Joey's 3rd Birthday

 Joey's birthday finally came!  Going to other parties has been pure torture for him! He just wants to blow out those candles & open the presents so badly!  It was finally his day and we tried to make it extra special for him!

Joey woke up to streamers in the kitchen and since he's an early riser he had his own private breakfast of pancakes.  He even had a candle and blue sprinkles in them.

We had a Car party that afternoon with some of our nearby family!  Thanks to everyone that came!  

Tony made these darling cars for all the kids to decorate at the party.

Joey was really excited about his cake!

We decorated and played with the cars, ate cake & ice cream and opened presents.  He had the best reactions for each present!  He was thrilled with each one.

Joey is such a special part of our family.  He definitely brings the spunky and crazy to our home!

Happy Birthday, Joey!!!

Life with Peter

Where do I even begin?  How is it that a baby is born and suddenly you can't remember life without them?  Peter makes our life so incredibly happy.

The boys adore him.  Joey is constantly snuggling up to him saying, "I wuvs you, Petey!" or "he wuvs me!"

this picture makes me laugh so hard!

Charlie is definitely the big brother and always trying to entertain and keep him happy.  He gives him toys and tells him jokes- usually with the word "poop" in it.  I love that Charlie can smile and talk to Peter while we're driving in the car.  With our carseat situation they face each other.  

Both Charlie and Joey like to climb into Peter's crib when he wakes.  I love hearing the 3 of them giggling over the baby monitor!

Peter LOVES being on the trampoline while the boys jump.  I sit with him on my lap and the boys do their tricks.  Peter just belly laughs once he gets bouncing!  We can already tell he likes to play a little rough.  He likes to be in the action for sure!

 It's fun seeing these 3 little boys grow up together.  We love our family life with Peter!

Happy 4th of July

4th of July morning we walked to Main St. for the annual parade.  The city did a great job this year!

 Cole loved the characters in the parade and wanted to hug each one.  

What a cute kid! 

Joey is our parade snob and refused to run for any salt water taffy that was thrown out.... Salt water taffy was pretty much all the candy passed out.  He wanted the good stuff like the specialty chocolate the Mrs. Cavanaugh's float passed out.  He's a smart stinker.

 My boys love their Uncle Jack!

After the parade we headed back to my parent's home to cool off.  It was hot!  The kids played in the water and everyone had lunch.  So fun to celebrate the 4th with them this year!

We headed home for a little quiet time before we were off to another celebration!  Tony's office purchased tickets to Stadium of Fire for employees and families and we couldn't wait to go!  Prior to the show was a company dinner at the BYU baseball stadium.

 Charlie looks so grown up in this picture!  

They also supplied everyone with company t-shirts.  They are actually cute too!  We were pretty much walking advertising :)

 Playing around after dinner

 It was really fun for our boys to explore the stadium while we waited for the show to start!

We were worried to bring the boys to the show, but they did GREAT!  I picked up glow sticks & special snacks to help them get through the night.  Tony even bought dippin' dots and I'm pretty sure he and I were more excited about them than the boys were.  Dippin' dots!  Maybe that was a fad when we were kids?  Anyways, they were just as wonderful as we imagined them to be :)

Carrie Underwood was the guest performer and was amazing!  The whole show was fantastic and the boys were mesmerized.  We left when Carrie had a couple songs left because we were worried about losing one of the boys in the mass exodus afterwards!  It ended up being a smart move because we watched the fireworks from the parking lot and got out of Provo without any traffic.

The fireworks were incredible!  You could see them everywhere!  I think we may find a spot to watch them next year.  It was our best 4th of July yet.  I loved the Stadium of Fire because it was so patriotic.  I felt a rush of gratitude to live in this country.

Happy 4th of July!!!

The 3rd of July

 we got our flag up just in time for the holiday

The 3rd of July was always my favorite for celebrating the 4th.  My family did the same thing every year: fried chicken & shrimp pasta salad for dinner, concert in the park & fireworks.  Centerville does a great job celebrating Independence Day!

This was my first year to be there for the 4th in 7 years!  It was just like I remembered and that made me happy.  Actually, it was even better because I had my own little family to share it with.

 killing time before driving up to Nana & Papa's

 I was in charge of dessert and brought shortcake bars 

Rather than bringing our traditional dinner to the park, we ate in my parent's backyard.  It gets a little more crowded each year.  I guess people finally started catching on to how fun it is!  Luckily my parents live a block away so we could walk over anytime.

This year we lucked out and it rained right before dinner.  We had much cooler weather the rest of the evening.  It was a little humid, but we were so happy to not be in the blazing sun!

After dinner we grabbed our chairs and walked over to the park.

The fireworks were great and Nana brought fun little baggies for each kid filled with goodies.  Papa even brought over a box of otterpops which we were all thankful for!  It was so fun to be together and see all the kids together.  We had my family, all of my siblings, cousins and kids, plus Wende & Ethan.  It was a great time!