Thursday, July 31, 2014

Clark's 11th Birthday

For some reason this birthday wasn't "weird", as in, I can't believe how old they are getting.  But Clark turned 11 and it just seemed to fit.  My sister Stephanie was up visiting Lois and they all came down for the weekend to visit and join in on the party.  It was so fun having them here!

Saturday afternoon we went to the pool. 
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Of course I had to take them to Sharp Shopper.  It was so fun having Steph go there for the first time with us! 
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Each birthday I let the kids pick out a treat at the grocery store, anything they want, for under $5.  I rarely buy them things they ask for at the store, so I think it's fun that once a year they can pick something with Lee and I footing the bill.  After Sharp Shopper we stopped at another grocery store to buy a roast for Clark's birthday dinner the next day.  Clark came inside with me so he could buy his treat. First Clark walked down the bulk candy isle. But nothing caught his eye. Then he grabbed three cans of sardines...yes, he loves sardines.  Then at the meat counter he decided he wanted a seasoned split chicken.  He was able to get two pieces coming in at $4.20.  He was very pleased with what he picked out, no regrets.  Lee grilled some yummy hamburgers that night for dinner and put one piece of Clark's chicken on the grill. 
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That night I started working on his cake....the last kid cake of the year! 
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Clark's chicken.  The burgers Lee grilled were so good!
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That night Lois, Steph headed out with us to Dairy Queen.  The kids had coupons for free ice cream cones from the summer reading program that I wanted them to use.  And Steph bought Lois and I a blizzard. YUM!  Thanks Steph! 
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We drove over to the McGaheysville (pronounce Mc-gack-ee-s-ville) fire department where they were holding a summer carnival of sorts.  Fireworks were scheduled that night but it was raining.  We did see 4 fireworks go off, but then headed home after waiting awhile.
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I stayed up way too late...It was Sunday morning when I went to bed.  I did a creeper head for Clark's cake.  It's a character on a computer game, Minecraft.
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I wasn't pleased with the edges on the bottom.  Oh well.
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Clark had a good birthday.  We were talking about a friend party, which we never had.  When I asked him about it the day after his birthday, he said he was fine with not having one because cousins and family were there for his birthday.  How sweet!  Our friends the Franke's came too to help celebrate.

Three sisters!!!  Too bad Deb, Lena and our sisters-in-law couldn't have been there! 
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Clark with his cake!
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Party time!
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I love Blake's face...Elden too.  They are blowing out the candles, ha ha.
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Clark received some fun gifts.  Candy from the Franke's, $5 from Lois and Jeff (who doesn't love getting money?!) a Pokeman card set and Lego set from us.  I hid the Lego set and Clark didn't see it till right when it was time to open his presents.  I knew that as soon as he picked it up he would know what it was. He received birthday cards-with money-from each of the grandparents this week too, and he loved that. 
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Happy Birthday Clark!  We're blessed to have a creative, kind, responsible young man in our home.  And you are sounding great on the piano too! We love you!

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Pioneer Day

July 24th is somewhat of a holiday in my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  After a long exodus from the Missouri/Iowa/Illinois area because of horrible persecution, the first pioneers of my church made it to the Salt Lake Valley, in Utah, on July 24th, 1847.  In fact it is a holiday in Utah and towns have parades and such.  And it happens to be my sister Lena's birthday. 

My ward (church congregation) had a fun Pioneer Day celebration of our own a few days before the 24th.

After a dinner there were different activities and games. One was a watermelon seed spitting contest.  Clark spit his seed the farthest, though you only got one try and that was his 2nd or 3rd try. There was also a watermelon eating contest. Yeah, I couldn't pass that up!

Cal did one too with his friends.
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Clark, Lee, Jarom and I had a contest.
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You'd think watermelon would be easy to get down your throat, but it's not!  I gagged once too.  Glad I kept it in my mouth.
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Annnnnnd...I won!
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Good job Jarom.  We had a rematch later that evening with just one piece and he totally beat me.
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There was also tug-of-war.
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And a "pie" walk, instead of a cake walk.  I brought two pumpkin pies for that.
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Before the activity we went swimming.  It was sprinkling out, but the pool was still open. Hardly anyone was there.  My kids quite liked it and all of them got in the water.  I did not.
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And another funny picture.  We do need to do more for Pioneer day, that is for sure.  Hopefully next year! 
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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Baby Shower!

A couple of days after our Utah trip there was a baby shower at my house.  We have some serious landscaping to do outside and Lee bought 5 bags of mulch (all that was left in the color we wanted).  After some weeding, that night we spread out what we had.  It looks so much better.  But then we never finished ha ha.  We will buy some sometime soon...  We had some extra money from our Utah trip, which was great.  I was going to buy more mulch but then something else came up and to an extent I stopped spending the extra money, except where needed.  I still haven't figured out the perfect budget!
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Cal.  It's funny seeing pictures that the kids take.
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On to the baby shower.  My good friend Risa has twin boys and is now expecting a baby girl!  YAY!  She was actually my next door neighbor at Rick's College...crazy, right?! Another friend Emmy planned and coordinated the whole shower--I provided the house and paper products.  Hannah brought really cute decorations.
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Abby taught us how to make a few different kinds of hair bows.  So cute! Emmy and Lindsay and Hannah (maybe someone else?) brought the yummy food.  I love the food at baby showers!
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Shanna's cousin Rachel gave her this dress.  She got all dressed up for the baby shower.  So cute.
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Abby was so thoughtful and made a "hanger" for all the hair bows we made Risa!  Abby gave her some too, I think.
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This girl is ready!!!
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Doesn't she look great!  It was fun having all these ladies at my house.  I'm kind of far from most of them--it takes us an hour to drive to someone's house that lives in our ward (church congregation). That is how big our ward boundaries are.  But it was great that they would come all they way out to my house.  It was fun celebrating the upcoming birth.  Can't wait to hear the big news! 
July 18 2014 Risa Stumm Baby Shower