Memorial Day and Bithdays

We went to "The Playground of Dreams" on Memorial Day to enjoy some family time. There are a couple of fun parks like this in the Tri-Cities that the community actually built themselves. The materials were purchased by the city and people showed up with their tools ready to work. It changes the way you view the park, and the community.

Noah is all over the place these days. I can already tell, he's going to keep me on my toes!

Hailey and Noah love to be together! Hailey is just crazy about Noah, so naturally, he loves her back.

This jumpy bridge was quite a bit of fun . . .

(Hailey and Tanner laugh hysterically looking at that sequence of pictures of him jumping!)

Noah laughs hysterically when I pull him forward in a swing and the let go!

We went to Utah for my brother Dan's wedding in May. The kids have been so excited about their new Aunt Jessi and the huge bonus of three new cousins! We also got to see our Texan cousins that we haven't seen for a year and a half. Tanner, Jeremiah, Hailey and Eliza all "slept" in the same room. I think the first night they giggled until about 11:00.

Tanner's birthday was the day before the wedding so we celebrated his birthday there.

Tanner requested a spaceship birthday cake this year. After looking at a lot of pictures, he narrowed it down to an x-wing cake. I've discovered a new love of creating cakes, so I was up for the challenge! It ended up a little bit chartoony, but that's part of what makes it fun.

R2D2 was my favorite little detail.

Uncle Jeff offered to give all the cousins (the big-kid cousins) rides on his motorcycle for Tanner's b-day. Tanner loves motorcycles and we thought he would go crazy for a ride, but he acted like he didn't even care -- he didn't even want a ride. Oh well, the rest of us had fun!

We also made a trip to the Children's Museum in SLC.

Magnet creation and a helicopter were only two of the favorite activities there.

May went by in a hurry and what follows May? Why Hailey's birthday, of course! She requested a Hawaiian birthday this year. She even drew a picture of what she wanted her cake to look like:

I think I got pretty close . . .

Hailey really wanted a hula girl with brown skin and black hair, but I talked her into using a little doll that we already had that would look like her on the cake. She seemed to like that idea. Hence, the red-headed hula girl. I added the little grass skirt, the lei, and a flower in her hair to complete the look. So, I didn't make the doll, but I made everything else. I had a lot of fun creating this cake it; I think it's my best one yet!

We had a fun little island party: we made leis, we limboed, and went island hopping, we had our cake and ate it too!

Our little island girl seemed pretty happy with the party, and that for me, was pretty satisfying.