Basketball

Garrett just finished up his first season of playing basketball. He really enjoyed it! Our kids tend to be the ones who watch everyone else on the team play and pass the ball off as quickly as they can instead of shooting because they are timid and afraid, but by the end of Garrett's season he was dribbling the ball, taking a few shots, passing, and doing a pretty good job at guarding. Curtis and I would continuously try to give him pointers before, after, and during the games. On the last day coach told him and us that he was definitely the most improved player this year and I would have to agree.  I'm hoping that he plays again next year so that it can help boost his confidence, which he really needs right now. Boosting his confidence in other areas will help boost his confidence in reading, which he is struggling with right now. He's a smart boy, it's just a little hard for him to hear because of his slight hearing loss. He's also afraid of speaking up because he doesn't want to be wrong. Sounds a lot like me!

Garrett taking a shot. Unfortunately he didn't make any baskets this season but hopefully next year!

After Garrett's last game.

Charlotte's "toy" during the games was the handrail on the bleachers.

Winter Birthdays

When you get out of the habit of blogging it is really hard to get back into it but every week I keep thinking I need to blog again, I need to blog again!  For me, it's like keeping a journal and I know journaling is something I should be doing. I don't want to play catch up too much so I'll just post about the recent birthdays we celebrated, starting with Nikki who has turned 12 and is now in Young Women's.  I can hardly believe it! I felt like I was just there myself.  She celebrated with a friend's birthday party this year where they had pizza and donuts (instead of cake). I introduced them to the Skittles game which was fun to watch and since one of her friends didn't want to eat the Skittles I told her I would do it for her when she rolled doubles.  The game is played by everyone sitting in a circle on the floor and then everyone takes a turn to roll two dice. If they roll doubles, then they get to take the bowl of Skittles and use a knife to scoop them up with and then dump them into their mouth without touching the knife on their mouth. It keeps going until the Skittles are gone or we just get tired of eating Skittles.  Some girls had a turn so long that they had a mouth full of Skittles and had to spit it out into the garbage because they couldn't chew anymore. After this game they played a few rounds of Spoons.

When friends had first arrived to the party Nikki also played another game with them called Two Truths and a Lie.  They had to tell two things about themselves that were true and one that was a lie and the others had to guess which was the lie. I didn't really get to watch that one though since I was running around getting things ready but I think they enjoyed it.

The next thing they did was watch the vampire movie "Twilight" but right before that Curtis and I had picked out an old funny video of Nikki to show to her friends. It was when she was about 5 years old and she was singing her very own "Stinky Song".  Nikki was so embarrassed that she ran to her room to hide until it was over.  It was all in good fun and no she did not cry.  We think she was adorable and funny!  :)

We told Nikki she could have donuts or cake but not both. She chose donuts. And yes, we let her light her own candles!

A good group of friends including a few cousins!

Mother/daughter silly faces!

Birthday morning wearing her new shirt and scarf.

On the 15th she got a birthday hair cut. She had been wanting it cut for a long time.

She cut off about 8 inches and she loves it short!

The next birthday celebrated was my birthday!  This year I decided I wanted to go out to eat with parents, grandparents, and sisters & their hubby's. The ones who could make it were my Dad & Laverne, Curtis's parents, Curtis's sister Shauna & husband John, and my sister Melissa and her husband Nathan.  After several days of thinking of where we should go to eat I decided it would be easiest to do Golden Corral. Plenty of room and plenty of food choices. It was a lot of fun!

The waiter heard it was my birthday so later he brought back some of the crew and asked me to stand on the chair with hands on my hips while they sang a birthday song to me. I was in a good mood so I happily consented! And I was wearing one of my new birthday shirts that I picked out (Deseret Industries baby!).

My birthday group. Butterfields on the left. Nortons on the right. Ha ha!

Going out to dinner happened the day before my birthday so on my actual birthday we invited my sister Tamara and her family over for dinner and games since they couldn't make it the day before. Curtis cooked up a turkey that we bought after Christmas. It was yummy because Curtis soaks it in a brine. After dinner we had cupcakes and played a game of Beyond Balderdash and foosball.

Charlotte is loving the candles. Tamara brought over some pumpkin spice cupcakes. Yum!

Nikki and her cousin Katie made me a necklace. I love that Nikki used a sea shell she bought when we were on the Oregon Coast last summer.

Katie, me, and Nikki. Had to get a shot with them and me wearing the necklace.

Wondering what it is???  Ha ha!  That's my sister waving to her reflection in my new extendable wall mirror!!

I really wanted to play some foosball! Happy 33rd birthday to me!

Our third winter birthday was for Jack who turned 7 years old this year! He REALLY LOVES OREOS and so this year I made him a cake that looked like an Oreo or at least the best I could do to make it look like one. I used Devil's Food cake mix and cooked up to round 9" cakes and put vanilla frosting in the middle.  I used a little over one tub of store bought frosting for the middle and it still looked kind of thin but oh well! For Jack's birthday we had my grandparents over and a couple of neighbor friends. Other grandparents were unable to make it.

He thought it looked awesome.

There's Charlotte again reaching for the flames. Can't wait until it's her birthday to see what she does when she gets to blow them out! Jack is happier than he looks  ;)

Birthday presents! The game of Battleship, a zombie t-shirt, a family sized package of Oreos (of course), a plush toy (Plants vs. Zombies), and a Wubble bubble ball that's glow in the dark. The plush toy we had actually ordered online about a week and a half before from China and it just happened to come in the mailbox on his birthday. He was pretty excited about that!

