Monday, August 31, 2015

Josh's Birthday Party

Josh wanted to go swimming for his birthday party. He also wanted to keep the party small, so he could really get a chance to talk to each friend. So he made his guest list of just 5 boys, and we sent out the invitations. Unfortunately, only two of those boys (Liam and Sam) were able to come (summer is a busy time), so it ended up being a really small party. But Josh didn't seem to mind. He was just happy to get to swim with a couple of his friends.

We got pizza and wings and used our new neighborhood pool for the party.  






Of course, when you have 6 siblings, no party can really be very small. 





I made strawberry cupcakes for Josh, and then realized that made them pink, but he didn't even mind the color.




He got some colorful socks from his friends (that's the new in thing these days), and some candy, and a hat.  He was very happy with all of it.





They all had a great time swimming, eating, and laughing.  I think it was a good birthday party.




Friday, August 28, 2015

Josh Gets the Priesthood

The Sunday after Josh's birthday, he received the priesthood. It was a special day for our whole family. My parents came, and so did all of Scott's family. After church, we gathered everyone in the Primary Room (too many people to fit in the Bishop's office), and Scott gave his oldest son the priesthood. Then we came home and celebrated with a dinner with the whole family. I wanted to get a picture of our family while still in our church clothes, but everyone was too quick to change.  I managed to still get a picture, but Kate and I were the only ones still dressed up.  I am so thankful for this family I've been given.

Pioneer Days

This year's Pioneer Day celebration came with a lot of work for Scott. It was our ward's turn to be in charge of the food for the Stake breakfast, and as Elder's Quorum president, Scott was put in charge of it.  He spent weeks agonizing over where to get the food, how much food to buy, how to stay in the budget the Stake had given him, and how to transport all the food that morning (we are talking 90 dozen eggs and 50 gallons of milk, etc).  And he pulled it off!  He had a crew show up at Winco that morning at 5:30 to pick up the food and transport it to the church, where he had another crew gathered at 6:30 to help prepare the food for cooking.  The kids and I slept in till 8, then showed up to a yummy hot cooked breakfast.  I was very proud of all the work Scott put in to the whole thing. 

With the breakfast stress out of the way, we were all able to enjoy the rest of the activities that morning.  The horse rides are always a favorite of our kids.















Dunk tank. 



Getting prizes from the fish pond.




Absent from any of these pictures is Josh.  He would not wake up that morning.  I tried for 45 minutes to get him out of bed, and he refused.  I told him he was going to get left home if he didn't get up and come, and he chose to stay in bed.  As the activities started to wind down, I came home with Owen, Kate and Savannah, and left Nate and Aaron with Scott to help with clean up.  When I came home, Josh was still in bed, except now he was hiding under his covers crying.  I knew he was sad about missing the morning.  I asked him if he wanted me to run him to the church so he could get in the last little bit of fun going on there.  He chose to stay in bed and cry.  I felt so sorry for him.  Pioneer Day has always been his special thing, because his birthday is on Pioneer Day.  When he was little, he used to think the Pioneer Day celebration was for him.  I tried to get him out of bed so I could run him to the church for the last part of the morning, but he was too upset to get up.  After a bit, Scott came home.  He went in and had a heart to heart with Josh.  Josh explained that he had just been really tired that morning, so he was going to stay in bed for just a little bit longer, then he planned to ride his bike over to the church to join us.  But then he fell back asleep and didn't wake up till I walked in the door.  He was so upset that he had slept through the whole thing.  I felt really bad for him, but I was also really frustrated with him, because he had completely disobeyed me every time I asked him to get out of bed that morning.  Sometimes when you make a choice, you don't get a second chance.  He missed the celebration, and won't get another chance till next year.  Poor kid.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Joshua's 12th Birthday

Josh turned 12 years old on July 24th. Carter got to spend the day with him. They spent their day playing Madden on the XBox.  When Scott got home from work, he took them (and Nate) to Eagle Island to try out Josh's new net that he got shopping with Grandma Jo.



 Carter had to go home for a bit to mow the lawn.  We had pizza for dinner as a family.  Then we met up with the Moores at the pool for some birthday swimming.



















Synchronized jumping into the pool.



As it got dark, we returned home for presents


Owen made this wonderful gift for Josh, all by himself.


Owen really had fun posing for picture with Josh and his gift.





 









Cake and ice cream time.




Happy Birthday Josh!