SUNSET

 Week 6 of the photog group was the word SUNSET. This turned out great! SO many beautiful sunsets and so many interesting interpretations of the word. I forgot to add one of the pictures, which is so beautiful. Sorry again Rachel!!

If I could award a winner it would be to Courtney for the picture below. WOW! Breathtakingly beautiful. That is a true Utah sunset!

Valentine Scratcher's for Primary

 For primary yesterday I wanted to do something extra special for Valentine's Day. I told the kids that a bunch of Valentines were mailed to my house accidentally, so I brought them to church. I found this adorable idea form one of my favorite primary music blogs found here. Inside were large red heart with the song written on them.

 I wanted to make this idea a little more fun by using hearts with scratchers on them. I wrote a bunch of fun songs and covered it with gold paint for the children to scratch off to discover which song we would sing. This scratch idea was found here.

It was a family affair helping me put this project together. THANKS Will and Scott!!! It turned out great! The kids really enjoyed this activity. I made 8 envelopes and 16 scratch hearts (8for jr. an 8 for sr.!) The scratchers will also work for several other holidays and special events. The kids loved it!

Happy Birthday Gavin!

 On Saturday was Gavin's 6th birthday! We went with some other cousins to Red Robin for his special birthday dinner. The boys always come up with funny new words and saying and for the past couple of months Gavin always says "pina colada!" So we bought him one at the restaurant! He was thrilled!

 A large piece of cake with ice cream...

 ...and opening a few gifts! He wanted a new football, and got it!

 Around the house there were balloons for Gavin for his birthday. There's money in them and so he was excited to pop all the balloons around the house!

Gavin is really into X-Men and the Wolverine character. Hence the pencil claws and popping method! Silly boy!

Valentine's Banner

 I finally completed one of my Valentine's crafts! YIPPY! I went through my extra fabric and collected all the pink and red ones I could find. I also went to Joann's to buy the cute pom-pom's (for the top of the banner). I started on Wednesday but my sewing machines were giving me problems. I ran one of them in to get a quick tune-up and then headed home to finish sewing my banner. My cute friend, Alacey, is like the banner queen. Seriously! She has a banner for her mantel for every holiday!

 After measuring my banner, and then deciding how large I wanted the triangles, I them started cutting the cute material with a cream backing. (That was extra material I had when I made tunic's for Gavin's Star Wars birthday party last year!)

 I sewed the pieces together...

 added embellishments...and sewed the white pom-pom's on.

 Cute, easy and fun. I did make it waaaay too long. (I even measured! UGH!)But I love it. At V and Co. they have a great tutorial! She is super talented!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!

Trafalga Party for Gavin

 Yesterday was Gavin's birthday party at Trafalga. He invited 4 friends and we were off! Brigham came and Will also came to help chaperon. I'm pretty sure he had just as much fun as the other kiddos though! This year is low-key parties. I usually go overboard. I love it though, parties are always fun to plan for. But, this year we have free passes at Trafalga, and so a lot of our friends!

 The kids went on the rock wall the most. 5 or 6 times! Most of the kids would go higher every time. It was sweet to see their confidence grow in minutes!

 Gavin invited Conner, Nathan, Gentry, and Tilly. His 4 most favorite friends. (#5 and 6 are very close too, I just ran out of room in my car!)

 This was Brigham's first time on the rick wall. We've been there 4 times and he's never wanted to climb before. I think because the girls were so scared to go and then saw them change their mind, he wanted to go too. And he did great! At first he'd only go up one or two steps then come back down. By the end of the party he was almost half way!

 We went laser tagging next. The girls and I only went once, it was a little too dark and the gun was a little too heavy for them to carry. The other kids went 3 times!

 At Lehi Trafalga they have TWO miniature golf courses. One inside and one outside! It was such a beautiful day yesterday, like 55 degrees, we headed outside to play 18 holes.

 We headed back in for cupcakes and to open gifts.

It was an easy, fun, inexpensive party for the G-man. He had a wonderful time.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAVIN!!!!

Feelin' the Pressure

I have been feelin' the pressure lately about if I'm having a baby boy or a a baby girl. So many people say "I hope it's a girl!" and other nice girl things. I don't want to let everyone down if I find out I'm having a boy. I've never felt like this before an ultrasound. I would love, love, love a boy or a girl. But, if I had to bet my money is on a boy. I don't have any feelings or dreams about the sex of the baby, but I have 6 boys. I'm pretty sure there is another boy coming! I feel like I'm going to let down friends and family if I am having another boy. I know everyone will be excited no matter what, but for a second there will a little disappointment in their faces. It's not like I get to choose. It's already been decided. I'm trying to get in to see a doctor at Scott's work this afternoon. (it depends if someone cancels or not) So, I could find out in a few hours!! Wowza! Very exciting, but it also makes me have a little anxiety! Wish me luck!

