SURPRISE!!!!!!

There are very few people in this world that I would load up my kids for a 7 hour drive to surprise on their birthday and then load them all back up the very next day to drive 7 hours back home... and this girl is one of them!
 

Ok, so technically her birthday is on Thursday, but her awesome husband had been planning this surprise party for her for about a month and asked us to come up to surprise her for her 30th birthday bash! How can we pass up such a fun opportunity to hang out with some of our favorite people... The Griggs?!?!

It was a fun Hawaiian Luau! So the birthday girl was dressed appropriately for the occasion.

Why... yes... I AM knockin on her coconuts! We're tight like that!

 Ok, this is what we ate for dinner! Good ol' Mr. Griggs actually went to a pig farm and picked out the pig that we would all eat for dinner and had a friend of theirs roast it! This is how it came to the party! Looked pretty gross, but it was actually good. Conner was a little freaked out by it and came up to Patrick and I after he saw it with quite the concerned look on his face and said he didn't wanna eat any pig for dinner. we told him he didn't have to that he could have a hot dog, and apparently that was much better.... go figure!!

 Such a fun birthday cake!! A friend of hers made it for her. It looked amazing and tasted SO good too!

Here is the birthday girl blowing out her candles. That is her hubby behind her who did such a great job planning the whole thing. It turned out awesome!! Big points to him!

(As you can see, they are DIE HARD Ute fans... for this we forgive them ONLY because they are such wonderful people and that is what Y fans do!!!)  haha!!!

Melissa and I (yes her name is Melissa too, that is just one of the many reasons she rocks!) met about 5 years ago when we were neighbors in Taylorsville. We were both called to the Young Women's in our ward and given the assignment to put girls camp together.... in just 3 weeks time and a budget of only $200! Impossible you say?!?! We somehow pulled it off. Ok we did go over budget a bit, but our Bishop approved it. And ever since then we were bestest buds! We spent those 3 weeks together constantly coming up with ideas for shirts, camp cheers, camp banners, games to play, spiritual messages for the girls, skits, menus, and all the little details that go into girls camp. I don't think there was a single day in those 3 weeks that we didn't spend together. Our husbands were starting to wonder if they would ever see us again. I'm sure we were quite the sight to see with us both having 2 kids and going shopping for supplies and food. There was once in the Army Surplus store that was particularly disastrous and I never stepped foot in that store again! :) We ventured off to camp together and endured the horribly timed rain storms, slept together on my air mattress that had a small leak somewhere and every morning we woke up with our bums on the ground,  together we learned how to cook food outdoors, and she was my shoulder to cry on when I learned that while I was at camp that Conner had taken his first steps and I had missed it! She is amazing! Melis is one of my favorite people in the world! She is such a strong and positive person. Through all the trials and tough times I've seen her go through I'm always amazed at how positive she is and the amount of faith that she has. She is a great example! She is such a fun and funny person to be around... I never laugh as hard as I do when we are with the Griggs... like literally can't breath -sides hurt -tears running down your face kind of laughing. We always have fun crafting together and shopping together. I am so lucky to be able to call her my friend!!

It was so much fun to go up and surprise her! I just love a good surprise!

The mullet HAD to go!

It was high time for the mullet look to go! Landon's hair has gotten a little outta control over the past few months... growing in the back, but not as much in the front. It was getting pretty funny looking, so this weekend, we decided it was time for the mullet to GO!!

  

This was also our first attempt at cutting our own kids hair. Neither of the older boys needed their haircut this young. I seriously think that Brayden was over 2 years old when he got his first haircut (the kid was almost bald until well after his first birthday!) and Conner was 18 months, but we had a neighbor that did hair, so she cut it for me. I wasn't sure where to take a 1 year old, and didn't really wanna pay for it when it seems so easy to just even it all out ourselves. So we gave it a try.

I mean seriously!!! Look at all the hair back there!!!

He wasn't loving the process, but he did really good for his first time!

It turned out pretty good I think. It's unfortunately not finished yet, because we apparently didn't let the clippers charge long enough and it died before we could finish. So we let it charge overnight and we'll try again today to finish it up.

Not too bad... but I think I still have some practice to do! But his new non-mullet look is much better!!

...And Landon made 5

It was one year ago that our little family of 4 became an even better family of 5! (if you need a reminder or just wanna see his cute newborn pics click here!)  I still stand by the fact that it's just not fair how fast time flies when they are this little. It seems impossible that Landon is already a year old. BUT it is also so fun and exciting to watch your little babies learn, grow, develop their little personalities, and discover their little world around them. It's a very bittersweet thing for a mom.

 "WhooHoo!!!! I'm 1!"

