Friday, May 29, 2015

Turtle Power



Little Sammy turned five this May!  He is growing up! To celebrate, Jenny and Mike threw him a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle themed birthday bash.  He is obsessed with TMNT at the moment, so he was stoked about his party, and I was too!

One time when I was little, I started to color myself dark green with a watermelon scented Mr. Scents marker. I totally believed that if I colored my entire body green, I would magically turn into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, my parents wouldn't recognize me, and I wouldn't have to go to school.  It made complete sense to me.  I only got half way up my legs when my mom found me and made me take a bath, I was so upset that my plan got foiled!

So TMNT has a special place in my heart, I was so excited about this party!





Look at how fun the food for this party was!











James came to the party covered in marker, looks like he had the same idea as I did when I was little.  Great minds think alike.




Thomas was fascinated by feeling baby girl Madison kicking, it was pretty adorable.




James was busy baking up a storm in the play room while Sam was opening his presents.  Every few minutes, he would toddle out with some new baked good and his protective oven mit.




After presents it was time for the piñata!  This piñata was super cool, instead of taking turns hitting it, each kid got a chance to pull one of the strings tied to the back.  One lucky string pulled out the bottom, spilling all the candy.  A much safer alternative for a party piñata.




Look at this amazing cake Jenny made!  It's perfection!






Happiest of birthdays to you Sammy!  You are such a joy, and we always have so much fun when you are around!  Love you!





Thursday, May 28, 2015

Evie's Lunch Lab Birthday


Evie turned 7 this past April and we couldn't wait to celebrate with her!  She chose Fizzy's Lunch Lab for the theme of her party.  Fizzy's is a PBS show that is all about cooking and eating healthy, I thought it was so cute that she chose that as her theme.  Jens did such a great job with all the fun cooking and fruit related decor!





The buffet was stunning!  It was jam packed full of all sorts of healthy options.  One of the episodes of Fizzy's Lunch Lab talks about how it is important to pick a variety of colors when eating fruits and vegetables,  Jenny made sure to have as many colors as possible in the buffet! 









Instead of birthday cake, Jenny thought it would be fun to serve fruit pizzas, since they are a healthier option.  They looked gorgeous!! And they tasted amazing!  I love fruit pizza, but hadn't had any in years, so I was looking forward to dessert all night!




Happy Happy birthday sweet Ev Bug!  We all love you so much!


Visiting Arizona


This past March I had the opportunity to go visit my sister and her family in Gilbert, Arizona!  When we arrived there was a cute welcome sign waiting for us!  Karin always thinks of fun little details to make our stay at her house extra special.



On our first day in Arizona, I took the three youngest to the park while the others ran around town going to lessons and checking into hotels.  I had such a fun time playing with James on the swings while Thomas and Will built a sand castle.







Karin and the boys were so excited to take us to the Rock Shop.  It is such a magical place, they have stones, rocks and precious gems from all over the world.  I got some agate slices from Brazil and a quartz night light from Mexico.  We all found something fun to take home.



Here is a random assortment of pictures from our stay, we had so much fun!





Thomas asked to brush my hair every night, it was the cutest thing in the world.  He even got James to help a few times.






Making play dough for play group.



I had the memorable experience of taking family names to the Gilbert temple to do baptisms with Andrew and John.  The Gilbert temple is absolutely gorgeous, after the baptisms we walked around the grounds, to take it in all the beauty.







Bethy had mentioned that she thought it would be cute to have the boys draw a picture of her while she is pregnant.  I helped Thomas draw his picture, he asked, "what color of eyes does her have?" He also asked what color of hair she has, he wanted his portrait to be accurate.  



That night, Karin took us to a very special restaurant, Beaver Choice.  Don't let the name fool you, it's a fun and yummy place.  They serve Scandinavian, Canadian and American food.  Karin thought it would be fun to take the boys here for their first try of European food, we will be eating a lot of this kind of cuisine this summer!  I got Elk stew with lingon berry jam, it was really delicious. 







Will set up a hot dog stand in the kitchen and served us hot dogs throughout our stay.









The main reason for our visit was to see John perform with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony.  He has earned first chair, and did such a wonderful job.  His symphony played a Phantom of the Opera medley that was outstanding.




Before heading to the airport on our last day, we went out to brunch at the Gilbert House.  This place is super adorable, it reminded me so much of the South.

It was so much fun to spend some time with Karin and her boys in their "home town" of Arizona.  I desperately wish I could make it out there more often.  Thank you so much for such a fun stay Burton family!  I love you all to pieces!