Birthday Hike

It's my birthday today. I know what you are all thinking, and it's true--Everyone got the day off from work and school today to celebrate with me. You are welcome. 

The boys woke me up for breakfast in bed. They made me oatmeal, a small bowl of blueberries and yogurt, and toast with garlic butter. Yup--garlic butter with my breakfast because they know how much I love garlic. I had to cover up my smile of that one. It was sweet of them to think of things that I love. 

I wanted to do something with the family for my birthday, so we went on another hike. I figured if the kids could handle the hike to Timpanogos Cave last week, than a hike to Stewart Falls would be a breeze.  The funny thing about that assumption is that today's hike was just as long than our other hike and we did about the same in elevation over the duration of the hike. R and I have fitbits we use to keep track of our physical activity. When we hiked Timpanogos Cave, it said we did 110 flights of stairs. WOW! Today, at the end of our hike to Stewart Falls it said we had done 91 flights of stairs.

Midway through the hike we took this group selfie. 

 

C, S, and MK along the trail.

 

S, C, and MK after a break.

 

S and C looking out at the views.

 Brothers

S in the waterfall. He was SO cold after this. 

Stuart Falls

C in front of the fall.

Stuart Falls

The boys and I hiked up the falls. MK and R did it earlier.

Stuart Falls

S, C, and Me up at top of the falls.

Stuart Falls

And because we can't ever be serious...

Stuart Falls

I really like this one of S.

 

S, MK, C, and R just before we headed back.

Stuart Falls

We hiked back to our car and ran into one of my very good friends and her family along the trail. It was so random! 

After the hike, we came back home and everyone cleaned up in record time so we could go out and eat.

It was a great day!

Happy Birthday Grandma Great

Today, Grandma Great celebrated her 88th Birthday!

Birthday Party

We were able to help celebrate with a family dinner at a Mexican Restaurant with Grandma Great, R's Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins with their families. 

We are so glad to have Grandma Great with us. Earlier this year, she suffered from a major stoke. We thought we were going to lose her, but she pulled through. So glad we get to spend more time with her.

Movie Time

Friday, we had C's Birthday Party. He wanted to go see a movie for his birthday. He wanted to see the movie "Planes," which wasn't released until Friday. 

MK, S, C, Friends K & K (They're twins) 

Movie Time

The movie was fun. There was a small romance between a few of the planes: It was hilarious to watch the boys' reactions during these parts. 

C taking a BIG breath to blow out his one candle.

Birthday Boy

Jump Time

For the boys' birthdays I told the boys they could have a big party in our back yard, or they could choose something "BIG" and invite just two friends. Both boys opted for the "BIG" party with two friends.

On Thursday, we finally had S' birthday party. He invited 2 friends to go to Hang Time with him. Hang Time is an indoor trampoline park. I've never been, but I was really impressed with the place.

C, Friend D, S, Friend T

(No matter how many times I tried to get S to LOOK AT THE CAMERA, he insisted on doing something silly.)

Birthday Friends

Friend T and S

Birthday Friends

It was a lot of fun and low key for me. I picked up the friends, they goofed off and chatted on the drive up the Hang Time, jumped and played for 1-1/2 hours, goofed off and chatted on the drive back home, had cupcakes & presents, played at home building a fort, then I drove the friends home.

Party Time

Birthday week may be officially over, but we still continue the fun by throwing all the parties this week. 

Today, we had friends over for MK's birthday party. We pulled out the inflatable pool and filled it up for the girls to swim in. 

Birthday Fun

At one point, they dragged the Little Tyke slide into the pool for a water slide. I thought I got a better picture than this, but I guess not. C is using the hose to keep the slide wet just like real water slides. All the girls are lining up for a turn.

Birthday Fun

We came inside for hot dogs, watermelon and cupcakes.

Birthday Fun

And we can't forget about the presents.

Birthday Fun

We made bracelets.

Birthday Fun

MK got a LOT of make-up for her birthday. She LOVES it.

MK and Z trying on all the make-up.

Birthday Fun

We had a fun time.

I can't believe MK is really 5. Everyday since the day she turned 4, MK has been talking about when she turns 5. So many times I would forget that she wasn't really 5 because she talked about it so much it felt like she was 5.

Happy Birthday MK!

Today we celebrated MK's 5th birthday!