You've Got Mail

A fun activity at the boys school is a week long You've Got Mail activity. The children receive mail from classmates, parents, the principal, teachers, PTA family and anyone who drops it off or mails it in. Everyday the boys will come home with a few pieces of mail from friends or family. They love it! Scott writes each boy twice, my mom does and I do. Then each brother will write a note to their brothers. They also received several pieces of mail from friends and other awesome Utah relatives! It's a great way to start off February and Valentine's Day!

Sicky

The end of last week Nathan was a little sick. Someone is always at the computer and this how he would join us. Nathan couldn't get off after he was done laying there for bit, so he would stay until we helped him down. Poor little guy! Thankfully, he is feeling better!

Baby Book

A few weeks ago we were all looking at the boys baby books and having a fun time together. Brigham asked where his was, and I couldn't find it. I thought I made it. For the next week I started gathering pictured and other baby stuff to start his book, and I couldn't find anything. FINALLY I found his baby book already made from birth to 1 year by my desk. The clasps were not connected correctly and I was waiting for Scott to fit them. Of course I forgot about it and it just sat there. I was thrilled I had found it. I always get the baby book together from birth to 1 year (at least) before the next baby comes. That's why I was so confused about sweet Brig's book. He loves it! He enjoys looking at it almost everyday, which melts my heart! Now, I need to start on Nathan's asap!!

HISTORY

Week 5 in my photog group was HISTORY. Here is what we all came up with! 

Ha ha, sucka!

My sweet adorable fun baby Nathan is turning into a TERROR! He is still always smiling and happy, BUT he is getting into EVERYTHING! Seriously, I leave the room for a few minutes and a switch turns in his little head and Dr. Jekyll comes out to play. It is better than throwing tantrums, but it's getting old. He's a mini tornado I follow around all day. He's messier than all the boys put together! He'll go in the refrigerator or the cupboard and pull out milk, or cereal, or syrup, or peanut butter or.....And spill it all over the bar and floor. He opened 8 Kool-aids the other day into a pitcher, well half into a pitcher half on the floor. His hands were bright red from mixing it in. Lovely! I made some spaghetti sauce where he watched me put  dash of this and that in. I left for a few minutes and he added more ingredients to the pot and counter, and floor. It was the most spicy sauce we've ever had. Almost uneatable.  He loved it though. He's a little scientist experimenting with hi free time. The thing is, mommy is getting tired! So finally Scott bought some locks for the refrigerator and food pantry! YEAH!!! The additional cool thing about these new locks is that Brigham and Gavin can't get into them either! The messes and snacking will stop! YEAH!

Super Bowl Par-Tay!!!

 We held our annual Super Bowl party at our house today. What a fun day! What a great game! I do wish that last pass was caught though...Anyways, we made a ton of yummy foods I wanted to share with you!
I made chocolate dipped strawberries and then used white icing to make laces like little footballs. Cute and yummy! (Please excuse Mr. Booger Boy here, he and Gavin are sickies!)

 I made boneless Buffalo wings and 2 delicious dipping sauces! The trick to the breading is keeping one hand in "dry" and the other in "wet" ingredients. Makes it so much easier to manage.

 These went fast, too fast. I had to hurry and defrost more chicken to make another batch. They were a huge hit! I made homemade Ranch dressing to dip them into and I also made homemade BBQ hot sauce. Very easy and yummy recipe!

 Another item the boys wanted were bacon wrapped shrimp. While at church the shrimp marinated and it truly made all the difference! They were yummy!

Sliders and 7-layer dip were also made and eaten, but I forgot to snap some shots of that. I also was so into the game I forgot to take some shots of all of us watching it.
The commercials were good, not great. I LOVED the Ferris Bueller commercial, the Hunger Games and Avenger's movie clip, the Doritos's with that grandma and baby. AND of course my favorite part was the halftime show featuring MADONNA!! My fav! It was a great, entertaining show. But, the lip-syncing about killed me. (I guess if you're not singing with a band it would be hard to really sing at that venue?) Loved the oldies, but her new song. Hmm...A 52 year old cheer leader, with Nicky Minja?
Still, Madonna rocks. I'd love to see her again on person!

Science Fair Projects

 Last month the Science Fair projects were due. At Rosecrest Elementary they are not mandatory to do, you can if you want. So, both Jackson and Tyler decided to participate. We went on-line and searched fun ideas that they would like.
Jackson chose to his science project on popcorn kernels. (Will had done this one before, so it was pretty easy to pull off!)

 Tyler chose to do his science fair project on does the number of folds in a paper airplane matter. It was fun to watch him fold several different airplanes and fly them outside.

Tyler placed 3rd in his grade! Way to go Tyler!!

Going on to STATE!!!

Gavin's Reflection photograph has moved on to state! There was a ceremony the other day at the District office for all the winners!

 Here are all the photos that are moving on. Very well done! There were 5,100 entries in our region and now it's down to 64! Gavin is one of those lucky few that has gone on!

He received a medal, a certificate and a stack of coupons for free mels and activities! He was stoked!