Dance Festival

Most years for the dance festival, I feel like I'm talking my boys into putting up with it and just getting it over.  This year, I have a child who is excited about the dance festival!  Such a different experience for me.
Kate has been talking about her dance for months.  She practices at home, picked out her outfit weeks ago and already knows how she wants her hair.  She was so excited that morning!

The kindergartners were dancing to a country song (and if I knew more about country music I could tell you it's name, but since I don't, I will say it was a very fun song).  The dance was very simple and repetitive, but Kate loved it and did great!

Enoch hates the dance festival.  Really does has strong emotions about not doing it.  It takes a lot for me to talk him into it.  This year, my only saving grace was the fourth graders were dancing to the Lego movie song, "Everythng is Awesome" and Enoch really likes that song.  He was almost in tears the night before (Enoch hates being in the limelight), but he pulled through and did great.  He did really great!  I don't know what he was worried about.

And, he was right in front of me, Greg, Grandma and Guard and also Kate, who was sitting with her class.  I think that made it a little easier for him.
Great job, guys!

Scattered Thoughts

1. This is our second year (and probably our last since my sister and her family are moving) or participating in the Now I Can walk in Provo.  Now I Can is a great organization that helps with my nephew's physical therapy.  It has been such a blessing for him and my sister.  We were so excited we could be there again.

The kids rode their scooter, Greg, Guard and I walked and Gavin ran (which he shouldn't have done because he has a bad cold and he couldn't breathe).

It was a great morning and we are so happy to support McKay!

2.  Thanksgiving Point opened their new Museum of Natural Curiosity.  It's very cool and so fun for the kids.  We have been a few time in the last week or so.  It is always so crowded.  This time Kate, Guard and I tried going right after kindergarten and it was too bad.  The kids love it!

3.  We cleaned out our garage on Memorial Day.  It hadn't been cleaned out since, well, never I think.  It really needed a good dejunking.  We moved everything onto the lawn and then started piles - garbage, DI, back into garage, KSL, etc. 

 We did good!  We got rid of a lot of things that we didn't need anymore, replace our wooden shelves that were falling apart with smaller metal shelving, rehung some bikes, got a bike rack for the kid's bikes and took a huge load to the dump and another to DI.

 It feels so good to have that done!

2

My baby boy's birthday is today.

 He is two.

 It has been a great two years.

 Some days have been hard, but most have been a joy.

 Guard is so fun, happy, stubborn, smart, opinionated, and adorable.

 To me, he seems like a good mix between Greg and Gavin - not quite as intense as Gavin, but a bit more than Greg.

 He's perfect for us.
We kept today, low-key.  I feel like we have had parties non-stop for a few weeks.  I guess that's what I get having three birthdays in a matter of days (Gavin - May 1, Greg - May 2, Guard - May 11).  Guard was happy to have some downtime to play with his Legos, eat brownies and finally get a nap.
His nursery teachers did celebrate his birthday and he thought that was awesome!

We measured him.  He's a bit on the short side, but who cares? 

What a fun little guy!  We love him so much! (And that's a wrap for pictures!)

Guard at 2 months.  So cute!

Guard's Birthday Party

My little guy is two!  I can't believe it!  He has been so much fun and such a joy to have in our family.  He is completely spoiled, but so stinking cute I can't help myself.  Now that he can talk, it just makes him even more fun and we love to hear him say new words and phrases.  It cracks us all up the way he says certain words.  My favorite part is his observations of the world and how he sees things.
We had a Randall party with all the cousins for our May birthdays.  Or course, it was all about Guard, but why wouldn't it be?

 Greg and Gavin did get some presents - Greg got some shirts, essential oils for his bees, Oreos and a few gift cards.  Gavin got some BYU sunglasses, a huge pile of his favorite things from Fords, a BYU license plate cover and a Costco box of brownies from Mom.  (We had really celebrated their birthdays before.)

 Guard's big present way...yeah, I don't have a picture of it.  How did that happen?  I'm chalking it up to the face that he really didn't open it and it was complete chaos in our small family room.  Guard got a custom-made sand box from his dad.  It is awesome!  It is more of a sand table just at the right height for Guard and Kate.  He really wasn't sure what it was because it was sitting out of place in the family room and it didn't have sand in it.  As soon as we took it outside and put sand in it, he has pretty much lived out there.  He loves it!
Guard also got a dragon and a truck to play with in the sand box.  And...Legos.  Yes, we have started the tradition early.  Guard got the most amazing set of Duplos with a lot of animals.  And when he is not in the sand box, he is playing Legos.  He is really a master Lego builder.  He already had a lot of skill and it just seems intuitive for my kids to build with Legos.  Clearly they get it from their dad.  Enoch was about the throw away the instruction like he always does, but I retireved them from the garbage, as well as the box that has alternative building ideas.  He asked why we needed them.  I told him I needed to know how to build things when I was playing with Guard.  Enoch seemed completely confused by that and Greg just rolled his eyes.  I am not a master Lego builder.
Guard loves his Legos.

