Happy Birthday Mimi! My dad planned a surprise dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday. We met at PF Changs at 5pm and my mom arrived at 5:15pm. She was so happy to see us all there. We chatted and enjoyed yummy food. Then we all celebrated the special day with white chocolate raspberry cake. It was so special to spend this night with her.
My friend Erika, Sister Jones, asked if she could take Tag to Kangaroo Zoo with her daughter Mia. Erika and I always joke that we are going to arrange their marriage. They are both such special kids and it is so fun that they like hanging out with each other. They had the best time and Erika told me that they were together the whole time. I am so glad that Tag got to enjoy some fun this afternoon and I vote this picture goes on the gift table!
Happy Birthday Tag! I cannot believe that my baby is nine. I wish that I could just stop time. Tag is such a blessing in our family. You can always count on his for an honest opinion. He is so funny and brings such a special spirit to our family. Yesterday we spent some time playing but tonight we did presents and cake. I joked that we all would have carnation instant breakfast for dinner but Tag did not want to put us through that! I think he really did not want us drinking from his special cups! We started with presents and Tag was so excited. He got a few new shirts, the mario legos that he wanted, some switch controllers, a gamecube, and the games he wanted to go with those. He loved everything except the controllers. They were an offbrand and Tag said "These are bootlegged!" We were laughing so hard. He never spares his opinion. After the presents we had cake and ice cream. Tig, I hope you had an amazing birthday. Words cannot express how lucky I feel to be your mom.
Tomorrow is Tag's birthday. I gave him the option of having a party OR spending the afternoon with an Airborne/Labyrinth hopper pass with his siblings. He chose time with his siblings and they were all so excited. Luke picked up the boys from school and then we all went to grab Harlee from school on our way to Airborne. We got the hopper pass so they could jump and then go do the escape rooms. They all got along and had the best time. Tag thanked me three times before we even made it home. I love that they enjoy spending time together and I love that we got to start the celebration of Tag's birthday. Love this picture of my five blessings.
We were finally able to get someone to come in and pour the shower pan. With that done Mindi has begun tile Harlee's bathroom. I am loving it! She does such an amazing job. I love seeing the progress and can't wait until it is done and Har doesn't have to share with her brothers.
On Thursday Nash got a call from Brother Baker. The call came while he was at school so Nash called him back in the afternoon. Before he called he asked me what I thought it was about. I joked that he was going to be asked to speak. After his call Nash told me through his tears that I jinxed him. We told him that now was the perfect time to speak because the audience will be a lot smaller. Joey and I helped him work on his talk and it was done by Friday night. He read it through many times and was super prepared come Sunday morning. He spoke on The Aaronic Priesthood Theme and he did an amazing job. Sister Reeves who spoke after him started her talk by saying that this was the first of many talks Nash would have the opportunity to give. I totally agree. Amazing job Nashie! So proud of you. You can do hard things!!
We are continuing our Christmas date tradition and it is Tag's turn. He was so excited! We went to Nickel City in Orem. Tag was a little overwhelmed by all of the noise and lights when we walked in but then his overwhelm turned to excitement when he saw all of the games. We loaded his card with $20 of nickels and enjoyed two hours of fun. He was so excited when he saw a Mario Kart game. He played just about every game in the place. He loved pinball and went back multiple times. He was so lucky to win the jackpot (200 tickets) on the fishbowl game and on the monopoly game (250 tickets). After each jackpot win Tag would dance around with excitement! Love him! We took a minute break from the games and took some pictures in a photo booth- so fun. When all the nickels were gone he had won 958 tickets. It was a tough decision but he finally spent his tickets on some really cool prizes. After the time at Nickel City we went to 7-11 for a treat. It was such a fun afternoon. Love spending time with my forever baby.
It was the warm before the storm tonight so the kids were taking advantage of the warm weather. Harlee, Nash and Gray went out front, turned on music, and starting drawing. Their pictures were amazing! They all worked together on the pac man drawing. Then Har drew spongebob, Gray drew Sully and Nash did Mike Wazozki. What great artists are in our family. I love that they spent their night being creative and not on their electronics. Such a good night.