Landon is just about the sweetest little boy ever! He has started walking and is getting pretty good at it. He wanders around from room to room, walking and exploring... and getting into everything he can. He doesn't like it when you tell him "No" (what baby does?) and gets the funniest scrunched up face when you say no, and he has a funny fake cry that goes along with it. It's really pretty hard NOT to laugh at it.  He loves to walk his brothers to school in the mornings and enjoys watching everything as we go by. He still doesn't say any words, but has his own version of "talking" and does it all the time as he plays and walks around. Its pretty cute. When you ask him something like "what are you doing?" he'll answer you with his gibberish and show you what he has in his hands. His favorite foods are Cinnamon Graham Goldfish, apple juice, mac and cheese, pizza, diced peaches, and Strawberry Yogurt Melts. His favorite pass time is opening all the drawers and cupboards and playing with the tupperware lids and the bag clips. He is a big boy now, so that means that he gets to face forward in the car, and most the time he likes it, he just doesn't like the sun in his face. With his baby carrier, his brothers made sure the shade on it covered him if the sun was in his face. Guess he got used to that! Maybe one day we'll finally get our car windows tinted. :)

 Apparently your toes still taste pretty good even when you are facing forward in the car! Good to know!

Today we made him some fun little monkey cupcakes for his big day. The boys even helped a little and put some of the noses, eyes, and ears on. I think they turned out pretty cute. We made some "big" cupcakes and some are just regular size. The birthday boy got this big one to eat!

We tried to open presents before dinner, but Landon decided he was too hungry for such things, so we all ate some good ol' Papa Murphy's pizza, then it was time for presents.... take 2!

 I think this is his "Really mom?? Seriously... enough with the pictures!" look.

 But oh, look, forget the toys, look at this packing paper and used wrapping paper, lets play with this!

After we had opened all the presents, unpackaged toys, played with the wrapping paper and empty boxes it was time for the very anticipated monkey cupcakes.

I guess holding a huge cupcake in front of a little boy and forcing him to listen to your surly-out-of-tune version of "Happy Birthday" as you hold aforementioned cupcake just far enough away so he can't reach it is just cruel. I mean I know I'm no professional singer or anything but wow.... he wasn't havin' it, and he was letting us know it!

FINALLY!!!

I think he enjoyed it just a bit.

I mean really... what does a little boy have to do around here to get to eat his birthday cupcake?!?!?

I love birthdays... especially for my kids.... especially their first.

Happy Birthday little dude!! You sure make a great caboose to our crazy train!

And he's off!

Landon started walking last week. He's still not a pro, but he's getting better and braver every day!

As you can tell by the big smiles and his excited noises he's making, he thinks he's pretty hot stuff walking around here now.

Our most recent AZ trip

Over Labor Day Weekend, Patrick and I loaded up the kids and headed down to Arizona to visit my family.  We did lots of fun things like.... 

.... going to visit the houses that Patrick and I grew up in.  Mine was in Prescott

and Patrick's is in Chandler.

The boys thought it was so fun to see where we lived when we were their age. We drove by our old homes and pointed out which window was our old bedrooms and drove by our elementary schools. The boys really thought that was cool since they are in elementary school too. By the way... my elementary school has really changed! Half the playground is gone and has a new building on it. Our houses have changed a little too. I showed the boys where I used to ride my bike with my friends and where "Killer Hill" was that we used to race our bikes down. They thought that was pretty cool!

....We went to go see my grandparents in Mesa. I somehow forgot to take pictures with them, but it was the first time they have met Landon. It was good to see them. It has been a few years since we have made it down to their house. My Grandpa just turned 90 years old!  We just love him and my grandma.

....after visiting my grandparents, we went in search of Arizona Cardinals gear for the boys. We found them some T-shirts and footballs that came in handy while playing at my parents house in their back yard.

Love this picture of Conner throwing the ball... look close up top, you can see the ball.

....the boys also wanted to go and see the Temple that we were married in. They have never been to the Mesa Temple before, so we stopped really fast (it was SUPER HOT that day) and took a few pictures. We were telling the boys that this is where we were married and those were the doors we came out of and all our family and friends were there waiting for us. Then Brayden pipes up and says, "So this is where it all began!" haha!! It made Patrick and I laugh. 

Conner took this picture of us, not bad for a 5 year old!

Brayden really wanted to go swimming in the Reflection Pool. It was so hot, it probably would have felt good. We explained to the boys that it is only like 6 inches deep so you can see the reflection of the temple in it.

No one was ever looking at the camera at the same time, and Landon didn't want anything to do with pictures, he was ready for a nap! But it was still fun to stop and see the Mesa Temple. I love that Temple! So Beautiful!! I guess it really is where our Eternal Family began.
I can't wait to go back to Mesa at Thanksgiving time to go see all the Christmas Lights, the boys have never seen them before and I think they will love it!

It was a fun trip. We enjoyed the nice Prescott weather and some yummy home made Rocky Road Ice Cream my dad made for me as a late birthday present! Thanks Dad!! I love home made ice cream!!!!!

It was a fun trip to AZ and fun to take a little trip down memory lane while we were there.

Spaghetti anyone??

Landon had Spaghetti for dinner for the first time the other night. 

I think he is a fan!

I'm officially a grown up I guess....

I turned 30 last week. It sounds so grown up. I don't feel that grown up. I don't know why... I have 3 kids, a mortgage, been married almost 10 years, my wish list includes a minivan and a new bigger and energy efficient front loading washer and dryer, all these things indicate a grown up. And its' not like I think I'm a kid anymore, it just seems that 30 sounds so grown up. It makes no sense I know, but nonetheless, I turned 30 last week and it was a fun day!