Birthday Breakfast

We started the morning with a pancake breakfast. She was so excited it was her turn to wear the birthday hat.

Later, we went to Seven Peaks Water Park to play. She found a "Happy Birthday Crown" she had stashed away in her bedroom. She got it from Preschool when they celebrated her half birthday. She wore that everywhere we went today. So when we showed up at the water park, the ticket agent wished her a happy birthday.  We had to stop at Walmart on the way home and she wore it around the store as well. A store manager happened to walk passed us while we were shopping and he stopped to tell her happy birthday. He asked her her name and how old she was. Then he had it announced from the store's intercom! She was so surprised to hear her name and to be wished a happy birthday on the speakers.

MK getting ready to leave for the water park.

Birthday Girl

Singing MK a happy birthday.

Birthday Girl

S and MK with her new PINK bike.

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday S!

Today, S turns 8 years old!

Birthday Breakfast

After a pancake breakfast, we went to play at Seven Peaks Water park. We had a great time playing in the water and sun. S wanted hamburgers for his birthday dinner. After dinner, we had cake and presents and S got a new bike!

 

Grammie, Grandpa, and Uncle Brandon arrived tonight to be here for S' baptism on Saturday, so we got to spend the evening with them as well.

Happy Birthday C!

Birthday Week has begun!

Today, C turns 10 years old. We started the morning with his traditional birthday pancake breakfast complete with candle.

Birthday Breakfast

I put the candle in the pancake HOT off the grill...it melted candle wax into his pancake. He had to cut out the middle of the pancake stack to get all the melted wax out. Oops.

Tonight, we had steak and mashed potatoes for a birthday dinner.

Between dinner and dessert, the kids and I went off the the Cub Scout Bike Rodeo. 

We returned home for cupcakes and presents. C had to wear the birthday hat.

MK and S photobombed all the pictures. 

Birthday Silliness

C got his present from Mom and Dad 

Birthday Boy

He was SO excited! He has wanted a guitar for SO long.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Happy Birthday R!

Birthday Dad!

MK, R, S, C

Birthday Selfie

Happy Half Birthday

MK's 4-12 half Birthday

Today is MK's Half Birthday. For those of us who have birthday's during the summer, we get used to celebrating Half Birthday's during the school year. My sisters's still call each other on their half birthdays.

At preschool today, MK got to celebrate her Half Birthday and be the VIP. She came home wearing a birthday crown, a Twinkie, and 4-1/2 candles (because today she is 4-1/2). Once home, we lit the candles in her Twinkie for her. I LOVE this picture.

Happy Birthday MK!

Happy 2nd Birthday MK!

And we wind down Birthday week by celebrating MK's 2nd birthday. I know. I can't believe our little girl is 2. Time flies when you are a cute little girl. MK is practicing how to say "two" but it sounds more like "choo." She's also practicing holding up 2 fingers. She has tried to show her 2 fingers to her Aunt, Grandma, and Boppi who have already called her this morning.

MK is such fun to have around. We love having her part of our family. She wants to do everything her big brothers do, and she tries just about it all. Lately, she kicks a leg out and says "Yee-ahh" in her attempt at karate. Even still, she is such a girl, which still is new to us after 2 boys. She loves to get dressed, wear mom's shoes or her dress-up shoes, have her hair done, and carry her sequined Cinderella purse. She wants to help, always trying to help clean up. She loves to play and laugh. Everyday, she brings me her sandals and says "Shoos. Side." because she wants to play outside. Lately, she does fake sneezes. She's a hoot.

Happy Birthday S!

Happy 5th Birthday S!

Today, S turned 5 years-old. He's been so excited for this day. He's been telling people that his birthday is "the day after church day." I had to work today, so he spent the morning with the sitter, which he thought was cool because he played with his friends. Then, he played with the neighborhood kids. A neighbor has a bounce house/slip-n-slide up at their house for the week so you know where S and C were today.

S got to talk to his cousins, aunts, and grandparents on the phone today. Every time the phone has rung (which has been a lot) he has bounded over to the phone so he can talk. The first person to call today was my dad. S didn't bother to say hi. He just bluntly asked "are you going to sing to me?"

We are so lucky to have S in our family. He is such a character. He keeps us laughing with all his silliness and crazy ideas. He is a very loving brother. He loves to help and loves to make others laugh. He is very creative. He loves to play outside, to ride his scooter, to play the wii, and to play with puzzles. He has a great ability to think through puzzles and piece them together.

