Helen's Birthday

My birthday was a week ago. I forgot to update it so here it is!
My family did great for my birthday. We have started doing presents in the morning before everyone runs off. It has been fun to have all day to enjoy the new things.
We also started taking pictures with each person and their gift. I guess I am not holding the items up high enough because you cannot see them in most of the pictures.

Parker got me some lovely new earings.
Andrew made pipe cleaner people I am wearing teh red shirt and he is wearing the blue shirt. After this he also made one with a green shirt to be Daddy. They are all 3 at work so I can see them every day!

Caitlyn got me a butterfinger! My favorite. Yum!

Alyssa got me a couple more butterfingers. I think my kids know what I like!

Mariah made me poppyseed muffins (or puffy seed as Parker calls them). I got a dozen just
for me to take to work. The best gift from her came after work. I got home to a sparkling clean and organized kitchen. She worked ALL day cleaning the counters and fridge. She also organized all but the spice cupboards. I am putting in my wish now for the same gift for next year. Mariah rocks at the cleaning and organizing!

Aaron got me North and South (the civil war version not Jane Austin). I loved watching this movie every summer. I can't wait until I have enough time to watch it again. He also cooked me a yummy dinner of steak, asparagus and baked potatoes and a yummy blizzard ice cream cake for dessert.

Thanks family!

First Day of School

August 22, 1011
Summer is over and school is back in session. I have enjoyed having my kids home this summer so this was bittersweet. I know they love school, but as they get older they are more helpful and we can do more activities as a family.

Here are all the kids ready to go. I had to change my first day of school pics as the older girls are in a carpool and got dropped off at the school today. I offered to take them and get pictures. They thought about it but were ok with me just them at house first. Alyssa made sure to pose in front of the carpool van.
Mariah is in her new outfit complete with her first pair of skinny jeans. She is in 9th grade and is a little bummed that here that is at the junior high. All her California friends are in high school. She has 3 honors classes plus she is one of 19 kids that are taking Spanish 2 this year. She loves all of her teachers and classes.

Alyssa is ready for 8th grade. The first outfit she put on she spilt milk on so she had to change. Alyssa got moved up to advanced band is glad to have lunch with her 2 best friends.

Andrew is in 2nd grade and is in class with a few kids from the neighborhood. He likes his 2nd grade teacher. He told me this evening that all of the other kids have decided he is a popular kid now because he wears cool clothes. I guess I did ok when I picked out his new outfit!
Caitlyn is in 5th grade. Luckily she has class with her best friend again. She came with us to school and even posed for a few pictures. We love her friend. They are so good for each other. Caitlyn is counting the days until choir starts in a few weeks.

Parker doesn't start school until next year, but he was not about to be left out of school pictures. He even picked out his outfit last night when we were getting everyone else ready. Today he got to go to a friends house where he will be babysat Monday-Wednesdays. He got to go the park, play and draw. This was the note from the sitter: "So today the kids were doing markers on a big white board and Parker was drawing a BIG circle with a circle in the middle and saying 'thats Amber, she has a baby inside her!' then he added the face, hair, arms, and hands. He seemed to know all about Amber and the anatomy of pregnancy :) It was cute!"

Aunt Amber was just here last week visiting. She is 8 months along with baby #5. I guess Parker was paying attention!

Alyssa's turns 13

Alyssa turned into a teenager this week. As a typical girl all she really wanted clothes. Aeropostale is her favorite brand and she got 3 new shirts! She also received another shirt, a pair of pj pants, perfume and hand sanitizer that said: I love boys. After dinner we surprised her with a trip to Wal-Mart to pick out a new bike. She was thrilled!
For dinner Allysa chose pasta carbonara with cheesecake for dessert. Yum!

Today was Alyssa's birthday party. She had 4 friends over for pizza and games. The first game they played is the duct tape game. An item is wrapped in lots and lots of layers of duct tape. One girl is trying to unwrap the item while another girls is rolling 2 die. Once they roll double they pass the duct taped item around. This continues until the item is completely unwrapped. Whoever unwraps it gets to keep it. They girls loved this game.

They also played a cotton ball game, tag, balloon popping relays, draw a picture on a paper plate that is on your head and a few more.

Alyssa had to have a pinata this year. As we don't have any large trees Aaron got creative and hung it from our bike stand. I was worried the girls would beat the stand up, but it held up.

Chocolate cupcakes and vanilla ice cream for dessert! Overall it was a great party. Alyssa has awesome taste in friends. They all get along and are good girls.

Parker turns 4

Parker turned 4 on July 15th. We had to celebrate without the older girls as they were at girls camp.

