Avery's 6th Birthday

My "Sweet Ave's," as I call her, turned six on June 9th.  Due to a crazy last few weeks we celebrated several times with different groups of people. I haven't even had the opportunity to sit down and post pictures until now.  Micah was going to be on a business trip on her actual birthday, so her celebrations were a bit early so he could attend.   

We started the celebrations with a pool party for some of Avery's close friends. We set up a few pools, sprinklers and blew up a lot of water balloons.  The great game of "duck, duck, splash" was a hit along with other water balloon games.  

  

I think limbo was the best liked game of them all. I can't believe how flexible some of these little bodies are. We rented a limbo music CD from the library, and they just wanted to do it over and over again.

Of course she was insistent that the birthday girl goes first with ALL of the games.

This is Avery's cousin Zayden below who wins the award for flexibility.  

Can you believe this kid?

She looks like one happy camper.

The following day we had a pizza party with Micah's side of the family (pizza by her request of course.) I think I made a total of four batches of cupcakes or cake for this birthday girl before her celebrations were over.

I love this picture of Aliza completely enjoying her ice cream cone.

She was spoiled this year with a new scooter from her grandparents, and a much needed new bike from her mom and dad (some other fun stuff too).  She is set for a great Summer.

On her actual birthday Micah was in Florida for a conference.  We did a birthday dinner with her the night before he left and then my parents treated us to a movie and lunch on her actual birthday.  We had a lot of fun at the movie, but I didn't think to take any pictures.

 

After the movie just me and the girls played the rest of the day and ended up at the Olive Garden (per her request again) for dinner.  We had our own little girl's night that ended with, of course, a birthday song for the birthday girl. Avery really hated being the center of attention during the song, but I secretly think she loved it at the same time. Thats not all. Then when Micah and I left for our vacation she spent the day with my mom and sister who gave her a adorable pink bat and ball (a huge hit.) She had a very long drawn out birthday this year.  We sure love our Avery and I wish she would stop getting older! That goes for all of my kids.  I wish there was a pause button we could push every once in a while to keep them from growing up so fast.  Happy Birthday Avery!

Last Day of School

Another school year has come and gone.  This school year seemed to just fly by.  We were so blessed to have such great teachers.  Both teachers were just the perfect match for both Abbie and Avery.  I still can't believe that I have a 1st and 3rd grader next year.  I wish they would stop growing.

Avery's class put on these fun caps and gowns the last day of school as they received their certificates to move on to first grade.  All of the kindergartners were able to bring their mom and dad to see their "graduation." They sang a few short songs, and of course ate cookies.

We are going to miss Avery's teacher Mrs. Wengreen soooo much. What a great blessing it has been for us to have Avery in her class. Avery fell in love with her the first time we met her. I really didn't think Avery would go to school without kicking and screaming, but she loved her teacher and that made all the difference. Whenever Avery was sick she would say "I can't miss school today, Mrs. Wengreen will miss me too much." Is that not a sign of an Awesome teacher who loves each child in her class, and each child knows it. Avery has grown leaps and bounds this year.  We are so lucky to have had such a great teacher that has taught Avery to love school. 

This is Abbie with her teacher Mrs. Hutchings.  Again, a perfect teacher for Abbie this year. This sweet lady has patience beyond what I could have endured with a class of second graders. She has taught Abbie so much this year, and really encouraged Abbie to do what she loves which is writing stories.  Abbie was constantly writing and reading stories to her class with Mrs. Hutchings encouragement.  She was always concerned about each student, and what was best for each of them with their very different personalities.  We are so lucky to have had such a great year.  Much different than that of the year prior, but that is a whole other post for another day. 

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend this year was great. It was the first weekend that I have really been able to notice a difference from Micah not being in school.  We were able to spend a lot of fun family time together without other obligations in the way.  The whole weekend was fun. Micah was able to work on some projects in the yard that he has just never had the time for until now. We woke up on Monday morning and went to Micah's parents for a delicious breakfast with the Phillips side of the family.  This kids had a great time playing with their cousins.  It worked out great because the kids were able to tank up before we headed to the Zoo.  The weather was beautiful, and of course the Zoo was crowded. I expected it to be crowded, but wow! I think everyone in the whole state decided it would be a great day for the Zoo. Despite the many people we really had a great time.

This is Avery right before our Zoo adventures.

I brought the wagon for Aliza, but the cooler ended up being a great seat for both Abbie and Avery.  Most of the trip all three were on board the wagon ride.  With the steep hills this was a challenge, but worked out great.

This is Abbie's impersonation of a tortoise.

(She must think tortoises are angry animals.)

What a great dad to join in on the fun.

Again, a great shot of Abbie.  The elephant sneezed and sprayed water at us right as I took this picture.  For some reason Aliza was very disturbed with this large elephant. She wanted to keep going over to see it, but would hold on to me for dear life.

You can't go to the zoo without a train ride.

Aliza has had such a fascination with trains lately.  I'm so glad we were able to take a ride. 

Throughout the day Aliza was so cute saying hello to all the animals. She would use one finger to wave and say "hi monkey," "hi duck" or "hi giraffe."

 

We came home that evening and had a BBQ with just our little family.  What a perfect day!

?What?

