Happy 32nd Birthday Justin!

The kids voted for Panda Bear Cupcakes for their dads birthday treat. Justin was a great dad and agreed that was what he wanted too! Didn't they turn out so cute? The kids were excited to do our traditional candle blowing. With each birthday dessert we let everyone blow out a candle even if it's not their birthday and they all think it's the funnest thing ever. It's great that kids are easy to impress when they are young!

For Justin's birthday we took a little trip up to Mt. Graham and picnicked at Snow Flat. The weather was nice and cool. They kids loved finding slugs!

My oldest kid, the birthday boy himself utterly enjoyed being a kid for the day. He had a blast catching minnows with his hands. He seriously forgot we had three kids to take care of, but it was his birthday and I was happy to see him enjoying himself so much!!

The kids were excited to see the little minnows! Logan loved seeing the little fish and caring around his cup full of slugs!

Hunter enjoyed holding them for a minute then putting them back in the cup.

Justin caught 16 minnows with his hands, which to our children made him Father of the year! Justin was fitting since it was also Father's Day weekend. Justin is a wonderful father who is actively involved with the kids and their activities.

Kiersten was bound and determined to catch a minnow herself. We told her she'd have to be extremely patient to catch one. She indeed was patient and after 20 minutes or so caught a little minnow. She was so happy! Great Job Sweetheart!

Hunter wasn't so interested in being patient, but he was equally happy to have found a real treasure.............corn on the cob.

Hunter got silly while listening to his ipod! He was dancing so funny and kept asking me to take his picture. What a character!

Once Kiersten had caught her minnow she had fun playing with her American Girl doll which she apparently named, Ryan Abigail Cluff.

First Swim Meet

What a STUD! Hunter is a good little swimmer. This is the kids first year on the swim team. This was the first meet they were able to go to because we have been out of town so much and missed the other two. Hunter was excited to finally get to go to a swim meet. Kiersten takes after me and was extremely nervous about the whole idea of racing! This is Hunter doing the breast stroke with his "helper" Hallie Shupe our friend and neighbor. Hunter loves having Hallie in the water in case he needs a little hand.

He only had to have help one time and then he just kept on going. What a fish! Great Job Bud!

This is Kiersten doing the breast stroke, her very first event ever. I was so happy for her. She wanted to do it so bad, but was extremely nervous about it. She started to cry when she first dove in but then she was all swimmer. She did AWESOME!!! She was so thrilled with herself for doing something that was scary for her. Justin and I both were so proud of her for not letting her fears get in the way of doing what she really wanted to do!

You can see from her face her great determination! No matter what it is Kiersten is doing she puts 110% into it!

The kids were so happy to get their ribbons and now can not wait until their next meet. Kiersten got 6th place out of the two heats, 13 swimmers total and Hunter got 5th place. I am glad they are finally excited about swim team because it's such good exercise and a wonderful self-esteem booster to be a part of the swim team.

Great job!

CKC

The kids were thrilled to get CKC work shirts from thier Dad.

Logan kept saying, "I need a worker hat too. So all on his own he went into the kitchen and came back with a worker hat/bowl." I thought that was pretty darn creative for a three year old! The boys were especially excited to finally get work shirts. Hunter thinks now he can really work for his Dad!

Aren't they cute! We have plans to put our kids and Brian and Tif's kids (and maybe a few neighbors) in a float for the 4th of July parade all wearing CKC shirts. They are going to ride on the horses that my Dad made, with Justin driving the tractor with his bright orange shirt, safety vest and hard hat! It should be cute and the kids are excited!

Logan's Surgery

This is Logan right before he went in to have tubes re put in both his ears and have his adenoids removed. He was so happy and clueless about what was about to happen. I felt bad for him cause he was in such a good mood and so happy!

The surgery went well even though it took twice as long as it was suppose to. I started to get worried because the receptionist kept asking us if the Dr. had been out to talk to us, which he hadn't. She kept saying they should have been done by now. When the Dr. finally came out he explained that the surgery went well but that due to the damage in Logan's left ear (the ear that he had the foreign object in back in March) it took much longer than he had expected. The Dr. had to put a special type of tube in Logan's left ear due to the tissue that has built up around his ear drum. We were so relieved to see sweet Logan! When he woke from the anesthesia he opened his eyes and said "Hi Mom!" There was no grouchy, irritated kid that we were expecting to deal with. The nurse said they have found if they let the little kids sleep through that stage of anesthesia they typically awake much happier. It was a much, much nicer experience then we have had in the past.

This is picture over load I know, but they are for when I turn my blog into a book. I am working on making last years blogs into a book now and I can't wait to get it printed up. So excuse the extreme number of pictures, that's what happens when your mom is a photographer and you have a studio in your basement! Kiersten is 7, Hunter is 5 and Logan is 3!!

I got a new back drop and wanted to try it out and so my sweet children got to have a fun photo shoot. The are well trained and quite use to it by now. We had a good time being playful and Justin even got some time behind the camera to capture pictures of me with the kids.