All Parker wanted for his birthday was little legos like Andrew. He got his wish with his very own set of Sponge Bob legos. About a year ago we started celebrating birthdays in the morning before everyone takes off. This year we had cupcakes for breakfast!

At 4 Parker is a bundle of joy. He keeps all of us laughing. Just yesterday he took his birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa Porter to shop for a blue power ranger (thanks Grandma & Grandpa). Parker held is dollar bills and was so excited to get to pay. He told me wanted to put his dollar in the rectangle thing. I wasn't sure what he meant. We got to the register and he unfolded his dollar and then swiped it in the credit card slot. He then proudly handed me the dollar and told me he paid for everything!

We continued the celebration by going to McDonald's for dinner and watching Cars 2. Parker enjoyed the movie, but thought all the action was a little scary.

4th of July

This 4th we went to a friend and neighbors. Beth is the best party planner. She invited some of her family, a few friends and some neighbors. It was a great mix of people. She decorated her yard and coordinated a BBQ with bratwursts!
Beth doing a 4th of July cheer with her sparklers. Aaron had to try his hand at fire breathing again. He was able to do as much as we had some rain and quite a bit of wind. I was able to catch this shot while trying not use the flash. He did great and was very entertaining. Andrew had as much fun with the glow sticks as he did sparklers.

Part of the group. There were about 30 people. The young boys were thrilled with their chance to light the fireworks. We didn't have any of the now legal aerial fireworks but we still had a good show.

Mariah and Alyssa did a few sparklers before watching the rest of the night. I didn't get any pictures of Caitlyn but she was out having fun. I think she did more sparklers than any of the other kids.

Parker only made it through 1 sparkler. Then he sat with Mom for a little bit. Once he heard the fire crackers he lost it and went inside the rest of the night.

Another good holiday. We are reminded of our freedoms and our blessings. We have so much to be grateful for, especially those who work to keep our freedom. God bless America!

Balloon Fest

Since we moved to Utah my Sister-in-law had been telling us how cool the Balloon Fest was and that we should go with them. The thought of getting up before 5 a.m. on a weekend was never really appealing so we didn't go.
This year we were heading out of town to visit friends in Idaho and so it wasn't a huge time difference for us. We all got up early and headed out. We arrived at 6 am and got pretty good parking. We brought some yogurt and granola bars to eat until 6:30 when the festival officially began.
In the open field there were 23 hot air balloons laid out and ready to go. When the time was called the balloons began to be inflated. It was an amazing site. You had to stand and be ready to move as the balloons grew. Soon we could only see the 4-5 balloons that were filled around us. Once the balloons filled they began taking off. Some only went a little ways and set down in the school yard next to the field. Others floated off around the valley.

There was a variety of balloons including Darth Vader, smokey the bear, a pig and the worlds tallest balloon - a coke bottle standing over 182 feet tall.

To support Nu skin, one of the sponsors of the balloon fest, Aaron got us all shirts to wear.

After the balloons are all up they have a contest where the balloons come back one at a time and try to drop a bean bag on a target. They also use a 5 foot pointed stick to joust and pop a balloon. We weren't able to stay for the entire contest as balloons fly slow, but it was fun. We will definitely go again.

Father's Day

This June we had an opportunity to celebrate fathers. We are blessed with great Grandfathers and a wonderful father and husband.

Since Aaron has become a father, 14 years ago, he has done a great job. He is the one to put the kids to bed, do baths and bandage the kids when they are hurt. Thanks for all you do!

The kids put together a book for Aaron. They each drew a picture and then filled in the blanks. Parker: Daddy can lift 100 lbs and is 10 feet tall. His favorite activity is getting on the computer.
Andrew: Daddy is as handsome as a bird. His favorite food is meat.
Caitlyn: Daddy is as strong as a bull. He looks funny when he is starting to laugh.
Alyssa: I know he is really mad when he turns red and yells. I would not trade my Daddy for 1 million dollars.
Mariah: In the good ole days when Daddy was little, he used to play pranks on his siblings & hand out with friends. His favorite activity is writing & reading books.

Parker is learning to be like his Dad and play games on the phone.

All the kids with Dad after serving him a breakfast of creme brule french toast and bacon in bed.

Mariah also make a few comics staring Daddy and some of the girls. My favorite features Caity Kaboom. She drew the characters to look like each of the girls and came up with a great storyline.

We also want to mention Grandpa Porter, who loves to pull hair and tease the girls, Great Grandpa Guy, who we don't see often enough but love just the same, and Grandpa Guy, who has recently gone to Iraq to work as a civilian. We love all of you and hold you in a special place in our hearts. Our lives would not be the same without the wonderful men who help raise and inspire us.