Happy Birthday C!

Happy 7th Birthday C!

C turned 7 on July 31st. C has been so excited for his birthday for months now. He's very happy to tell EVERYONE he sees that he is now 7 years-old.

We started the day off with pancake breakfast with a candle in the pancake, of course. He opened presents, played with friends, and ended the day by going to a restaurant for dinner. We waited until Sunday to do his birthday cake since we got home late and C got a free dessert from the restaurant. We are having a combined birthday party for both boys on Wednesday.

C is busy finding out what his new 7 year-old super powers are. So far, he has discovered that he is taller (he demonstrated this to me by showing me how he can barely lay down on the couch now) and he is faster (he will run across the lawn to show you his increased speed.)

As we discover what other 7 year-old super powers he has, we will update you accordingly.

C is a big part of our family and we all love him so much. He is an amazing big brother who cares for and watches out for his brother and sister. He is a great helper around the house and with his siblings. He loves art and makes fun projects. He has great handwriting and does well at math. He loves to play soccer and baseball. And he is a good friend, wanting to include everyone.

David Lanz Concert

Last night R and I went to see David Lanz at a local Performing Arts Center. R bought tickets back in August as a birthday present for me. It was an amazing concert! It was held at a pretty small venue, so there wasn't a bad seat in the house. It was such a contrast between your typical rock-n-roll concert and this concert. His music is so mellow and relaxing....so there wasn't any dancing in the aisles. He played some of my favorite pieces of his, several Christmas pieces, and a medley of several songs. He told a few stories about how his favorites came to be.

The crazy thing was before the performance, the General Manager of the Center came out on stage to say they had some "important announcements." He proceeded a small bit thanking all those who donated. He announced that they were celebrating because the center is finally all paid for....then they threw confetti from the rafters and lit fireworks on stage.....of a small auditorium. It was so smokey! Just about everyone in the audience was coughing. They had to take a small break before David Lanz came on stage for people to leave the auditorium and get fresh air and for the HVAC to clear out the smoke, which it didn't really do but blow it all over the place. Poor R is getting over a cold and this wasn't the best thing for his lungs. Poor planning on the managements part--several people complaining during the intermission.

Besides the poor air conditions, we really enjoyed the concert. The kids got to spend the evening with one of their favorite babysitters, and we got to go out on a date.

Let them eat cake!

....because I am so tired of it. After 3 birthdays and 2 birthday parties in one week, I'm a little over eating cake everyday. I'm also 10 pounds heavier. No wonder the French revolted when Marie Antoinette said that.

Happy Birthday MK!

Today MK turned 1 year-old! I still can't believe it. What happened? Time seems to have flown by. But, it's true--she's now 1 year-old instead of "zero" like the boys have said all year. She was never 6 months-old nor 9 months-old, she was always zero.

We had chocolate cake with pink frosting after dinner tonight. MK was just memorized by the candle on her cake. Here's a before picture:

MK's 1st Birthday

Here is an after picture:

MK's 1st Birthday

We opened presents before the cake...thought it would be easier. She was concentrating pretty hard to get her new doll out of the wrapping paper.

MK's 1st Birthday

And she loved her new doll right away. Here she is giving her doll a kiss.

MK's 1st Birthday

It was a fun evening. She was entertained and entertaining.

We love having MK as part of our family. She's now walking, waving, clapping, giving kisses, and more. She gives great hugs and has such a sweet smile. She can go up and down the stairs all by herself. When she wants to be held, she'll crawl up to you, turn around, back into your legs, then sit at your feet. She loves her brothers and is loved by them. She loves to explore, including the pulling things out of cupboards like towels, pots, Tupperware, cereal, etc.

Happy Birthday to our little girl! We love you!

A Birthday Party for S

Can you believe it? We had another Birthday Party today. Today we had a pool party for S and his friends. If the pictures are looking familiar, it's because we had a familiar party with just different participants and different birthday boy. Today was S' turn in the spot light. It was the first time we did a birthday party for him, and he's been SO excited. He had 5 friends come and play today. They played in the pool, rode scooters and bikes, played with all the toys in the house, and had a great time.

Here are my two birthday boys. They are great friends to each other....most of the time.

