The 23rd–Dallin’s actual Birthday

To celebrate Dallin’s actual birthday, we let Dallin pick what to do and eat all day.  So to start the morning out – he requested crepes!  Smart boy that one.

Then he opened one present (he got the rest on Saturday).  It was the last book in his favorite series – Diary of a Wimpy Kid!  So of course he started reading immediately!



We dressed up in Nathan’s old t-shirts and did some painting to prepare for his party on Saturday.



Then we met Nathan for lunch at Dallin favorite fast food place – FIREHOUSE! 

After lunch, while Layton was napping, Dallin and Mandy had a blast playing with water balloons!

After a close encounter of the scary kind with a black snake that ruined the water balloon fest – we headed up to Rita’s to enjoy a little Italian Ice and maybe a brain freeze or two.



For dinner (is it just me, or does it seem like our celebratory day mainly revolved around food???), Dallin picked hot dogs, strawberries, blueberries,



and his favorite vegetable – cucumbers.  Nathan introduced pepper sauce to Dallin and he LOVED it sprinkled on his cucumbers!



Then we watched Dallin’s new movie – Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Roderick Rules!  It was very cute.

And a birthday can’t be complete without cake – so we ended the day with a chocolate chocolate cake.  It was yummy!



At the end of the day Dallin told me it was the best birthday EVER! Which was true until Saturday came :)

Getting a little Culture

Last week for Activity Day girls, we decided to head to the Cummer Museum of Art to expand our artistic senses.  The museum is free to the public every Tuesday afternoon from 4:00 to 7:00.  But, they won’t let you take ANY pictures at all inside the museum – not even flash-less pictures.  But that’s ok, I guess they just want you to focus on the beauty of the artwork :)  I love art and so I enjoyed the galleries tremendously.  Surprisingly, I think the most fun gallery room at the museum was their new display of porcelain. 



They had a little brochure available for kids as they entered that particular gallery and in it were little games and facts about the porcelain.  I think the most popular game was a scavenger hunt.  The kids had a list of items that they had to find painted on all the different porcelain.  It was lots of fun!
Gladly, they do allow photographs outside.  This is our motley group that braved the security guard lined walls of the museum.



We only had 4 activity day girls come (we normally have 8 to 10 – I guess this wasn’t exactly the most popular of activities!).



The gardens are simply beautiful.  I can imagine that in the spring time that they must be breathtaking!

I tried to get a few pictures of my kids together.  Um…well.. you’ll see…

That last one cracks me up the most.  Layton is such a booger.

And Mandy is ever the princess.  Doesn’t she look perfectly at home on a throne.

And Dallin…

Well, Dallin is just Nathan in miniature.

Dallin's Baptism Video

Thank you to everyone that came to Dallin's baptism today.  It was wonderful.  We played this video of Dallin talking about his baptism.  Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Dallin!

My sweet Dallin is turning 8 today.  I can’t believe it!  He has grown up so very fast.  I am so proud of him.  He is such a good boy and tries so hard to do what is right.  He will be baptized on Saturday.  I hope he will always remember who he is and how special he is both in our eyes and in Heavenly Father’s eyes. 

Happy Birthday Dallin!

Hiking!

Dallin has heard us talk a lot about our hiking plans for our vacation in September, so he has been begging to go on a hike now.  So we looked up a place not too far away and went on a hike!

The park is the Julington-Durbin Creek Preserve.  I’ll have to admit, the beginnings of the trail were a bit of a disappointment.  It just looked like a pine tree farm.

But after we got down the trail a half mile or so, we started getting into the natural area of the preserve and it was beautiful.

We made it down to Durbin creek and took a little look.

And talked and looked at some of the plants.

Then we found a little shady spot on the trail and ate a picnic lunch.

The hike was about 1 mile to the creek and then 1 mile back.  They all did really good.  But about halfway back, Layton got kind of tired so he took a ride on Daddy’s shoulders.

I think he liked it :)

Preschool Graduation

Mandy graduated from preschool like two weeks, but for some reason I never posted the pictures!  So here they are in all their preschool glory.

Walking down the aisle – hips and lips!

Pledging Allegiance -

Singing songs - 

Chapel songs with the entertainer, opps, I mean Pastor.

Receiving her oh so important Preschool Diploma.  You know, she’ll never get a good job without it!

All joking aside, she had a fantastic year of preschool with a wonderful teacher who loved her and Layton too.  Look out Mrs. Staab, Layton will be coming your way in 2012.  I hope you’re ready!