Happy Birthday Tyler!!

Yesterday was Tylers birthday and I can't believe I have a four year old!! He is getting so old! Tyler loves birthdays! He has been asking about his own birthday on a weekly basis for pretty much the past year ever since he turned three. Since he had waited so long and birthdays only come once a year we wanted to make his birthday really special for him. So this was the first year that Tyler got to have a friend party. And then Tyler insisted that he have his party at Chuck E. Cheese so that is what we did. His actual b-day fell on Memorial day so we had his party a few days early.

An action shot of some of the group at the party

Tyler opening his presents. It's funny how all the kids always crowd around because they are so excited to see what he got.

Tyler is completely obsessed with Iron Man so we got him an Iron Man cake, which he loved. Here he is getting ready to blow out the candles

Logi enjoyed all the excitement and especially loved the cake.

Tyler and all his friends at his party. Three are missing who either didn't want to be in the picture or who had to leave early. They are all friends from the ward.


This one is for you D'Nell. Tyler and his good buddy David playing a game.

Tyler coming down the slide. He was loving being at Chuck E. Cheese with all his friends.

Logan and Chuck E. going for a ride in his car.

Tyler had some very generous friends and came home with so many nice toys. He was very excited. Of course when you ask him what his favorite part about his birthday was he says "opening his presents."

His actual birthday

I try and decorate the apartment with crepe paper and balloons whenever it is someones birthday. I hung these streamers from the boys door because I knew the boys would think it would be fun to run through them in the morning when they woke up. They loved it more than I even thought they would!! They kept running through it all day saying it was a car wash. :)

Tyler opening his present from us. We got him a space shuttle/space station toy that he has had his eye on for months.

He loved it and was very excited.

Tyler wasn't very happy about Logan playing with his new toy so Logan settled for the box.

Tyler and Logan both love airplanes. So one thing we like to do for their b-days is pick up some doughnuts and chocolate milk and drive to the airport and park on the top level of the parking garage and watch all the airplanes takeoff and land while we eat our breakfast. The boys always love this and have so much fun seeing all the airplanes.

They decided they could get a better view sitting on top of the car.

I made Tyler another cake for his real b-day. So that night he got to blow out his candles again. His birthday seemed a little exhausting to me, probably because it was drawn out over a few days between his party and his actual birthday. But it was a success and Tyler loved every bit of it and that is what matters. We're glad he had a good birthday. Happy Birthday Tyler!!!

Father and Sons Campout

Rick took Tyler on the annual Father and Sons campout with our ward. Tyler was so excited to go camping! We decided that Logan was still a little too young to enjoy the campout so just Rick and Tyler went. Tyler loved feeling like one of the older boys and Rick said he was acting so mature the whole time.

All buckled in and ready to go.


Rick and Tyler getting their campsite all set up.

Tyler roasting a hot dog for dinner. After dinner there was a special program around the fire that included a testimony meeting. After Rick bore his testimony, Tyler stood up all by himself, out of no where and bore his testimony. Rick said he was so shocked he didn't know if he should cover Tylers mouth and tell him to sit down or just let him keep going. Rick said he was speaking so loudly and knew exactly what he wanted to say so he just let him keep going. I guess he said some really cute things and got a loud amen at the end with a lot of smiles.:)

Rick said it was freezing up there. There was even still snow. Besides the cold they had a great time and made a lot of good memories.

Lisa comes to visit

Last week my sister Lisa came to visit. Well actually she came down for a social work conference, but she stayed with us and we played at night and on the weekend. We did a lot of fun things and ate a lot of good food. One of our food experiences included our first trip to Pizza Bianco. Pizza Bianco is continually voted one of the top ten pizza places in America and it was even on Oprah. The wait is a little crazy though.

This was what the wait looked like on a Thursday at 4:30 in the afternoon. By the time we actually got seated at a table we had been waiting for 2 hours. They don't do takeout and they make you stay on the premises while you wait or else you get bumped. It seems crazy all this work for pizza, but now we can say we have done it.


My sister Lisa and Rick waiting in line to get in.


A picture of the pizza. I don't know if the picture does it justice or not, but it really is good. I have never had anything like it.


Tylers favorite part of the whole experience was the pop he got in a green bottle.

The next night we ate a Chino Bandido.


I know what you are all thinking. Mexican-Chinese combos does not sound like they would be very good. And the fact that it is right next to a gas station was not very appealing either. The only reason we wanted to try it was because we had heard a lot about it and it was even featured on the food network.

