Spare Time

As a mother of 3 young kids I wonder "who has spare time?" I do have more spare time than I think sometimes. Though, it seems like my life is always running in fast-forward.

So, during some of my precious "spare time" tonight after the kids supposedly went to bed (they each had to make their usual rounds of coming out or sneaking into each other's rooms) I spent 2 hours making royal icing flowers for an upcoming cake I'm making. I thought they turned out so cute. Any guesses on what kind of cake it's going to be?? The cake picture will be posted by Friday night or Saturday morning on my cake blog.

Weekend Visitor

My brother, Shane, flew in to SLC from Vegas this past Thursday night. My sister-in-law, Katie, didn't want to drive to Salt Lake by herself so late at night so I went with her. What an adventure! Besides almost being hit twice on our way there we also didn't know what we were doing! Shane's flight was delayed, so we tried to go see the new IKEA store but it closed 10 minutes before we got there. We went and met up with my father-in-law to get some of Jon's tools that he needed and that took up some more time. After stopping at Wendy's for a snack we made it to the airport. They've re-labeled the parking lots since I've been there last and Katie and I had no idea where to go. We ended up parking clear out in the back of a parking lot, but caught a shuttle to the terminals. We picked up Shane just before 11PM and we got back on the shuttle to take us back to our car. The shuttle took is directly to our car (it was the 1st stop on the way back) and we enjoyed pretending that it was our intention to park in such a great spot. I got back home around mid-night.

Friday night we went to my parent's house for dinner. I had the wedding cake to deliver beforehand, so we ended up eating around 6:30pm. Everyone was so hungry and the ham and cheesy potatoes tasted so good that my mom made. I had some spice cake cupcakes made from left over batter from the wedding cake that we had for dessert (along with some ice cream). After dinner we played games together. We went home after 10pm. It was a late night for the kids, but they enjoyed playing with their cousin and seeing Uncle Shane and Aunt Katie. It was a great weekend. We hope to see you again soon, Shane! :)

Sneaky Boys

After I put the kids to bed I went about my regular duties of doing dishes, cleaning up, then did some exercising. I always go in and check on the kids right before I go to bed and to my surprise I saw Caleb in Alex's bed having a "sleepover"! I moved Caleb back into his own bed and asked him, "Why were you in Alex's bed?" He said, "I don't know" and rolled over and went right to sleep. Those sneaky boys! Alex had asked to have a sleepover and I told him "not tonight because you have school in the morning." I guess Caleb and Alex had already planned this sneaky sleepover. Caleb told me this morning, "I was going to hide under Alex's bed and have all of my toys under the bed too and then you wouldn't know I was there." We had a good talk about honesty and how that wouldn't be honest and also wouldn't be safe to not know where Caleb was. I'm glad my kids love each other and they want to hang out with each other, but when they break the rules to do it...that's a little different!

Fishing at Vivian Park

Jon and the boys (including our nephew Braydon) went fishing while the women (Angela, her mom, Katie, and Leah) all went to Salt Lake to Orson Gygi to shop for cake supplies. Alex caught the first and biggest fish. He was using an artificial grasshopper jig, and it the fish were sure loving it and going after it today. Caleb and Braydon also caught fish. It was fun for them because they all caught so many. They all caught at least 2 fish each. Between them all they reeled in about 12 fish. They didn't keep them all though. Papa came to the park to watch them fish and help out.Caleb had a fish on his line and shared it with the kid next to them since he hadn't caught any yet. He was so nice to let his new little friend, Mitch, reel in (and keep) the fish that Caleb actually caught. What a nice kid!

Caleb's 5 Year Old Pictures

Caleb turned 5 almost a week ago, and we just finally got around to getting him to the mall to get his picture taken. He looked so handsome in his little suit. I can't believe how fast they grow!

Family Picture Time

So, it's that time of year again where we get our family picture taken. We like to do our pictures in the fall when the weather isn't too hot or too cold. So, you'll all have to wait until you get your Christmas card to see the final family picture, but here are a few pictures that I thought were cute.

Birthday Party

Today was a fun day. We started out by going to Caleb's soccer game. Today was picture day too, so it was crazy with all the teams trying to get their pictures taken. The game was good though. His team won 13-2. Two of the goals were made by the other team though! Little kids are so silly.

When we got home we got everything ready for Caleb's birthday party. Since he is turning 5 he got to invite 5 friends to his party. He invited his whole primary class since it just happens that there are 5 kids in his class. Caleb had a "water party" for his birthday party. I made him a cute water slide birthday cake. When his friends got there, he opened his presents, then we ate some cake and ice cream. After that everyone headed outside for the water party. We had the pool set up along with the slip 'n slide and another sprinkler thing. They all had fun until some of them started to get a little cold. One little girl wanted to leave after being in the water for only 15 minutes. On the other hand, another kid and his sister wanted to stay there extra long and didn't want to go home when their mom came to pick them up. They all had a lot of fun. I'm so mad at myself for forgetting to take some pictures. I had my video camera in hand, but forgot completely about still-shots! Caleb got a lot of fun toys. He got a Diego pillow, Diego rescue pack with toys, Spiderman car, Ninja turtle, a pirate hat, Superman color wonder book, and some clothes. He had a really fun day. Thanks to everyone who helped us eat all that cake!! Sometimes I overdo it with the size of the cake and we have trouble eating it all. I'm giving one cake to Jon to take to work, and another one for my mom to take to her work. Even after that we still have half of the biggest cake for left-overs to eat on Caleb's "real" birthday on Monday. Check out the cake on my cake blog and leave me a message and let me know what you think!

He said he liked it!

So, Jon cooked up the fish the day that they caught it and Alex ate some just like he said he would. He took one bite and said, "Yum, that's pretty good." But, when he was offered some more he declined. I wonder if he really did like the taste or not. Here are the pictures of him eating it. This was Leah's reaction when she was offered some.

Cabin

We went to the cabin this weekend with my mom and dad. The kids had a great time. Here is a picture of the kids "hunting" with their sticks they found.
They also caught a couple of horny toads. Here is Alex holding one that he wanted to keep as a pet. Jon wanted to hold it for a while, so he held it and went to give it a kiss to show Leah how nice he was and....














...It BIT him right on the lip! Jon said it felt like someone pinching his lip with pliars. Ouch! So, I made him bare it a little longer so I could get a picture. Alex said after that, "We're not keeping him. He isn't a good pet."



















Leah even got in a few driving lessons while we were camping. It was the first time we let her behind the wheel of the Jeep Wrangler. She loved it, and besides sagebrush and weeds there wasn't anything she'd hurt if she ran it over. Another 13 years of practice and she'll be ready for the real road.














The adults battled allergies and illness the whole time we were there. Me, Jon, and my dad were all taking allergy medicine and Alka-seltzer to calm the sneezing and sinus congestion. It's nice to get away from the world for a few days and enjoy nature, but the effects of it can be exhausting. I'm glad we're all home safe and sound. After we got back to Springville Jon took Alex and Leah fishing. Alex has always said he would try trout the next time dad cooked it, so stay tuned to see his reaction!