Blue & Gold

  Porter's turning 8 this year, so he was invited to the Blue and Gold Banquet.
The boys had to bring a cake made by themselves with the help of their dad & then it was to be auctioned off to raise money for the Scouts.  And So here are my fellas both making their FIRST cake.

Porter mixing the frosting. It was homemade, just not in our home.

our special friend Kathy just happened to have a bowl of frosting on hand, with porters name on it. thanks Kathy :)

Frosting the cake

They cooked the cake in a glass bowl

Porter did the frosting and decided to leave the chocolate stripes up to Ryan.

         Drum Roll Please............................................................

It turned out A-MAY-ZING

Plastic b-ball players also courtesy of Kathy

Bro. Williams announcing the soon to be Cub Scouts

They had a real auctioneer.

$5.00..$5.00.. can I get $10.00?.. $10..$10.00.. $15...SOLD $15.00!!

Porter got the award for the best 3D cake.

great job P & Ryan

Sorry Ry. now I know, you know how to bake a cake :)

and Sorry to the winners of the cake.  I hope it was cooked all the way through. After it reached the 2 hour mark in the oven, I told Ryan they probably should take it out.

And sorry to my kitchen, the poor lady is still recovering.

30

                                                                                 My Mr. is 30

This chalkboard message was up for 3 days when Porter asked me "mom, why does it say happy birthday Day?" ha ha none of us noticed. leave it to P

Ryan turned 30! 

 it's so bazaar to think that Ry and I have known & loved each other for half of our lives. cause see half of 30 is 15 & 15 is when we started dating, sooo...well... that's half.. :)

His birthday happened to fall on Presidents day this year, so he and the kids had the day off.

I'll give you 3 guesses on what he wanted to do.

#1. go hiking? yes but it was too cold for the littles.

#2. go out to lunch, yes but not just any lunch.

#3. yup, you guessed it we spent the day at Cabellas.

I'd say the restaurant is kinda chaotic, but I'm a sucker for a homemade turkey sandwich. yummo

The kids have begged for these pop guns since the first time we went. I guess Ryan was feeling the Birthday spirit & finally fulfilled all of their dreams lol. plus he had 6 gift cards he'd been hoarding for 2 years.

I thought  former president George W. was looking surprisingly tan.

Five hours later we made it home, with all 3 children, 2 pop guns, cabellas hat & a shmancy new pair of hiking boots for the birthday boy.

Happy Birthday Ryan

We love love love you.



Happy Valentines

                           Happy Valentines Day

LUCKY ME

I awoke this morning to 2 men in my bed!

One was Lincoln, I brought him up about midnight because he was barking like a seal...again

and the other fellow was my husband! he took the day off for Valentines.

This is someone who only takes a day off for either a hiking trip with his dad or if it's a mandatory no work holiday.

Oh wait it gets better, he and the kids brought me breakfast in bed! funny thing, he didn't want me to see his ingredients so he stashed them in the garage freezer the day before. One dozen cracked frozen eggs ha ha.

Later he ran some errands with the kids and returned home with a large fountain Diet Vanilla Coke and a

What-Cha-Ma-Call-it in hand.

And Tomorrow is Bountiful Temple.

Yup, best Valentines ever.

Nutcracker

There's something about the Nutcracker that takes my breath away, no matter how many times I've seen it.
I haven't been for a few years but my sister Tif had been taking her daughter. This year I took it upon myself to invite Canyon and I. Shoot what the heck, let's take mom out of the home and get her out for her birthday. (just kidding mom, happy birthday)

Driving to salt lake is alot of work so we had to stop by Olive Garden first.

waiting at Olive Garden

The girls getting a glimpse of the orchestra

That could have been me. if only I kept at that clarinet

Found their seats.

She made it through her first Nutcracker.

she loved it & Madi was so nice to answer all of her questions throughout the show.

"is that a real mouse? why isn't anyone talking? why is that guy mean lookin?is that real snow? how do they do that?"

Miss Madi

Grandma

Tif and Madi

Happy Birthday mom

and

Thanks Tif for letting us tag along.

same time next year???

Deck the halls

As soon as Thanksgiving is over, the kids know it's tree time.

Ryan and I started a tradition where on Christmas Eve the kids open a present of pajamas and a new ornament. we try and pick one that sorta describes that kid that year. for instance, a hotwheel ornament for porter last year because he was completely obsessed with them.

It's so fun to see them put up their own ornaments and talk about them.

We had to enlist Porter and a chair so all the ornaments wouldn't be 3 feet and lower.

The grand finale

                    I think we're missing a box, because that is one sad lookin tree.

                                           Happy Holidays everyone

Santa Clause

"Mom, I know that's not the real Santa"

" fine, I'll tell him what I want, but I'm not sitting on his lap!"

true story

And this one, I had to pull out of the car kicking and screaming.  He would not go anywhere near that old bearded man & he eventually fell asleep on Ryan, far, far away from Old Saint Nick.

So delightful, sure can't wait for next year. nope not one hint of sarcasm there.

"Croup there it is"

       Nothing says Christmas like the Croup.

Having gone through this a few times before with Linc and the other 2, we tried all of our learned tricks....FAIL, tactics....FAIL and portable nebulizer....FAIL.

We took him in & got him the good stuff

Lincoln is so nice to share.

after 4 days of barking like a seal and talking like a 80 year old cigar smoker, Linc is back to tip top unstoppable shape.

I am so thankful for modern technology.

Happy Halloween

Word on the street was you could buy a $50 Black Island Farm gift certificate for the price of a $20 at Utah Deal Monster. That's just what we did.

Canyon found her perfect pumpkin

Linc and daddy were still looking

Porter unearthed his & we all hopped back in the wagon

This picture makes me laugh!

do you see the uncooperative 3 year old? ha ha ha

Once you have pumpkins you must........

paint them

Ty and Shay had us over for soup and pumpkin painting

Canyon could paint all day, everyday

Porter will do anything to get his hands on a knife.

Porter's school Halloween carnival.

Finally... the day of Ol' Hallows Eve.

A nice skeleton

A disgruntled skeleton

and

a soccer boy

The proud owners of the 3 goblins

Ha ha ha

my crime fighting neighbors

Corey and Token

& their identical book ends.

And that, my fellow pocket protector wearers is how you do Halloween.

We also stopped by the "Boo-lavard" at nannys work & ventured over to grandma and grandpa McPhies for soup and more trick or treating.

Oh how I love the holidays that include candy and family!