Happy Birthday!!!

Our Riley is now 6 years old. Time has gone so fast and yet it seems like she's been in my life forever. I want time to stop and yet I love watching my kids grow up.

Riley had 2 fabulous birthday parties with family and then with friends. She has been planning these parties for the past 2 months!

What girl doesn't love shoes. And Riley is ALL girl!

Hopefully, this will prevent her from breaking my camera again.

She asked for an Ariel cake. This is sort of a cop-out since I used a doll, but I really wanted to do a water themed cake.

Earlier in the day, she hit her knee to her top tooth, knocking it out. That's the little dark spot in her mouth. So she got a present from the tooth fairy for her birthday as well!

Happy Birthday Riley! We love you!!!

Common Problem

I don't normally use this blog for this purpose, but I have a situation that I would like to question my 2 readers about.

I'm not a super social person and never have been. I don't have an endless source of witty comments and engaging conversational skills to dispell every awkward position I find myself in. When I try, I usually find my foot in my mouth or have worded something so wrong that I offend someone. It doesn't help that my everyday vocabulary is something to be envied by most mariners.

However, there are some words/phrases that even I won't use.

I recently found myself in an awkward situation, at least it was awkward to me, when a close friend was in my home and casually took the Lord's name in vain. It caught me off guard because this was someone I knew attended (my) church and did not expect it from them. At first, I was so surprised that I figured I must have heard them wrong. When it happened again, I was so stunned that I froze and had no idea what to say. By now, at least to me, the time to say something kindly like "would you mind using another phrase around my children", has passed and I cannot think of a way to breach the subject again. If/when they say it again, I feel like it is too late, like if I haven't said something already, I should just keep my mouth shut.

The problem is that my kids are hearing it from someone they know and I can't just say, "Oh we don't say those words" like I do for the TV. They know they go to church and believe the same as we do. So, what do I do?

So far...nothing.

Twins

I was called this week to make a cake for twin girls that are coming home from the hospital. Their nursury is in pinks and greens so I not only made them a cake, I made Happy Birthday banners for each of them to match.

I got this far on the cake and loved it so much I was hesitant to add the green.



Luckily I do not always follow my instincts.

Walk for Natalie 2010

Support the team "Natty Walkers" at http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm

You CANNOT miss this video. She's just so NATTY!

Feral Child

We took the family up the canyon this evening for dinner over the campfire. In the chaos of the night, we LOST Emma...

...Fortunately, we found this sweet little feral child to take her place.

Independance Day

This Independance Day we went again to Nebraska for a big fireworks Celebration.

The first day we were there, however, I needed to made a cake for Micah's birthday.

Before the big display, we all went to Cody Park for some carnival rides and ice cream.

Natalie had a good time...

Stevie had a good time...

Riley had a good time...

And Emma also had a good time...

Until she rode the train.

After the park, the boys went Christmas shopping. There were well over 200 fireworks.

Here are my white trash kids watching the fireworks from the hood of a truck.

The little boys enjoyed the firworks...

Almost as much as the big boys.

It was really amazing driving back to our hotel that night. There were non stop fireworks everywhere. It is the most festive place to celebrate our nations birth. You feel a deep patriotic spirit from the people there. I love it!

Everyone slept well that night.

The next day Emma wore new hair bows to church.

When it was time to go home, we were all pooped.

Even the big boy.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip with fun memories to bring home. Thank you Jared and Jeanne for your hospitality!!!