Palmer Turns 9

 Palmer actually turned 9 about a month ago, but I am just getting to the post.

We began the day with balloons in his room, presents and decorations, followed by the breakfast of Palmer's choice.

 Lincoln was so cute and thoughtful to give Palmer a birthday present and Palmer was very grateful.

 Palmer has wanted a camera for YEARS.  He finally got one.

 That night we couldn't do too much because Palmer had football, so we brought Krispy Kreme doughnuts to have after practice.

 We came home and had cake and ice cream.  The cake was a yummy one from Parsons Bakery (our favorite cakes).

 That weekend we celebrated with the family.  Palmer requested an "Aggie Cake" and I did my best...

 It is always fun to have grandma and grandpa with us along with Uncle Mark and Nathan.

 My sister had just had her baby, so her kids were with my parents and it was fun to have them with us as well.

Palmer was spoiled with presents and had a wonderful time with everyone!

Valentine's Day/Josh turns 32

Valentine's Day is always a fun/crazy day in our house.  We love to go big on holidays and birthdays, so it usually ends up being wild.  This year was no exception.  I thought I'd look back on all of the past Valentine's/birthdays and link them.

2008
2009
2010
2011

 4 years of blogging...this blog is getting old. 

The boys woke up to some presents from mom and dad.  We usually leave them on the porch, so this was a huge surprise for the boys.  I changed it to see how it would work.  Usually the evening is pretty full celebrating Josh's birthday and their Valentine's presents are an afterthought.  I liked doing this, we will see if I do it next year. 

Josh is usually the one who stays up late/gets up early to decorate for the boys and my birthdays (so cute!)  I love that he does that and decorated for his birthday.  We all laughed that the decorations are blue/white/green and the table is pinks.  Oh well, it definitely represents our day.

This was my little gift to Josh for him to wake up to (his real gift was something that he is supposed to pick out and hasn't yet...boys!:)

I got this idea on Pinterest, but couldn't find a source (uploaded by user is all it said)...

This was what the boys place settings looked like.  I think they thought the best part about the meal was the strawberry milk. 

We had crepes for breakfast as is our tradition, but I am thinking that I might be changing it.  We have always done crepes because I think it is very Valenine-y, but none of the boys really ate them!  I might be on the hunt for a new tradition next year...it is hard for me to let go of traditions, but I guess it is time when I am the only one who likes it (and oh do I like it, I think I had three crepes!)

It could also be the fact that I gave them a ton of sugar before breakfast...

The boys then headed to school with their class valentines and gifts for their teachers, and came home on cloud 9...literally.  Why is it that suckers and pixie sticks are the only thing we moms can think of to be creative with (we gave suckers :).  My boys were bouncing off the walls!

Josh and I decided a while ago that we didn't want to leave the boys on such a big day.  We usually celebrate V-day/birthday together on a different day of the week and spend the day of with our kids.  I made a gourmet of meal of grilled steak and grilled asparagus (okay Josh grilled those and they were a.ma.zing.)  we had rolls in the shape of hearts, strawberries dipped in sour cream and brown sugar (if you haven't tried this you should.  Lincoln and I love it) and baked lobster to go with it.  We had orange/passion fruit (appropriate no?) So yummy!

Josh's mom came over to spend the birthday with us.  It was fun to have her.

I wanted to attempt a homemade cheesecake again this year.  Josh is a huge cookies and cream fan and I have done this cheesecake once before for him on his birthday, but it had a huge crack right down the middle.  I have since gotten some tips on how to prevent that and I was sweating BUCKETS the whole time it cooked I was so worried that it would crack (not that anyone else would have cared, but I had to conquer this :)  It came out fine and yummy!

I didn't want to put 32 candles on it so there is a cluster of 3 and a cluster of 2 :)

McKay was dying to help Josh blow the candles out, having just discovered blowing candles out on his birthday last month, and as our happy birthday song started to come to a close he got closer and blew harder.  Josh thought it was so cute that he let him help him (I wonder which of their wishes were going to come true :)

It was a lovely day and I was not forgotten in the Valentine festivities by my sweet husband (how sad to always have to give someone else something on your own birthday...I always feel a bit guilty about it :).

I love my Josh so much and am grateful for him every minute of every day.  I am a lucky gal.

Thirty Four and Some Ice Skating

Well, my birthday was at the end of January, but I am just getting around to posting it. Life has been very "full" lately.

I have decided I like being 34 years old.  For some reason it is easy for me to remember (does anyone else have a hard time remembering how old they are?)  Yep.  I'm okay with it.  The day of my birthday was truly a great one. The day before my parents had come up and taken me to lunch (which they may or may not have regretted as McKay was seriously ON ONE, while we were there) at Mimi's Cafe and then came to my house, spoiled me with presents and spent the afternoon with us.  It was such a treat to have them there.  My Mom read with Hunter and Lincoln, my Dad played Battleship with Palmer.  We are so lucky to have such great grandparents.

Josh woke me up on my birthday to omelets and birthday presents.  He and and my MIL, Ann went in on these boots for Christmas/birthday and I finally got them!  I ADORE them!!!!

 Josh and I went to the temple that morning while my wonderful sister Debby watched our kids. 

Thanks again mom!!  After the temple, Josh took me to lunch at Zupas (oh I love their Wisconsin cheese cauliflower soup).  Josh has never been there with me, so it was fun to go together.

Later that day we all piled in the van and headed out to go ice skating.  We have been wanting to go again since last year when the boys went for the first time. 

They didn't have the little ice skating walkers like the Olympic Oval did, and Hunter was a little nervous (especially since he fell and bonked his head pretty hard within minutes of being there.  He hit the ONE spot that wasn't covered by his helmet...his forehead.) about going by himself, so he helped me push McKay in the stroller until he felt more comfortable. 

I have to say I am not that comfortable myself with ice skating and I am always glad for the excuse to push McKay in the stroller.  What am I going to do when the kid can ice skate on his own!?

Cute Daddy is always a big help to our little ice skaters (thank goodness he is better than mom!)

Pretty much this is what I saw of Palmer and Lincoln the whole time.  They were zipping around me going as fast as could be.  I am pretty sure they lapped me multiple times.

One of the funnest parts of the evening is that my brother Mark and his buddy Stuart (both of whom my boys idolize) came ice skating with us.  The boys loved every second of having them there. 

The boys started getting pretty daring with their tricks.  There were actual figure skaters there practicing and they would watch them and then go try crazy things. 

The boys all fell a lot, but they just don't seem to mind it. 

I am sure lucky to be married to this guy.  I sure love being with him and he really makes everything so much fun. 

This was my view for most of the time :)

I requested a "really yummy" cake for my birthday this year (such a mistake!).  Josh got this mama at Parson's Bakery in Bountiful and let me tell you.  It was amazing.  Like the cake itself, not just the frosting was amazing.  I usually just eat the frosting and throw away the cake, but I just COULDN'T with this one! 

Josh is pretty talented.  Holding a cake, singing and taking pictures all at the same time.

Josh had gone shopping for all of the things to make me a special dinner, but ice skating took longer than we thought, so he took me to my favorite Smashburger and made me the dinner the next day.  Can I tell you that it was one of my favorite parts of the birthday celebrations?!  He is such a cutie and definitely spoiled me for my birthday!