Temple and Cinco De Mayo

So I have HUNDREDS of pictures from our epic trip to Disneyland I have to finish sorting through. Since the task is so daunting, figured I'd post a few pictures I was meaning to post before we left for Disneyland.
The past couple times Junior and I have gone to the temple Tavita has begged to go with us and was pretty upset when we told him he couldn't. We decided to take them up to walk around on the grounds for Family Home Evening. He thought it was cool but it still wasn't good enough for him. He wanted to go INSIDE with us. We had a lesson on what the temple entails and the need to wait until you are a worthy adult to enter. He seemed to accept it but was disappointed. I told him we could go up to the Salt Lake where they have Visitor Centers to allow those that don't have temple recommends to see/learn what it's like inside. My mom came in town for a few weeks before we headed down to Disney and we took them up for a visit. The kids loved it and learned a lot.
The grounds were BEAUTIFUL filled with all the spring flowers

I told the boys to go knock to see if anyone was home. They were knocking pretty hard for awhile but I was laughing too hard to take a picture. But got a good one of them hanging out on the steps.

The kids LOVED the Christus statue. They stared at it forever then went and sat at the base and stared up forever.

Beautiful temple in the background (and no, Kalei never let go of that bag until we pryed it out of her hands when we went inside).

This year we decided to have a little Cinco De Mayo celebration, the kids had no idea what it was but were up for an outing. We headed up Provo Canyon to Vivian's Park. It's a wonderful park with a fishing pond, playgrounds, little hikes and a railroad track. We had fajitas with some other Mexican trimmings, went fishing, played fetch with the dog, played on the playground and had a great time.
Grandma and Kalei playing on the slide

Daddy and Uncle Tyler teachign the ropes of fishing. Sadly no catch, but we'll get them next time!

The kids saw the fire pit and begged for a fire. Daddy being the superdad he is scavaged for wood and built quite the cozy little fire.

Yummm Fajitas!

Easter

In case you haven't noticed, I LOVE holidays. Any excuse to party and do fun activities works for me. Easter is no exceptiong.
I have 3 wonderful memories of Easter growing up.
1. The mass dying of easter eggs. We're talking dozens upon dozens.
2. The egg hunts that took HOURS. Our egg hunts were not for the faint of heart. We found eggs hidden in parts of the house we didn't even know existed. As we got older (yes we did them until the youngest was in high school, in fact, we were still having them when Brayden was born).
3. Mesa Temple Easter pageant. This is one thing I still REALLY want to take my family down to see. It's such a great way to refocus your attention on the truly important aspects of Easter. Allows you to reflect on the atonement and our Savior's love for us. As we have yet to make it down to Arizona for Easter, we settle with having lessons and stories about the atonement and ressurection. I am so grateful for this time of year and the opportunity it provides each of us to draw closer to the Savior and personalize His love for us and His unconditional sacrifice for us.
Easter this year was wonderful. We dyed eggs, went on an easter egg hunt, tried our best to relate the Easter Bunny and eggs to the atonement, made cupcakes and had a big Easter feast. My brother Tyler (who usually lives up by BYU but is staying with us for the Spring and Summer to save money; we call him Uncle Harry as in Potter more on that later)had his girlfriend entire family in visiting from Brazil (yest we are very international) and they all came for dinner. It was so fun to be able to cook a big holiday spread. With all our family so far away we don't get to do that very often
For some reason I did a horrible job of taking many pictures this year, but here are a few:
Leilei thought the whole easter egg dying thing was GREAT. We did 2 1/2 dozen and she could have done another 5 dozen. She was facinated every time she dropped a white egg in and it came out a different color.

Brayden laboring lovingly over his egg. (note the bucket of crayons, want to try something cool, rub crayons over hot eggs. They melt and you can get all sorts of cool designs)

Tavita with one of his masterpieces

The boys making/eating our traditional Easter cupcakes

I didn't get a picture of the final product but here they are from a previous year

The next day it was time for the big hunt. The boys had to give Kalei a bit of a head start hence the large number in her bag before she even made it down the stairs. All three of them were loving running through the house picking up eggs.

