Salsa Fest

Kiersten is in her second year of Company and LOVIN' it!

During the summer she attended Intense Dance Camp for a week. Which was Monday through Friday 8:00-5:00 and she was so happy to go each day!

So the Salsa Fest was last weekend and her first chance to perform.

Hunter and Logan are in an all boys Hip Hop and Tap class this year.

They were thrilled when they found out they'd be able to perform at the Salsa Fest as well.

Nice picture huh? Yeah the boys faces look so funny! It was so hot and sunny and hard to keep your eyes open for a picture :) Kiersten is in Hot Shots this year! She is the one in the front center..........this was her group doing their "Wanna Be" routine. They totally rock at this routine. They also did "Party Rock Anthem" which included all company dancers..........they learned it at intense dance camp. I got several comments on how impressive of a dancer Kiersten is. She really does steal the show when she is dancing!

Just push play to see a few seconds of their dance!

This is the boys hip hop group. Logan is the second from the left and Hunter is the last on the right. Now I wished I had video taped the whole dance. It was super cute and they only had practiced it for one class time.............so awesome job boys!

So it's our tradition to go to the Salsa Fest with the Pryor's and this year was no exception. We decided to watch the kids perform and then taste all the salsas. Yeah Bad Idea!!! The salsas were ALL GONE! I guess less people entered then last year and tons more came to taste. So next year we won't make this mistake.....it will be salsa tasting first and then watching the kids perform. It was so sad to miss out on tasting all those wonderful salsas. I had even skipped lunch just to be ready to take in all those chips and salsa............yeah I should have eaten!

Our Little Monster Turns Two!

So sad to have our baby turn two!

It has been such a fun two years with Mr. Grant!

Man does he love his brothers and sister!

All day long, not kidding, he asks, "Where Titen (Kiersten)?", "Where Hunten (Hunter)?", "Where Logie (Logan)?", "Where daddy?" now he has started asking, "Where Dammy (Grammy)?"

He now asks those same questions, then wants me to ask him what he asked me, and he gives me the answer!

For example he says, "Where Titan?"

I respond, " Where is Kiersten?"

He says, "sool! (school)"

or

He asks, "Where Dammy?"

I respond, "Where is Grammy?"

he replys, "Dammy at work?"

It is so cute and boy does he talk good. So many people comment on how well he talks. Guess we might not get free preschool out of Mr. Grant, but I can still hope :)

On Mr. Grant's actual birthday we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. He was so happy to get to blow out the candles!!! He was good at blowing them out and wanted them re lit several times! And man did he devour his cinnamon roll! Can you say Sugar High? The other kids were just as excited about the cinnamon rolls and blowing out candles. Our tradition is to let all the kids blow out candles on each others birthdays.............you're never too old to enjoy blowing out candles I don't think! Mr. Grant got a new putt-putt from mom and dad! We decided to have a Monster Themed Birthday Party for Mr. Grant. It seemed all too fitting..........we have been calling him "our little monster" for months now! So it started with making fun invitations! I think they turned out great! Kiersten, Hunter and Justin all helped me glue together these gift bags. They turned out so cute! I just love Oriental Trading Company! I traded out pictures with Debbie Green for Mr. Grant's cake.

It turned out cute..........thanks Debbie!

In going with our Monster theme I decided to serve "Monster Kid Food", just like the invitations said, for dinner.

That basically translates into Lots of Sugary Cold Cereals!

The kids thought that was awesome.........and it made several of the parents happy as well!

We decided with 25 kids in attendance we'd do a regular pinata and risk the chance of someone getting pelted with a bat.

Our Little Monster!

I didn't realize my camera settings had accidentally been switched so the quality of these pictures isn't that great............which makes me sad!

I got all of us Monster shirts for the party!

I think they turned out great! I wasn't going to get shirts for Justin and myself, but Justin asked me if I did and I said "No". He said, "Well why not!"

So I ended up ordering us shirts as well.............I just LOVE itsy.com.

Hunter and Logan were oh so excited about their monster knitted hats that I got them.

Pretty cute looking Monster Family if you ask me!

I love that Justin thinks my LOVE of birthday parties is awesome! He is so supportive and helps me with anything I ask to get ready for our parties. Although, he was quite grouchy when I asked him if he could go get our LARGE cafeteria table back from the school for Mr. Grant's party. The school badly needed more seating for lunch time and I offered to let them borrow our school cafeteria table (That my dad got us for $50 at an auction) until they are able to get another table themselves. I did make sure they knew I want my table back...........that thing has came in handy often!

So seeing Justin pretty grouchy about getting that table I recruited JP to help him go get it. That made all the difference in the world. Thanks babe for all your help!

All the kids got to make a monster pin if they wanted.

Josh Biggs was so happy to show me his monster pin!

I made homemade bubbles.............10 gallons of it to be exact. Thanks to my creative cousin, Alison Parker. Thanks Al...........the bubbles were the hit of the party! And everyone enjoyed blowing bubbles just using their hands, just like you said! But I should have listened to the part where you said that it would kill your grass..............cause boy howdy does it!!! With the 6 gallons I have left over I will make sure the kids blow bubbles on the basketbal court or in the front drive!

