The Big 4!

Sweet. Spunky. Energetic. Smart. Funny. Independent. Just some of the ways we describe our little David. Yesterday was his birthday and we started it Saturday night by going to his restaurant of choice for dinner. With no prompting from anyone, he resolutely declared "Olive Garden" as his pick. So off we went on a Saturday night. I was hoping our wait time for a table would be under 30 minutes and luckily it was, just barely. We usually don't wait at places like that for very long with hungry kids. And is it just me or has the Olive Garden gotten really expensive lately? I do not remember my favorite menu items costing as much as they do now. They must be getting pretty proud of their little establishment to charge some of their prices... Anyway, David (as always) got his beloved Mac N Cheese.

In Primary on Sunday they sang to him while he beamed and held his birthday bookmark. He has not an ounce of shyness in him and loves to be up in front of people. Especially in Primary where he pesters music leaders and sharing time givers to "choose me, choose me." Or his favorite phrase more accurately is "Is it my turn yet?" Since Greg was working on Sunday, his actual birthday, I made him wait for presents and cake until Dad was home from work at 5:45. And even then we had dinner first. So finally after dinner we had birthday cake and opened presents. Greg and I got him his first bike. Complete with training wheels and hand brakes. My mom sent some new clothes and "dinosaur pills." Which are actually the foam shapes enclosed in pill like capsules that you put in a cup of hot water to make them grow into their shapes. My kids have always called them "dinosaur pills" regardless of the shape they turn into.

After dinner and presents we had some daylight left and went for a drive, ending up at the Provo Temple. The gates were open to the grounds, so we walked around the temple a bit. There was a lovely sunset and gorgeous pink rosebushes lining the sidewalks of the temple. A nice evening with our children. Happy Birthday, little Lerm. We love you!

White Wedding Weekend

It actually was a very multi-colored weekend. Very lovely and a very happy occasion. Greg's older sister, Wendy was married last Saturday. It was a lovely weekend which started (for me) the day before when we went out with Wendy for a girl's day. We had breakfast together (Greg's mom, sister, me, Wendy, and a couple of Wendy's friends). We then did a little shopping before we had Afternoon Tea at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake. It was finger sandwiches, desserts, cocoa, and other yummy things. We then had appointments for all of us to get pedicures and manicures. It was so lovely to be pampered all day. Thanks to my father in law, brother-in-law, and Ayas for watching David and my friend Amber for watching the older two boys. I took Elizabeth with me all day and she was an angel. I couldn't have asked for a better day with her. She just wanted to play with us girls all day. The next morning was the sealing in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was beautiful. Wendy's new husband, Ayas, is deaf and there was an interpreter for him and a number of hearing impaired guests that are friends of Ayas and Wendy. Wendy served a deaf sign language mission in England and that's where she first met Ayas. He recently moved to Utah and said goodbye to England to live with Wendy here. After pictures on the temple grounds, we headed north to downtown Salt Lake for the wedding brunch at the Joseph Smith Memorial building. Again, very yummy. Greg and I also had our wedding brunch there after we were married.

The reception was this past Saturday and was quite the event! So much work went into it. I'm sure Greg's parents are ready to sleep for a whole month to recooperate.

Congratulations to Wendy and Ayas! We love you!!

PS Couldn't resist one more pretty baby picture.

Baseball and Recitals

Andrew and Nathan are both, once again, immersed in the world of baseball. Practices and games. That's what we have to look forward to for the next month or so. Andrew has started the Mustang league which is official Little League Baseball. No more coaches pitching. Much longer games. They go until the innings are over. Life was much simpler in Coach Pitch when you just had your hour long game and didn't keep score. It's more intense this year. Andrew's coach is a real competitor and wants these boys to excel. He's a no-nonsense coach and expects a lot from the boys. But it's paid off since they won their first game 12-1. I felt bad for the poor other team, but I guess that's the nature of sports. Nathan is still in Coach Pitch and that definitely suits his personality more. He's just having fun and enjoying it. I wonder if he'll want to continue with baseball when he's ready for Little League.

Andrew started piano lessons back in February and has taken to it like a fish in water. He loves it and is doing so well. I remember struggling a lot with piano when I first started and Andrew seems to have this natural instinct and ability for it. He is taking lessons from a sweet, wonderful, talented lady in our ward. He just had his first recital this weekend. He had his song memorized and the picture of him at the piano was posed before the recital started. He didn't need his music and did so fabulous. Proud Mama!