Jon's 31st Birthday

Jon on the phone getting birthday wishes form all of you.

Jon had a dinosaur themed birthday party - Marcus wanted to do another pinata and the dinosaur was the most grown-up pinata the store had!

This being their 2nd pinata Addison and Ally were not so scared to try knocking out the candy!

Earlier that week Marucs, Jon & Seth had destroyed the transformer/lion pinata. I really think Jon was just letting out some aggression... It wasn't the best actual birthday day. But we made up for it...

...for the 1st time in 7 years I got the right kind of ice cream cake!!! Don't ask me what it is, I have forgotten already... Good thing I have great friends who keep up on that for me! (Thanks to Chad & Amy and Tim & Kim for all the text's and messages about the kind of ice cream Jon likes!) wait... world class chocolate!?! Is that right?
Happy Birthday Jon!

Seth's 2nd Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Seth!
No cake - we had mini cupcakes, they were the perfect size.

I transformed the transformer pinata into a Lion pinata form Madagascar. The kids had a great time hitting it and grabbing all the candy.

This video might need to go to funniest home videos!

Thank you to all our friends for the fun presents.

Trip To Palm Springs

We drove down to Palm Springs to return my mom's minivan that she let us borrow for a few months. The boys did really well on the drive - no one threw-up - and we got to stop in Las Vegas at Aunt Jody's house to see here family and dogs. Marcus had to take pictures of Chole their dog.




As soon as we got to Palm Springs Grandma and Grandpa took us to our favorite restaurant for Jon's Birthday celebration, Kobe's. Marcus and Seth got to come along too. Marcus had been before when he was about 2 months old and they was Seth's first time. They were thoroughly entertained by the man in the funny hat making fire in front of us. Of course when that stopped Seth was ready to go! And FYI - this is the only restaurant where I can eat a California roll.

After dinner we went home and sang Happy Birthday to Jon and Seth . Erin had a friend at work who is a pastry chef make this chocolate chocolate cake for Jon. It was very yummy. It was flavored with fresh blueberries in the frosting which was nice and light compared to the chocolate. Needless to say most of the cake was gone by the time we left...


The most important reason we went down to California: My cousin Jessica's Wedding.


Her dad brought her to the aisle on a golf cart.

She looked beautiful, it was a beautiful wedding and reception.
Congratulations Jessica and Landon!

And we cannot forget the train track that Grandpa Lake built for Marcus and Seth. They had been in storage for years and it was a bit of a trick trying to get it together but Grandpa did and the boys and a great time playing with it.

Oh, What do you do when it's cold and snowing outside?

Marcus:I know, let's tip over the couch and jump off of it onto the cushions!
Mom: Ok, whatever keeps you entertained.

Or, We go to Florida!!! (Where it was also freezing)

Day Trip to the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine.

We were having a great time and then in good ol' Florida fashion boom, it started raining on us! We had to buy rain gear to keep us partially dry. The kids all had to change clothes once we got back to the car.

Fortunately, they had a couple of animal shows underneath some shelter! Marcus loved seeing all the exotic animals. He got to touch the thing below(can't remember the name of it) and a snake.

On the way home we stopped at a farmers market that the the biggest vegetables and fruits I had ever seen. I was really excited about the brussel sprouts still on the stalk!

PHOTO SHOOT

We took the boys to the mall to have their pictures taken together. They did really good for 5 minutes then we were hard pressed to get them to hold still. The pictures turned out really good - I think they are some of the cutest boys ever!

SETH 23 months, MARCUS 4 1/2 years, MAX 19 months

We treated them to ice cream and chicken nuggets (in that order) when we were done. We decided to wait at the mall for the pictures, which was a bad idea. They boys were ready to go home and Natalie and I ended up spending more money on new hair straighteners. However, I used the "Is that the best you can do"talk technique and was very proud of the fact that we got 2 for the price of one...

MAX

MARCUS

SETH

MIDNIGHT SNACK

There's nothing like a midnight snack, chocolate milk and a movie to keep the troops under control!

Nap Time Is Over...

And I've almost gotten to Christmas..........Seth is awake so computer time is done!

Michelle at Age 4 & 1 1/2

Random pictures but I had to scan these in for Wendy so I thought I would post them..

Oh ya...

Jon's supervisors at his gig with the Utah Jazz also got us tickets to a Jazz game the day after Thanksgiving (Thanks Jazz PR team!)...
Marcus had a great time, although he was disappointed that Boozer was out - that's his favorite player (he has Boozer Jersey his Uncle Andrew bought him when he came for a visit).

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was at our house this year. Mom & Dad and Erin & Russell came to our house in Utah. It was a warm one, the boys were outside playing and Jon was fixing the outside Christmas Lights (he already put them up, but he was getting them all to turn on together).

We also put up our very first Christmas Tree. Jon finally had enough of not having our own tree and went out and bought one. It was very nice. The boys had finished decorating it (Seth had fun pulling off the decorations) and it was beautiful to have for the season.

We also visited the Planetarium (and did a little shopping) downtown. It was a fun week with the family. I love the Holidays and the warm memories they make for my family and me.

Marucs Preschool Thanksgiving Party

Erin came and helped Marcus make his turkey napkin rings. Then She and Russell stayed for the program. Marcus was the Little Indian Boy. He memorized his whole part and was very brave saying it infront of all the mom's and dad's.