Birthdays and Happy Mother's Day!

We have been determined to rid ourselves of sickness and we're just about there!  Ross and Ruby finally are sleeping regularly and all that's left is a runny nose for Ruby.  Whew!  Steve and I, however, fell off the wagon of health after them, so we're still re-cooping.  I currently vary from sounding like a man and having no voice at all (I seriously didn't realize how much I talk until I lost my voice.  There have been a lot of witty comments that I've had to keep to myself since the energy to be heard takes more than I care to give).  Stephen is a day behind me so hopefully - SERIOUSLY - all this sickness stuff needs to be gone by the time we head to Oregon!

Saturday we got up and headed down to Utah County to officially celebrate Stephen's birthday and my dad's.  I snuck in a hair appointment for myself to get brightened up for graduation with my friend Maren (seriously love that girl).  We did shish kabobs for dinner which was quite delicious, and then opened presents.  We gave my dad a deep sea fishing trip while we're in Oregon, and Stephen got (tickets to Les Mis which we already went to) some shorts, shirts, lipstack (in Ross's words), and a gift certificate to his favorite Indian Restaurant.  Nate and Beka gave him some water guns and nerf guns - oh dear. :)  Dain and Rachel went over the line and got him otter pops (which he's not allowed to have due to his overdosing problems).  We played Rollick which was hilarious, and then had birthday cake - I tried a new chocolate cake chocolate frosting recipe which was a hit.  I nixed the espresso powder, but it was still fabulous and everyone gobbled it up.
 

Our 28 year old Birthday Boy!

28, 3, and 57.  Some pretty solid ages here :)

Ross has to help opening presents.

Deep Sea Fishing!  I'm not sure if that's an excited face or a "I'm-not-so-sure-about-this" face. ;)

Ross really likes his job if you can't tell ;)

Indian Food and "Lapstick"

Peanut M&M's are a GREAT present.  I mostly just love the faces in this picture. :)

Steve feeling a need to guard his otter pops....he has a serious addiction people.

Letting Grandpa know these are bubbles.  You blow them.

A salmon colored shirt...

This is what my dad thinks of it. ;)  Good thing it was a joke!

Ruby ready for battle.

A Nerf war already ensued.

Michael put up a good fight...but Steve finished him off.

Young giving some piano lessons. :)

Some of Ross's cheese faces are hilarious. :)

This is how getting a family picture went. Haha!

Ross went straight for the frosting!

My dad's candles in the shape of 57!

These two are best buds :)

Readying to blow out the candles :)

 

Done!

All that hard work paid off!

Ruby is a chocolate girl and knows how to get the most bang for her buck.  She alternated bites between Dain and Rachel.  Between the two of them I'm pretty sure she ate an entire slice of cake.

Dad liked it too! :)

That night after the kids went to bed, we kids went to Nickel Mania to play some arcade games.  It was actually quite fun even though my voice was shot.

Stephen and Michael spent about half the time on the terminator game (and most of their money too I might add).  Rachel was on the hunt for tickets so I joined her for a while.  Dallas managed to beat the Simpson's game, Dain was sucked in to a Scope Rifle game for a good part of the time, and Thomas, Young, and Michael spent their time here:
 

Completely focused on annihilation.

Dain doing a "look in the distance" pose. :)

Riding some Pelicans!

Haha - just kidding.  Five of us played the X-Men game which was fun - all except for me falling off the cliff two thirds of the time.  Then we cashed in our tickets and headed home.

Mother's Day was a bit crazy.  We woke up and headed to my mom's to have breakfast with them and give her a pampering spa gift card.  We went to Sacrament meeting but our kids were pretty miserably tired so after we went home to put them down for naps.  THEN - we got to talk to our little Meghans on her mission.  She is such a cute little missionary.  It was fun to talk to her - it was our last time before she comes home!  CRAZY.  

Then we had a delightful dinner and the boys cleaned up (even nicer).  We gave my mother-in-law her present to pamper herself with a nice pedicure and we got ready to go home.  It was nice to get back to our own beds.

Now we're getting ready to head to Oregon, find a for real job, and move back down to Mapleton for a month!  Busy busy busy!

Anyway - a note on mothers.  I'm so grateful for all the mother figures I have in my life.  I could not have survived having my own children without having my mom there to take care of me in the after math.  She is a beautiful lady inside and out and I'm so grateful for how caring and self-sacrificing she is for us, her children.  What a wonderful example I have.  My mother-in-law is another sweet relation to have with all I've learned from her while Stephen and I joined families.  She is a comfort and support to have as well.  It's also nice for my children to have two grandmother's who are so involved and loving as they.  And I'm thankful for my own two grandmothers that have been in my life sharing their amazing and sweet stories with me and always making me feel special as I grew up.  Womanhood is a beautiful thing.  We need to do all we can to protect and care for it as it is our divine role and influences so much of our purpose.  Happy Mother's Day.  I'm so grateful for my own children who call me "Mom" and to have such wonderful relationship with them. 

Also - this little chick's hair finally fits in to two tiny pig tails. They lasted about an hour before she pulled them out...but I'm LOVING having a girl!

Cutie

Having a conversation with Woody :)