This is the Wubble bubble ball. Unfortunately it only lasted one night before the kids popped it.  It was supposed to be pretty strong too. It did come with a lifetime warranty so we sent in the piece of it that they wanted (I hope) and hopefully they will send us a new one because it was fun while it lasted. Only downside is that they made us pay for shipping and handling which cost about half the amount of what we paid for it.

Happy 7th birthday Jack!

Garrett's 9th Birthday and Linder Farms 2015

Last month we celebrated Garrett's 9th birthday by having grandparents over and then taking our annual trip to Linder Farms.

Garrett and Curtis decorated the cake and Garrett decided since he had blue cake with orange frosting that it better be a BSU cake!

Look at that handsome boy!

Nikki, Jack, and Katie blowing their party blowers at the birthday boy. It looked funny.

Nikki

Jack

Garrett

The tube slide held up on a stack of hay. Curtis is at the top and then the two boys are climbing up on the right side.

All the kids and their cousin Katie on the barrel train ride.

And hey, parents ride free so Curtis couldn't resist! Totally cracked me up!

Seeing some animals at the petting zoo.

Boys and their tractors. And of course Charlotte is along for the ride.

Getting lost in the corn maze. Which way do we go??? Who can follow the map??

Sitting on the hay ride.

This might have been the first time I actually got in the corn box and had some fun with the kids! The only one who didn't like being in there was Charlotte.

On the hayride: Dad, Mom (Laverne), me, Curtis and Charlotte

Here's a shot of our group. It was a fun and hot day on opening weekend.

Pedal tractors!

Our three monsters!

Oregon Coast trip - part 5 (the final chapter)

I don't care how many pictures I post this time, I'm going to finish our Oregon trip so that I can post about other things! So, the last 2 days of our trip consisted of a trip to Tillamook to visit the cheese factory and the nearby lighthouse on Friday. We saw some beautiful scenery on the drive over!  We spent that evening in the pool and then playing more games.

Then on Saturday we crossed the 4 mile bridge from Astoria into Washington state to go visit 2 more lighthouses on Cape Disappointment. Saturday was the only day that it actually rained on us. After visiting the lighthouses we ate dinner in Astoria at the Pig N Pancake restaurant. We also went to a beach that had an old shipwreck. I wasn't able to get any pictures there since kids had to go potty as soon as we walked down the beach to see it and since the bathrooms were closed it forced us to leave. This is where I was also hoping to get some beach sand but that didn't happen. When we returned I had to do some last minute souvenir shopping because I hadn't really bought anything other than a jacket for Nikki and myself and the souvenir pennies for the kids. So I picked up a jacket for Charlotte and matching shark pullover sweatshirts for Curtis and the boys. I also bought some decorative shells, rocks, dolphins, etc.  

That evening we relaxed a bit and then got busy cleaning and packing because it was our last night and we were leaving in the morning. After finishing what we wanted to and getting the kids cleaned up and in bed Curtis and I excused ourselves to go out to collect some beach sand to go along with my new souvenir decor since I wasn't able to get it earlier that day. It was probably around 11:00 at night. There were still groups of people out on the beach and security guards roaming around to keep the peace. But it was a gorgeous clear night and we stood watching the waves roll in and the sparkling stars. After taking that in for a little while we got down to business digging up sand into an empty milk jug. We had to dig down a little bit to get to some clean sand because so many people do campfires on this beach. When we got back to where we could clean our feet off we read a sign about not taking the sand off the beach but it had showed a picture of a truck and man with a shovel. The security guards were standing nearby and we decided that we would feel better if we asked if it was okay rather than try to sneak it into the condo. The guard told us that it wasn't really his call because he didn't work for the city but that he thought the rule was to take no more than 5 gallons of sand. Whew! We only had one gallon so we were safe! Back upstairs we went to wash up and get in bed. Our vacation was officially over!

On our way to Tillamook we saw some breath taking views and had to stop for some pictures!

At the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Watching the cheese get cut and packaged.

Charlotte wanted down but I wanted a picture with her. 

Enjoying some Tillamook ice cream outside on their picnic tables. We were also able to have some cheese samples inside. So yummy!

She's finishing either mommy's or daddy's cone. I can't remember.

This is the park where the lighthouse near Tillamook is, Cape Meares.

This view is deceiving. Looks like it would be real tall poking out of the trees like that.

And this is how tall is really was, pretty short for a lighthouse.

Looking through the lenses at the top. 

This is on Saturday and this fort was near the first light house on Cape Disappointment in Washington.

Running around inside the fort. I think we found the cell for prisoners.

Exploring the fort.

We had to hike up a ways to the first lighthouse. They had this cool tree on the trail that the kids climbed inside.

This lighthouse is still in operation and was not open to go inside.

Inside the next light house that was not too far from the other. For some reason I did not get an outside picture of this one.

We had to pay to go up inside this one and you had to be at least 7 or 8 yrs old.

Looking at the view.

Can you tell she's tired?

Going down. All finished.

Well, that's all of the pictures I'm going to share from this trip. It was the best trip ever and we're so glad we went. Thank you Dad and Mom for the fun and memories!