Birthday Mania!!

Well, another year has come and gone for our birthday's.  I think this week is the most exhausting week of the year for me...besides Christmas.  We sure had a lot of fun this year.  On my birthday the girls had an early release day from school, SO my mom and I picked them up and we went to Georgetown to have our own little Victorian High Tea Party at a cute little store up there to celebrate all our birthday's.

EVERYTHING was SO YUMMY!!!  CJ drank us all "under the table" with the tea.  She had to use the restroom a lot after that, but the girls sure had a great time.  I couldn't believe how yummy everything was.  There is no way to pick a favorite.  We had meat pies, bacon spinach tartlettes, deviled eggs, scones with lemon curd and devonshire cream, fruit cup with oranges grapefruit raisins and coconut, fruit tartlettes, lemon bars, peanut butter squares, cucumber sandwiches, black walnut cookies, and white chocolate cameos.  CJ had extra eggs and Avary had an extra fruit tartlette while my mom and I had extra bacon and spinach tartlettes and meat pies.  It was bliss.  We really had a wonderful time.  When we got home, Spencer had put a BBQ pork shoulder in the crockpot and he made dinner that night for me.  Complete with fresh corn on the cob and rice.  For my birthday "cake", Razzleberry Pie with Vanilla ice cream.  I was utterly spoiled!

For my moms birthday, the day started with her sleeping in while I got the girls ready and took them to school.  Later that night we went and picked Spencer up at work and we went to The Cheesecake Factory.  Another blissful dinner!  They wrote happy birthday on mine, my mom's, and Avary's plates. 

It was the first time the girls had gone there. I don't think there is anything that I have tried there that I haven't liked.  Everything was absolute de-lish!

Unfortunately for Avary's birthday, she spent the day at home with strep....AGAIN!  CJ had a cold and it was another early release day at their school so I just let CJ stay home that day with Avary.

Her day started off with pancakes.  I made her pancakes and wrote Happy Birthday with whipped cream, but as you can see in the picture it melted.  I also had sprinkles, a cherry, and powdered sugar to make it perfect for her.  She was SO thrilled with them.  I also made her hot chocolate and put whipped cream and chocolate sauce in it.  (My mom and I had McDonald's hot chocolate the Saturday before while we were on our way to Kansas to pick up some beef that we bought through my brother Spike.  They put chocolate syrup on the whipped cream and it was so yummy that I did it for the girls for breakfast.  It was yummy too!)  Anyway, she then wanted her hair done really special so I did an experiment and it worked out quite nicely.  At first she wanted a braid that went across the top of her head, but then I expounded with all around her head.  She really liked it and felt special.  For dinner she wanted ravioli, so that's what I did.  Poor thing didn't eat much because she wasn't feeling good.  She opened presents after that and she was THRILLED with what she got.  Everything she got had something to do with horses aside from her leotard and fingernail polish.  She got horse pj's from my mom, a My Little Pony from "Reed", and then she got her own chapter books called The Horse Diaries, along with a couple other things.  She was ECSTATIC!  She wanted an Oreo birthday cake this year and wanted to decorate it herself, but seeing how she had strep, I ended up doing it for her.  It isn't my best job, but I think it turned out quite cute for the supplies I had.  But the most important thing is that Avary loved it.  She even said it was exactly how she wanted it....sweet girl.  Aside from being sick, she had a good day and I am SO glad.  I hate being sick on my birthday and I totally sympathized for her.  We had plans to go miniature golfing on her birthday, but we told her we would do it a different day when she was feeling better.

Just as a side note,

isn't he CUTE!!??!!??

Blanding Trip and other August Events

From our last post you know that Spencer's grandparents died in a car accident the beginning of August.  Well, we all went to Blanding, UT for the funeral....even the dog.  It was a really good trip, I'm so glad we all went.  Anyway, having kids we had to keep them occupied with fun things to do.  There isn't much in Blanding, but we found some things to do to keep the girls happy, which in turn, kept us happy.

The first place we went was the dinosaur museum.  I had heard so many stories about Spencer and his family going to the dinosaur museum that we had to take our kids.  It wasn't what I expected, but it kept them busy for a little while.  Especially when Uncle Tyler and Aunt Shelly decided that they would come with us.  Thank heavens they did or it wouldn't have been a "successful" trip.

 

Reed slept through the whole thing.

Spencer thought that this was pretty cool.  I guess it is a replica of the model used for the King Kong movie.

I LOVE the look Avary is giving Uncle Tyler in this picture.  I don't thing she knew what to think about him.  We LOVE Uncle Tyler.

CJ sure had a lot of fun with Uncle Tyler.  Like I said, if they hadn't have come with us, it would have been a flop.  Here is a little video of the fun they had:



I think we were actually the only ones at the museum besides the one worker there.  It was good though.

Later that same day we went do Grandma and Grandpa Johnny's cabin.  They were on their way to the cabin when they were hit head on by a Penske truck.  It was really pretty up at the cabin.  When we got there, there was a deer hanging out looking for food.  I guess that was what Grandma and Grandpa Johnny would do, they would go up and feed the local deer.  It was really neat to see.  Jersey went NUTS!  The deer didn't get too close because of the dog, but we got some good wilderness time with the deer.

They have this beautiful reservoir there called Recapture Reservoir.  It sure was beautiful.  The pictures don't give it justice, but I like this one that I took.

Every time we drove past it, it just took my breath away.  I loved it.

The next day we found a little water park that they just opened up so that the kids could swim.  It was SO hot in Blanding when we went that water was more than welcome!  This was the first time Reed went swimming

 He didn't like it so much.  The water was a little chilly for his liking, but after I got him out I let him wade a little.  He liked that, just didn't like the immersion.  Too much I guess.  He sure loves his baths though.  Just too cold I guess.

 
 The girls really had a good time and so did Spencer.  Uncle Ryan, Aunt Cami, and Aunt Addie all went with us to the water park.  It was so good to get out and have some fun.

At one point Spencer and Ryan got the whistle blown at them because they both had a girl on their shoulders playing "chicken", you know, where they try to knock each other off the shoulders.  Silly boys.  Not really a game for little girls.

The next day was the double funeral.  They did such a good job, both the families.  It lasted only about an hour and 20 minutes which was, I think, record breaking...ESPECIALLY for a double funeral and two different families.  It was beautiful though and really neat to hear all the fun things about the two of them.

The family was able to move the plot that Grandpa Johnny bought over by Grandma which was so neat.  Grandma is buried next to the two men she loved dearly, Grandpa Burdett on her Right and Grandpa Johnny on her left.

When we got home the girls started school.  CJ is now in 3rd grade and Avary is in 1st.

 My my my....where does the time go!!??  They are really enjoying school this year.  They both are doing so well and I am so proud of the both of them!

Reed started eating cereal this month as well.  At first he wasn't sure what to think:

But he REALLY enjoys it now.  He is growing SO fast I can hardly keep up with his clothes.  He is such a joy though.  The girls love him more everyday.

I made another cake this month.  A friend of our Bradley Teacher called and wanted me to make a Gluten Free, low sugar, organic cake.  It turned out really yummy (I know because we always get scraps!)  :)   She didn't have any specifics about the decoration, she just wanted chocolate with "Happy Birthday Chandler" written on it.  I think it turned out really cute:

The cupcake on top was for Chandler, he turned one so he got his own little cake.  I love decorating cakes.  I wish more people would ask me to do them.  If I could I would decorate a cake every day.