Birthday Boy!

I can't believe it was 7 years ago that I was blessed with this adorable baby boy! It was a horrible idea to have been induced because Thomas did not want to come out and it was really rough. But once I was finally able to hold him, everything was so worth it! It has been a fun and adventurous 7 years with Thomas.

This year Thomas got to spend some time in Las Vegas on his birthday. He got to go swimming, went shopping for presents, got taken to McDonald's to play, and got to play with family from Vegas. He got a lot of things he wanted and needed. One of which was this Knuckles hat (Knuckles from the Sonic video game). He was even saving some of his tooth fairy money and what he had for this hat.:) Good for him! He only had to wait till his birthday though. He was so happy! And this is what he wants to be for Halloween!

We went to Grandma Malone's for a little party. And poor Thomas couldn't get to his present with Chris's wrapping job. He went crazy with the tape. It was pretty funny, though.:)

He was thrilled to get a magic set...and with a hat! Thomas has been fooling us with his tricks endlessly.:)

I love this little girl! She and I have created a little bond now. It was a happy day for me when she would actually let me hold her and be happy about it...which was a few months ago. But I just love how smiley she is now!

Cupcakes say TJ...Happy Birthday, Thomas Jones!

Thomas wanted to have a little friend party, so we did a few traditional games...this one was hilarious...no hands allowed:)

Present time

More cupcakes! We sure had a lot of sweets that day!

Thomas is 7 now! Crazy! He is in school all day and is losing teeth like crazy recently. Oh, he's growing too fast. A little about our 7 year old:

~ He loves playing the wii (Sonic in particular at the moment, but don't worry, we do limit his time on it)

~He still loves "being" different characters

~He is doing amazingly well in reading and even more amazingly well in learning and understanding Chinese

~He claims girls have crushes on him and he has crushes on girls, but his girlfriend is still Sierra (Mike's 15? year old cousin) Ha!

~He wants to work at Sonic when he grows up and wear the roller skates

~Loves playing with his best friend who lives behind us

~Like to sing the bad guy songs off of movies. I don't know if he thinks it is more fun but I keep trying to get him to like the heroes more. Maybe some day :)

~And of course, has his moments of not wanting to play or share with Keira and talking back. But he is overall a well behaved boy and we are so proud of him!

Happy Birthday Thomas!

Catching Up

I know, I know. It's been a while. We are still alive and adjusting to life with the first child in school all day (and doing a super job at learning Chinese already, I might add), and our baby gone twice a week in the mornings for preschool. Oh, they are growing so fast! And Thomas just lost 2 teeth, 1 day apart from each other. Ha! Thomas kept the tooth fairy busy. :)

Thomas and Keira - now both kids are in school. It's a bittersweet thing.

We've been having fun with Becky here. We've gone out to eat, had play dates, Becky helped me can some of my peaches, and we've done fun things with the family like going to Teara's "Up" party and seeing the witches at Gardner Village. I love seeing Becky and getting to play with my niece and nephew!

Teara worked hard on putting together an "UP" party, which we truly appreciated her efforts and had a great time with them. We had yummy pizza, snacked on "balloon" cupcakes, blow-pops, and blue jello with "clouds" in it. Teara and Matt took us to the "UP" house that looked like the one in the movie...how fun is that! Thomas thought that was great! Then I believe they finished up watching the movie, but I was unable to stay that long. Thanks again, Teara and Matt!

Thomas liked feeding the horse there while we waited for people to show up

Thomas digging in on the feast

The kids are there on the porch...hanging on for dear life:)

Last Saturday, we took a little trip up to West Jordan to tour around Gardner Village. This was my first time going. I loved it! Lots of expensive shopping, but some really fun stores to look at. We spent the majority of the time doing a witch scavenger hunt so we can get cookies for really cheap. The things we do for a snack. :) There were some very creative witch ideas. I think Thomas

really enjoyed helping us find them and wanted a goofy picture with every one of them. He was really quite the character! It was also a fun time with Mom, Natalie, Charissa, and Teara!

The kids enjoyed pony rides while we waited for the others

And now we are getting ready for Fall, going to the pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins and play in the corn pit and haystack mazes. And we are very excited about seeing everyone in Vegas for Becca's wedding!

Kid Pics

It was time for me to try and get more cute pictures of Thomas and Keira so we went to the duck pond in Springville, let them feed the ducks and took some pictures. The lighting was not so fun to work with as all the good spots either left shadows or them blinded by the sun. And for some reason Keira had a hard time giving her big pretty smile on impromptu. But here are a few of what I got:

I am sure they are sick of my picture taking but aren't they the cutest!

Cabin Reunion

I am so glad I was able to make it to the reunion this year! This is one of my favorite places to be and nothing beats being with family! We missed those who couldn't make it, but take a look at this beautiful gang! (I don't know where Jay's crew was...sorry, not quite a complete group of even who was there)

Jennifer and Kendal bonding. He's getting so big!

Jordyn pushing Keira in the baby swing/hammock. I think her days in that thing are over...her bum was just about dragging

However, it is perfect for Cambria, who enjoyed it for about 2 minutes before she wanted her mom.

Thomas found his new favorite thing to do at the cabin. Jay took us shooting and the little boys, Braden and Thomas spent most the time shooting BB Guns. Look at the difference in stances. Thomas will have to practice that, but he enjoyed hitting his paper target on the tree.

Here's Kristin shooting a 22 rifle

And Becca.. (we all had several chances to shoot, but these two were all I got before my battery died)

Nobody seemed to want to played any night games that night and were all sitting around trying to decided whether to go to bed or stay up, so us girls decided to play the game we learned a while ago where you choose an occupation, object, and place and you have to act in out for 3 people who were sent out of the room. It's like charades mixed with telephone. Anyway, it was a crack up! Here is Ellie acting out massage therapist (sorry for the blurry pictures)

Natalie being a fan

And Kristin acting out Disneyland (going down Splash Mtn. - the "you go left, I'll go right" positions)

We also played whiffle ball, the boys went to the caves, we played water balloon volleyball, card games, and Grandma and Grandpa shared some of there favorite memories of their life and how they met and everything. There never seems to be enough time to spend with everyone and to enjoy the fun at the cabin.