Tonight Harlee had the opportunity to perform at the American Fork High School drill team's showcase. Since the drill team had many dances to perform, different groups from Har's studio would perform to give the drill team time to change costumes. Harlee performed her new jazz number Cha Cha Heels. She did an amazing job. I love watching her perform. Love you Har!
With all of the busyness in our life, the kids forgot to set a trap for their leprechaun friend. Even though there was not a trap to escape from, Lucky still came and left lots of green treats for the kiddos. I made green eggs for breakfast and all of the kids wore their green so they would not get pinched. Hope they all enjoy a day full of luck!
Luke has been taking a drawing class this term. I have been so impressed with the assignments that he has turned in. For his final assignment he had to draw an animal. He decided to draw a bear. I was so amazed with his artistic ability. He is an wonderful artist.
Today Nash and Gray skipped school to go to the Beehive meet. This is a qualified meet was at the Wasatch Aquatics Center in Heber. Only 7 people from their team made the Beehive meet. We left at 7:15am, grabbed breakfast, and made it to the meet by 8:20am. They had warmups and then the meet started at 9:30am. It was a no spectator event but their coach let me watch as a "parent chaperone". I was so excited that I would get to see them swim. Gray was first with the 50 back. He did so good and cut 2 seconds off his qualifying time- 38:62. So amazing! Nash was up next and he qualified to swim the 50 free. When he got up on the block, he slipped and dived in. He got back up to get ready and they told him that he was disqualified. It was so sad. He was so disappointed. This was so hard as his mom knowing I could not fix it. As we left he was pretty bummed, I reminded him that making it to the Beehive meet was the goal! The race today was just the victory lap. I hope he does not let this disappointment take away from the fact that he made the Beehive meet. I am so proud of these boys. They really work so hard to improve their swimming and I love to see them hitting these goals.
Yesterday Luke went to the dentist to get two cavities filled. I guess one was super deep so they numbed him up pretty good. While his lip was numb he unintentionally chewed on his lip. His lip has swollen up and is looking a bit infected. Poor guy. Hopefully this will heal soon. We found another blessing of the mask since no one at school will see Luke's fat lip.
For the last 7 days Nash has been doing the NOVA challenge. He has not been able to use electronics for the last week. He could not watch tv, play his IPAD, play VR, play video games, or play on his phone. I did not know if he would be able to do this. He started on Tuesday and it was kind of tortuous. He would just pace around with nothing to do. As the week progressed I saw him finding creative ways to pass the time. He played outside, played games, worked on a puzzle, he taped a cup to his hat and tried to catch a ping pong ball in it, and he played with his siblings. It was so fun to see him use his creativity. I am so proud of him. I don't think I could do it. Way to go Nash!
Every morning when I come downstairs I check to make sure that Jefferson is still swimming. This morning I could not find him in the bowl. It was so crazy. As I got closer to the bowl I could see that he was not in there. So weird! I looked to the left of the bowl and poor Jefferson on the counter. He jumped out of the bowl to his death. We all thought that it was crazy but poor Tag was so sad. He actually cried- such a sweet boy. I will miss him looking at me and asking for his food. I will not miss cleaning his dirty fish bowl. RIP Jefferson Childs.
The kids love to dress Ike up and sometimes he lets them. Joey had bought some new goggles for the kids and they put them on Ike. Seriously so cute! He looks like such a cute puppy. We all love him so much.
I am a little embarrassed to count how many posts we have about Ike. But seriously he is the sweetest puppy. This morning Nash and Gray gave him bath and we had to take a picture of his cute face. I am so grateful that Joey talked me into getting a dog. He is such a part of our family and brings all of us such joy.
Nash has been thinking about getting his patriarchal blessing for a little while now. Harlee told him of how they did a devotional at HXP b...