Instead of birthday cake, we served leftover brownies from Gavin's party with ice cream and caramel sauce.  I don't anyone complained they were leftovers.
It was a great party!  Thanks everyone for coming!

Gavin's Birthday Party

It's been a little while since Gavin has had an official birthday party.  The last few years he has had a couple of friends over for pizza and a movie and that has been good enough for him.  I asked him if he wanted a big party for his sixteenth birthday.  He told me no.  I told him you're getting it anyway.  You only turn 16 once and you don't want to regret not doing something fun.
Since May weather in Utah is unpredictable and we couldn't count on having it in the backyard and I really didn't want 20 teenagers in my house, we decided to do it at the Stake Center.  It worked out great!
We started the night with pizza (18 pizzas).  I can't believe how fast teenagers can eat.  After dinner was over, we cleared away the tables and played some fun games.  We had sock dodge ball (thank you Tuttles for letting us borrow all your sock balls and it was so much fun to clean them all up!):

We borrowed a giant elastic and gunny sacks from the Fords (thanks to you! everyone loved them):

And we had some minute-it-win-it type games.  Wow!  Teenagers can be crazy!

After the kids had exhausted themselves with games, they watched a movie complete with bags of popcorn and candy bars.  Half way through The Hobbit, Greg and I served brownie sundaes (brownies, ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate bars and sprinkles).  The key to happy teenagers is a lot of good food.  I think we did well.
It was a great night for a great teenager.  After, Gavin did say he was glad we did it even though he didn't want it in the beginning.
Love you, Gav!

3 Gs Birthdays

Tonight we celebrated our three Gs - Greg, Gavin and Guard - all born in May.  We kept it simple - Gavin is having a friend party next week and we are having a family party for all three on May 11.
We had cake at Fowler Family Home Evening.

Greg opened a few presents - a peanut butter chocolate bucket and a new bird feeder for the backyard.

It seems like we have been celebrating for weeks now.  That's okay, - we love our boys!

Words

Guard is saying words!
His language was lagging a bit and now it has taken off.  I'm amazed at how many new words he has every day.  He loves talking and being able to communicate with us.
His first words included:
horse
no
mine
me
shoes
cheese
book
more
ma
da
Coal
and many more!
He is such a cutie and it is so fun to see him growing up!

Gavin's (not really) new car

A few year ago, Greg and I started discussing what the car situation would be when Gavin turned 16.  I always assumed if he wanted a car, he could get a job and pay for it.  That was before band and marching band took over his life and all his time.  Greg said he would rather pay for the car and let Gavin use it knowing that it was our car and we could take it away from him wherever we felt necessary.   If it was his car, he bought with his own money, we couldn't use it as leverage for good grades and behavior.  Greg's idea sounded better.
A few months before Gavin turned 16, we started causally browsing KSL for used cars.  Our price range wasn't too high and most of the cars we were finding were pretty trashed.  We upped our price a bit and still were having a hard time finding something that we wouldn't have to sink a lot of money into to make it workable.  We kept looking.
Gavin's birthday came and went without a car sitting in the driveway.  Gavin was anxious to find something, but Greg was holding out for the right car.  Finally, we found it.  Greg has always been fond of Troopers, since he drove one for a few years.  A lot of people don't have high opinions of them, but we found them to be good cars.  We found a really nice one on KSL in our price range.  When Greg went to look at it, he couldn't believe how nice it was.  Really nice for a 1998.  It hardly looked worn on the inside and just a few very minor dings on the outside.  We took it to our mechanic, and he gave it a clean bill of health.
Gavin had his car!

Gavin was very excited and been so helpful in running errands! (We will see if that lasts!)
Greg reminds Gavin constantly that he is driving his parents car.  We don't want him to forget who the car actually belongs to.
Happy Birthday, Gavin!

Gavin is 16!

I can't believe Gavin is 16! 
16!
Sixteen!
Wow!

Sixteen wonderful years.  Gavin has been a joy.  Gavin is a great person and we are lucky to have him.

We celebrated his birthday as a family (he will have a big friend party next week).  We measured him:

Obviously, he is the tallest in the family.
 He opened his presents which were clothes.  He picked out a few he liked and we returned the rest.  I think that is the last time I'm buying clothes for him.
We drove up to the DMV and got his license:

Pretty exciting!  At least for Gavin - not for mom and dad.
Greg and I took him to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  He really enjoyed that.  Probably the highlight of his birthday, aside from the license, of course.
Big present (car) is coming in a few days.
Happy Birthday, Gavin!  We love you!