tyler's 9th birthday party

Remember the good old days when I used to do a coordinated birthday party theme, invites, games, cake, and favors?  Sadly, I think those days are gone!  Now it's whatever I can do quick and cheap that will make the kids happy and be the least amount of work for me!   Our deal is that they can have their party somewhere else that costs money but they can only invite a few friends.

Due to scheduling conflicts, we had Tyler's party a few weeks early this year.  He didn't complain!  He chose unlimited video games at Golfland. 

L to R: Brigham, Tyler, Sean, Corbin, JJ, Jude, Brandon, Natalie

The boys LOVED it!

Then we came back home for pizza, gatorade, ice cream, and jumbo cupcakes (which I did actually make myself)!

And of course presents!

It was easy and fun and Tyler and all the other boys seemed to like it, so I consider it a success!

we love to see the temple!

We have waited for this day for almost 6 years since our Gilbert Temple was announced!  We finally got to go through!  I thought the first morning (a Saturday) would be extremely busy, but apparently they only released a limited number of tickets so that the tour guides could be trained.  We were very lucky that it was almost empty and we even got a "talking tour" instead of a silent walk-through tour that they started doing later that afternoon due to the huge number of people. 

Words can't possibly describe the beauty and detail.  I knew I would have many visits to the temple, so I tried to focus on our kids and their reactions. I told Natalie as we were walking in, "don't talk, just look and try to feel the Spirit."  She replied, "I already do!"  As we obviously weren't allowed to take our own photos inside, here are some pictures from the church website:

Front Lobby:

Baptismal Font:

Endowment Room:

Celestial Room:

I had a hard time holding back my tears as we walked through with our children. When I whispered to Natalie in the sealing room that it was the room she might be married in, her eyes lit up! I hope they always remember being there and the peaceful feelings they had.

 Brandon and Tyler are old enough to attend the temple dedication!

We are so blessed to have this beautiful temple so close.

fun run

Our school did the Apex Fun Run fundraiser event again this year.  It's a great program that teaches values and exercise.  Best of all, it raises a ton of money for the school and the PTO doesn't have to do very much work!  They bring in the whole program for two weeks and the kids and teachers love it!  I was there all day helping with the 4 different run times, but everyone is excited so it's fun work!

Natalie was ready to go!

We love her teacher, Mrs. Garrison:

The kids were running so fast and they were all wearing the same shirts, but I managed to catch one of her:

I was helping at the water table during her race, so of course she had to come visit me a lot!

Tyler's race was next.  He didn't want me taking his picture, but I was able to sneak a few in!

He let me take one when he was all done (he was probably just too tired to run away)!

I try to ignore Brandon (his request...apparently not cool to have your mom there in 6th grade) but I was also taking photos for the yearbook, so I conveniently took a few with him in it!  He managed to run 83 laps!

Here's a photo of what part of the event looks like - I couldn't even fit it all in!

It was a great event and fundraiser for our school and the kids learned how to "POWER" UP by:

* Positive Attitude

* Others First

* Work Together

* Exercise

* Responsibility