An Announcement and Dallin's Tenth Birthday

Well, I realize I've been missing from the blogging world for a while now. I have a good excuse. I'd like to take this opportunity to announce the impending arrival of our fifth child, and the cause of my retreat into the dark abyss of winter and anti-social behavior. I am so excited to have a new little nipper in the family, and also excited to finally be getting over the curse of morning sickness. My family is also very excited about that. Yay, mom is cooking again! Mom is moving again! It's a Christmas miracle. I promised myself this pregnancy would be better and I wouldn't let myself succumb to out-of-control hormones, but alas, I was lying to myself. What can I say, the first part of pregnancy is hard for me, but now it is over and I am ready to embrace life once again. The new little one will arrive at the end of June. We can't wait!!

It's crazy to think about a new little baby, because it seems like about ten minutes ago that my oldest, Dallin, was handed to me in the hospital. But that was ten years ago. TEN. Yesterday was Dallin's tenth birthday. I still can't believe it. He is such a great kid and he makes me proud every single day. Being a parent is tricky business, and I am far from perfect. I'm grateful to Dallin for being such a good sport as I fumble my way through day by day, using him as the guinea pig for just about everything. Being the oldest is hard work, but he does a great job of being a good example, and also being my favorite buddy. It's rewarding in a totally different way than having a newborn. I love that he gets my jokes now. I love his sense of humor. I love his passion and enthusiasm for every thing he does. He is motivated beyond belief and I rarely have to remind him to do homework. He is a great athlete and has a confidence I envy. Watching him play sports is incredibly stressful to me because I think, "If that were me out there, I would be dying under all that pressure!" But luckily he takes after his dad and has the ability to just go for it. Wow, he didn't get that from me!

The birthday boy after his Jr. Jazz game.

The kids had so much fun playing football on the turf at XSI Factory at Dallin's friend party Friday night.

Luke played with them, but tended to get a little upset when things didn't go his way.

Jason was the "coach" and I think he had more fun than the boys.

What good boys. A little wild and crazy maybe, but good kids.

Dallin begged for a Chicago Bears cake, so of course I delivered. Here I am thinking, "Dallin, you better not make lemur eyes at the camera," while Dallin makes lemur eyes at the camera. Makes me so mad!

Then he had to be a lemur for his "ten" shot, too. Ohhhh, I'm going to whip him. I didn't spend all that time figuring out how to make a Chicago Bears cake so he can look psychotic for posterity.

Here we are, all looking a little psychotic in one way or another. Dallin is being decidedly anti-lemurish so we're just going to have to go for it. Another great birthday, another year gone by. I'm so grateful for this little family. I couldn't ask for anything more. Maybe a nap once in a while, but that's it. That's the only improvement I can think of right now.

Dallin's Perfect Day

 Kids are simple creatures. You can plan and save and make huge sacrifices so they will have fun and make memories, and all they do is complain. Then you have a normal, hectic Saturday going from one thing to another, and you feel like you are about to go crazy, yet at the end of the day, your nine-year-old tells you it was the best day he's ever had. That's what happened yesterday. 

It started out with the boys' last flag football games of the season. Luke's game was first. His siblings were supportive, though slightly unenthusiastic.

Luke's friend Cooper's dad was the coach this year. They had such a fun year. Luke is a bit of a giant compared to the other boys, but that's okay. One of these years his effort is going to match his size and he is going to dominate, I'm sure of it. This year he tried hard... on games when he knew he would get $$ for each flag he pulled. The other games were a little more... relaxed.

Here he is kicking off. Just pretend the ball is way up there.

Don't get me wrong, I love to watch my kids play sports. The problem is, I don't get to watch very much. I end up chasing the devil himself around for a few hours.

Don't let his innocent appearance deceive you. He never holds this still. 

He likes to follow around every animal within a five mile radius.

And we also spend a lot of time dragging him off the playing field. Sigh. Good times.

Then it was on to Dallin's game.

He had a great game and loved every second. He requested that I call this play, "The Touchdown Throw" because he threw this for a touchdown. So here's The Touchdown Throw. Pretty proud of that old boy.

Jason was hunting during the games, so that afternoon he decided to take the kids fishing to make it up to them. Boy, did that ever work. If there's anything Dallin loves as much as sports, it's fishing. Here is Dallin displaying a beautiful little blue gill. They were pulling them in on almost every cast.

Jason let each kid reel in numerous fish. Numerous times. They were in heaven.

Luke found a bird.

Unfortunately, it was deceased at the time. If you know anything about Luke's soft heart, and his love for birds, you can imagine his sorrow. He spent a lot of time trying to dig a little grave for it in the rock hard ground.

