Shawn's 6th Birthday

Shawn's birthday festivities started early in the week with a combined party up the canyon for him, Natalie and Ella. They all had birthdays the same week. 

The night before his birthday we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which is always Shawn's first choice. He is obsessed with their rolls and he loves that you get to sit on the saddle on your birthday. He also insisted upon keeping his collar up and wearing his birthday ribbon. 

He woke up in the morning to 6 balloons filled with money. This is our second year doing this family tradition. 

 

I was asking Shawn what kind of cake he wanted me to make for him. I gave him several suggestions and then he left the room because he wanted to design it himself. He came back with this picture and detailed instructions of what each thing is. It is a regular cake with layers on the outside of kitkats and m&ms. Then on the corners are towers of oreo cookies with candles on the top. I made the cake and frosted it and then he decorated it. 

For his party we took the kids to Trafalga for a couple hours and then came home for cake, ice cream, presents and a pinata. 

One of his favorite gifts is this fruit shape thing he saw on an infomercial. There is no longer any boring fruit at our house. If it can be cut into shapes then there is no way we will eat it plain. 

That night we decided to take the kids to a drive-in movie. They thought it was the weirdest concept, but loved it. We will definitely be going back.

 Happy 6th birthday to my sweet little boy. I am so glad I get to be his mom. I love him so much.

Sweet Atticus

This is little, sweet Atticus. He passed away in his sleep on July 17th. He was Carver's best friend and his first playdate. Atticus was born almost exactly a month after Carver. His amazing mama, Jen and I were excited to be pregnant at the same time and to have little boys so close in age. I wasn't home when it happened. When Jon called and told me, I just kept saying, "You can't be right. They are working on him at the hospital or something. He can't really be gone. Please don't be right." I hardly slept for days and cried constantly. I haven't felt that kind of pain and sadness since I lost my mom.

Atticus comes from an awesome family. The kind of family that you try to emulate. The kind of family that anyone would be lucky to be a part of. Atticus couldn't have had a better family to spend his nearly 5 months on Earth with and eventually eternity with. I am so sad he is gone. I am very grateful for the Plan of Salvation. Even though it doesn't bring him back now and even if there is still incredible pain associated with the loss of such a darling little boy, there is that glimmer of hope and knowledge that Atticus will be reunited with his family. They will see and hold him again.

July 2013

July was a very busy month. I felt like we crammed a lot into those 4 1/2 weeks. Now that it is August, I find myself slightly panicking that summer is almost over, which means winter is closer. Do you know that there are people that live in places where they don't worry about winter approaching? They can still go outside and not freeze during the winter. Wouldn't that be nice? Too bad we love living in Northern Utah, close to family. If we could just get our families to all move somewhere warmer then we would be in business.

Later in the month I was complaining discussing with Jon how he has been working too much and we haven't done enough of all the summer things I have wanted to do as a family. Being the awesome husband that he is, he arranged his work schedule to be able to take a couple days off for us to have a long weekend. We went to Seven Peaks on Thursday and then stayed up in Park City Friday and Saturday.

While in Park City we walked to a  local bagel place for breakfast. Jon was giving the boys rides on his shoulders. Shawn was absolutely terrified and Evan wasn't concerned at all.

We decided to go through Provo Canyon on the way home from Park City. We stopped at Granny's Restaurant in Heber and stop at Bridal Veil falls in the canyon.

Shawn collected these rocks that represented our family. There was a Daddy rock, Mommy rock, Shawn rock, Evan rock and baby rock. He continued to collect rocks for all the grandparents but I didn't get a picture.

Evan just tasted the rocks

Amy and I took our kids up to Snowbird one day to try to beat the heat. We brought a lunch and played at the park. We live in such a beautiful place!

We woke the kids up around 5 am to go see the hot air balloons in Provo. Unfortunately, it was cancelled because of an incoming storm. We decided to head up the canyon for a walk along the Provo River trail. There was a payphone in the parking lot and Shawn just stared at it. He couldn't understand why there would be a random phone set up outside. He had never seen that before.

Playing at the park in the canyon

Amy and I took the kids up American Fork Canyon for some water playing time. We found a great spot for the kids to play in shallow water while Amy and I sat in the shade. It was so relaxing.

Every year we take the kids to see the Pioneer Parade floats up close at the Sandy Expo Center. We didn't really get pictures with the floats but we took these random ones. 

How do you enjoy Shawn's outfit? He picked it out and insisted on wearing it. 

Summer evenings are the best.

My boys love to play with my hair. They will pull out all my hair supplies and give me some wonderful new styles. 

While in Park City we visited the Olympic Park. 

The highlight of the day (according to the boys) was a trip on the trolly down main street.

At the Olympic Park

Another picture from the American Fork Canyon day

We had a neighborhood 4th of July party. It started with a bike parade in the morning for the kids. Then there was a party in the evening with food and fireworks. I love my neighborhood. I know I have said that before, but I really do. I feel very blessed. 

Poolside in Park City

Another picture from Bridal Veil Falls

Thanks for bearing with me with the craziness of this post. Sorry. Hopefully it won't happen again.