This guy from the food network ranted and raved about how good it was on his show. We were not disappointed. It was different but good.

They had this big stone panda bear with a mustache dressed in a poncho and sombrero. I guess to combine the mexican and chinese backgrounds together. Here is a picture of Lisa, her two friends Shiloh and Heather, Logan, and some strange boys legs that we don't know, by the Mexican Panda Bear.

Logan was very fascinated with the bear. Here he is sitting on top of his hat.

We did do more than just eat, we shopped of course. One night we walked around Desert Ridge (an outdoor shopping mall) and had a lot of fun with the live band and all the shopping.

Thanks for coming Lisa. We had a really fun week.

On a side note, I'm sure you have all heard about Arizona and the their controversial new law about illegal immigrants and racial profiling. It's all over the news everywhere. Well when we got back from one of our shopping trips we saw this car parked in my apt. complex parking lot.

We all thought it was hilarious so we had to get a picture. :)

Trip to Idaho

We just got back from visiting Grandma and Grandpa up in Idaho last week. The boys and I flew out early and then Rick joined us a few days later. The kids always get so excited to go to Grandma's house. When we got there Grandma had all kinds of surprises waiting for them.

The first surprise was a new toy box filled with new toys. They thought that was great. They loved the box almost just as much as all the new toys inside.


My kids LOVE Toy Story so Tyler's favorite new toy was a Buzz Lightyear. Logan actually loves Buzz too but Tyler was quite possessive of Buzz and would freak out if any one else tried to play with him, so Logi usually settled for Woody.


Tyler loves his Grandma


The boys trying on some of Grandpas cowboy hats.

Tyler and Grandma dancing to their special song. They have been dancing together to the same song ever since he was a little baby.

The second surprise was a new power wheels. The boys thought they were pretty cool cruising around in their own little truck. Tyler actually drove the thing pretty well, like he had been driving for years.

The boys and their cousin Abby cruising around the yard. I guess since Logan is the youngest he got stuck riding in the back.

All the boys love going for rides on the four wheeler.

Then Tyler and Logan decided it would be cool to ride their own so that is what they did

The boys setting out for a big adventure

The third surprise was a new tree house/ swing set. They had a lot of fun on this especially the slide.

Logan, Tyler, and their cousin Abby

Tyler getting ready to go down the slide

Logi getting ready to go down the slide. Can you tell he is excited?

Of course they always love the trampoline.

Rick trying to teach Logan while he is young, how to be a star baseball player. Rick has high hopes of Logan being a star left-handed pitcher someday.

Tyler relaxing with Grandma on the swing. He was a little sad that day because that was the day we had to leave.

Needless to say the boys loved visiting grandma and grandpas house. We were worried we were not going to be able to get them to leave. Ever since we have gotten back Tyler keeps bringing me pieces of paper telling me that it is a plane ticket and that he is going back to Grandmas house. :)

Easter Festivities

We had a very busy and fun easter weekend. The festivities actually started about a week early when the boys got an easter package from Grandma. They LOVE getting packages in the mail. Thanks Grandma!

Here the boys are checking out the goods.

Logan whining for me to open the candy.

Easter Weekend

Rick and I were joking that it seems like our blog is repeating itself. Yes, we did all these things last year, but these are new pictures and besides we had so much fun doing them last year that we wanted to keep the tradition and do them again this year.

On friday night our family made a trip down to Mesa to go to the Easter Pageant at the temple. We go every year and miraculously our boys sat through the entire pageant. The pageant is always really great and we were really glad we went.

On Saturday we went to an easter egg hunt at Midwestern University. They have a big easter egg hunt that is divided by age groups, prizes, arts and crafts, games, big blow up jumpy houses, refreshments, and even a visit from the Easter bunny. The boys love it and the best part is, it is all free.


Tyler loving the jumpy house and Logan not quite sure what to think of it.

Tyler making sure Logan knows the game plan while they wait for the egg hunt to start.


The boys afterwards with their eggs. The reason you can't see Logans eggs is because he was very excited and content with only two eggs.


The boys with the big bunny himself

The boys relaxing after a hard morning of collecting eggs.

That night me and the boys colored some easter eggs. The boys were having a great time, and so was I until Logan spilled a bowl of Green dye all over the carpet. We wrapped up the egg coloring pretty quick after that.

We had a really fun Easter!