Isn't this a pretty spot?

You'd never know we were about 10 yards from a highway. It's a private place, but don't worry, we had permission. Jason knows a guy. A guy whose dad is rumored to own it. Jason swears the guy's dad won't prosecute.

Because I mean, I'm sure we were welcome there. Those keep out messages were just meant for other people. Other people who don't know the son of the guy who probably owns the place.

Jake had to be dragged out, but at least he had a smile on his face. Note to self: Jason's thumb is in a can of worms. Then he drove using keys that touched that thumb. Now those keys are sitting on my kitchen counter, about three feet away from me right this second. I will be disinfecting right after we are through here.

Well, that was a pretty exhausting day, for me anyway. Jason took us out to dinner, and we let Dallin choose the place.

He decided to channel his inner senior citizen and we ended up at Sizzler. Don't get me wrong, Sizzler is great. Just not on a Saturday night when every Mormon in Utah County has the same family-friendly idea. I was sitting at the table, shoveling food in five different directions, when Dallin turned to me and said, "Mom, this was the best day ever. Fishing, football and Sizzler." Then he gave me one of those smiles that let me know that despite everything else, it was all worth it. Non-washed fish hands and all.

Dallin is 9!

Dallin's birthday is always an emotional day for me. I think because he is my oldest and firstborn in the wilderness, it is kind of like my birthday, too. It is the birth of my becoming a mother. I celebrated by buying some purple jeggings for myself at Our Little Store.  It made me feel a little better about my baby turning nine! You can't feel depressed in purple jeggings. The day Dallin was born was truly the most significant day of my life. Not that my other kids' births haven't been significant, but when your first child is born, your life changes forever. Suddenly, it's focused on someone else, and will be forever. Now there are several someone elses, and each one has brought change to our family, but the first one paved the way, nine wonderful Groundhog Days ago. 

Dallin's birthday this year was so fun. He had three parties. Lucky little sucker.

Dallin is obsessed with football this year, so I made him a football cake for his family party with  my in-laws. It is one of the few successful cakes I have ever made. It actually looked like a football! Not that difficult, I realize, but I have issues with making cakes.

Party #1. Opening presents with the Yates cousins.

Blowing out the candles!! If you have more than one birthday cake, do you get more than one wish? This is bothering me. And don't mind the lion behind me. He is actually quite tame.

Dallin requested pancakes for his birthday breakfast. I'm a bad mom and usually just give them cereal before school, so this was a special occasion. I can't believe I have four kids that sit up to the bar! I feel like an official mother now.

Dallin's class singing Happy Birthday to him. Abby, Jake and I brought little ice creams in to Dallin's class for his birthday treat.  

The football party! The kids look wild, but they were actually really well-behaved. I was very relieved because Jason was supposed to do the party but ended up having to work. He organized everything, though, and came up with some great games that the kids loved.

The first was kicking practice. Jason built a goal post out of PVC pipe and the kids took turns kicking field goals.

Next was tackling practice. Jason rigged up a football dummy that the kids got to tackle and land on a mattress. They thought that was the greatest thing ever invented. I was just glad that Jason stuffed the bag with his pile of dirty hunting clothes so I don't have to move them every time I vacuum. Dirty hunting clothes and I do not get along.

This game was a huge hit once I figured out how to attach the velcro so the dummy would come loose when they jumped on it. Where does Jason come up with these things?

The next game was throwing practice. Jason drew a football player on a box and cut out a hole for the kids to throw the ball in. In addition to being an expert party-planner, Jason is also an artist. 

Abby wanted to get in on the action and have black under her eyes, too.

I was still recovering from making the football cake, so I was very grateful to Costco for making a Super Bowl cake that said Happy Birthday on it. It was eerie.  I didn't even have to ask! I hope there is Costco in heaven. I'm pretty sure there is.

After all the friends went home, the Price cousins came over! Dallin opened his presents and was thrilled with everything. He's getting so old! He wanted money this year so he can buy some things he's been saving up for.

Dallin's main present! He LOVES country music and went to the Brad Paisley concert with Jason last week (hey, wait a  minute, that was supposed to be his main present!). He has been begging for a guitar for a while, so I finally broke down and got him one. Now I just have to teach him how to play it!

Our traditional family birthday picture. Each birthday brings a few more changes. The kids are a little bit  different, we are all a little bit older, and hopefully a little bit wiser, too. I love watching my family grow and change. I used to dread having my kids grow up, but in a lot of ways I feel like we are just getting to the fun part. I love seeing the people these kids are turning into, one birthday at a time!