I am still trying to catch up a bit, but we have been having too much fun! We did celebrate Noah's birthday. He was excited to wake up and find birthday donuts from Aaron that morning!
Noah wanted a chocolate fudge cake with chocolate frosting for his birthday cake. I started to get the ingredients out to make the cake when Josh and Sarah offered to make it. They love baking so I was more than happy to let them make it.
Noah wanted to visit Seaquest Aquarium as a family for his birthday. Aaron had to work so it was just me and the kids, but we had a good time. I remembered my camera this time so I could actually take some pictures--wahoo! Here the kids were looking for the Cayman--which is like an alligator:
Josh was tall enough to see over the wall and he found it so the rest of the kids could see the Cayman:
He even lifted Noah up so he could see it up close:
We stopped by to see the iguana:
We got to try and touch the octopus:
We got to touch the tide pool creatures, too:
I love watching jellyfish.
I find them very relaxing to watch. The kids had to pull me away from watching them so we could move on to the next exhibit. I did get a short video of them swimming because I really do like watching them:
We got to see some shark eggs:
A HUGE python:
A hermit crab:
Pet the tortoise:
Pet some chickens:
We did splurge a bit and get a turn at feeding the birds. Just the 6 of us got to go inside the bird exhibit, get a handful of birdseed and then have the birds land on our hands to eat it. I think Aaron was just fine missing this part--haha! He HATES birds. We were one of the first groups in the morning so the birds were pretty hungry which made them even aggressive to eat the food.
After we got the birdseed the birds swarmed us. The kids just giggled. I did get a video of the birds as they started eating:
It was pretty cool!
We stopped by and saw the sloth:
We got to pet the sting rays:
The fish even came and nibbled on our hands/fingers:
We can't pass by a photo op!
We had a few tokens left over so we went back and did fed the birds again. This time it wasn't as exciting because the birds weren't as hungry, but it was still pretty cool. I still can't believe he is 9!!!
On the way out of SeaQuest we passed by a Mrs. Fields Cookie store. That brought back a ton of memories. My boyfriend on high school used to always bring me some Nibblers after work. I couldn't pass the store by and not let my kids try some Nibblers!! They liked them a lot! It was fun to try them again. It has been YEARS!!!
Noah requested stuffed hangaburgers (hamburgers) for his birthday dinner. Aaron was more than happy to oblige! He made ended up making 19 stuffed burgers. They ended up being HUGE--about 1/3 pound each AFTER being cooked. The burgers were stuffed with cheese, grilled onions and bacon--YUM! The kids wolfed them down! We even had G&G T over for dinner. Amazingly we had 3 left over which was unheard of, but I think they were saving room for birthday cake and ice cream--haha!
Noah wanted a Star Wars theme fudge cake so this was as close as I could get, but he liked it so that's what was important, right?!
My cute birthday boy:
Present time and lubs:
The next morning the kids got up and before I knew it they finished off the last 3 hamburgers for breakfast. I guess that meant they were tasty, right?! I just don't think hamburgers for breakfast sounds appetizing, but the kids enjoyed them anyway.
The next night was the priesthood session of Conference. We were glad Grandpa T was able to come along with them. Here's my handsome priesthood holders before they left to watch that session:
Josh got off of work at 6 so I picked him up, he got dressed and was able to meet up with Aaron at the church about 20 minutes after it started. Josh really wanted to go so he didn't mind if he was late.
Monday was Josh's 16th birthday. Aaron woke up extra early so Josh could wake up to birthday donuts, too:
Since Josh had to take his driving test at the Driver's License Division so we had to make an appointment. Unfortunately, we didn't find this out until later so when we went to make the appointment they didn't have any openings on his actual birthday--DOH! We made it for three days after his birthday, but then there was a schedule conflict so we had to change it again. He finally was able to take his test, but it ended up being a week after his actual birthday. Poor guy!! Anyway, we still did celebrate his birthday, though. Before we left for dinner Sarah had to get her blood drawn and I am happy to say they got it on the first stick this time. Wahoo! Bad news is that her numbers went back up which is not ideal. The doctor called me and said we would try again in two weeks and hopefully they start going back down again. Crazy girl!! Good thing I love her!! She is a trooper, though. Despite the horrible time last blood draw was, she rocked it this time:
After the blood draw we met everyone over at Pizza Pie for dinner. Josh made sure he got his birthday mini monster dessert:
Since Noah's birthday was so close he got to have a mini monster dessert, too:
We were glad G&G T were able to come to dinner with us, too. It was nice that they kids could eat what they wanted and I didn't have to cook it or clean it up--Wahoo!!
After dinner we came back home and had some Better Than Anything Cake as per Josh's request:
Here's my cute 16 year old man child--haha!
