Sam's Circus Party

Look how big he is! This little boy is already one year old. It's amazing to me how much can happen in one year. Our little newborn has become a boy with a delightfully vibrant personality. How I love him!

It turns out that the boys are really starting to think their birthday cakes are a big deal. Henry and Ellis have had many conversations recently trying to remember what type of cake they had for each birthday. They now can recite them easily ("Henry had a monster, then a racetrack, then a fish cake . . ."), and I'm feeling the pressure to continue the tradition! Can I make a themed birthday cake for each child, every year, without any repeats? I'm not making any promises, but for now, I'll give it a shot.

We chose a monkey for Sam because he makes some really great monkey sounds while reading That's Not My Monkey (one of his favorite books).

And then when we realized how many people would be invited to the party, we decided to bake cupcakes too. One thing led to another, and we decided to turn it into a full-fledged Circus Party (based on Sam's circus wall-hangings -- remember them?) . . .

complete with popcorn, cotton candy,

juggling,

and magic tricks

by the Great Bendini!

The best part was getting to share it all with friends and family! Yes Shug, you saw it right -- Robbie was able to attend, since he lives in Utah now. And Jacob also happened to be in town and got to stop by as well. These are two of the most amazing boys/men ever, and it just so happens that each of them is still single (ladies?).

Andrea, Autumn, and Sadie

Jennica and Grandma I.

Daxen with his cotton candy

Uncle Dan with the birthday boy and Ben

Sierra and Grandma Whitesides

the cool teenager texting corner

Robbie and Grandpa I. talking in front of the month-to-month Sammy photo display (soon to appear on this blog -- hold your breath!).

Grandma and Grandpa Griffin -- whew! That's a lot of people that love Sam, all in one place (and there are even more that love him and got sick and couldn't make it).

Sam's curiosity almost got the best of him!

Phew! Safely blown out (with some help from Ellis).

Cake time!

This was his first experience with anything sweeter than the rare graham cracker (I am extra paranoid about sugar after our experience with Ellis).

It appears that he approved.

And how about a little more cake?

Yes, please.

He certainly needed a bath by the end of it! Looking at this boy just melts my heart. Even after a full year, I can't quite get over him! I am in love.

February in Utah

Now that Henry is in Kindergarten, his school vacation schedule rules our lives. His school had ONE week of vacation for Christmas, and another week of vacation for Presidents' Day. We figured there were a lot of good reasons to travel to Utah in February. Let me name a few:

#1. The giant bathtub at Grandma Lori's

#2: Cousins to play with (doesn't Isaac look awesome? My boys have so much fun with their cousins. I wish they lived next door!)

#3. An excuse to re-live Ellis' birthday party for Presidents' Day!

It was bigger and fancier at my mom's house.

We skipped the American flag cake and had some delicious little cherry pies (What's more American?).

My mom had a great spot to hang the President cards (and the Barack-o-rama magnets). Ben spelled out "Happy Presidents' Day Dear Everybody" with the letter magnets!

If you didn't notice, my brother Brady loves to pose for pictures. :)

Best of all, we got to have the Presidents party with family! This is my sister Kati and little Max.

And Ellis was happy to take the stage for the President Name-Off!

He was a pretty happy guy!

#4: Wide open spaces

After a while of being in New England, I start to feel claustrophobic and need to get away where I can breathe. Utah has a lot of these places.

We spent this day on Antelope Island with Ben's parents.

I had never been to the Garr Ranch on the island before, but it was a great place to take little boys! They had a lot of space to run and lots of fun things to climb on.

We also got to tour the historic house and other areas of the ranch. The ranch was started by Fielding Garr in 1848 as an assignment from the Mormon church. The ranch was operated by the Church until the 1970's.

It has now been restored and is open for touring. Very fun and interesting!

Sammy loved having some time with Grandma . . .

. . . and the other boys loved searching for wildlife.

Nothing is cooler than Grandpa's "binocliers" (Ellis' name for them)

Even Sammy joined in the fun! After watching his brothers carefully, he snatched a pair out of Grandma's hands and knew just what to do!

Finally! A buffalo! The big herd seemed to be hiding somewhere, but we did find a few good ones.

#5: Outings with cousins! The boys loved our outing to the Hill Aerospace Museum. For this picture, they wanted to pose with "Sarge" from Cars.

#6: Family Home Evening with cousins (okay, so we love pretty much anything with cousins!). We were so excited that Ben's brother Dan decided to come to Utah at the same time as us so the boys could play with Audrey (and Sadie).

#7: Getting the three babies together! Sam had a great time with Max and James. My mom bought them matching outfits and really wanted to get their pictures taken together. We decided to go when all 3 of them needed a nap to add a little extra excitement to the outing. Sam looks happy, but let me assure you, he had his fair share of screaming.

Look how cute we are with our babies! We didn't plan to have this picture taken, but when the babies all wanted their mommies to hold them, this is what happened. This is the only picture I got of Brady's wife McCall -- but can I just say how much I love her? And I love Kati too! We just had a great time being with all of these great people.

#8: The chance to celebrate a very special birthday with LOTS of loved ones. More details on this birthday soon!