Scott's Birthday

Scott turned 38 this year!

I made his favorite cake (although it failed miserably because I as so busy organizing and running the Boys Club Class that day.) It is German chocolate cake with cherries on top.

David turns 40!

My Second-oldest brother just turned 40! So we had a super-fun ultra-kid-filled birthday party!!! It was fun to use my van to carpool my sister's family and I up north to Vancouver! What a carload!

Athena has a marvelous pouting face when things aren't going her way. I can't remember what she was upset about, though. Taking the picture distracted her.

Dorathy is growing up SO fast! I can't believe she's 9!

Dad & Scott! How about those Cougars? They are having a rotten season this year!

Julianna is patiently waiting for her cake. The cake had a picture of a mountain...oh, I mean a HILL! hahaha, it represented David being over the Hill now. hehe.

Julianna got soaked at the party, because we had the back sliding door open a crack to let in a breeze. There were so many bodies, the house was too warm. Julianna didn't care that it was raining outside! She kept sneaking outside to play, and getting all wet and muddy. She's an outdoor girl. First thing she does in the morning is run to the door and ask "Outside? Outside?" She's one of those kids who would run barefoot outside in the snow and not care one drop that her feet had turned purple. I'm not looking forward to how unhappy she is going to be once the weather turns rainy. It's not going to be a picnic trying to keep her inside.

Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday, Courtney!

My girls LOVE to help in the Kitchen, especially if it means making a treat. I'm trying to cut down our sugar intake to one dessert a week, and that means everyone is very excited to create a masterpiece! Here the kids are making Seven Layer Bars for our Family Home Evening treat.

Even Julianna wanted to help, but sometimes there are just not enough stools to go around. Plus...what she really wants to do is EAT it, not MAKE it!

Courtney Turned 7 years old on September 15th! She wanted a WALL E birthday party theme, so we made an EVE cake from the movie! I'm so glad she chose something simple enough that I could make it. It wasn't hard at all!

I made a pumpking chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. The Chocolate part is just plain Ghiardellie chocolate buttercream frosting.

The Birthday girl with her best friend and cousin, IVY!

Christopher and Sanford are going to public school everyday for Band and Choir this year. They are really enjoying themselves. They are both going to play the Clarinet!

Dorathy and Athena: Best friends and Cousins. Dorathy really misses Athena when she is at Public School and Christopher is doing homeschool stuff with his cousin. Such is life!

Hyrum & Angel: two peas in a pod! What crazy expressions and hairstyles!

Julianna is very in tune to birthdays. She loves to sing the Happy Birthday song. Her favorite part, of course, is being there for cake and ice cream!

Mary Cate got her hair cut all short, too! Now we are the short-haired sisters! So fun!

Seven Pink Candles for my pink-loving princess!

Courtney got a nice wooden treasure box from her Aunt and Uncle, a pretty dress from Grandma and Grandpa, and a fun cushy gymnastic tumbling mat from Mom & Dad.

After cake and ice cream, we all watched Wall E To celebrate!

Sanford Turns 11

July Birthdays are so much fun. Sanford had a delicious Patriotic cake. The best part was that it was made of ICE CREAM....Mmmmmm. Unfortunately, it was also a chilly morning. We were all in coats eating ice cream! We still are having a hard time adjusting to the fact that it doesn't warm up for summer until later in July! We have a really short hot season!

The boys celebrate and sing!

Sanford sings, "Happy Birthday to ME!"

Make a Wish.

Candle licking time.

Brrr.....I'm cold....pass the ice cream!

Dorathy Turns 9!

Dorathy wanted a FAIRY GARDEN cake for her 9th birthday. She used to have a real fairy garden before it died from the heat! I had her sketch a picture of how she wanted it to look. She wanted trees, bushes, a river, and a hill, decorated with candy and fairies.

Ever since I got a cake decorating kit for Christmas 3 years ago, I've had a really fun time trying to teach myself how to use it. My friend, Heidi, gave me a few lessons, and now I'm floundering around on my own.

My kids were totally wowed by it, and that made me very happy! I bought some fairy toys from Walmart to put on the cake. Dorathy let each of her birthday guests have a fairy to take home. Dorathy's favorite subject is fantastical creatures: fairies, unicorns, dragons, and any other made-up cretaure. Her own brand of made up creatures that she draws are called "SunArmon."

Birthdays are Magic!

This Birthday party was thrown together last-minute. We had a crazy busy July, and I didn't have anytime to prepare and send out invitations. So we literally called friends the DAY BEFORE the planned celebration and asked people to come to "Dorathy's pool fairy party, no presents necessary."

I'm so glad and grateful that some of her friends were able to come! The girls had a great time swimming and playing. They enjoyed the cake, too. It was triple chocolate fudge with Ghirardelli chocolate buttercream frosting.

The girls enjoyed eating the scenery. Especially the Trees!

Dorathy got 2 new Pokemon movies.

Can you tell she likes Pokemon? I had no idea that when I bought 2 stuffed animal Pikachu's 6 years ago that it would become my children's obsession. They never cared about Pokemon until they discovered the handbook to ALL the Pokemon creatures. The kids began drawing them, and they have been in love ever since.

Dorathy got a set of lovely wooden treasure boxes hand crafted by her talented Uncle Porter!

They are a set of 3 nesting boxes with carved lids.

What girl doesn't like Littlest Pet Shop?

You can never have too many books! I got Dorathy doubles of some of her favorite books that she rereads OVER AND OVER. She got her own personal copy of Ella Enchanted, and the The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.

Dorathy had a great birthday, and I'm so glad we were able to put something together for her. I love it that her birthday is in the summertime! It makes parties SO much easier!