Wow, now that is some bubble Kiersten!

It was a little windy which cause a challenge to the bubbles, but the kids had fun just the same.

Logan, Josh, Jared and Uncle Dustin

These two boys were so funny to watch they were singing a little jingle while making their bubbles.

Kaely and Kiersten had fun making bubbles together!

The kids enjoying their nutritious dinner of cold cereal.

Easiest party food I have EVER done!!! And a HUGE hit with the kids!

Logan and Ryker on the left and Jared, Katelynn and Mayila on the right

Uncle Brad playing with Mr. Grant

We had about 40 people come help us celebrate!

Mr. Grant wasn't quite sure what to do with the wrapped gifts?

Luckily there were lots of older kids there to help him. He didn't mind them unwrapping his gifts, which was nice! And he didn't care if the truck still was in the packaging..........it was still fun!

Mr. Grant just loves airplanes!

He goes nuts when he sees, or even just hears, them in the sky!

So he was very happy to get toy airplanes from Kiersten!

I had been singing Happy Birthday to Mr. Grant for days now. I would often find him singing it to himself. Of course he would not do it when I wanted to video tape him or on cue to show someone. So it has just been something I have been able to enjoy. It's just so cute............infact as I am sitting to type up this post he saw the pictures and is now singing........."Haddy bortday..........cha, cha.........Haddy Bortday.........cha, cha...............Haddy Bortday to you!"

He got the cha, cha part from his older siblings always singing cha, cha, cha after every line in the birthday song.

Mr. Grant got to go first and he loved hitting that monster with the bat!

All the kids waiting for their turn. I am happy to report that no one got hit with the baseball bat.........thank goodness!!! It was such a fun party to plan and to throw!

Happy Birthday Monster!

There are so many things I love about my Mr. Grant.........but to name two since he is two....

#1 He often comes up to me and gives me a big hug out of the blue........and he is constantly saying, "I Lob You!" or "I Lob You Too!"

#2 He gets so excited to see his older siblings...........it's just too cute. When I have to run to the school for PTO stuff or help with something there and I have him with me, he will just cry when he has to say goodbye to the kids! When I pick the kids up from school Mr. Grant is practically screaming their names and won't stop until they acknowledge him!

Thanks for being such a fun, adorable boy!

We All LOB You Mr. Grant.............Our Little Monster!!!

No Vacations, No Chicago Trips..... have Paid Off

Not taking a family vacation, you know the 5 to 7 day vacation kind, for two years hasn't been a highlight for me. We also haven't made the trip to visit my sister in Chicago for two years now. Before this the kids and I (sometimes Justin) visited Chicago every summer for 7 years! Due to everything from financial limitations at times.......... to Justin not feeling like he could take any time off work have resulted in our travel drought.

Now don't feel sorry for us.....that's not what I am trying to say at all. We have gone on some fun trips just Justin and I and we have taken many simple camping trips or weekend trips with the kids over the past two years. So we have been having fun just no Chicago and no full fledged family vacation!

It just seems like every family vacation we have planned hasn't worked out. San Diego trip for last Labor day weekend didn't work out. Then Lego Land didn't work out for Spring Break like planned because Justin couldn't get away from the company. That trip was postponed to the summer..........well that never happened. Justin just didn't feel like he could take a full week off this summer. Heck he barely made it to one baseball game for Hunter and Logan during the whole season.

Justin and I decided that due to our missing out on our traditional Chicago trips and no big family vacations we'd invest that money saved in something that would benefit our family greatly. We also decided to skip giving each other birthday gift this past year and put that money towards our goal as well.

So after months and months and months of research (Justin is a Research King) ...............we invested in Our Family Year Supply!

It is very exciting to finally have a full years worth of food for our family and know that it doesn't need to be rotated!!! We still need to work on adding more water to our year supply and other items as well.........always something to work on right!

One of the best advantages of this type of year supply is that the food doesn't go bad for 25 year AND Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, Zip-a-dee-ay......it doesn't need to be rotated. Actually in 25 years the food won't be "bad" it just starts to loose it's nutritional value. But less nutritious food verses no food at all........that's a no brainer!

We liked this company first because it was the most affordable one, second it comes in nice plastic buckets so no mice or bugs can get in. They are all in individual meal bags as well, inside the buckets. All you have to do is add warm water to the packets and wait a few minutes and it's ready. The few samples Justin and I tried were actually quite good! Third you can order it in any amount you wish. A lot of the companies we looked at you had to buy at least a 3 month supply, but these guys let you buy in a month supply, if you wish.

I am grateful to have invested our "fun money" in something that for years and years the prophets and apostles have commanded us to work on getting.

I believe we are blessed, regardless of the quantity of our year supply, but on our endeavours to follow the counsel given!!

So I guess no vacations paid off this time. Now we just need to pay the remainder off our credit card and life will be good!

