Look Whose FIVE!

Kaleb wanted a dinosaur mountain for his birthday cake. We decided to make the base out of rice krispie treats- much more stable and easier to stack and frost.

There was probably as much frosting on their fingers as there was on the mountain.

A little green coconut, a little red, blue and orange die and voila......

Magical!!!

Of course we needed flames coming out of our volcano.

Kaleb is in one word- DELIGHTFUL! He is so cute and sweet. He is great at sharing and loves to do everything with the big kids. He is renown for saying, "What about Kabub?", cause he likes to be in on the action. Our favorite Kalebism is "I'm Wookin" (looking). He loves to play Lord of the Rings Risk with all the big boys. He loves doing puzzles and playing Memory. He chose waffles with strawberries and cream, and hot dogs. I love how he has a cute little hop in his step when he gets excited. He likes to snuggle and have books read to him. Unfortunately, he rarely shows those outside of our immediate family his cute personality. He is very reserved and quiet in public. Which makes him a delight in primary. We love his shiny eyes and his inability to pronounce "L's". Brigham and I are always looking at each other and remarking about his cuteness.

For his birthday he wanted to go to the zoo and to a movie- and that's just what we did.

We LOVE you Kaleb!
Thanks for filling our life with SUNSHINE!

Happy Memorial Day!

What a great reason to celebrate! A HEARTY thanks to all those who have served and sacrificed for our country. Most especially to my amazing husband, his father and brothers and my own brothers and grandfathers. What a great country we live and love in! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

We celebrated every last second of the day- but I didn't have the camera for much of it. We had a pancake breakfast at the hospital. Then headed to the movie theater for a showing of Night at the Museum 2. We rarely ever see movies in the theater- and this was our second one in the same month. We have got lots of reasons to celebrate though. We are now celebrating our delightful Kaleb, his birthday is today. More of that celebration later.

After the movie we headed to a really fun park for a picnic lunch. Then we came home and worked in the garden for a bit. We have a really big garden with lots of fun stuff planted.

Tickle the earth and she will laugh a harvest!

After a bit we got ready for another party. We hosted Brig's end of the season soccer party at our pool. We had a big BBQ and the kids swam and had a blast. Everyone hated to leave. It has been a really fun season. Brig sprained his ankle in his second game Saturday and had to sit the rest of it out, but other than that- it was fun to see this group of boys in action. After dinner we came home and walked around our yard planning for every inch of it. Its going to be paradise. Thanks to the beautiful plans our BIL drew up for us- thanks Darren! Then we went inside and sat on the couches laughing and smiling, we pulled out our scriptures and read of the great missionary Ammon's exploits. We sang a few songs and said prayer, followed by our family cheer. Then reluctantly, we separated to our own rooms. I snuggled into bed with my favorite person in the whole world. My heart was full of gratitude for a loving Heavenly Father, a blessed life, a shot at eternity with my children and my Love. I closed my eyes and with a smile in my heart and on my face I drifted blissfully off to sleep.

True Blue!

Go Cougars!

Seth got his room painted and decorated for his birthday. We still have a few things to add- but we all like hanging out here.

Birthday #9 and Feeling Fine

Seth had a birthday three weeks ago to the day. I'm not actually that tardy in posting this, since we have been celebrating his birthday for three weeks. He has had quite the birthday bash. Imax movie, bowling, shopping trips, swimming and hopefully tomorrow, the long awaited for - family soccer game. It is hard to just put together a soccer game at home- when you don't have any grass.

This year Seth got a bunch of gift certificates in lieu of presents. He took them all and taped them to his chin. One of his presents was getting his room decorated. We painted it the new BYU blue. I'll have to take a picture and post it soon.

Seth was the mastermind and chief engineer of his cake. He wanted to replicate one of our family soccer games. He found candy land pieces, and taped our names to the back of them. He chose coconut flavored cake. For his birthday meals he chose: biscuits & gravy, BLT's and corn chowder, and Hawaiin Haystacks.

Seth looks and acts so much like his dad, we were thinking that he should have been named Brig the younger. Several years ago, Brigham was reading in the bible and came across Seth's name, the definition of it being- in the perfect image of his father. We knew it meant- in the image of God, but to have it stated the other way- just made it so much more fitting for him. Here are some things we LOVE about Seth!

EASY GOING- very few things ruffle his feathers!
Always HAPPY- well 98% of the time!
Always SMILING! (see above)

PLAYFUL, CHEERFUL ADVENTUROUS

TALENTED- a great artist. He loves to create things. He gets an idea in his head and makes it work. He is very good at solving problems.

SMART- he has been the easiest kid to teach cause he just GETS it. The first time. He can figure out numbers in his head- faster than the speed of light. He is an amazing reader.

ATHLETIC- pick a sport- and he can master it. Basketball, soccer- he is the star of the team.
KIND HEARTED- he is so good with Kai-practically my best babysitter.

There isn't anything this kiddo can't do. We adore you Seth and are so glad you are in OUR family!

WE
LOVE
YOU!

Being a brother is better than being a Superhero!

Boise

Last weekend we headed to Boise for Brig's soccer tournament. Between games we watched Monsters vs. Aliens on an IMAX screen in 3D. It was a fun show. Brig got to play in two games on Saturday. He added several goals to his resume. He missed the two Sunday games but they won the tournament. Saturday it was pouring rain on and off. Our truck got stuck in the mud pit and another truck, fortunately, towed us out.

Hangin' low.

Other things may change us, but we start and end with family. Anthony Brandt

Our speedy little "Extra Mile"-er

Katry was nominated for and received the "Extra Mile" award in our community. She was nominated for volunteering to help struggling second and third graders learn to read.

The award ceremony was right after her soccer game in which she obtained the awe-inspiring hat trick. That's three goals for those of you who aren't soccer fanatics. She is also the fastest girl in fifth grade. We watched and cheered her on from our back porch as she ran the mile for the presidential fitness award. As a funny side note- she was exempted from doing the pull ups due to her extraordinary performance at the first of the year. Most kids are lucky to get 2 pull ups. She ripped out a whopping seven-- much to her teachers jaw dropping amazement. A hearty thanks to Dad for installing a pull up bar in the basement in Kentucky. We used to have fun taking the missionaries down there before dinner and have contests. They would eek out what they could and then Seth and Katry would hop up to the bar and pull up a whopping eleven or so times. Ahhh good memories! Way to go Katry! Thanks for always doing your best.

We LOVE you!