Luke's 7th Birthday

 See this crazy boy? He turned 7 on Thursday and he was so excited!!!

 We celebrated several days before since his actual birthday was going to be pure craziness. Sam set up the trampoline (one of the things Luke wanted done for his special day and in this picture the boys are making silly faces) and I made him a cake. 

 Luke is very specific about the things he wants. His birthday was no different. He wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and a gun on top (not the prettiest cake but hey--he loved it!). This boy is so into guns, I don't know quite what to do with him. 

 He requested crepes with strawberries and whip cream for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and chicken nuggets, tater tots, salad, and carrot sticks for dinner.

 He got to spend several hours with his friend Braden jumping on the trampoline, being crazy, and having his family over for cake and ice cream.

 The traditional book from last year. I think he looks a little older (:

 Man do I LOVE this picture!! It explains his feelings exactly about his present.

 Ever since Christmas (he was so disappointed at Christmas that Santa didn't bring him a gun), he has been asking for a "fake machine gun" or "a tank sent from Sweden in parts that I could assemble when it got here". Seriously!!!

 Sam and I went round and round and finally decided on a air soft gun. He was beyond ecstatic. He couldn't wait to get it open (and obviously no else could either!!).

 Haha...let's just say he wanted to pose for this picture!

 After making a list of rules and proper gun management he got to shoot it the next day. He is in heaven and has been very good to follow the rules!! 

 What a cute boy. I just can't believe my "baby" is 7. What happened!!??

 Thanks Grandma and Grandpa. He LOVED the money and promptly went out and bought some more "pellets" for his gun!

Luke here are 7 things we love about you!!

1.You are very passionate about what you love and there is no changing your mind about it!

2. Your imagination and creativity--so amazing.

3. How you love to have everyone "play" with you, especially your brother and sisters.

4. Your ambition to save up and buy what you want (right now it's guns--surprise!!)

5. Your stubbornness, you are on your own timetable and there is no rushing you.

6. Your crazy amazing mind. You remember everything and love to share your knowledge with people.

7. Your love of "mythbusters". I think you could watch that show all day long if you could!

Valentine's Day

The kids had Valentine's Day off so we were all excited to sleep in and have a free day to play!!

 We decided to have red velvet pancakes for breakfast. They were super tasty and the kids loved them!!

 They got their traditional homemade Valentine from Mom and Dad and their favorite candy bar. They got to eat a heart shaped pizza from Grandpa and Grandma McIntyre (yeah!! no cooking for me that day. I love it!)

 And the rest of the day was spent doing whatever we wanted. It was awesome!!

I just had to show the cute Valentine Kathryn made for Sam and I all by herself. I thought it was super cute and she did a fantastic job.

 Sam and I were invited to a lip sync party. So we spent the day "practicing" our songs in front of the kids. They thought it was pretty funny.

 There was a bracket of 16 and we had to have up to 4 songs ready. Sam and I both got out on the first round, which was totally great with us, but man did we have a blast. We laughed so hard our faces hurt and just had a wonderful time with such good friends. Our friend Hillary took the "Grand Freakin' Prize" because she was amazing (and it was obvious she practiced more than 1/2 hour once, haha...). And I just had to throw in this picture of our friend Doug. He dedicated his song to Sam and he was hillarious!!

Snowzilla

 We having been praying and fasting for months for all of this area to get snow!! For 2 weeks now we have either had snow or rain and it's been absolutely awesome. 

 Last weekend Sam's brother's family came down for the weekend and it snowed 8.5 inches!!! So crazy and so awesome (:

 The kids had a blast. They made small snow heads and named them "Emily" and "the boyfriend". Haha..it was so funny.

 Then they recruited their dad and uncle to help them build a massive snow man.

 That poor guy was a little crooked but hey, he was pretty awesome.

 They even made him a pretty cool snow hat!!

 Then Ben graciously helped Sam put up a built in desk--so  much nicer to have so much room in our office!!

 All the guys went shooting in the afternoon and had a blast trying out all of Uncle Ben's cool guns.

And we got to hold this lovely lady--Sam's newest niece and the kid's littlest cousin!!

 Only 3 weeks old and sure a super cutie.

What a fun weekend we had filled with Olympics, games, and lots of visiting!!

1st Lost Tooth

See that cute face...he lost his first tooth and has been so excited!!

My kids are super late bloomers when it comes to teeth (totally not complaining since it's next month when Seth finally has enough permanent teeth in for braces) but since most of his class have lost lots more than 1 tooth he wanted to join the club.

Only 1 slight problem...he came home from school and showed me his tooth and we had this conversation:

Me: Where is your tooth?

Luke: I don't know.

Me: What do you mean you don't know?

Luke: I was sitting in class and just noticed it was gone.

Me: Did you swallow it? Or eat it with your lunch?

Luke: Mom!! I don't know. I just noticed it was gone and I couldn't find it at school and I don't remember it going anywhere!

Seth: Well hopefully it will come out in your poop!

Yes thank you big brother!! What a great visual.  Good thing he was too excited to care.

Poetry Out Loud

Every year our school does an event called Poetry Out Loud. Every child from 1st to 12th grade has to memorize an approved poem and recite it in front of their class. Judges judge each class and the top 2 are sent to the school wide assembly and then when you reach 7th grade if you win at the school you go to regionals and then nationals. 

It's quite the deal at the school and this year Kathryn and Sarah both won 1st place in their classes and then 2nd place for their grade school wide. Man were these two cute girls awesome. They practiced and practiced and did amazing!!

Getting her medal!!

This girl brought many tears to people's eyes!!

 Good job girls!! We are so proud of you (: Nothing beats those shining faces!!!

Visiting the Fam

 We made a fast trip up to my parents to celebrate with this lady!!! 

 She is getting married in March and we are so excited for her. Most of the family was there (except the 2 sisters in South America--miss those ladies!!). We went to the Boise temple with her Saturday morning. Man I love that place!!! What a great experience it was to be there with her.

 Afterwards we all went out to lunch and had some super tasty food and delicious lemonades. 

And one of the best parts is that the kids babysat for 6 hours that morning and did awesome. The house was a little trashed (got that cleaned up before Grandma got home) but they did a great job with their cousins and were even happy when we got there. I loved it!!

 That after was Jessica's bridal shower. We made some amazing food and decorated it super cute and had a ton of people over. It was so fun to party with her and connect with people I haven't seen in ages. I love a good party!

 That night we relaxed and tried to recover from a super awesome day. It involved doing nothing but laying on the couch, talking, and watching the BYU basketball game. Sweet!

 Sunday went to church with the parents and then made some delicious appetizers for the Super Bowl. My brothers have been Denver Bronco fans since they were little boys so they were looking forward to a great game. Oh well, it was fun to eat, visit and laugh as Ryan (my 4 year old Seattle nephew) rubbed the victory in quite well. We didn't care who won--heck this is the first time we watched it in 5 or 6 years but the company was great and it was so good to be with family.