Cute layouts of Averi

Just two cute layouts of Averi.  I got two free Shutterfly books, so I’m trying to get all my pages organized so I can use them.

Pioneer Day 2010

Now I know you think I already posted about Pioneer Day.  And I did.  But I didn’t.  The parade happened during the week, and the following is what occurred on the actual 24th of July. Aaron and I ran the 5K at the Pioneer Day Race in Provo.  It was really fun to be able to run it “together” (he’s obviously much faster than I am).  I also felt good because I beat my previous time, which was what I was hoping for. See, it’s blurry because I’m so fast! And here’s where I pass out…   They provided us breakfast at the race, and Averi felt that she deserved to share because of all her hard work.  She was NOT happy about getting up early to come and see us.  But we’re mean like that.   They had an amazing face painter there, but Katie was the only one of my kids who was patient enough to wait in the LONG line. Later that afternoon we had a dutch oven dinner over at the Grandma and Grandpa J’s house and went swimming in their pool.  Tucker (their miniature dachshund) loves being with everyone in the pool (not swimming, but floating on the rafts), and Lando would stare longingly at him and everyone else, too chicken to do anything.  So we “helped” him in.  And he was not pleased.  It’s a good thing that water makes people dogs lighter, because I had to haul all 75 pounds of him out after we quickly learned that he was NOT a water dog.  He ran and hid from us after that.  And I think he found quite a good spot!     Major stink eye.   And a study in sizes: I sometimes forget how large Lando is.  And then we see Tucker, and I remember. The chosen game of the evening was “let’s see how far we can toss the children.”  The choice of this game was enthusiastically seconded by Katie and Paul.   It got a little bit risque:   YES!!  I think that was a full moon!

Aaron’s Surprise Party

Aaron turned the big Three Oh this year, so I figured I needed to throw him a killer party. I was completely inspired by the blog Hostess with the Mostess to throw a carnival-themed party. I had paper lanterns, pom poms, balloons, themed food, bouncy castle, you name it. And then the wind started. And it never stopped. And the deep fryer (which was Aaron’s present) for the corn dogs didn’t have a cord. But that’s okay. It still turned out great. My friend Sacha took some amazing pictures for me so I could play hostess instead of photographer. Here’s the birthday boy. And he says he was completely surprised, even though Paul in his prayer the night before started saying, “And we thank thee we could go to the party store and have licorice and have cupcakes…” I had to shush him in the middle of his prayer, and he completely didn’t get it. Luckily I’m a convincing liar "(Right, Aaron? Right?) and he was completely fooled. Or Aaron’s the convincing one. And apparently I had a good time surprising him (this was taken just when he came home). Or else I was just glad that my new dress fit (I didn’t try it on until 40 minutes before the party) and that it looked super cute with my red shoes. Lando had a GREAT time. I can’t tell you how many times I heard, “Mom!! Lando stole my cupcake!” He refused to come in for at least an hour after everyone left because he was busy scrounging. We loved being surrounded by friends. A party is only as good as the people attending. My vision of oodles of balloons all around the backyard didn’t happen because of the wind. But I was determined to have the balloons in spite of the weather. Luckily I have no problems delegating, and the DeMosses were my designated balloon inflators. Unfortunately the balloons kept popping on the ceiling. But they looked good while they lasted. We had quite the spread. Sacha (the photographer) made the most adorable (and delicious!) popcorn cupcakes. They were so cute that people were worried about eating them…almost. (And yes, Lando did eventually steal Makenna’s cupcake.) More photos of the spread: By my friend Melissa. Isn’t this vegetable bouquet incredible? The popcorn machine was a hit. Yummy wings and corndogs for something more substantial. The kids had a blast playing together. There were millions of them, which scared some of Aaron’s friends from work, but we’re used to the chaos. I made little props for people to use for pictures in a photo booth. Couldn’t do the booth because of the wind, but Sacha still got some great photos: Happy birthday to the love of my life! I can’t wait to see what the next 30 years bring!