Michael's Birthday

Ben & Jenny & crew, Lea & Shayne & Crew, and Kirt and Julie came to our house on Sunday, October 8 to celebrate Michael and Tyler's birthday. I feel like we had dinner together too, but I honestly don't remember. We had ice cream cake though!!

The next day was Michael's birthday, and I was sick. Still, I wanted to stick with my tradition of decorating a birthday cake for Michael. This year was all about Harry Potter, and so I made his cake into a Quidditch pitch. Jenny and Lea came for a visit, and Jenny was kind enough to write "Happy Birthday Michael" on the cake in black icing that she just happened to bring with her! 

Since Ben and Jenny were in town, they wanted to go do something fun, and so we all decided to go to Corn Belly's. We asked Michael if he wanted to just party with us that night or join cousins at CornBelly's. He opted to join cousins.  We were the first to arrive, so we got straight to exploring. 

We were playing in these little birdhouse playhouses together. Everyone seemed to be done with them, and I was waiting patiently for Rachel to finish up. 

Minutes ticked by, and finally, I decided to go get her. I couldn't find her anywhere. We looked all over the area where we had been hanging out, trying not to freak out. Rachel isn't they type to just wander off, and with each passing minute, the absolute worst case scenarios kept flashing through my mind. We looked frantically for her, trying not to freak out, but wondering if we would ever see her sweet face again. "How could something so horrible happen on Michael's birthday? Please, no, Heavenly Father! Please keep her safe." After what felt like hours, Lea found her in one of the play villages. She had gotten bored and just moved on to the next thing, having no clue the fears she gave both her parents! We were both so grateful to have our little girl back, safe, unharmed, and oblivious. We had a little reminder chat about staying together when we're in groups. And then the fun began again:

Gabe loved this slide so much. He would climb back up as soon as he made it to the bottom. 

It was a little bit chilly that night, so Lea and Jenny shared this blanket as we wandered around. 

Sisters~

Brothers!

Rachel's favorite area is the Princess area. This time, she got to dance with a real prince. 

And I got to ride in a carriage with this handsome Mr. f

Cousins!!!!!

Just one more ride.

We had a great night out, and then we headed back home for a quick birthday party with just our family of 5.

 We can't believe that Michael is 8 already!! Wasn't it yesterday that he was born??! We can't imagine our lives without this amazing son of ours. He still loves reading, Legos, and soccer, as well as Minecraft. He's the best big brother his two siblings could ask for. He is incredibly tender-hearted and kind. He's still incredibly independent and continues to basically raise himself, but he still likes it when we tuck him in at night. Michael, thank you for officially joining our family 8 years ago and making us parents! We love you so much!!

Spectacular! Spectacular!

While Ben and Jenny were in town for Homecoming, we went on a big triple date to see BYU's Homecoming Spectacular. Kristen Chenowith headlined the night, and it was awesome!! We met up for dinner first.

 Well, actually, we're the only ones that hadn't eaten dinner. We probably should have communicated that better, but it didn't really matter because Brian's burrito fed all of us. It was huge!

 After dinner, we waited in line to be admitted into the Marriott Center. It took forever, which was pretty odd. You'd think they'd be used to all these people showing up for a show and could get them in faster, right?! I guess they don't do this that often...oh wait. We had fun taking group selfies while we waited.

 The show was amazing! I've always like Kristen Chenoweth ever since I saw her in The Music Man, but when she made her grand entrance wearing a BYU t-shirt, I liked her even more. It was such a fun show!

After the show, we decided we weren't done hanging out, so we called the parents to see if we could stay out longer. Really, we did. Kirt and Julie had Ben and Jenny's kids and our kids, so we had to ask our parents if we could stay out longer. It made me laugh. We considered crashing a BYU Homecoming Dance, but ended up going bowling instead.

Meanwhile, Nana and Papa took the kids to a pumpkin patch. They each got to pick a pumpkin and then they went back to Nana and Papa's house to decorate/carve it. Can you guess which one is Rachel's?

I think we need to make this a yearly tradition!

October General Conference

The General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is held the first weekend in April and the first weekend in October every year. We get to watch it on TV. There are 8 hours of viewing for everyone, and then another 2 hour session for Brian and I. Since I want my kids to listen to Conference, but eight hours is a long time to expect them to sit still and listen to talks on TV, I try to have activities for our kids. This year, our home teacher dropped off a new coloring packet. I pulled out my lap desk that my dad made for me back when I was a kid, and Rachel and Michael shared the space for their coloring activities during conference. 

 Apparently we had popcorn this year. How's that for church services? In pajamas and eating popcorn!

Every year, I want to start a tradition of making cinnamon rolls during conference, but every year, I seem to get caught up doing something that doesn't involve making cinnamon rolls. Hopefully these Conferences turn into something that my kids look forward to their whole lives. I know that I do.

The Cougar Run & Homecoming Parade

On October 7, we participated in BYU's Homecoming Cougar Run. I helped Gabe run his race, since I'm not allowed to run. 

This year, we got to run with Saville cousins too because Ben & Jenny were in town, and Lea, Danny, & Skyler participated as well.  Rachel and Gabe both ran the 200 meter race. Here's Rachel starting off her race:

Here's Gabe and I. I think he got to run with Tucker, but Tucker did much better than Gabe, I think he even placed in the top 10--maybe even 5. This was in October; it's February. I don't remember anymore. 

Michael ran the 800 meters with Danny. We went to the track a couple of times to train. They both did a great job, and I don't have a great picture to show for it.

Brian, Jenny, and Lea ran the 5K--together! They ran the whole race without walking, which Brian felt really good about. Apparently, Jenny was the official cheerleader and talked to them the whole time, keeping them pumped up for the whole race.

We got a picture of all the participants on the podium. 

After the races (and blue pancakes!), we headed down to the end of the parade route to catch the Homecoming parade. We made it just in time!

We got lots of interaction from the participants and lots of goodies. 

After the parade, we watched Ben play in the Alumni soccer games, and then we walked to Costa Vida for lunch. We didn't have our stroller by then, so I carried Gabe.

It was a beautiful day for racing, and it was so fun to spend the morning with family.