Liam's birthday bash

Liam turned 6 and wanted an ocean party. When all the kids arrived we made scuba masks with paper, saran wrap and a straw for the snorkel. THey colored the inside with sea life. Then I told them that they had to pass their physical test to become a scuba diver. The Dizzy's tumble bus showed up and the kids went crazy.
Grandpa Bill and Grandma Chelle even got in on the fun.

Cousin Connor loved the monkey bars.
Anna got brave after a while and with some help jumped in with the big kids.

Anna and Orion being cute cousins.

Everyone got a gold medal and Lam got a T-shirt at the end of it all.

The instructors played games with the kids and they brought out different equipment to hang from the ceiling for the kids to swing and twist around on. I'm pretty sure it's the coolest thing that could happen to a kid. It was cool for me too because it kept all the kids from making a disaster of my house and all the pressure off of me for entertainment.

THe kids had a blast and were all sweaty and ready to eat by the end

Lunch time

Yes, I hung these streamers until 1 in the morning. Eric made all the fish to hang from the ceiling and did a little murial on the window. I made sea weed with the crepe paper on the walls too.
For lunch we had tuna fish sandwiches with a slice of cheese and a sea weed pickle and carrots. They each also got a cup of blue jello with a few gummy fish swimming in it.

I got everything at the dollar store but the vase with the jello and fish, which I got at Michaels for $4. It turned out cute and some of the kids actually ate their sandwhiches. wooo hooo!

Opening presents

Liam was so sweet and opened all the cards first. All the home made cards were so cute too.
This is Liam's good friend from school. He told me that a friend teased him that Heather and he were going to get married. I asked what he said in return and he replied" I said, Heather, will you marry me?" She said yes.

He's really into ocean life if you can't tell by the theme, so we gave him a ship with a deep sea submarine like in The Life Aquatic.
He wore his Dizzy bus T-shirt for the next 3 days and told me over and over again thank you for the scooter and the boat. What more could I ask for?

Christmas in Utah

We started our trip with an early morning flight to SLC. Liam and Anna were enamoured with this tin soldier in the airport and acalypso player got Liam to cut a rug for a little bit too.
The kids traveled without incident and we arrived safely at Becky and Jakes house. THe kids got to play win their first snow of the year and we built a snowman. Eric sculpted a bumb on said snowman and it was a topic of conversation for days afterward.

Festival of lights

Thanksgiving point does wagon and carriage rides through a sea of lights and we got our holiday spirit on riding in the freezing wind and watching lighted santa wave us into the finale of the season.
Baby seth as Davie Crocket.

I got Liam these awesome 3D glasses that make every single christmas light have a 3D snowman appear around it. You could also see gingerbread men, snowflakes or candycanes.

Mustachio'd me
Jon and Desi. This looks like an engagement photo

Bowling and Bennihana

Jenny and Jeff came down from Logan and we all enjoyed a large Pizza feast at Fat Cat's and continued the afternoon with arcade games and bowling.

This was a very serious game.

Jenny demonstrates her mad skills shooting giant tarantulas in the jungle.
Amy wins big at Deal or no Deal.

Anna even bowled using the metal slope they provided. She bowled more than I did I think.
THis was Liam's first time to go bowling. He would slide on his knees across the floor and look like a rockstar.


off to dinner at Bennihana's.

Sushi man.
good times.

Temple lights

After Benihana we went to see the temple lights. THe kids had a blast playing in the snow and the lights were beautiful.
In front of the giant tree in the Joseph Smith Memorial building.
I loved this addition.
Amy, jeff and Jenny under the gigantic red tree.

Anna's first snow, well that she could appreciate anyway.
Liam is getting really good at goofy faces.

Aunt Jenny was kind enough to entertain Anna by swing her along the way.
Amy and jeff strolling through the crowds. They had Nativities from around the world on a path lit by lanterns this year. I had never seen those before. The Japanese nativity was my favorite. As a little girl we grew up driviing 3 hours to SLC to do CHristmas shopping all day and ending it with a tour of the temple lights.