Kalei was very into the hunt until she realized these eggs were more then something to load into a bag. She decided to see why the eggs "shake shake". The look on her face when she opened them was pure bliss. Her focuses changed after that and would only grab eggs in between mouthfuls of candy

Tavita sliding in for an egg

Leilei finding her basket. It had Disney Princess lip gloss (her two favorite things rolled into one) and a Unicorn Pillowpet (at least a rip off version of one). The Unicorn had been on display at our local grocery store and everytime we walked in she'd run over and give it a hug. "Boppy" now sleeps with her every night.

Tavita grabbing his basket. He was so incredibly excited about the Batman toothbrush he wasn't even aware of the fishing pole sitting next to it. We don't have big chocolate bunnies in our baskets (figure they get more then enough sugar from other sources) and instead include a gift. Little did I know that the toothbrush would far outshine the fishing pole (Take a look at his face, he was like that for several minutes after finding the basket. Just sat there gawking at his toothbrush. Ahh the simple things in life)

Brayden with his basket. At least he was excited about his fishing pole. He is so excited (and Tavita too now that the toothbrush is old news) that the weather if finally going to be nice enough this week to go fishing.

Kalei slowly slipping into a candy coma. The boys were surprisingly frugal with their candy. On Friday night my mom was watching them while we went out and they at almost an entire GIANT bowl of candied pops (not the cereal but a weird mixture of popcorn and cheetos of sorts that I've only seen here in Utah. Coat them with sugary goodness and they are oh so addicting) After that night we learned it truly is possible for kids to hit their sugar limit. When we got home and went to say good night to them they were both moaning with soar stomachs. The next morning they sat down for breakfast and saw the bowl of Pops and cringed. "I DO NOT want to eat that for a VERY VERY long time"
That fact combined with their kind hearts made the candy intake quite low for them both. As they were sorting through their loot they overheard my mom and brother talking about how Tyler (my brother) hadn't had an Easter egg hunt for 4 years (he'd always been on a mission or my mom had been here). The boys thought this was one of the sadest things they have ever heard and proceeded to turn over their entire stash of easter eggs to Tyler (only held on to the gum and 2 Snickers eggs that were in their baskets). It was so sweet of them and I was really touched by how caring they were. Even as they found a few stragglers throughout the day, they'd always run it down to Tyler. (I on the other hand am not so charitable and was a little put out my the fact that there was no easter candy for consumption! hehe)

The following pictures are a little decieving. As I said earlier, I was being a space Easter Weekend with the camera and didn't even get a picture of the kids in their Easter best.
Easy fix, just dress them exactly the same the next week for church, and snap away so record shows you were on the ball. Another bonus: it was MUCH better weather which made for nicer pictures.
Nicer weather doesn't necessarily make for nicer subjects. They tried so hard but in almost every picture we had at least one looking as if they were either half asleep or in need of the restroom.
Or in some cases all 3 looking that way

These were the best two we got.


After trying their hardest to sit still we let them take whatever pictures they wanted. They were a crack-up planning out all their poses.

They insisted we did one with bunny ears since it was Easter pictures

Kalei LOVES to twirl in her dresses, even if they aren't the type that fly out. I'm on a mission to find her the perfect twirling dress so she can learn just what a wonder and beauty it could be (it was one of my favorite activties when I was younger).

2 little monkeys sitting on a fence

They spent forever getting ready for this pose, then Kalei came and crashed in on it.

Brayden posing and looking all so handome

Don't let that cute, innocent look fool you. She's quite the little firecracker.

Random picture but wanted to put it up here since it's one of our favorite activities. There are few things the kids look forward to more then "fun nights" aka whole family hanging out eating homemade pizza and watching a movie.

I know many of you are starting to fire up your ACs and pulling out your shorts. Don't you worry that here in Utah, waking up to snow is still a regular occurance. It is a darn good thing that high 60s and sun are forcasted for this week otherwise it could've had catastrophic consequnces in the Shum household at the hands of Mama Shum.
These two are from our most recent "gift" we awoke to yesterday.
"Oh, Tavita and Emma, what are those giant snowballs for?"

"For eating of course!"

However, for some reason, I have been horrible at taking pictures lately.

Tavita is 4!!!

