Valentine's Day 2015

 Who wouldn't want to start Valentines Day with a heart made of bacon?  We finished the day with a scavenger hunt.  The first clue was in an envelope.  We played a Valentines version of the left/right game where we passed the envelope from left to right as Rusty read the left/right story.  It was so fun to watch the excitement grow and it wasn't just Ridge who was excited!  The scavenger hunt led through the house and ended up with a marble racer game for the kids.  Happy Valentines Day!

 Ridge was all about the superhero party so we went with it.  Russ made the invitations with Ridge starring as Captain America.  Ridge is a funny little guy and all about the details.  He wanted to draw a spider on every can of "web shooters" for the ninja fight (pictures below).  Everyone came dressed as a superhero.  We had superhero cupcakes, a superhero puzzle for everyone to take home (Ridge also loves puzzles), and all kinds of games.  We played karate chop a brick.  Everybody got a chance to HI-YA a "brick," which was a styrofoam food tray.  They had to make their way through the laser maze (red ribbon strung across the stairs) to get upstairs to diffuse a bomb (pop a black balloon).  Then they had to break open the "save a superhero" pinata.  I couldn't figure out how to make one of the cheap pinatas at Winco fit into the party theme.  I ended up tying superhero figures to the string above the pinata and told the kids they had to save the superheros by breaking open the pinata. We played hulk smash.  Everybody got to put on hulk gloves and smash an ice cream cone.  We had cupcakes and then everybody went outside with a can of web shooters.  Pretty soon some evil ninjas (Russ and Kyleigh) showed up and the little superheros attacked them with their web shooters.  It was a really fun party, if I do say so myself.  Many thanks to Rusty and Pinterest!

Ridge's Fifth Birthday!

Ridge's birthday was a whirlwind of fun.  We started out the day with pancake men.  As soon as the girls were off to school we went to a puppet show at the library, Barnes and Noble to pick out a book, and out to Burger King for a birthday lunch and playing on the playground with Aliya.  Ridge wanted Hawaiian haystacks for dinner and his cake choice was a Captain America ice cream cake. We couldn't find a lighter so Rusty grabbed the fireplace blow torch to light the candles.  That was a little scary.  He got his very first big kid lego set and put it together with minimal help from Rusty.  At the end of the day Rusty and I had to get our picture with Ridge doing the famous Ridge smile.  Age 5 is the big year that all of our kids have had their first friend birthday party so even when Ridge's birthday was over he still had his friend birthday party to look forward to.  Happy Birthday to our big 5 year old!

Toothless Katelyn 2015

Katelyn only allows one person to pull her teeth out.  So, when they get to the point they need to be yanked, she heads over to....Holly's.

Hunting

Rusty and Mike love to take Tank and Thunder out to hunt birds during the winter months.  Fresh air, exercise, hunting, and time with the dogs.  I can understand why they love it so much.  I love that when they come home Tank is so tired he doesn't want to run more than 10 steps from his kennel!

Rusty is 37!

Rusty's Birthday in his words, "Thursday was my birthday.  It was a good day.  I woke up and Mandie made me breakfast.  She made cinnamon rolls and muffin cup omelets.  It was very yummy.  We ate as a family.  Then I went to work at the Mahler’s.  We finished the tile floor at about 3. We went to the U-Haul and finished stripping the forms.  It was a good day.  Mandie came and took me out to eat for Lunch.  Ridge and Maggie were there.  That was fun too.  When I got home Mandie had made dinner for me.  She cooked a roast like prime rib.  It was very good.  She gave me a range finder for my birthday and Ridge gave me a toy that he got for Christmas.  It was very fun.  We put the kids to bed and watched an episode of Chuck.  Then went to bed.  It was an awesome birthday."

And his family birthday party in his words...

"Mandie made taquitos for my birthday dinnr and Mike and Holly came over for it.  We had that and cake.  Mike and Holly gave me a moose popper.  It shoots a ball out of its nose and a derailer hanger.  Mom and Dad gave me a gift card to Cabela’s and a white ground blind.  Kyleigh gave me a note and apologized for not having a present for me.  It was the sweetest note.  It was the best present I could have gotten.  We put the kids to bed and went to bed.  It was a good day."

Ridge and Aliya, Chicken Heads!

Visit with the Tarry's

After we left the Giles we had lunch at Sweet Tomatoes.  Nancy had sent me a gift card to there and we don't have one in Boise.  The kids loved it.  We then checked into our hotel.  Here is the details from Rusty's journal...

"Jenny and Don got here a little bit before us.  We all got ready and went and swam in the pool.  It was a pretty big pool with a water slide.  The chlorine was very strong.  Joseph was having a hard time breathing, so he left.  Don and Brianna went and worked out.  Josh and Ben left.  It was just our family left playing after about an hour.  It was fun to be with them while they were there. Jenny stayed there with us and talked on the side of the hot tub.  I talked a little.  Ridge and I kept having to go save the day on the play structure.  It was very fun.  Then I played volley ball with the girls.  I was lifting Katelyn up to hit the ball when it was too high.  We all had a great time.  We came back to the room and cleaned up.  Then we went and ate at Kneaders.  It was very good.  We came back to the hotel and went to their room for about an hour.  When Ridge and Katelyn were begging to go to bed from the crazy day, we came back to the room and went to bed."

Quick visit but so glad we got to see everyone!

Visit with the Giles

We planned to take a trip to New Mexico just after Christmas to see Joseph newly returned from his mission.  The weather had another plan.  The roads were closed until just after our trip preventing cutoff time.  We decided to meet Jenny in Utah the first weekend in January when they took Joseph back to BYU.  We went up a day early to spend some time with the Giles.  We had a pizza and game night on Friday night and Wendi's famous sourdough pancakes and sledding on Saturday.  Even Rusty and John got to ride down the hill together.  Ridge's partner in snowball crime was Rusty, causing havoc among the throng of girls.  Kyleigh and Alyssa are inseparable when they are together and Katelyn and Abby are the best of friends.  I am so glad to know and love the Giles!