those little ball hopper things for Mario Galaxy. Didn't get pictures of that.
Went onto the Lava level jumping across the lava then threw "BaBombers" (don't know if that's their name but Brayden insisted we incorporated them) at King Boo


Ended with a big slide down the flag pole aka slip n slide

Lasted a short while then it turned into an all out water fight. There were water balloons everywhere but cleaned up amazingly quick when I promised the kids a marshmallow for every balloon they picked up.

Then the day after his birthday (his birthday was on a Sunday which meant most partying took place other days so he got a weekend long celebration trying to get it all in)we went out for a huge treat. Our kids almost never get to go to this place but absolutely love it when we do go. Added bonus, we got a TON of tokens with all different coupons and what not that we convinced the kid if they didn't spend them all at once we'd come back for a repeat outing (sin the pizza, I cannot justify spending $20 for pizza that is barely palatable unless it's for a birthday)




That sums up the party weekend for our first born. I can't believe I've been blessed with such a sweet little boy to lead my pack. He is so good in the big brother role. He looks out for his siblings and tries his best to set a good example for him. Even though he's quickly trying to catch up to me in height he still loves to cuddle in my lap and will give hugs and kisses to whoever is in need of it.
Latest Favorites:
Foods: cheetos, chicken and rice, cheesehamburgers, mac and cheese, spaghetti, banana, apples, grapes, green beans, cooked carrots (as you can see he's not too picky)
Movie: Superhero cartoons
Book: I Spy books
Toy: legos
Cereal: Captian Crunch
Activity: riding his bike with friends, charades, playing with friends (can't go a day without doin that)
Animal: chipmunks, deer, moose and my friends (haha)
Games: video games, especially Mario ones
Favorite thing in the world: MARIO

The Great Flood

You want crazy weather? Come to Utah!!!
A few weeks back we were enjoying a typical sunny summer day. Just as it was getting time for Junior to come home it started clouding up and sprinkling some so I called and asked if he wanted a ride home (he rides his bike to work). He said he guessed so (had no idea it had gone cloudy so wasn't sure why I was asking) I hung up the phone and told the kids to get in the car. On their way out it litterally started raining harder then I've ever seen in my life (beat any storm in Hawaii). By the time I raced out to save them it started hailing and HARD and the wind blew HARD. Keep in mind that 15 minutes earlier and had been clear blue skies. We got Junior and headed home and went back to clear skies but in the 15 minute downpour it left quite a bit of damage.
Our basement flooded! We have a seperate entrance down there. It rained so hard that the drain in front of the door couldn't drain fast enough and in just started filling the stairwell. Luckily we have a nice flat foor so it just kept filling the basement with 1/4-1/2 in of water, never deep enough to really go over the lip of the transition piece from the wood laminate to the carpet. But man was there a lot of water everywhere. I grabbed the shop vac and started vaccuming up a storm while Junior ran to see if he could get the drain going faster. He pounds on the window and says not to open the door (I was just about to). The stairwell was so full it was up and over the first step. Luckily all went smoothly and everyting was cleaned up with no damage.
Once we got this relatively clean, I left Junior to finish (I'm so good and making him do all the work!) and took the kids to swim.
Where you ask?
Why in the street of course!




These pics were taken 1/2 hour after the rain subsided so the water had already started going down the storm drains but there was stil A LOT of water left. It nearly reached some peoples front doors.
And that my friends is Utah weather for you!

Battle Creek

Like I said earlier, one of the reason I love July in Utah is the hikes. One hike we love is Battle Creek Falls. It's nice and short, perfect for the kids but has a beautiful destination
Daddy, Leilei, and Bowzer gearing up to go

Any hike with these two always takes at least twice as long because they have to climb and explore everything around them

Trying to get a family picture in. Brayden was terrified of hanging over the rushing water.

Beware of the wild animals coming out of the cave.

Another visitor we had with us for awhile in July was Grandma. And yet again, I got hardly any pictures of her. During her stay here she managed to dethrone me as Kalei's favorite (and if you know Kalei that is saying a lot). For awhile after she left Kalei would start crying for Grandma, realize she was gone then start crying for me instead.