It does not seem like 4 years ago I brought my little Curious George home from the hospital. I'm always amazed as to how fast time flies. However, despite my protests, time continues to march on and my babies keep getting older.
Tavita actually turned 4 on the 4th buy I'm just a good mom like that and am just now getting around to posting (my excuse is that I HATE blogger and the headache it is to upload pictures. however, since I use this as our family journal, I really should be better about it.)
Anyway, here is everything you could want to know about our little Vita...
Height: 39 3/4"
Weight: 36lbs
Why he's most excited to be 4: I'm going to Disneyland and since I ate my vegetables I'm tall enough to go on Tower of Terror (height limit- 40 in) And yes, the two rides he's most excited for is Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror. You'll understand why the more you read.
Past Times: working on stuff (LOVES to have tools in hand doing something and chores (ha, how I wish)
Animal: Tiger
Book:Secrets of Droon (see previous post)
Best Friends:Brayden, CArson, Rory&James, Hall Kids and Sister Beasley
Toy: Hulk and Bow and Arrows
Restaurant: "The party place" aka Brick Oven where we take them for their special birthday date with mom and dad and Chuck E Cheese
Song: My Halloween Music
Movie: "The Disneyland movie" (the little promo video they send you in hopes you'll come to visit) and Tarzan
Holiday: Halloween (the kid seriously celebrates it year-round
Food: Watermelon, Oranges, popcorn, cherries, cereals (fav is GrapeNuts no joke), corn and carrots
Tavita is truly a one of a kind kid. He finds joy in the smallest thing and is perfectly content doing his own thing for hours. He loves to explore and is curious about EVERYTHING. He is often a very quiet kid around new people but will talk your ear off. Half the time he doesn't seem aware of what's going on but then will bust out some of the funniest things ever. Although he's not a very emotional kid he does some of the sweetest most thoughtful things. If you're laying there he'll come and cover you with a blanket. If someone is upset over something, he tries to think of a way to make things better. I am so grateful to be this little boy's mother!
A little over a year ago the 11-year old scouts were playing on our (very cheap) tire swing and the thin little rope snapped and sent them flying. Tavita has missed that tire swing dearly so for his birthday Junior built him one that is sure to last the ages (even bought orange chains to remember his Halloween birthday. Don't know why this is the best picture I have of him on it but with the few nice days we've had it has been the hit of the neighborhood. Tavita sits on it all the time, whether swinging or enjoying a snack.

Tavita really wanted a hot dog BBQ for his birthday but the weather wasn't too cooperative. So we grilled outside and had an indoor picnic. He was good with it, especially since it included watermelon (though the rest of us didn't consider it to even be edible)

Everytime someone sang Happy Birthday to him he'd just stand there and tap his foot to the music.

He was very good about letting his siblings help him unwrap his presents. He really wanted golf clubs for his birthday. The only ones I can ever find are those really cheapy plastic ones that break in a week. We decided to go to the thrift store and buy the real deal since they'd never break. BAD IDEA!!! I have a heart attack every time I watch him swing those suckers around with kids running by.

Lastly he got the kite he'd been eying for a few months. Now we just need a windy, nonrainy, day to giver it a whirl.

The Saturday after his birthday we had his LONG awaited Halloween party. The kid seriously started planning this sucker in September. Tavita is Halloween obsessed; dances to his Halloween cd on a regular basis, wears his halloween pants and shirt weekly, and loves all things spooky (as long as its not too gruesome). Luckily for me he did start planning in September because the day after Halloween I went out and stocked up.
Here is his halloween cake complete with all the details he wanted: haunted mansion, a spooky tree, Jack Skellington (just a very obese version of him), a witch, gravestones, Frankenstien, "5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate (take a look at the fence, there are 5 pumpkins scattered on them), zombie hands coming out of a grave, a zombie (that's the bright green character on the mansion done by the birthday boy himself), a black cat, and a swamp with alligators in it (converted into a moat)

A little not about the "spooky tree". I totally overworked the fondant so had to hotglue it together. As I was doing so I got a great idea to cover the tree with a spider web from the strings of the hot glue. I carefully wove a spider web all over the tree thinking for sure I'd earn some mom points. He woke up the next morning, came down to look at all the fondant characters and came up quite upset.
"WHY did you put glue all over the spooky tree???"
"Isn't it cool, now it looks extra spooky."
"How are my friends going to eat it with glue everywhere???"
"Well, there's a lot of other parts of the cake, I thought they'd be ok skipping over that one part."
"I didn't need a spider web, just a spooky tree..."
And so the conversation continued. Luckily the party police forgave me and he was very excited and proud of his cake. He did help put a lot of it together and loved doing it.

