Another birthday!

And then, it was Weston's REAL birthday!

He woke up early in the morning and opened his presents, then ate his favorite, German pancakes.

Here's the table set for a party- before the presents were opened...

Then Weston got to sit around doing what ever he wanted while the rest of us got the house cleaned up and jobs done. THEN, Daddy took Weston to lunch at Village Inn while Mommy decorated the cake:

Notice the words of Weston's choosing: Weston's Real Birthday. :)

Maama, Pa, Bryson, Lexi, Kristi, Hyrum, Daddy, Wendy, Cindy and Weston went to see "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" in 3-D and then we all went to Wingers for dinner.

And THEN it was time for cake and presents with all the family!

What a lucky boy! Weston is one of the happiest, silliest kids I've ever seen! He's always singing, either songs he picked up on the radio, Primary songs, or just songs he made up himself. His voice gets higher and higher when he is excited, which makes him even funnier. He loves to tell jokes, play on the computer, read stories, play with his cousins, eat candy, and play songs on the piano. He's very interested in human nature--he watches others and copies what they do when they aren't looking. When we are looking we watch him back, and see a little boy with the same thoughts and expressions that we have, only much more innocent, and, from Zach's perspective, more "in-tune."

Being a second child, he's always trying to keep up with Hyrum and never quite making it, which had helped him be a laid back kid most of the time. He doesn't have to always win, he doesn't have to be the first, he's good at sharing with the little kids and supporting Hyrum in his endeavors. Oh, how we love our Weston!

Weston is WHAT?

My little Weston turned FIVE years old! Can you believe it?

At his appointment, he was 38 lbs (30%) and 43 in (60%). He is actually growing! ( I think last year, he was 20% for weight and 30% for height!)

We have too many of our good friends moving away, so we had an early birthday party for him- of course it was Ocean themed!

He picked an Orca birthday cake.

I think it turned out quite nicely! My new favorite cake decorating tool (especially for BLUE frosting) is food coloring spray paint! Love it!

The Birthday boy! He still the cutest kid around!

Here are the party kids eating their hot dog octopus, sea shells and sea weed and drinking ocean water to boot...

Our under-the-sea den with jellyfish balloons.

Making foam oceans

And sea shell bracelets.

We love our Weston!

A Thatcher Thanksgiving

So, we had a chance to have Thanksgiving dinner in Arizona this year with my family- probably our only time ever because my family will (hopefully soon!) be moving up to Utah! So, we packed up the car and the family and headed down out of the snow storm to the land of sunshine! We stopped for the night with our good friends, the Harris's, who let us crash the night at their house in Gilbert, AZ. Then next morning, we headed to Thatcher to meet Pa, Maama and Cindy, and Kristi and DJ's family. Dad had this lovely meal waiting for us when we got there:

Zach was very impressed with Dad's stew!

Just up the hill from Dad's apartment, there is a Discovery park. We got up there right before it closed for the holiday and rode the Space simulator (with out puking!) and looked at the trains.

The hotel we swam at had a GREAT pool (thanks Pa!) and the kids swam twice a day almost every day we were there. Can you tell they loved it?

Cindy and Mom came over from Roswell where they are cleaning up and packing up the house- Um, no one remembered to remind Cindy that she is the LITTLE sister and is supposed to stay little. She is taller than me now!

This is my picture of Mt. Graham- I love it!

Cindy at the park...

Best cousins at the park!

The kids spent most of their time (when they weren't swimming) playing Maama's games.

Thanksgiving dinner was spent at the Manor House with a traditional dinner.

Oh, cute... Hyrum took this picture. :)

Pa and Maama

Cindy and Robby, rockin' the mustache

Lydia, DJ and Kristi

Taking a tour of EAC campus- I said "Find Gila Hank!" and Bryson said "Who's Gila Hank?" "A Gila Monster." Hyrum says "A monster? What's he going to do, gila me?" We went around to all of Wendy's favorite places, like the water depot, her work, her old apartment.. We were just missing Wendy!

We also went to Pa's classroom and office.

Then, we took a little jaunt to Red Knolls- a big pile of dirt with caves and broken glass. Doesn't sound so fun but it really is pretty cool. That's Cindy sitting on top of the hill.

And Pa and the boys hiking around. We also got to do a little shooting- the boy's first experience that way. They thought it was pretty awesome shooting a gun!

Then we stopped at the temple...It was a beautiful building!

Saturday, we packed up again and drove back to Gilbert to watch the BYU/Utah game with Harris's (Zach's request, of course) and then home again... We had a great trip! I'm so thankful for my family!