Birthday Bash 2009

We had a huge birthday celebration for Anthony, Zoe and Parker last weekend. We started with Zoe's surprise room makeover. She wanted a Tinkerbell room really bad so we did a few little things to make it look new. This is the before picture:
and this is the after:
I started my morning by decorating a cake for all three birthday people. Anthony got a football cake:
Zoe got a star cake with pixie dust:
Parker got a Batman cake (not my best cake ever):
We had a balloonist come and he did an amazing job. Some of my favorites were; The Roadrunner,
Batman,
Donald Duck,
Elmo,
and a penguin.
The kids all did the pinata.



We had face painting too. The kids got way too many gifts (thank you very much everyone).The party was a great success and we had a ton of fun.

Our handsome baby boy

Sam was so excited to go to church in this outfit. He knew that he was handsome and he kept running around and smiling at everyone.

Family Vacation: Day 8

We were up at 4:15am this morning. We finished packing the stuff into the van and headed out around 5am. We had planned to stop in Vegas on the way for the M&M's factory and a buffet. We did a specialized bag of M&M's for both of the kids at Knott's though, and they were both still super tired. So we just stopped at Jack in the Box for breakfast and kept going. Sam decided to scream (scream not cry) for over an hour to express his desire to get out of the van. We had to get Sam an Icee in Cedar City so that he would relax. We made it home just before 5pm (Utah time). We are all so very happy to be back home.
Zoe started bawling after a while though. We asked her what was going on, and she said that it was because, "Dad woke me up super early." We cleaned her tears and snot up and put her to bed.
Here is a video from the fair that we were not able to post until we got home. Harvey rode the mechanical bull and he did a great job. We promised to post it, so here it is.

Family Vacation: Day 7

We were all up way too early this morning. Anthony went out to help Grandma in the garden, and Sam decided that it was a good idea. He went out and helped by throwing things and telling Grandma some interesting babbles.
Grandma went and picked him a tomato. He ate a few bites and then threw it in the garbage and went looking for some mud to play in.
After a short morning nap (for me and the kids), we went to Knott's Berry Farm to celebrate Zoe's fifth birthday.
It was not even busy today at the park. There was no wait on any of the rides. For some of them, we just stayed in the seat and they did the ride another time. Anthony and I took turns watching the kids and running up and riding the "big kid" rides.
Another fountain!
This picture is a tradition now. I found one of Anthony in the same plane when he was eight, and I realized that I had taken the same picture of Zoe when we went to Knott's a couple of years ago. Now I am going to do it every time we go. Sam was too little to go on it this year.
We also took a picture like this one a couple of years ago.
Sam really liked driving the little diesel trucks. He was getting way into it.
We went over to Ita's for one last visit after the park. They had a little cake there for her, but no #5 candle. So we told her that she could add #2 and #3 to make #5.
Today was Anthony's cousin Iris' birthday too!
Sam and Anthony were really excited for the cake.
We went back to Grandma's and packed after cake. The vacation is coming to an end. I keep telling Anthony that I feel like we need another day. He replied by telling me that he thought we should go home tonight instead of tomorrow, just so that we can have an extra day to be home and relax.

Family Vacation: Day 6

We had ebleskeivers (pancake puffs) for breakfast this morning. Then we headed out to Hunington Beach.
As soon as I set up the beach chairs, Sam was ready to relax (as much as he is capable of). He was climbing in and out of the chairs and they were even folding up on him.
Sam learned very quickly that it is not a good idea to throw tantrums at the beach. He threw himself down on the sand and came up with sand everywhere.
Anthony headed out into the water to do some boogie boarding for a while. He had a lot of fun.
Anthony was out in the water and looked next to him and saw his life flash before his eyes. He panicked and wished for a moment that he had taken out a larger life insurance policy. Then he realized that the shark that just swam up next to him, was actually a dolphin. You can see it right in the middle of the picture if you look closely.
Zoe was very brave this year at the beach. She wanted to go out and swim, but the waves were too strong for her to go far. She had a lot of fun playing with Anthony and learning all about the ocean though.
We went looking for shells for a little while. Anthony found more in the water than we did on the beach. I found one that was closed and had an oyster in it still. Anthony took it into the water and washed it out. I owe him big for this he says.
Sam was eating cookies, but they became sand covered cookies very quickly. Zoe said, "MOM! Sam is eating sand!" I told her that they were sand cookies and I made them for him out of sand. She was like, "Oh. Can I have one?" Ha ha ha! I love her!
We finished the evening by going out to dinner with some of Anthony's relatives.

Family Vacation: Day 5

We had a wonderful day at Disneyland today!
Anthony got in for free because it was his 30th birthday today. Him and Zoe both got little buttons that said, "happy birthday" with their names on them (Zoe turns five on the 10th). Everyone kept saying, "Happy birthday Zoe!" She said, "How does everyone know it is my birthday, and how do they know my name?"
We told Zoe that we were going to go into a fun house (The Haunted Mansion) and that it looked like it must be Cinderella's, but she did not believe us. She kept telling us that it looked haunted. When we got in there and things started she was like, "See! I told you it was haunted!" Anthony also told her that Snow White's Scary Adventure ride was really called Snow White's Happy Adventure. When we got out he kept calling it that. Zoe said, "That was more like Snow White's Scary Happy Adventure."
This is us getting ready to go into the It's A Small World ride.

Sam was very concerned whenever we went on a new ride. Anthony started our day off with Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, so Sam was really nervous about what the rides would be. He was pointing at everything and talking about it. This is him on It's a Small World.

Another fountain!
Sam had fun on the teacups, until they started to go. He got so mad when Anthony started making it spin even more.
Zoe wanted to go on the teacups twice because she had so much fun spinning them.
Sam took an afternoon nap while we waited in some lines and even while we rode on the Alice in Wonderland ride.
Zoe got to go into any store and pick one thing for her birthday. She picked some light-up Tinkerbell wings.
We met lots of characters like:
Pinocchio
Winnie The Pooh
Tigger
Minnie Mouse
We finished the evening by grabbing some burgers from In-N-Out on the way home.

Family Vacation: Day 4

We started the morning by going to a police training field. This is where Anthony used to play when he was younger. Sam wanted to do all of the obstacles. Then he wanted to walk on every ledge or piece of wood to prove his balance (he has none).
Then we went to breakfast at Ita's. She had Mexican bread and some rice pudding like stuff (arroz con leche). We went back to Grandma's for a little while and Zoe started to help her make some of "Grandma's Lie Jam". This is a jam that seems like strawberry jam, but it is really made out of figs.
Then we met up with Mikey and Edith at Mimi's cafe. We had the worst service, but our food was free so I guess you get what you pay for. We were going to go to a science museum, but the kids decided that they would rather go see "UP" at the theater. I thought the movie was cute. Sam and Anthony slept through it. After the movie, we rested for a bit. Then we went over to Ita's again for dinner. Anthony's Tio Victor brought his wife and kids over. We had pizza and tamales. The pizza was great, and this was my first time having tamales. They were pretty spicy, but I enjoyed them.
The kids had a great time playing with the soccer ball and the pets.

This is a picture of the guayava fruit that I tried. Anthony loves our new camera and the pictures it takes.