Party time!

Balloons are such a part of birthdays in our home (I know- they are in most). So here is Austin with his balloons. We always let the birthday child have the mylar balloon after the party, and the other kids get to pick one of the other ones, so everyone looks forward to the balloons with each birthday. Since it has been a while since the last birthday in our house, Austin hasn't really played with balloons before, so it was fun to let him play with them for a while before the real party started.

For dinner we went really easy and got some Wendy's. He had never had it before, and loved it!

When I took Ethan to help me pick out presents and balloons, Ethan insisted on getting this little balloon for Austin, and Austin loved it.

For the party it was just our own little family, Grandma and Grandpa Gibson, and Grandma and Grandpa Kirk.

Of course the boys had fun helping Austin "open" his presents.

Austin and Grandpa Kirk.

And here's the fun tradition of THE BIRTHDAY CAKE!

He did not like the messy feel of it at first.

Once he tasted the frosting he didn't mind the messy part so much, but he did not like the cake when he got to the actual cake part.

Happy, Happy Birthday Austin, Dear!

This little sweet boy...

... has already gone from this:

...to this:

Happy Birthday Austin!!

At one year Austin:

***Loves to read books***Is almost walking - can stand and take a step or two***Loves to eat... anything***Loves his blanket and chews on the corner with the tag***Still loves to crawl under and behind things***Loves to be tickled***Gets his legs stuck in the slats of his crib like no other baby I have had (seriously, what is he doing?)***Is a Mamma's boy***Leads and sings when someone else is***Loves to laugh if he hears someone else laughing***

A Captured Butterfly

Dylan has a butterfly house that we received caterpillars with last year. He decided to catch a butterfly this year, and watch it for a few days. Here he is as he is getting ready to let it return to the wild.

Crazy Storm

We had such a crazy day today. I was out visiting teaching and we could hear the hail hitting the house. We looked outside to see hail as big as almost a quarter - crazy! When I got home about an hour later there was still so much hail on the ground, which tells you really how much fell to have not melted yet. This is leading up to my door. It looks like snow - and it kind of ruined my flowers, they don't look so good anymore. Gotta love mother nature!

Soccer

Jayden loves, craves, and lives for soccer. He is so much fun to watch as he goes after the ball and takes it down for a score. In the leagues for kids his age, it is kind of hard for him to figure out what to do, since usually after a few goals, the coaches start to tell him to pass it to other kids. We laugh when we see him racing down the field, and then you can tell when he hears his coach telling him to pass. He will suddenly slow down and look for a teammate, who are usually behind him, and then kick the ball that way to one of them. Its hard, because you don't want to totally score tons on a team - it gets kind of old for everyone else, but how do you keep that drive in a child to go after the ball, dribble around other players, and go for the goal. I think it messes him up a little, but all in all he's doing good with it. There have been a few times where a teammate has been up ahead and he has passed the ball to them and they were able to score a goal. He is so lucky to have a few of his good buddies on his team: Zane, Brendan, Kieran, and Campbell.

(This step by step picture of the goal brought to you by Devon, who loves to take lots of pictures with my camera)

Spiritual Feast

2 Nephi 31:20 Wherefore ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the words of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

2 Nephi 32:3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ: for behold, the words of Christ shall tell you all things what ye shall do.

Austin took this a little too seriously last week... and ate part of Genesis 35, all of Genesis 36 and part of Genesis 37. I don't use my old testament quite as much as some of the other books, so I didn't feel too overwrought about this... there was nothing I could about it at this point anyway, but then I looked to see what he ate. It is the beginning of the story of Joseph of Egypt. I love that story, so I am a bit frustrated about that. I guess that's what I get for leaving my scriptures on the couch after family scripture study. =) And you would think I would learn my lesson... but no... I have found him with my scriptures so many times since. I actually first found part of the page he ate on the initial discovery, and I saved that partial page thinking not only would I actually have a piece of the page rather than completely be missing it, but it would be kind of a nostalgic thing of Austin's babyhood... but in one of those other findings, he found it again and finished it off. Oops! I just hope to keep the rest of my pages intact... and I really should learn my lesson one of these days.

The deed is done. I cut Austin's hair today. I always get a little sad when I cut my babies hair for the first time. It seems to signal a little bit of an end of baby hood to me... their little locks that curl around in back. His hair was just getting too long I think. I meant to take a picture of his hair straight up to show how long it really was. You can't really tell because it is pretty thing, but I did measure it and it was about 4 inches long on top. He was getting the traditional "wings" on the sides that my kids always get.

It was a little crazy, but using a tupperware full of baby bottle lids and nipples, a few dried pieces of bananas, a pancake, the lid to my camera, and a slinky... we got it done. I think it turned out pretty good other than the one spot where I cut the hair to save (I have always saved a lock of their hair), I cut just a tiny bit too close. All in all, pretty good.