I am really terrible at keeping a journal and although I love to scrapbook who has the time? I also have a really bad memory a lot of the time, so blogging is my way of recording our silly adventures as a family.  This is only in here so that I remember our silly conversation. Yesterday Abbie and I were walking through the neighborhood. As we were talking she looked over at her friends back yard and said "their back yard is so nice, what the hell?!"  What?  Did I just hear what I thought I heard? I found it horrifying and very humorous at the same time.  As a good parent would I tried soooo hard to keep a straight face, get down at eye level and tell her that she should not be talking that way.  But, I failed.  I just couldn't hold it in. Two seconds ago we were talking about flowers and her school friends and bam she completely caught me off guard. When I told her that she was saying a bad word she looked at me like I was crazy. I just wonder how many times she's used the phrase before I heard her saying it. 

Later that day we took a trip the Spaghetti Factory.  All was well until our meal came.  Right then our sweet little Aliza leaned over the bench and belched really loud into the neighboring table. I know she didn't mean to, but whose kids are these?  The ladies in the neighboring bench were not impressed. That was followed by Abbie accidentally taking a big sip of Aliza's milk and it making her sick to her stomach and she was dry heaving.  Then the milk was spilled all over the floor, and  during all of this Abbie felt like she was going to throw up.  Avery shout's out loudly "someone get her a big bowl." Aliza then is doing everything she can to not sit in her chair and continues to peek over to those nice friendly ladies next to us.  Who doesn't want to play peek a boo with a two year old you don't know during a meal?  I'm sure they were just wanting us to leave.  Really, our kids are not bad.  In fact the other day I was thinking that it was getting so much easier to go out and do things. They are well behaved most of the time. I think we were just having an off day (I hope). We left that poor restaurant in such a mess. Whose kids are these anyway?

Animal Fair

Today I had the privilege of attending the Kindergarten Animal Fair. When they asked us to pick a few animals that Avery would like to learn about, Zebra was her #1 choice.  She has loved horses and zebras ever since she was very little.  She was so excited to be able to learn facts about zebra's, and make a zebra costume.  We had a lot of fun putting together this costume. Our creative juices were definitely flowing.  Who knew you could do so much with pipe cleaners and puff paint.  I even had to dig out my sewing machine that hasn't been touched in years to make the tail.  I think the tail was her favorite part because she had to hold it up for each picture.

Avery's teacher put a sticker on each of the animals to create a "button" for the animal to talk.  When the parents went around the room we would push each animals button to hear fun facts about the animal.  We had a lot of fun learning about these amazing creatures.

What a bunch of crazy animals.

He did it!

I think I've had a permanent smile on my face for the last few days. He did it!  Micah graduated from the University of Utah with his MBA last night.  We started out the celebrations with a nice dinner at Tucci's restaurant on Thursday night.  We were able to celebrate with both our parents, his grandparents, and our siblings.  We had a nice night out and we were able to sit back, relax, and enjoy being with our family.

The night of the graduation couldn't have gone more smoothly.  I was expecting to have to walk a mile with my three kids in tow due to parking issues and then not find our family in the crowds of people.  But it couldn't have worked out more perfectly.  We pulled right into a great parking spot right next to the Huntsman center.  We were just in time to watch Micah follow the bagpipes into the stadium, and thanks to cell phones we were all able to sit together to watch the ceremony (thanks again mom for lending me your phone).

These are our girls watching the bagpipes and procession of the graduating students.

I'm so glad that we were able to get a shot of this graduate team.  These four stuck together through project after project and class after class together.  Through the two years they have formed great friendships.  (Aaron, Micah, Cynthia, and Sam)

I expected there to be a lot of graduates, but holy cow they were even up on the stadium seating.  It included all the graduate and undergraduate students from the business school.

We had to do something to keep them busy during the very long ceremony.

Doesn't he look great?  I can see the relief in his eyes, or maybe they are just watery from the very strong smell of his lei.  It was very powerful.

Our Family. We can't wait to spend more time together now that he is done. He can't use the excuse of "I have homework" any longer.

Watch out, this will be our next graduate.

About us . . .

About us . . .

• What are your middle names? Lynn and Eugene
• How long have you been together? 10 years
• How long did you know each other before you started dating? 5 years
• Who asked who out? Long story-we really never went on a date until after we discussed getting married.
• How old are each of you? I'm 32, Micah is 31 (almost 32)
• Whose siblings do you see the most? Both the same
• Do you have any children? 3 beautiful girls
• What about pets? Guinea Pig and Hamster (They are not actually our pets, but we are taking care of them a lot.)
• Did you go to the same school? High School - Yes
• Are you from the same home town? Yes
• Who is smarter? Micah is graduating this week with his MBA.  I don't think I could do that.
• Who is more sensitive? Definitely Me
• Where do you eat out most as a couple? We like trying new places together.
• Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? New York (Mexico next month if the whole Swine Flu passes.)
• Who has the craziest exes? Micah
• Who has the worst temper? I don't think either of us really have a temper.
• Who does the cooking? Me
• Who is more social? Micah
• Who is the neat-freak? Both of us.
• Who is more stubborn? Micah
• Who hogs the bed? Me
• Who wakes up earlier? Micah
• Where was your first date? Again, we really didn't have one. 
• Who has the bigger family? Micah
• Do you get flowers often? No
• How do you spend the holidays? Running from family to family.
• Who is more jealous? Me
• How long did it take to get serious? Maybe a week (We already knew each other REALLY well.)
• Who eats more? Sadly Me- Micah thinks eating is an inconvenience.  I love to eat.
• Who does the laundry? Me
• Who’s better with the computer? Micah
• Who drives when you are together? Micah

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