Eight is GREAT!

My sweet Cole is officially 8 years old.  I've heard it said, kids grow up too fast!  And sometimes you can almost believe it, but when you have a birthday like this one you think THAT WAS TOO FAST!!  Here are some photos over the past 8 years celebrating Cole.

This year, Cole took a few friends to Planet Play - a local spot with a pizza buffet, arcade games galore, and Lasertag.  The boys had a great time!  (And Cole purposely smiles just like that when I whip out the camera!)

On Mother's day we had a picnic with all of our family and I made this "CREEPER CAKE" - what  is a creeper?  It's part of the Minecraft game - and if you don't have it in your house yet, you must not have a boy between the ages of 7-12.... Cole was thrilled with his cake.  (yeah!)

What I love about Cole:

He's thoughtful, makes amazing love notes frequently, his enthusiasm about science, friends, parties, and making smoothies, how he plays and cares for his little brothers, he's his big brother's best friend (most of the time), and you always know when Cole is in the room - he lights up our world!

My favorite quote from his project all about Shih Tzuz dogs: "I wouldn't watnt to be this anaml.  One reasan why I dont wont to be a shih Tzuz is that their life is boring.  They eat disgusting food. Umm... and oh, yeah... I hate walks!"

La-La is coming to town!

La-La came to town and brought Julia too!  We had a week full of adventure - meal time, sick time, birthday time, and of course play time!

Papa would say, "do you know what time it is?"  

Tickle time!!

Dancing and getting those moves on!

Rest time... they both love their Baby Einstein

 Play time...

Water break!  Lara is known for having a water bottle with her all the time - ALL THE TIME - and I couldn't miss this photo op of Julia with her very own water bottle!

Kissing time?  Julia - close your mouth!

Relaxing time...

fighting time...

packing time...  boo!  And for the record, this little mommy WAY OVERPACKED.  She thought it was still winter in Utah and brought the closet with her.  Funny girl!

Love you Lara and I hope you can come back again soon!

Tea Time

We celebrated Cheryl's birthday by having a girls' afternoon at the gardens and tea time at the Grand America Hotel.  It was such a wonderful afternoon.  Sadly, Chanin couldn't join us for the gardens portion - but we were all together for the tea time.  My favorite quote of the afternoon,  "I'm celebrating 59 years and I'm doing something for the first time!"  (tea time)  It was such a treat!!  - the company and the whole experience!  Love you all and I'm so grateful to a part of this family (thanks to Shayne!)

The Gardens

(My life motto)

Tea Time

 This flowering tea started with the flower bud, and bloomed with the hot water!

My amazing (AMAZING) Coconut almond hot cocoa....  yummmmmmmmm

  

April happenings

Cole made the cutest card for his teacher - the worm was saying "best teacher ever" as it ate through the apple.  

Legos, legos, and more legos....

Going to the Thanksgiving Tulip Festival with Devri and the kids.

Spring Break: Hiking the Y

Hunter has been asking for years to hike the "Y" and I always say, "yeah, let's do that this year!  I'll drop the little kids off at Grandma's and you and I will GO!"  but then we never do it.  So, this year as I was considering what to do for our lovely spring break at home, I thought why not do it together?  I haven't done that hike in YEARS and I forgot how steep it is!  But, WE DID IT.  Hunter, Cole, Danny, and Skyler on my back and it was CONQUERED.  I thought going down would be easier but it was even harder with Skye on my back - I'll go back in 3 years when Skyler can walk it himself!  I called my friend Julie and she brought her kids (even though the Y is NOT a favorite hike for her!)  Thanks Julie for doing it with us!  It was a great morning!

Cole collected rocks and even got Hunter's friend to carry a backpack full of them for him - I wish I had a pic of those huge rocks!

 Picnic at the top - except I decided to leave my sandwiches in the car.  My kids were NOT happy about that!  Snack time it is, and a picnic at the bottom.  

At the top!