I woke up in the morning to this on the wall next to my bed....

 On the paper it tells me to look for these small envelopes hidden all over the house. Each one tells one of the 30 reasons that Patrick and the boys love me and each one has a "special surprise" in them. They were hidden everywhere!

By the phones, the computer, the TV

In my closet, drawers, on the shower and mirror in the bathroom, on all the doors in the house.

In the cupboards, fridge, pantry, my car, the diaper bag, the baby's car seat. 

Literally, they were all over. I kept finding them all morning long. They each had notes in them, some from Patrick and some from the kids. Some of my favorites that made me laugh, smile, and even tear up a little were...

"I love Mommy because you (talking to Patrick) wouldn't even be married if it wasn't for her!" ~Conner

"When asked about Mommy, Landon smiled and then spit. You can figure out on your own what he meant by that"  ~Patrick on Landon's behalf!  :)

"I love Mommy because she is the reason we were even born!" ~Brayden

"I love that you make sure we always have Family Home Evening even when the football game is on." 

~Patrick     (he really loves Monday Night Football!)

"I love that you were born 30 years ago because you are such a blessing to our family." ~ Patrick

"I don't know... I just love Mommy so much."  ~Brayden

"I love Mommy because she fixes us dinner, breakfast, and lunch."  ~Conner

"I love that you would rather be with me then with anybody else."  ~Patrick

Also, each card had $5 in it (that was the "special surprise") for me to go shopping with. What better present is there then giving me money and taking me shopping with it. I have a whole list of things that I want and haven't gotten yet. A new bag, shoes, pants, sunglasses, the possibilities are endless!

Then we went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Yum! One of my favorite places. I had this beauty for dessert and had "Happy Birthday" sung to me.

Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake... how I love you!!! The "Happy Birthday To You" was written in chocolate sauce. It was heaven.... and I even had some left over that I ate for breakfast the next morning after the kids were at school, because that is what you can do when you are a grown up... eat your leftover birthday cheesecake for breakfast. I guess being so grown up has it's perks sometimes!  

It was a good day! Maybe being 30 won't be too bad after all!

Camp Outs and Back to School

My life has been so crazy busy the past few weeks!! About a month ago, Patrick and I got a new calling at church. We are now the Ward Activity Chairs. Which really is quite funny that WE of all people got that calling. I think it is just proof once again that our Heavenly Father has a great sense of humor! 

As we sat in the Bishop's office and accepted the calling he told us that the ward camp out was in just ONE MONTH! Holy cow! So we quickly got to work on it. The camp out was this past weekend. I can honestly say that in all the callings I have ever had, all the different presidencies I have served in, this was the most work I have ever had to put out for a calling at church. Sheesh! We were BUSY!! We went up to Mt. Charleston to a camp ground that is owned by our church. It was beautiful up there and the weather was great... if you didn't pay attention to the huge gusts of wind that would come along every once in a while. But it was SO NICE to get out of the heat for a while. The boys had so much fun running around and playing with their friends. They were so excited for the camp out. You would have thought it was Christmas Eve the night before we left, that is how excited they were to go.

Patrick and I were crazy busy the entire time we were up there. I hardly saw our kids at all.  They were having way too much fun playing. We were running all over getting things ready, serving food, cleaning up, you name it... we were doing it. I never even got a break long enough to take any pictures up there. In the mist of the million things we were packing up for the camp out, we some how forgot the pack and play for Landon to sleep in. He doesn't do well if he's not in HIS crib, so I ended up driving home at midnight with him and driving back up the mountain early the next morning. Thankfully our kids managed to stay uninjured and there were several people who helped us with all that had to be done up there and with Landon (the screaming baby that he was) while I was so busy. He's quite the momma's boy!

I think the camp out went well, but I'm sure glad it's over. Everyone seemed to have fun and enjoy the weather and yummy food... who doesn't like dutch oven cobbler and ice cream!??! However, my house looks like a tornado hit it. I have camping stuff everywhere! It going to take me a few days to get it all put back and organized!

Then today was the first day of school!!!! 

I sent 2 kids off to school this year!

Brayden was off to 2nd grade

and Conner started Kindergarten!

He was very excited about his new backpack and was very concerned that is wasn't in the picture, so I had to take one with his back pack showing!

Brayden was first in line on his dot (where the classes line up to go into school) and ready for 2nd grade!

Here are some of Conner's friends that are in his class. Up until our Ward was split about a month ago, all these kids were in Primary with Conner. So he was super excited to have so many friends in his class.

All ready to go into class!

Conner has been really excited to start Kindergarten. He has the same teacher that Brayden had for Kindergarten and he thought that was so cool!

Conner had a great first day of school. He is just in seventh heaven now that he is a "big kid" and gets to go to school everyday just like his big brother. 

Brayden had a great day too and is excited about his new class and the things he will get to do! He said his new teacher is really nice and he's excited about some new friends he has in his class!

It's going to be so nice and quiet around here in the mornings now while the 2 older kids are at school.