Happy Birthday Angus!

Angus turned 3 today (at 1:59).

He loves to talk. He loves to break out in silly ninja dance moves. He loves to wiggle his bum. He loves Oscar. He loves food, and when he asks for some he usually says, "Mom, I need something to bite on." He has poofy blond hair, and a dimple in his left cheek. He is a goof and is always making us laugh. He is really good at sharing. He is the perfect Angus and we love like crazy.

He asked for a Hulk pinata and an Iron man cake. Both of which will be made and eaten/smashed on Saturday with cousins. For today we had frosted sugar cookies to put his 3 candles in. Oscar was very excited to give Angus a present. So he "shopped" through a selection of Bryan's childhood toys for a gift. Here are a few pictures of his birthday, more to come of the continued celebration. (I know the lighting is weird and some of the pictures are fuzzy. My camera bites, but mostly I don't know how to take a good picture. These will have to do).

You are one of a kind Angus, and we are glad you are ours!

Sam Is An Eagle Scout

My brother Sam received his Eagle Scout this evening. It was nice to be there with family and friends in support of Sam, who we love SOO much. He is the greatest, and we were happy to celebrate and support his achievement with him. Here are some pictures from the evening. Thanks again J-bone for being photographer.

 

 

 

  

Hooray for Christmas.

Santa visited our home and brought some lovely goodies to our boys. It was no surprise that he would, Oscar and Angus should definitely be on the nice list. They really are nice boys.

Since Santa's visit, we have been playing games, smashing each other with stuffed Hulk hands, playing with army men and Ben-10 aliens, building with Sponge Bob Lego's (My favorite find this season, btw. At Idaho Youth Ranch I found a ginormous bin for on $3.25! What a steal.), and making tons and tons of sticker pages. Goodness these boys love stickers!


It was a great Christmas, and we are glad Santa remembered to stop at our house.
Here are some pictures from our lovely Holiday.

Christmas Talks

Christmas was really good this year. Bryan had 10 days off of work (he just went back today) and we all enjoyed almost every minute of being together. You know, except for the moments when we drove one another slightly batty.

It can be easy to grumble a bit about having to go to church on Christmas, especially when you and your husband are the ones speaking in sacrament meeting that day. Yep, that was us. Our nearly 5 year long non-talk-giving streak ended on Christmas day. We had never given a talk before in our ward. Yikes.

However, it really was a blessing in disguise for both of us. Our hearts and minds really were tuned into recognizing the true meaning of Christmas, since we were studying it all week. And that ended up being quite a big gift to the both of us.

Happy Birthday Tag Man.

Happy, happy birthday to my super awesome big brother.

You are calm and collected.

You are smart and eloquent.

You are a really good dad.

You know all the cool bands.

Your laugh is infectious.

You have a wicked cool head of hair.

You are my big brother and I love you dearly.

You are my Taggy and I look up to you in lots of ways.

Hope your day was a really, really good  one.

On The Eve Of My 28th Year.

I went for a walk tonight on the eve of my 28th birthday. That isn't really earth-shattering news or anything, but Reece and I like to take walks together after dark, especially in the summer time. Most walks we take together are calming and rejuvenating to the both of us. I crave the chorus of the August crickets. They are loud and thick. Tonight it felt they were singing just for me, "Happy birthday Helen, we are glad you are here with us on earth at this time. Be well, be well, be well."  The warmth on an evening of this month feels much like a comfortable, and well-worn blanket. Not much more clothing than a shirt, shorts and flip-flops are needed, and the simplicity of that feels good to me. The dark silhouettes of the catalpas, the maples, the pines, against the backdrop of a slightly lighter starry starry sky cause me to breath in the smell of summer with deeper contentment.

As we continued to walk I was overcome with gratitude for the 28 years I have had here so far. They have been filled with so much good, and so much real beauty. The majority of which has stemmed from the many genuine and tender relationships that have been, and that are currently a part of my existence. My eyes got a bit teary as my mind filled with the many blessings I have been given over the years. They have not, and they do not cease.

I think there is something cosmically magical about walking in the relative stillness of night. It feels good to let my mind wander where it will. When I stop trying to lead my thoughts, and instead let them lead me, I am often overcome with truths that are made clearer. It is as if there is someone aware of me (and I believe that there certainly is, more than one someone too). Someone who knows me. Who knows my ears are open and my mind is receptive to the guiding bits of wisdom they will whisper to my mind, my heart. Most often the whispered wisdom's are small hints, and on rare occasions they have been concise directions, but they are always, always meant for me. I am compelled to listen, and when I do my life is so much better because I did.

Ogre Pinata. Finally!

Bryan (and Oscar) worked super hard on this Ogre pinata for Oscar's birthday. It was a lot of work, and took a lot of time. BUT it was really inexpensive to do, and they had so much fun creating it, painting it, and then destroying it. This may just become a birthday tradition...maybe.

I love this shot of Oscar the artist.
Such a typical concentrated face for him.

My family and Bryan's Mom joined us in our front yard for the pinata smashing, and ogre cake devouring. Then as dusk hit we lit off some fireworks in the street. It was one of those extremely pleasant, verging on magical summer evenings. Not many things in life beat a warm and soft sunny eve, having fun with people you love. We must do this again.

Before the boys went to bed that night, we did our annual birthday height measuring on the pantry door. 5 years old and just over 44 inches tall.

We love you our Oscar-bot.

Oscar Turns 5

We have been talking about Oscar's Birthday for months now, but the actual preparations for it started  this past Wednesday evening. He wanted and ogre cake, and ogre pinata and lots of fireworks.

 Cool. We can do that.

When I asked Oscar what he wanted to eat for his birthday dinner he replied, "A real crab and  real Lobster." I told him I would do my best, but wondered if maybe he would be okay with salmon instead.

To that he said, "well...only if I can keep the head, fins and flippers." When he saw the somewhat quizzical look cross my face he stated, "well, how about roast beef." I agreed, and the deal was made.

So! On Wednesday night Bryan (and the boys for a bit) started the paper mache for the pinata.

 I made the chocolate cake batter (from my favorite recipe, thanks Katrina),

baked it, cooled it, and then frosted the first layer. 

Thursday night I stayed up till 3:30 am working on the cake, wrapping presents, and helping Bryan. Bryan stayed up till 4:30 am working on the pinata.We wanted to be prepared for Oscars family b-day party the next night.

This morning before Bryan left for work we, including Angus, woke Oscar up by singing Happy Birthday to him. Then we made him open his presents first thing.

 Halfway through the opening of presents Oscar started complaining of an upset stomach. Fifteen minutes later he threw up. Unfortunately it seems he brought back a yucky birthday present from our travels. Fortunately I think it is a short-lived flu bug, because he was back to normal by early this afternoon.

However we had to postpone his cousin party for another night...I didn't want to share the sickness.

So today we played around the house with his new dragon and Lego's. Then the boys helped me make dinner, and put the final touches on the cake.

After eating our tasty-birthday-boy-requested dinner of roast beef, fresh corn on the cob, and salad, we sang him happy b-day and ate that cake!

When our tummies were sufficiently full of cake and ice cream, we headed out back for a family game of baseball.

We had fun!

Oscar you are silly, observant, determined, specific, detail-oriented, smart, funny, loving, kind, cuddly (to me), creative, artistic, curious and inquisitive. We love you super-way-far out past outer space and back again. You are one of the most important people in our lives.

 Stay tuned for Bryan's homemade Ogre pinata reveal!