We all shimmied across this log, skipped over a few rocks and explored the other side. Things are always so much more heartstopping when you do things with kids. But they really wanted to go and we made it so it was well worth it!

It's my Party

In addition to the killer Pioneer Day celebration Junior made sure I had an incredible birthday weekend. He surprised me on Friday by coming home from work early and having a killer date planned. He had packed the car with all the different changes of clothes needed for our festivities.
We started of by going to the temple only to remember it's closed every year at this time for cleaning.
Headed to the waterpark (I'd been saying how much I'd love to go and actually ride all the slides I look at everytime I take the kids). It was so fun to go and actually relax and have fun on all the slides. Though we are useless typical parents and kept talking about how much fun it would be to have the kids there too.
Changed for dinner to try a new Brazilian place I've been wanting to try, but were sadly disappointed. Regardless it's always nice to be able to enjoy a dinner with jus tthe two of us.
Headed over to watch Soul Surfer. We both really enjoyed the movie a lot, in fact are considering adding it to our collection.
Finished off the night with a delicious ice cream sundae.
Then on Sunday he made delicious fajitas for dinner and this yummy peaches n cream pie for dessert. Did I mention he made homemade ice cream too.


Here's to my final year in my 20s!

The Pioneer Children Sang...

July is hands down my favorite month here in Utah. The weather is BEAUTIFUL, there are mountains in our backyard begging to be explored and there are nonstop parties to attend. Several of them put on the city. Namely the 4th of July celebration and the Pioneer Day celebration. My kids look forward to it all year (ok, I also look forward to it) My camera pulled it's favorite trick and shuffled all the pictures when I was downloading it so they are in no particular order.
The boys made some staches to sport and Kalei a bonnet. She wore that bonnet for days.

Watching the hoop dancers is always a favorite

Another favorite is the petting zoo. Kalei squealed with delight everytime they ate from her hands.

The boys taking their turn.

Can't forget the horse rides.


Kalei's horse was a little agitated (for some reason I don't think he liked being stuck in the hot sun walking in circles with countless kids on his back) He wouldn't stop neighing and snorting which Kalei thought made the experience that 10x better. She was in heaven.

The wagon ride was new and the boys were way excited to go.

They took a break from all the activities to do a little shopping 19th century style

They were enthralled by the blacksmith and Tavita now has high aspirations of one day "making metal" When we were at camp this last weekend he kept putting a stick in the fire, pulling it out and hammering it out.

There is the cutest man (has to be in his 90s) that has made it his life effort to recover and restore the fire truck the city of Provo used back in the early 1900s. He is kind enough to bring it to the celebration every year and let the kids sit on it, crank the siren and take pictures. He's always so fun to sit and talk to.

Brayden was in disbelief over all the vintage cars. They were pretty amazing.

Brayden's favorite is always the obstacle course. The first time we did it (he wasn't quite two) he was TERRIFIED of the fake snake and refused to complete the course, ran and hid in the little covered wagon and we had to pull him out. Now, he runs the course like a champ and loves every moment.

Leilei had a little too much partying

But perked right back up at the playground. She seriously hung from this bar for minutes without letting go.

The best part of the whole deal was having dear Berty here visiting. I can't believe this is the only picture I took while they were here. We loved having her, her sister Stacey and their cute kiddos hanging out here for a couple weeks. Just glad they finally made it home in their van. She sure gave it their best to get them back!

No one would've guessed 10 years ago that we'd ever be responsible to raise this brood. yes I know they aren't all looking and smiling but you try to get 5 kids under 5 to do that.

Panning for gold

Another thing they love for some reason is the jail



Lassoing herself a bull

Kalei with her princess packet Daddy helped her make

Tavita and Mommy making his packet

Having a root beer drinking contest. The guy that won had his can gone before anyone could even get their's to their lips


Gotta have a little axe throwing in the mix.

And some slingshot action too.