You only turn 9 once so you might as well make it messy!

This year Hannah had a tie dye party, it was super messy, and super fun! We started out with a friendly game of "get the pennies out of the jello with chopsticks" (for lack of a better name). It was easy for Hannah's cousin, Heidi, because she told us that she flew in from China to come to Hannah's party. Therefore she was an expert ;). It was a fun game and ended up with lots of slimy little hands and slimy pennies. It's a good thing that the parents were warned to dress their kids in clothes that could get messy. Then we moved on to tie dye. I have never had much luck with this, but I tried a new technique this time. It worked out beautifully and it was very easy. In this technique you roll the shirt up like a cinnamon roll. I love how Hannah's friend, Gabby, took me seriously and tried to take a bite out of her shirt.

Then came the tie dye cake, it turned out a little different than I expected, but now I know how to make the perfect spider-man cake!

Lots of great friends for Hannah and wonderful gifts, she is one very lucky girl. Happy Birthday Hannah, I love you so much!

Temple Square field trip ;)

Sometimes things don't work out as we plan...and this was one of those times. Just one of the risks of having an adventure with mom. After spending an hour trying to find the front runner station so that we could take it to the trax station and then ride to Temple Square, we gave up. Surprisingly my kids were troopers and were happy to take a field trip to Arctic Circle and a local park instead. We had a great time after-all! We went to a park that had an awesome, somewhat treacherous, trail. Perfect for making the kids think that we were doing something dangerous, but actually not. We were able to collect some "caveman Lego's" or the reed type grass that comes apart in sections and try out our steep terrain climbing skills. It was dirty and dusty and quite a contrast to what the Temple Square experience would have been, but it was fun, and surprisingly the clothes cleaned up nicely.

It's getting there

There is still quite a bit of "squirrel grass" and the vicious morning glory weed, but our grass is finally filling out. And it's not mud anymore!!! We are trying to figure out the best watering schedule through trial and error, give us a year or two. We are very grateful to have a yard, great job John!

A pedaling machine

Johnny has finally mastered the bicycle. I am so proud of him! This has been a very long process, because this boy is not what you would call a big risk taker. I don't blame him, considering all of the stitches that he has had. I tried to be encouraging by telling him that if he looked far ahead and pedaled fast, it would be easier, but that seemed illogical to him. He would much rather pedal cautiously and look down at the front wheel to make sure that the bike was working correctly. He has actually been able to ride for about 3 months, but has begged me to run behind him and hold his shirt or touch his back every few seconds. If I didn't do this he would lose control and crash. I am so proud of him for overcoming his fears and becoming a bicycling expert. Way to go Johnny!

A day at the Aviary

We have been trying to take a "Field Trip" of some sort every week this summer. Hannah has been wanting to make a visit to the Aviary since...well...the last time we were there about a year ago. We decided to make a day of it the end of June. It was such a fun day. It was a little tricky to get into the park because of the oil leak that happened in Liberty park recently. Some of the entrances were blocked off, but everything in the Aviary was up and running almost perfectly. First we stopped at the mini amusement park area. Who needs Lagoon? They have a Ferris wheel, some flying chairs, a merry-go-round and a few other little rides--and it is nice and cheap. Then we headed over to the aviary where the kids were surprised to see Aunt Vera show up. We were so happy to see her. We ended the day with some snow cones, just in time to head home for a much needed nap. I love these adventures with my favorite little people.