We Have Ourselves a Cub Scout!!!

What a handsome young man we have here!

Hunter was thrilled beyond words to finally be in cub scouts. Unfortunately he can't make it to his weekly scout meeting because he has hip hop at the same time. But he was way excited about the Bike Rodeo Pack Meeting!!

Grampy Boswell got his older (smaller, easier to ride) bike all ready for him. Justin just couldn't find the time to get it fixed with all the craziness going on at work. Drivers dumping asphalt in the middle of the road, Workman's comp court hearings, the crazy job in Clifton, etc., etc...the list went on and on the past few weeks. Kind of seems like it's always some drama there at CKC! But thanks to Grampy, as is well in the bike rodeo department. And Justin did promise Hunter that no matter what happened at the office; he would make it to his first Pack Meeting, and Justin did!! My dad is always so good to help us out! Thanks dad for being so great!!! And thanks Justin for putting Hunter first.............I know it wasn't easy with every thing going on at work lately!

Hunter was so excited about his scout shirt!

Isn't he gorgeous!!

This was a little before Pack Meeting. I tried to get Hunter to eat dinner but he said he was, "just too excited to eat!!" So we compromised and he ate an apple!

The bike rodeo was a big hit! Hunter had a wonderful time. Eric Blair is the scout master and boy is he creative. The boys are so lucky to have him in there!! Now I just have to figure out how to fit this scout stuff in...........especially considering we'll be doing it all at home for now. Hunter was bummed to know it wouldn't work out for him to go to the weekly meetings, but what can you do?

The War Rages On

After 8 months at peace............ the popcorn war rages on!

So Logan's new bike we got him in July, got stolen from our front yard, along with my mountain bike from my ASU days. Can I just tell you how violated you feel having something stolen from your house or at least I did!!! Logan was sure upset when he found out about his bike. He just loves to ride bikes! Any way on with the story....

So Wendy calls me one day and says she put a new tire on Ryker's old bike if I want to let Logan use it until I can get him a new bike. I say sure............she says she'll just leave it outside the front door sometime that day. I didn't think anything of that conversation.

That is until the UPS man is at the door with a package and says, "nice bike!"

Hilarious! Seeing Wendy's popcorn (because it truly is hers), as a tire on that bike just made my day and I am pretty sure it made the UPS mans day too! I am sure he already knew Pima people are crazy.....ha, ha.... So the creativity juices need to start flowing people!

Grammy's Birthday Sleepovers

That Mother-in-law of mine is AMAZING!!!

Several years ago she started a new tradition, once her grand kids turn 3 she takes them for a birthday sleep over. She takes them to the dollar store where they get to pick out as many toys as they are old. Once they get a little older she lets them pick a toy out at Walmart in the amount that they are old. She lets them pick where they want to have dinner. She even buys them a movie to watch that night.

Everyone of my kids LOVES this individual time they get to spend with their Grammy!

I am so grateful my kids have such a wonderful Grammy!

I asked Hunter if he wanted to wear this cute outfit and he said,

"Yeah baby I can be Grammy's Hero for the night!!

The back of his shirt says, "When I grown up I want to be a hero".....so I think that is where he got that from, but you never know with Hunter. Thanks mom for being so amazing............my kids are truly blessed because of you!

Hunter had a wonderful time of course. He was so excited to pick out Fruity Pebbles for breakfast. I never buy those because man do they make a mess, once those things harden up they are a pain to get off the table. So kudos to Grammy for letting him buy those!! Maybe when I am a Grandma I will buy them..........LOL!

The Construction Following the Party!

You'd think with all the Lego sets Hunter got for his birthday he'd be busy for awhile. Yeah not so much.............within two days he had them all put together.

He even finished he technic dump truck! He was so excited with this one..........it is electric. I am always impressed when Hunter can put together these electric Lego sets! Great job Hunter!!! But man oh man Hunter now wants all the expensive Lego sets..............and boy can they get pricey. I don't even want to think how much we have invested in Lego's. But they do add great decoration to Hunter's Lego bedroom, so that's awesome!

Monster Trucks

Logan was way excited when we told him we were going to see Monster Trucks. Hunter ended up going with his friend Justice to a rodeo in Duncan, so with his ticket I invited Ryker to come with us. They were both so excited!

Logan, Ryker and Kiersten They were excited to meet some of the drivers

They had a track hoe made into a dragon. Man did Logan and Ryker like that!

They each got to pick a monster truck toy. These two little boys are like brothers............they just crack me up! I told Kiersten she could get something else but she decided to get a monster truck for Hunter. That girl is always thinking of someone other then herself!

The boys loved watching the dragon eating the trucks.

We all enjoyed watching this fire truck that blew out fire. It was way cool and my favorite part of the show. After you've been to a Monster Truck Jam, this really didn't compare but it was fun for Safford!

Hey fire is just cool! So it might not have been as cool as the big guys but it was fun to get out with the kids. So all in all the Monster trucks were a big hit with Logan and Ryker.........well Safford style Monster Trucks!