Little Preschooler

Last week I took Ethan to meet his teacher. He had to bring his backpack (his own personal insistence)...he was so excited to go! We saw where he would put his shoes and his backpack. We saw where he would play, and have class. He showed his teacher the colors he knows. When it was all over, and we were on our way back home, I was telling him that he gets to go again on Tuesday, and he said "I get to go again?" I think to him that was it. He had gone to preschool, he loved it, and now it was done.

So today when I walked him to school, he was so excited. He wanted lots of stuff in his backpack like his brothers, but I told him he would fill it up at school. He wanted to ride his bike to school, even though it is only two houses away and through a backyard gate. There was no fear, no hesitation, just happy excitement. So after a few pictures, I gave him a hug, and walked back to my house, laid Austin down for a nap, and enjoyed two and a half hours of a super quiet house.

Caught Up!

Whew! It took me a while, but in case you are wondering... I think I am finally caught up!

Reid Ranch -Let the Kirk Party Get Started!

Kirk Family vacation was at a place called Reid Ranch, about an hour east of Heber. We all had a blast. The biggest downer was the fact that Devon was working at the National Boy Scout Jamboree so I had to fly solo. Thanks everyone for helping me!





Here's the crew. You can see the empty spot behind me where we wish Devon was. Also, my mom has Jayden on her lap if you're wondering where one of my boys are.

Ethan, Emi, Megan, and Austin having some fun on the sports court that was outside our cabin.

One favorite of the trip was the lake. They had canoes, paddle boats, and a row boat. The boys had so much fun paddling around the lake.

Here's Ben with Jayden and Dylan

Me, Ethan, and my dad having some fun on the paddle boats. We decided the canoes were so much easier than the paddle boats.

The archery was the other favorite of the whole trip. My boys LOVED it!! Jayden and Dylan got pretty good at doing it by themselves, and Dylan even got some bulls eyes, and Jayden had some great hits on the target.

Even Grandma got in on the fun. Nice shot!

P.S. In case you haven't gone on a family vacation without your husband, just hope you don't follow in my footsteps: one flat tire, one stubbed bleeding toe of a child, one stubbed purple-bruised toe of another child, mice in your bedroom (don't worry, we moved bedrooms at about 11 pm to a non-mouse infested room), one broken window on the same car as the flat tire - mine,... oh and I did have a spider fall in my head while eating dinner. Eeek- almost as bad as the mice in my room in my book. But all that aside, we had a blast!

Dylan's a 2nd Grader

Dylan started school two weeks ago, and this is a picture of him and his teacher, Mrs. Humphries, on the first day of school. He is such a good student. He LOVES to read. There are so many times I am trying to get him to do something, and it doesn't happen because he is reading. One time he even said, "Mom, I'm trying to... but I just can't stop reading!" It really frustrates me, to be honest, but I have to remind myself that there are some kids that wouldn't read for anything. So... he may have a messy room, or take hours just to get dressed... but he loves to read, and that will benefit him his whole life. He also LOVES science. It is his favorite subject. He loves to learn about animals (especially sea life, tigers and insects), rocks, plants, space... really just about anything science. His only complaint is that sometimes they don't learn enough about things, they are just going too simple for him.

Dylan also loves Legos, and we have a lot of Legos in our house. He loves to build things and have me take pictures so we can send them into the Lego magazine and he hopes he will be one of the kids who's creations get pictured. He could play all day with Legos and be plenty happy.

He also loves to ride his bike around the neighborhood, and he loves to see how fast he can go around the block, or race other people.

He loves Star Wars and loves to have lightsaber fights with friends and brothers. He also asked for his backpack and lunchbox to be Star Wars this year.

He is a very sweet boy, and I will never tire of hearing him say "Good morning Austin!" in his same high sing-song voice that he has done for every baby.

He is going to have such a great year. He has an awesome teacher. She has a great Reading Rewards program that he is excited about (and so am I), and that is going to be awesome for him. He's got a fun group of friends that he plays with at recess. It is going to be great.

Lagoon

Our kids had never been to Lagoon. Well, I guess that's a lie. Dylan went once... he was 5 months old (we haven't been since). But other than that, they had never been. All the Gibson's thought it would be fun to go together, so we did, and we had so much fun! He went on every single one he was tall enough for. Wicked and the Colossus were his favorite.
Jayden LOVED all the roller coasters, his favorites were Wicked and Colussus. I loved Wicked, too. I wasn't sure what it was going to feel like to shoot straight up, and then go straight down (it has an upside down U at the very beginning of the track), but it was a lot of fun.

Jason took all the 5 and 6 year old cousins on Tilt a Whirl. They just giggled and giggled (the little kids)!

Dylan and Ethan's favorite rides were the little kids ones.
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Here's Ethan with his cousin Joel. Aren't they so cute?