When the kids first showed up to the party, the gatehred around the cake forever looking at different parts, laying claim on what part they were going to eat. They then moved on to gawk at the Witch's Brew. We had made an ice ring with gummy alligators in it and put it in a green punch. I thought with a little dry ice smoking it up it'd be killer.
I learned a little something that day. Apparently you don't combine regular ice with dry ice. The react to each other with quite a display. It smoked like crazy (the picture does not do it justice) and was bubbling all over the place. The kids were terrified of drinking it. Luckily by the time we went to drink it, all had calmed down (the reactions causes both forms of ice to melt VERY quickly)


The Jack-o-lantern cheeseball Tavita picked out of a book (seriously think this kid is going to be an event planner with all the details he worked out)

The first activity was to make "Ghost Pops". However, I don't think a single on of those ghost pops made it home. I'm sure the parents wondered why I put crumbled up tissues in their kids party bags.

Next we moved on to "Mixed Match Pumpkin Smash" I wasn't sure how much the kids would enjoy this game but it was a total hit. They had a blast making all kinds of funny faces on the pumpkins.


Next was the long-awaited game of "Zombie Attack". Brayden and Tavita had been talking about playing this game for weeks and were so excited when the day arrived. Don't know if many of you are familiar with the computer game "Plants vs Zombies". It's the only computer game we have and my boys LOVE it. I blew up some of the zombies from the game and we taped them to soda bottles. They slowly advanced towards the kids while they tried knocking them down with beanbags and balls before they came and "ate their brains" We even did a lightning and fog level with the help of a strobe light and fog machine.
The kids getting ready for the zombie onslaught

The zombies slowly advancing forwards. I don't think there was a need to plan anything else but this game. Those poor zombies took a serious beating.

We attempted to do a doughnut from a string eating contest (don't know why I think of that game when I think Halloween)
Started out by asking the kids who liked doughnuts. It was unanimous.

However, dangling a doughnut in front of the noses of 3-5 year olds and telling them they can't use their hands is sheer torture. One girl was in tears. I felt horrible. Kalei thought the game was for the birds and took matters into her own hands.

I told the rest of the kids to follow suit.

In the end, there were smiles all around.

Next it was time to sing Happy Birthday. Since he was sitting, Tavita tapped his hand instead of his foot.

Blowing out the candles

I honestly thought all the fondant figures would be tossed into the trash because fondant is NASTY. Such was not the case. Everyone laid claim to different figures and the chomped right through them. Here's Tavita after taking a HUGE bite out of his ghost. Made me slightly sick to my stomach watching them go to town.

Next it was on to present time

Each kid had to help Tavita open the present the gave him. They were so excited to give it to him, they couldn't sit still.

Next, had to change plans due to weather, and we went trick or treating indoors. Luckily no fingers or toes were crushed as kids ran up and down stairs knocking on doors gathering treats.

The favorite prize was by far the teeth. There were vampires running around everywhere.
We had sweet vampires

scary ones

And ones that weren't quite sure what they were but thought they were a lot of fun

All in all everyone had a blast. I try not to think of the vast amounts of sugar that was inhaled in the two hours they were there. I sent all kids home with a warning label so parents knew why their kids were hanging form the ceiling fans.

A little something to end with. This was the remains of a lovely snowstorm we awoke to the day before Tavita's birthday.
Kalei getting ready for a Winter frolic in Spring

A cute little snow angel

Brayden taking Tavita on a sleigh ride

Sliding down the hill

Collision with the black beast

Total wipeout!

We've had a small handful of "warm" days but are still waiting for Spring to come and stay. Until then, happy Winter to you all!