Birthday Party

Here are all the lucky party go-ers. Only one wasn't in the picture because he showed up later.

 Birthday Party

We had barbecued hot dogs for lunch then chocolate cupcakes with orange frosting.

S at the birthday party

He LOVED being sung to again. After cupcakes, he opened presents. It was quite funny--just about every one of his friends would tell S what they got him and help him open the present. He didn't mind the help. They all played for a bit more before the moms came to claim their kids. One of presents he received was a Thomas train set. He LOVES playing with trains, and we promptly set it up for him.

S and his train

We had a lot of fun this morning. The boys all got along great, and everyone had fun. About an hour after his friends all left, S came up to me and asked me if he could have a friend come over and play. I told him I was all friended out for the day, but maybe tomorrow.

One more birthday to go.

A little side note--I lathered up the boys with sunscreen SPF 50 this morning. Poor kids have no chance with 2 pasty-white parents. Hence, the swim shirts. Anyways, R noticed this evening that S has a sunburn on his back.....a thin sunburned line along his plumbers crack. Oops. I hadn't put any sunscreen there. And this is after reading my sister's blog about how her 5 year-old got sunburned along his "crack-a-lackage."

Happy Birthday S!

Happy 4th Birthday S!

Today we celebrated S' 4th birthday! Hooray. We had a family dinner with cake and presents today. Tomorrow, will be his birthday party with his little friends. So, more Birthday fun to come. (Well, and more birthday fun to come with MK's birthday on the 5th.)

We went to church in the morning. The primary sang 'Happy Birthday' to both S and C. S was very happy to have been given a sucker. He told me it was chocolate and offered to let me have some so I would know it was chocolate, but I passed. I told him I believed him. S is so easy going that we were able to keep our normal Sunday routine. We came home from church, had lunch, and had some quite time. Love quite time.

My mom came over for dinner and cake. She has some friends from Saudi who were staying with her for the week and came along. They are on their way from Saudi to work at the Embassy in Cuba and were able to stop for a week in Utah with my Mom. It was fun to have them as well as my Mom. We had a yummy dinner and some delicious chocolate cake.

Here is S enjoying the Birthday Song followed by our Danish Birthday Song that is a Haws Family tradition. I love the look of anticipation on his face.

S blowing out the candles

S blowing out the candles

He blew out 3 of the 4 right away, but had a hard time getting that 4th one out. Mom joked that he was still 3. Once he blew out that 4th one she said, "Now he's 4!"
He opened presents before dinner.

Birthday Boy

S loves puzzles and got 2 new ones from Auntie J and Uncle Neal. He was most excited about this "cool Hot Wheels one."

Birthday Boy

We got him a new scooter for his birthday. He left his last scooter behind my van. Can you guess what happened to it? Yup. I didn't see it and ran over it. It mangled up the rear wheel axle and couldn't be fixed. He's been without a scooter for a good part of the summer. But, he'd always start or end his lament about his old scooter by saying that he left it behind my car and didn't put it away. We're hoping that means he learned his lesson. His last scooter was a 3-wheeled scooter. We got him a 2-wheeled scooter. Here is S trying it out.

Birthday Boy

We are so happy to have S as part of our family. He is such a character! He keeps us laughing with all his crazy antics and goofiness. He's easy-going. He's a gadget guy (our little engineer.) He gives great hugs and kisses. He's fearless. And he's loving. What would we do without you, S?

Happy Birthday C!

Happy 6th Birthday C!

Today C celebrated (Again. But for reals this time) his 6th birthday. Like I mentioned before, I had to work today so C, S, and MK went to the sitters this morning and C had to wait all the way until dinner before we let him open his presents from the family. This is a picture that C took during the day.

C's Birthday

Can you tell what was on his mind? He got a new backpack and workbook from mom and dad, a new 'cars' shirt from S & MK, paint and paper and LEGOS from Auntie J and Uncle Neal, and some cash from Grandma and Boppi. He's been asking for Legos forever!

C's Birthday

R sat down with him and watched C put together his LEGO car. C did it all by himself and was having a blast doing it. We took the kids out to the church parking so they could ride their bikes. It was a great day.

We love having C as part of our family. He is always eager to help. He is a great example to his younger brother and sister. He is creative. I love his stories--especially in the morning when he tells me about his dreams. We love you C!