Uh oh....3-0!

That is right, I am officially 30! On Friday night Mike and I celebrated my birthday with a nice dinner at Blue Wasabi. Then, Saturday night Mike threw me a surprise 80's birthday party. I had been out with some girlfriends and came home to friends dressed in silly outfits! Of course, Kathy had found an outfit just for me!

Gotta love the staircase pose! Didn't everyone do that one before school dances or other fun events????

Kathy was lying to me all day, but I still love her!

Matt & Mary brought over Sing Star and it was a huge hit. So much singing going on!!!

Finally on Sunday we had a family birthday party to celebrate Chad's birthday and mine. Always have to share!!! (That is Zachary and baby Alexander in the picture and Kylie in the back) Thank you to all of my friends and family for making my 30th birthday extra special!!!

Staycation

A couple weeks ago we did a "staycation". We went to the Westin Kiraland in Scottsdale with our good friends Cody & Jessica and Lee & Sarah. Plus we brought all of the boys....Colton, Carter, Brady & Jackson. After some fun swimming in the pool, we were lucky to have Mike's mom and Cody's mom come over and watch the boys so we could go out for a nice adult dinner. The boys all had a wonderful time playing together and we had a great time with our friends. We spent more time at the pool on the following day before heading home.

Carter and Jackson had fun jumping in together. (Brady and Colton also had fun jumping in, but they were jumping in to daddy)

The BIG 2!!

Colton celebrated his second birthday! Here are lots of pictures from all of the fun things we did to celebrate our big boy....

The night before Colton's birthday, I baked him a cake....."blue" was his request. He was my official taste tester. I guess it passed the test!

Colton was so excited for cake, that at breakfast he was ready to dig in. I was able to hold him off with a cookie and 2 birthday candles. Colton and I went to lunch with Mike. Colton was thrilled when the waiters sang happy birthday and delivered an ice cream sundae! This picture is a little out of order....Colton opened finger paints in the morning, so we were finger painting before breakfast! We had dinner with our families at our house, so Colton got to celebrate with Grandma, Grandpa, Mimi, Grandpa, Uncle Jeremy, Uncle Chad, Aunt Julie, Aunt Jen, Uncle Eric, and his cousins: Kylie, Emily, Zachary, Josh, and Alexander. He was very excited to open all of his presents and to eat the blue cake. One of his gifts was a slip-n-slide, so all of the kids tried it out. It was a big hit, and still is! All of the kids went swimming after dinner and some of the "big kids" were in the pool too. Uncle Chad took baby Alexander for a swim too cool off too.Colton loves his new Home Depot tool set that Grandma and Grandpa got him. He is fixing lots of things in our house!

We had a birthday party with Colton's friends later in the week at a place called Bounce Jungle. There are a bunch of bouncers, slides and obstacle courses that the kids were able to play on before having pizza and cake. They all had a great time and many of them were sweating from playing so hard!

Colton was enjoying his monkey birthday cake! Again, there was blue icing!

Here is our big 2 year old boy! Colton is such a fun little boy....he has a ton of energy and keeps us laughing everyday. I can't believe he is already 2, but can't wait to see how he will grow and changes this year.

Happy Father's Day

We spent Father's Day up in Payson at my parents cabin. Both of my brothers came up with their kids, plus my parents, my grandma and us, so it was a full house. Never s quiet moment!

Us & Kylie at the concert in the park

Chad with baby Alexander

Grandpa and grandkids opening a gift

playing on the "rocks" at the park

Ice cream at the concert in the park

Fun with glow sticks at the park

Looking at the stars

Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek at some new family photos. Brianne (Kathy's sister) came in town and took some pictures for us. We are so excited to see them, but here is what we have seen so far.... You can check out Brianne's blog. Her website is under construction right now.

Camping at the Lake

Over Mother's Day weekend we took a trip to Bartlett Lake with a group of friends. There were five couples that went along, plus Colton and Migo (Julie's dog). We camped out for two nights and had a great time out on the water. Colton wasn't sure what to think of the boat at first, he was so calm and quiet. (In case you didn't know this.....that is very abnormal for him!) He got more comfortable as the weekend went on and enjoyed hanging out with mommy and daddy's friends. For Mother's Day, the girls made breakfast for me (and everyone else too) and Kathy decided to through some Reese's Peices in the pancakes. I was a little nervous of them at first, but they were sooooo delicious. The peanut butter melts inside and makes the pancakes so yummy! You should try it some time!

Colton and Daddy were checking out all of the fish at the marina.

Having a great time!

Reading with his favorite buddy, Matt!!

I love the lake!

Girl's Trip

In May I had the wonderful opportunity to go with 6 of my girlfriends to San Diego. It was such a fun weekend! It was overcast and a little cool, so we didn't spend time at the beach. Instead we ate, shopped, relaxed and ate some more! I also got to see my friend Lacy while we were in town, so that was an extra treat.

Update.....Finally!

Baby Alexander arrived on April 30! Chad and Julie are proud parents of their healthy baby boy. Thankfully for Julie, the delivery was very quick. Chad said it was 1 and a half pushes! Zachary is a very proud big brother!! Congratulations! All of the cousins love "Baby Alexander"!

Old Neighbors....Great Friends!

Our neighbor's, Robbie and Susaan, moved to Louisiana back in July, but they finally came back to visit us over Easter weekend. It was so much fun having their whole family in town. We love them so much and miss them everyday! Colton loved having a full house and especially enjoyed having Trevor here. It was like having a fun, big brother! The VanEaton's. I can't believe how much the kids have grown in 9 months! Crazy girls!

Great Friends! (Mary, Susaan & Me)

Easter Eggs!

Colton had his first real Easter egg hunt in March with my Mom's group at church. Once he realized that there is something inside each egg, he was very excited. On Good Friday we had a neighborhood Easter egg hunt and Colton had to open each egg to see what was inside before moving on to the next one. By Easter Sunday, Colton was a pro and was ready for the Easter eggs at Grandma's house. A lot of jelly beans ended up on the ground because he insisted on opening every egg. Colton had a huge sugar high that day from so many sweet treats.....he thinks we should have jelly beans for breakfast everyday! Excited to see what is inside!

MOPS Easter egg hunt at Tumbleweed ParkCandy for breakfast!!

Lions and Tigers and Bears....Oh My!

Colton and I spent the day at the Phoenix Zoo yesterday with some of our friends. It was very exciting for Colton to see so many animals up close. He also enjoyed playing with Carter and Brady. The boys loved climbing on the trackers at "the farm".

Colton couldn't take his eyes off the lion to smile for the camera!

All three boys checking out the tiger!

Checking out the ducks and turtles at the zoo enterance.

The giraffes were in Colton's words...."high". What a fun day!!