the PARTY!

OR parties...we like to stretch birth "days" into birth "weeks" The birthday-gummy-bear-cup so she could blow out candles at her party. She didn't want cake, just "fudge pops"! (LOVE that!)

She had very speciic things that she wanted to have happen at her party (aside from blowing out candles and opening presents), like:

slip-n-sliding!

bubble blowing! scavenger hunting! (for a treasure box full of bags to take home; and ater Ty proved his excellence at scavenger-hunt-making on our anniversary he was absolutely put in charge of this fun activity!) painting! (and lucky me, I found a website that showed me how to turn old crumbles of sidewalk chalk into sidewalk paint, it's awesome stuff!)

the day after her REAL birthday (since we had ice cream cones at Chik-fil-A that night) we put candles on her fruit pizza, "that looks just like the flag for America for my flag day birthday," and we had a little party with our friends that had come over to play for the day (while their mom was busy welcoming a brand new, sweet baby boy)!

It was definitely a VERY happy, HAPPY birthday week!

Guess who turned 5?!?

Here's the Birthday invitation she helped me make and send out...

I don't think ANYone had trouble guessing who was turning 5. Addellyn had been letting EVERYone know exactly what day she would be 5 for months! She could NOT wait! And in 5 years she has changed (slightly)...but not too much, right?!She got to open 1 present in the morning and she just happened to pick the present with this cute new outfit in it!So she quickly put it on and asked me to follow her outside to take some glamour shots!favorite color: turquoise blue (surprising, huh?) and sparkly!Addellyn's favorite thing to do: gymnastics! (and swimming)and she LOVES: "going to fun places" She REALLY wanted to go to the park on her birthday. So we headed to the "new one" for lunch--however, it was the last day of school, and after being there for only 30 min. the park had been over-run by really rotten teenagers (like ones that wouldn't move out of the way so that the little kids could go down the slides or across the monkey bars, etc apparently they own the "new park" so we'll have to find a different one to play on...so disappointing)favorite food: chicken nuggets and rootbeer float. So, she was treated to Chik-fil-A for dinner...LUCKY!She was beyond excited to open these presents! Usually Addellyn will do all she can to cover up any raw emotions (well, other than anger) because she always needs to feel like she is in control...but she couldn't wipe this grin off of her face!She LOVED everything! But, she still says her most favorite thing to do is: "play video games on PBS kids"This roly-poly man (seriously, look at those ROllS!) REALLY enjoys hearing his siblings squeal with delight! He giggles every time.

Oh how we LOVE our Addellyn! Can't believe she is already 5...Now she is counting down the minutes until she can get on the school bus and head to Kindergarten...yikes!

UPSET tummy?!?

Daddy can fix that!

Just throw some ear phones on the boy and turn on the classical piano music...

ALL bettter! (ok, so him puking all over Ty's shirt first may have helped to get rid of the sour stomache blues too...but only a little.)

9 years...

What better way to celebrate than with 9 presents!?! (and very useful presents, I might add...poor guy, guess he knew he was marrying a practical gal from the get-go though!) The 9 notes were the BEST part...they even made him cry, see?!? Okay, so they didn't, but he went and put water on his eyes to take this picture because he thought he was pretty funny (guess I knew I was marrying a sarcastic "funny man" from the get-go too though...)
He sent me on a wild goose chase the minute I woke June 8th, ALL over the house--for 9 very sweet notes (that DID make me cry--because inspite of the sarcasm Ty really does have an incredibly sweet side--which is why he was trying to pretend like mine had made him cry...)
9 wonderful years, and we couldn't love each other more! Thank goodness we have eternity to enjoy being together!

My little helper

He LOVES to help blog apparently! (I had NO idea Ty was taking pictures of such events :))

He really likes to sit in the bumbo while we fix dinner and set the table so he can "chat" with everyone....OR while he is waiting for me to hurry and make this:so we can head out the door with it to a "new mommy" in the ward...I love that I have been feeling good enough to help OTHER people, instead of the roles being switched! I could not be more grateful for good health and the ability to share!He also is incredibly helpful while folding laundry......the pile just GROWS as he lays there! I don't know what I would do without this little helper!

I have a HARD time choosing...

Because these kids are just too cute!

Ty had to work the weekend of Stake Conference, soooo when Beckett had a horrible day Saturday and then woke up screaming Sunday, I decided I was not capable of handling that kind of church alone...a few hours later, Beckett blew out ALL over the place, and then turned back into his happy self! We did get dressed for church, like we would have, we watched some conference talks on the internet, sang some songs, bore testimonies to eachother...and it turned out to be a wonderful, spiritual Sunday! Then we headed out back to take some pictures, since we all looked so cute...

This is only a select few...I know, they all look pretty much the same to you, but I love each picture for a diferent reason, so I had to include them ALL!

Hip-hip-HOORaY!

Guess who came to visit? (this was Coleson's face when I told him that today was the day we would get G and G from the airport) We started the visit with a "Very, Merry Un-Birthday" Party, thanks to Grandmas great planning! We had balloons, cupcakes, hats, games...This was a VERY amusing game of "Nickel, nickel, who's got the nickel?" Never knew that game could be SOOO much fun!But when you play with a 3 year-old, it's pretty darn FUNny!Coleson has not spent a day without his Captain America since the party! He does REALLY miss Grandpa--he was a SUPER great buddy to play pretend! (YES, that's Grandpa with Ken and Coleson with C.America, head butting, I believe :)--Coleson kept reminding Grandpa that C.America would come out conqueror!)And the girls have had their new Madame Alexander dolls with them everywhere they go! Grandma did an amazing job on the suit cases and clothes!Beckett was incredibly entertaining the ENTIRE time! He was so happy to finally meet his Grandma and Grandpa!We always like to treat our visitors to an entertaining trip to the Wally-World! (It is not unusual for me to go grocery shopping with Superman and the Mermaid...you DO get quite a few stares and odd comments though!) After we ate lunch with daddy at the hospital we decided to stop by and grab some ramps so that Grandpa could change the oil in the van--after that entertaining trip to WalMart we'll put you straight to work! Who wants to come visit????We do allow napping once all of your jobs are complete...We even got to take Grandpa to a "Bolts Game" for Father's Day!
Then Grandpa took us out to ice cream! The time flew by and all too soon we were returning G and G to "their airplane"...the kids have been begging to get on an aiprlane themselves ever since!