The next day I was able to go to Josh's track meet. His knee has been bothering him so he wasn't as fast, but he finished his race which is good. He has been seeing a physical therapist who determined his bones have grown faster than his muscles which is the problem. He gave him some exercises to do until everything catches up. So hopefully, he can get his knee feeling better soon!
Last week the young men in our ward went to do baptisms for the dead. Josh was able to do the baptizing which was pretty cool. He got to baptize Daniel with some family names. Here's the group picture in front of the temple of all the young men that attended that night:
Noah and Sarah got their school pictures back. I usually don't order school pictures, but I still like seeing the proofs of them. Here's my cute kiddos:
Saturday we went and got Matthew's senior pictures done. I can't believe it is getting so close to him finishing high school!! That is crazy!! We don't have the pictures back, yet, but we did get a sneak peak and here's one from the photo shoot. Here's my handsome senior:
I must say Noah is aptly named. His middle name is Terry and he LOVES ketchup so it must be destiny, right--haha! The other night we were having some steamed broccoli with dinner and Noah poured out some ketchup to dip his broccoli in and Aaron was scandalized. You think that living with me for almost 20 years he would learn to accept ketchup more, but he still having a hard time with it--haha! Here's one of my ketchup loving boys:
Monday Noah and Matthew had a regular check up at the doctor's office. Matthew needed a physical done before he could go to Camp K this summer and Noah got to tag along get his regular physical, too. Noah insisted on going first so here he is laying on the bed waiting for the doctor to get to him.
Matthew just watched the screen and the different health news articles they posted.
Noah is doing great! He is 53" tall and weighs 71 pounds. He is a normal 9 year old kiddo which is nice to hear.
Matthew was 72" tall and weighed 172 pounds. He is doing well, too. He is healthy and ready to go to camp this summer.
Right after the appointment Noah had a soccer game. His favorite position is goalie and he actually does pretty well at it. Wahoo!
The next day Josh finally got to do his drivers test. Despite the crummy rainy weather he rocked his driving test. Aaron had to take him because I had some other things going on so I missed it. However, he did great. His instructor was very nice and friendly. They didn't let Aaron go out in the car with him for his driving test, but it probably would have made him a bit more nervous--who knows?! He is officially a legal driver now. That scares me, but he has done great so far. It is nice not to have to take him everywhere, though! He has been able to drive himself to school and home the rest of the week and hasn't gotten in any accidents which is a good thing! I have been known to drive by the high school to check out his parking job, though. He's done pretty well so I am trying not to worry too much about him, but it's hard!!
Later that afternoon Josh had another track meet. Spring is a really busy time for sports so it seems like there is something going on for some kid every day. I have finally started to write stuff down because I can't remember it all anymore. It's crazy!
Our last young men/young women activity was a talent show night. Josh signed up to participate, however, he didn't choose to play the trumpet or the piano he chose to see how many big marshmallows he could fit in his mouth. His personal record was 17 so he wanted to beat it. Here he is starting out:
He ended up fitting in 21 large marshmallows. I was on standby just in case he needed the Heimlich maneuver--haha! He was pleased at beating his personal record--haha!
Daniel signed up to play the saxophone, but chickened out last minute. I couldn't blame him. Getting up in front of so many people is scary!! He said he would try again next year.
Matthew tried to sign up to rap a song. As soon as I heard that I nixed that idea which upset Matthew. He begged and pleaded to rap a song, but the song he wanted to do was not an uplifting activity worthy song so I still wouldn't let him do it. We argued discussed it for a long time before we finally agreed to let him give directions to wherever anyone wanted to go. Five people asked for directions anywhere from Disneyland to Omaha, Nebraska. Here's just one clip of someone asking how to get to Arches National Park and Matthew's directions which were spot on including exit numbers and everything:
Matthew decided last minute that he didn't want to play the piano for a second talent, but wanted to name the notes instead. Matthew has a talent where he can hear any note from a piano keyboard and name it without looking. Five people came and played a note on the piano and he named them all correctly by just hearing them and without looking:
I have started my CNA clinical instructing job last week. I also have had a few shifts at my CNS nursing job, too. Luckily, they don't intersect very often, but these next few weeks will be busy! I got to attend an immunization conference in Ogden yesterday. It was very informative. We even got fed breakfast and a steak lunch which was a yummy bonus. Wahoo!
Yesterday afternoon was Daniel's first track meet in Kaysville. Josh wanted to drive over to it, but that required him to drive on the freeway and I don't think he's ready for that yet. When I told Josh not to come he was quite offended that I didn't think he could do it. I tried to explain that wasn't the case, but he still was offended. I said to give it a few more months and then we can see....Anyway, as for Daniel he ran the 1600 meter (mile) race and the 800 meter race at this first meet. He was pretty nervous about it, but he did great for his first time. It was beautiful weather which was nice since it has been so rainy here lately! Here he is running the mile:
Running the 800 meter:
