Spring Break- Part 1

So the younger boys have already been on Spring Break for 1 week. Tanner had seminary and school during their first week off. The littles patiently waited for Tanner to get out of school so the real fun could begin. Even though the littles had 2 weeks off for break, they would tell you that the "REAL" fun started this week.

We kicked off the fun by celebrating John's 46th birthday. The boys were super excited for him to open his gifts and the cards that they had created for him.

 

 

 

We are so thankful for this guy and his 46 years of life. So thankful that we get to call him ours. He is a wonderful husband and father. He is kind. He is talented. He is smart. He can fix just about anything. He is all about basketball(just finished up March Madness and Hot Shots). He lives to watch his boys play/excel and their activities/sports. He loves to coach the boy's various sports teams.  He works so hard to allow me to continue to  stay at home with the boys each day and for that I am so thankful! We wish him nothing but love and extreme happiness for his 46th year of life. Happy Birthday, John boy!

After presents and birthday cinnamon rolls, we hopped in the car and headed out on our adventure. Our first stop, Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Randy's house. We got to see my siblings and all of the cousins. They boys loved playing with all of their favorite cousins. While we were there, we took a drive and did a lot of "remembering when" and were amazed that San Jose still continues to grow and change! We spent the night at my parents so we could head out bright and early and begin our Spring break adventure.

The actual birthday

Today is the day! Brody is officially 6 years old. We started his day(tradition) with doughnuts and the opening of his birthday gifts. He was up at the crack of dawn, ready to celebrate!

 

 He found his bedroom door loaded with fun treats and surprises.

He headed to school. He got to wear the birthday crown and be the line leader. He took 2 dozen plus 2 doughnuts to share with his friends and teachers.

After school, I picked up Brody and his pal, Sam. Brody wanted to go to McDonald's for lunch and so we did! They had fun playing in/on the new play structure.

His birthday evening was filled with two baseball games. One of his own and Carter Padres team had a game. He was thrilled to have a hot dog meal deal for his birthday dinner. He is always an easy guy to please...especially at the ball park.  After the ball games. we had cake and ice cream at home and celebrated Brody!

Happy 6th Birthday! We sure do love you!

S.I.X.

This is what S.I.X. looks like!

 We celebrated Brody's 6th Birthday(with his friends) the day before his actual birthday! Brody had taken a bath and was getting dressed. As soon as he was fully dressed, he turned to face John and I and looked at and asked, "Do I look like a 6 year old now?" Totally made us laugh out loud and then we told him he wouldn't look like a 6 year old until his actual birthday! I still can't believe that my baby is 6 years old.

Brody invited a few friends from his kindergarten class and we celebrated at BOUNCE U. They bounced and bounced. They jumped. They slid and they even bounced in the dark, with glow in the dark lights and a safety vest for the Birthday Boy. He is the crowd before they got wild.

 After and hour and a half of bouncing and sliding, we went into the party room to have cake and open presents.

The crowd goes wild and gets a little crazy!

Happy 6th Birthday to our sweet Brody!

The month of April flew by...seriously! I blinked twice and here we are, into the 2nd week of May! Crazy!!!I received a text from my friend Free saying I needed to post on my blog :). I can't let April totally pass by without some photos/highlights.

I have slacked on my What I Wore on Sunday posts. Here is what I wore on a random Friday! How's that? Loving this simple outfit. Shirt was on clearance for $8.00 at New York and Company. Boyfriend jeans from Nordstrom Rack. Shoes from TJ Max and my darling necklace from my friend, Amy for my birthday last year! Not pictured... my darling red Nine West purse that completes this outfit!

This cute boy got to go and do Temple baptisms with our youth group at the Sacramento Temple. You have to be 12 years old to do so...this was his first trip! He is growing up way too fast!

Spring soccer. John thought it would be fun to sign Tanner up for spring soccer. It has been more of a hassle...Tanner(pictured with the ball in the black, white, red jersey) is just so busy with other things...school, volleyball, umpiring baseball, etc..

Garrett earned a few more Scot awards at the April Pack meeting. We are thankful for his great Scout leaders who have kept him on track.

Tanner played volleyball for his school for the first time! He did a great job. He has a wicked serve. He loved it and hopes to play in high school.

Garrett loves to play catcher. He is awesome at it...word on the baseball field is that he is already being scouted by the Major coaches for next season :).

 Kruppy(Carter) went yard...first home run of the 2013season for him. He was so excited and so were we.

 And so were Garrett's teammates. They were playing on the field behind Carter's team, at the same time. They heard the excitement when Carter hit the home run, they ran right over and were hoping to see him hit another home run at his next at bat. It was very cute to see them all lined up on the fence. That is Garrett, #7 on the end and you can see Carter up at bat, #9.

We celebrated John's 45th birthday! 45??? I am married to an old man...just teasing! We had fun spoiling him. Birthday gifts, donuts, ball games, family dinner at Costa Vida. I took some cute shots of our family and John with his siblings and for some reason they won't load to my camera. I seriously  think this is why I didn't blog in the month of April. I was so bummed about the photos. I can see them on my camera screen so I am hoping the camera shop can help me. None the less, he had a great day and we loved spoiling him.

It was fun to have my brother and his soon to be wife, Gina here for Conference! We watched General Conference, ate lots of yummy food and the boys convinced them to jump on the trampoline with them! So fun!

 This cute boy was the latest winner of Great Grandma Shores Mercury draw. She sent him ten, $1.00 bills. He was so happy, running around the kitchen. He acted like he had just won a million dollars! It was so cute! My Grandma is adorable and so FUN!

 Flex break - LOL! I have been reading a couple of weight loss blogs and these girls take SO many photos of themselves taking Flex Breaks at the gym. I guess I thought I needed one during my treadmill time :).

 April means strawberries from the fields. I love where we live. We have 3 strawberry stands within a mile and half from our house! YUM! This was the first purchase of the season!

I am loving my brand new Kitchen Aid. I am baking like crazy. This was the first thing I made...honey wheat bread. I was happy it actually rose and did what it was supposed too! You know it has turned  out good when the boys gobble it up!

I am hoping to get back on track with the blog posts. I really do miss it! Our family loves reading old posts and remembering all of the fun and life experiences we have enjoyed! 

Is anyone still out there reading this???

12

It is so hard to believe that this sweet little guy/baby is 12 years old today.

Happy Birthday to our sweet, Car-Car!

He was up,dressed and ready for his special day by the time I got home from the gym(I attend the 5 am class). He woke up to his bedroom door wrapped and covered in birthday treats. John had already purchased his birthday donuts for the family to enjoy. He was patiently trying to to wait for me to get home so he could open his presents.

This is Carter opening the gift from GranRanSan(my parents-Randy and Sandy), he can already see what it is and he is one happy boy! It is a new 49ers hat. He was on cloud 9.

 Here he is opening one of the gifts from us. He is in shock because it is the baseball glove that he has been wanting/asking for. He had to start baseball practices without it because he didn't know he was getting it for his birthday!

 I love this photo! Brody had been busy creating presents for Carter. He he had even wrapped them all by himself. He had them placed on the kitchen counter with all of Carter's other gifts that had been arriving in the mail prior to his birthday.Carter opened up 2 pieces of birthday art from Brody! Carter made such a BIG deal about each gift. He ran right to his room to hang them on his bulletin board next to all of the other items Carter sees as important in his life(All Star photos, report cards, etc...).  It was very sweet.

 The birthday door. This is a fun idea that I got from my friend, Brenda! It is now a tradition that the boys looks forward to each year! We pick up a few of their favorite things and attach them to their bedroom door. A few of Carter's current favorites are : Licorice, sunflower seeds, Mio, gum, etc...

 I always feel bad about having to send them to school on their birthdays. I guess it is real life training though, right? We usually have to work on our birthdays in our adult years. John and I surprised him with lunch(Taco Bell) at school. He had baseball practice after school so I made his favorite chocolate crackle cookies to share with the team. He had Costa Vida for dinner, the birthday boys pick. We ended his day with cake, ice cream and really bad, obnoxious Happy Birthday singing  to this cute 12 year old! Happy Birthday, Carter!

Birthday FUN

We decided at the last minute to head down to the Bay Area and join my family for birthday dinner for my Dad and my sister, Amber.  We are so glad we decided to make the drive. We had a great time...we always have a great time! Mom made a yummy meal with yummier(is that a word-ha) dessert. We visited. We laughed. We listened to the President  talk about the Sandy Hook shootings.We cried. We watched the 49ers do their thing. We cheered. We sang Happy Birthday. We wished Dad and Amber Happy Birthday. We loved being together.