Denver Trip Part 1: Look who is turning 100 years old!

Seriously, have you ever met someone who is really 100 years old? I believe this is a first for me! So, not wanting to miss such a momentous occasion we loaded up the car and the kids and headed across the country to Denver, Colorado for the big occasion.  Our first day in Denver we went to visit the celebrity, Nana aka Marjorie Norris.

  She is amazing!  She uses a walker or cane to get around and other then some minor short term memory loss she is mentally sharp.  She also has a great sense of humor.  For example while we were visiting her she declared "All of the things I have forgotten could fill a book!"

  That evening we enjoyed a relaxing dinner at Steve and Jackie's home.  We also met Reece for the first time and caught up with Andrew, Amy and Betsy. (Andrew and Betsy are Steve and Jackie's kids. Amy is Andrew's wife. Reece is their daughter who just turned one.  Brock and Mikele were the ring bearer and flower girl at their wedding.) We also had a birthday cake in honor of Reece's 1st birthday.

Uncle Steve and Betsy are both always very popular with the kids!  Steve played games and gave horse rides to the kids.  Betsy orchestrated a horse jumping competition with ribbons for the winners.  The kids, with Betsy's help, also renamed everyone with a fruit or vegetable nickname. What an exciting evening!

On the official birthday we headed over to Nana's retirement home for a intense game of Bingo and cake.  They gave the winners a bag of 100 M&M's. The final game was for blackout and Brock missed it by 2 numbers.

After the bingo games they served birthday cake in honor of the birthday girl!  Mikele and Kassie were so cute and served cake to everyone in attendance.

After cake it was time for more pictures!  The girls were given the extra stickers that were on the M&M bags. They of course found creative places to put their stickers.

Rachel with Nana - the youngest great grandchild

Nana, Andrew, Amy and Reece

  Finally for the grand finale we had another birthday party at Steve and Jackie's house. Kassie made a special card for Nana.  She was so excited to give it to her. She had stamped it, drew a picture of her family and wrote her name in the card.

The cake had 100 flowers on it!

Jackie's sister brought her balloons and made the kids all sorts of things from a horse to ride, a bow and arrow set that really shot balloon arrows, headbands, tiaras and scepters and a alien to name just a few.

The crew!

Stay tuned for part 2 of our Denver trip. . .

Photo Friday

settings: f/1.8, 1/100th ss, 400 iso

  Just for fun I am going to start posting my favorite photo of the week on Friday - "Photo Friday."  Lets see how long it lasts. This photo was taken around nap time.  Allie was falling asleep while still sitting in her high chair.  I love those nodding off pictures.  They totally crack me up.  They are even funnier to watch in person.

Valentines Day

The highlight of any holiday is the arrival of Grammy's package! This year was tough because Grammy sent the package before she went back east to help Caitlin with her newest arrival so the package sat taunting the kids.  It was worth the wait and they were all really excited about they treats.  Thanks Grammy!

  On Valentines day we gave the kids each a small gift.  We have been working on being more reverent in Sacrament meeting and so that is what the theme of their gifts were.  Allie received a book to look at during sacrament meeting. Kassie finally got her own Book of Mormon. (we have been a little slow on this. Usually we give them one when they go into Primary but that was over a year ago).  Brock and Mikele each received a set of scripture Hero cards.  Mikele's were from the Bible and Brock's were from the Book of Mormon. The cards have a picture of the hero on the front and then scripture verses on the back.  Mikele doesn't look really excited about them but they did enjoy them at church on Sunday and it did help keep them reverent so it was a success in my book.

Blue & Gold Banquet

 This month was the Blue and Gold scout banquet.  Brock has been working very hard at scouts and earned a couple of awards including his religious square knot, all of the 100 year celebration ribbons, his marble belt loop and marble pin.  He is almost done with his Bear as well.
  We had a yummy pasta dinner with bread sticks and blue and gold jello.  The scouts did a fine job serving the jello. I love Brock's expression. Allie really enjoyed the dinner as well.  She ate 4 helpings of noodles and at least 3 bread sticks.  We of course sat with the Collings family.  Their son Sean is Brock's best friend and their daughter Christa and Mikele's friend.  It works out well for both families!
  The girls enjoyed the starts all over the tables as you can see by their picture.  Girls are just goofy creatures I tell you!  It was a wonderful evening and we appreciate how hard the leaders work to make sure the boys are having a wonderful scouting experience.

After dinner the scouts put on a skit that was REALLY funny!  Everything was taken literally. For example when the "hours passed slowly" two of the boys with signs that read "hours" would walk very slowly towards and pass each other.  Brock was darkness so at the end of the skit when "darkness fell" he literally fell. Great job scouts!

A Greer

My friend Kim had her 4th adorable baby right after Christmas.  I asked her if I could go take her baby's pictures as her baby gift.  I also wanted to practice photographing a newborn which was a whole new experience.  It ended up taking two tries to get photos I was happy with.  Thanks Kim for your patience! 

Jason's "I'm no longer in my early 30's" Birthday

  Jason's birthday was last week. He had decided that he wanted to go out to dinner for his birthday.  We we went to Savannah's, a new smoked barbecue place in town.  He was surprised when some of our friends showed up to join us for dinner.  Thanks everyone who could come on such short notice!  Mikele discovered that she REALLY likes ribs.  She sucked the bones dry and then took them home with her because the "still taste good." I fed the bones to Cooper.

Jason is reading the card from his Mom.

  When we got home Jason opened his presents and cards.  I bought him a new knife and water bottle for work.  I had one more surprise up my sleeve for him.  For his cake he really wanted a Dairy Queen ice cream cake.  We have tried other ice cream cakes and they just aren't as good.  Unfortunately we don't have a Dairy Queen in Cache Valley.  But if my husband wants a Dairy Queen ice cream cake then by golly that is what he will get!!! I arranged to have one picked up in Layton and delivered right to my door.  I kept it hidden in the chest freezer for 3 days.