Another year older...

I can't believe that Gunner is 5. The time is going by too fast. How can I stop my kids from growing up? I guess I just have to live in the moment and be grateful for this time with them while they are little. It just goes by too fast..Sigh...Okay, on to the goods of Gunner's special day.

When he woke up, the first thing he said was "I'm FIVE! Mom, Dad, I'm FIVE now!" He was so completely excited to be 5 and have his party. Oh, to be a five year old again! Cute boy. 

Here's the dreaded "right when you wake up I have to take a picture of you" picture! Hopefully when I do this to him when he's 15 he'll still smile for me!

For his special breakfast he wanted waffles with syrup & whip cream. He is definitely my child. I would eat pancakes & waffles any time of the day for every meal if I could. So good! Okay, back to my 5 year old:

Gunner is completely enamored with guys, superheroes, good vs bad, etc. So for his 5th birthday party we had a "Superhero" party. I made these capes for the boys that came to the party. They were super simple (felt & glue! Simple is my middle name!)

The "Superman" cake complete with "guys" on top. I did this last year and now it's becoming a tradition. Kinda fun!

Getting set to party!

For the party this year we had all the boys gather together & told them they were going to be instructed on how to become a superhero. So, they had to go through Superhero training! My cute hubby put the whole obstacle course together. They had to "fly" like a superhero (on the swings), "punch" bad guys in the face, "stomp & kick" the bad guys (do a Ninja move on the trampoline) and then yell like the Incredible Hulk! It was fun to see them all do it! 

Here's a movie of Gunner running through the obstacle course before his friends got there:

Here's the boys getting set before they go through their training:

Waiting in line to complete the course:

Gunner's Hulk pose:

Super hero yell:

Even Caleb got in on the action! Go Caleb!

Once they completed the course, they received their swords and capes. They were all so excited to be super-heroes now!

He loved being sung to by all his friends. He couldn't wait to blow out the candles. 

It was a great party. We love you Gunner boy! Happy #5!!

April in pictures

A few days after we got home from Kauai, Caleb was scheduled to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. He has had so many ear infections, sinus infections and sore throats that it was overdue to have this done. He was also breathing very heavily at night so the doctor advised that removing both tonsils and adenoids would help his breathing patterns. He did so great with the surgery and was such a trooper through it all. Isnt he the cutest sleeper?

It was a looooonnnngggg 2 week recovery for him because he needed to have IV fluids twice. He wouldn't drink anything and hardly ate food for nearly 14 days. He lost 3 pounds! Ugh! It was agonizing to watch him go through this, but now that it's over, it was all worth it. He is breathing so much better at night and has not had any sign of sickness since! It's still early, but I can tell this winter will bring fewer colds & infections for him.

Next up are the Easter festivities. 

We dyed some eggs with cousins and friends and had a great time! I think my boys didn't care much for the decorating eggs part, but at least they had fun! 

I love Caleb's "lost tooth" smile!

Breezy & Grandma

Easter Sunday brought lots of fun egg hunting! Sweet Breezy, sporting her wild hair as usual!

Gunner showing me his loot! Note to the Easter bunny for next year: Don't bring so much candy! My kids will have no teeth left!

Happy Caleb!

Lil miss Bree has been enjoying the springtime. She is definitely a nature girl. If at any moment the back door opens, she runs as fast as she can to get outside. She loves playing in her house. She even likes to eat lunch in her house and puts her babies to sleep there. What a little Mommy!

This month Gunner finished soccer. Team Superhero's did so great! Gunner really worked hard on his defense skills. He was awesome to watch! Go Gunner Go!

Breezy is taking care of the other girls on the sidelines by passing out snacks to everyone. What a good little helper. :)

One of the weekends in April we headed to my Aunt & Uncle's house for a Lake party! We do this every year as part of our Easter tradition. It's fun to cook hot dogs in the fire, waterski and just spend time together as a family. Thanks so much Aunt Jane & Uncle Dave!

Here's my Aunt showing off her mad skills! She's a grandma of 5 & she's still got it!

Caleb loved sitting by the water. It was perfect weather!

This year even the kiddos got to waterski! Gunner did great and even tried doing some jumps & turns. Go boy!

Caleb did it too! Go Caleb!

Breezy wanted nothing to do with the waterski. She would barely sit on it for a picture. Maybe next year!

High Flying Caleb!

This little princess house suited Bree's needs perfectly! Instant happiness!

This month I also started my first official garden. I've always wanted to have a garden but it always seemed like so much work. Last summer I learned about the square foot garden system and as I learned more about it, I found out it was pretty easy! I built the frame & planted everything myself! We have tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini & eggplant. It's fun to watch everything grow!

As I was planting the garden, these two were playing "house" together. Gunner was the Dad and Bree was the baby. I love how Gunner is holding Bree's face in his hands! What a sweet Dad!

This month Bree also discovered markers! Oh joy! It seems her body is the best canvas on which to express her talents! Love her face in this one! Little miss innocent!

I couldn't help but laugh at her body art...just as long as she doesn't ever make it permanent!

Another neat thing that happened this month was the Young Women from our old ward had made these dolls as a project for a child that had or has a life threatening illness. They thought of little Bree and we were so honored. The girls came over one night and I told them about Bree's battle with cancer. They were all so sweet. The dolls were beautiful. They turned out so cute and Breezy adores them! Thank you YW of Greenfield 1st!

Another exciting event at our house this month was bees! We had a beehive! What?!? Whoa! Yes, a beehive! I had no idea this was going on in our backyard when one morning Gunner runs inside and says "Mom, we have some bees in the backyard!" Sure enough, Justin goes out and tells me we have a massive hive in our tree! 

It was the size of a basketball! Those were some crazy busy bees!

Unfortunately for the bees, they had to be killed! I'm not taking any chances with these guys! So, we called in the exterminator! It was the highlight of Gunn's day!

Then at the end of the month, I got enough courage to try trapeze swinging again! When I did it the first time, a lot of friends and family said "if you ever do it again, I want to try it too!" So, thanks to my friend Monique, we did it again! And since I had done it before (only a few months previous) I got to try a new trick! This is the "split" pose:

We had a fun group! From left to right: Kristin (my sis), Shanon, me, Monique & Summer! 

Superstars!

And now you can jump for joy that this post is done! Yippee!!

Kauai Wrap Up

Since it's been forever and a day that I've updated my blog, I thought I'd post my favorite pictures from our Kauai trip so I could move on to the fun posts about my kids and all that we've been up to.

So, on Thursday of our trip, we went on a kayak trip down the Wailua river. It was the first time I had ever been kayaking. It was really fun and more of a work-out than I thought! 

The morning that we started it was really cold (since it had been raining like crazy the whole week we were there!) so the guides let my sis Kenna and I borrow some jackets to keep warm. Kenn looks so cute in hers!

Isn't the view beautiful!? I love the green mountains!

Our expedition ended at a small dock where we left our kayaks and hiked in-land to Secret Falls. The hike was beautiful...lush trees & vines everywhere! I felt like I was in the show "LOST!" (Except we had a guide and we didn't crash on a plane. hehehe)

I had Justin pose to show the massive tree trunks. Can you tell he's so amused??

This mass of vines behind us is called "the Green Room." It's a HUGE wall of vines that goes on and on. It was breath-taking. I love natural beauty like this!

We had to cross over this river to get to Secret Falls. I was grateful for this tiny rope to help us cross. The current was surprisingly strong!

At last we arrived at the waterfall. It was gorgeous! 

We swam in it and stood underneath it. It felt like needles hitting my shoulders & back, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to live it up! I can check "swimming under a waterfall" off my bucket list!

The next day we took a catamaran tour as a family. It was a lot of fun. We saw breeching whales & spinner dolphins came right up to the boat and did tricks for us. It was one of those times I wished my kids there because they would have loved it. 

But I did have my hunny there to cuddle with! 

This was the breeching whale. We actually saw several sets of whales. I've never seen one so this was exciting for me! 

I was so happy to get these next shots!

Love the white tips!

Here's the dolphins. The more we clapped and cheered for them, the more would come up to the boat. There were tons of them! 

Let's play the game I played with my kids when I showed them these pictures. How many dolphins can you count? Look carefully!

On our way back to shore we happened to see another whale slapping the water as if he or she was calling to another whale. It was slapping so fast that the pictures turned out a little blurry. Still, so glad to get the pics!

The last day of our trip was the sunniest. Of course! We enjoyed going to the beach and did one last trip to Kipu falls to swing on the rope swing. It was a fabulous get away!