Birthday, Baptism Bonanza Weekend

Phew!

The weekend of Wyatt's birthday party was exhausting, I tell you what.  But, it was fun and worth it.

Ross parents arrived on Wednesday night for the week.  The big boys were off-track and ready to party.

Friday was Wyatt's birthday.  In our family, you get a friend birthday party when you turn eight, and Wyatt chose to invite a few of his good friends to "Bricks and MiniFigs" a cool lego shop by our house that hosts birthday parties.  The kids got to build legos, build lego race cars and race them down a track, and then build a mini figure to take home.  We had juice boxes and doughnuts and right at the end of the party, after all the Lego building was over, our Arizona cousins, Isaac, Luke and Jonah arrived with their mom from Arizona.







After the party we went to the food trucks at Petersen farm for dinner and nearly blew away in the wind, but the food was good.  Friday night was Wyatt's family party.  Wyatt got more lego's for his birthday than I thought was possible.  He wanted to build them all immediately, but luckily we were able to space them out a bit.

On Saturday morning, Wyatt was baptized.  There was some confusion with the stake baptism, but we ended up having a really nice program for Wyatt.  Elliott gave the baptism talk, Aunt Cindy the Holy Ghost talk, and Wyatt was swiftly shoved under water and baptized and confirmed by his dad.  This was the first time all the Howden cousins had been together since Elliott's baptism two years prior.  Hopefully it won't be another two years before we get together again.

We finished Saturday with a really great soccer game for Elliott, one where they actually WON (Woo Hoo!) and had a bbq at our house in the evening.







Sunday, church and Mother's Day.  Ross' brother's family had to travel back home but we hosted his parents and my family for a delicious dinner of prime rib, scalloped potatoes and a bunch of other stuff.  By Sunday night, I was exhausted but it was a really nice weekend.

It's great to be EIGHT! Happy Birthday, Wyatt!

Happy Happy Birthday, William Wyatt Howden.

Can you believe you are EIGHT YEARS OLD!  I can hardly believe it.

Second grade is almost over.  You are great at math and have had almost perfect spelling tests all year long.  You can figure out how to spell words you don't even know.  And, you can calculate change in your head which is something I cannot even figure out - unless it's really easy math.

The last year of your life has seen you become a greater lego master, artist, and dancer.  I've been able to help out at school a couple of times and you have some of the cutest friends.  Mason, Wilson, Andrew and Cooper, Ronan, and Ethan just to name a few.  Before Christmas when I was doing a Fun Friday at school, Ronan told me I was the tallest mom in the world.  I'm probably not, but it made me laugh.

You play basketball, soccer and this year baseball, even though you've decided to skip baseball next season for competitive soccer.  It's fun to watch you "turn it on" in a game, especially when you've spent a little too much time cherry picking.  When you want to hustle, you can zoom.  You are pretty good all around athlete, and I'm pretty sure you get it from me.  Ha!

You've started to read Harry Potter and have almost finished the first book.  You have a photographic memory for music, and after only hearing a song once, you remember the lyrics forever.



I'll admit, year seven was a pretty moody one, but I'm hoping that eight years old see's you like me, your dad, and your brother's a little bit more. I'm pretty sure Grandma and Willie are your favorite people and if I'd let you, you would just watch TV and play on your ipod all day long.  You still know everything and always manage to see on the bright side of life.  You wear your heart on your sleeve, and mom and dad are usually pretty sure of your emotional state.  Like dad, you are an early riser finding it nearly impossible to sleep in.

It's pretty rare when you and I get to spend time together, just one-on-one, but when we get the chance, it's so much fun.  You are a great conversationalist, and are never at a loss for words, stories, or telling me when I've done something wrong.

Turning eight will be the greatest.  You get to be baptized, have a friend birthday party, and start cub scouts.  Woo hoo!



Have a happy birthday boy.

Because April is almost over

Blogging isn't what it used to be.

I'm not sure if it's because we are busier, or there is just too much going on to document, or because my interests have moved on to other forms of memory preservation, but blogging just isn't as much of a priority.

That being said, we've got a lot going on.

Wyatt turns 8 in a few weeks.  He is playing baseball and doing a lot of pitching,  and soccer and is halfway through his first Harry Potter book.  He is a good boy with a big heart and pretty much gets 100% on every single school assignment he completes, including weekly spelling tests.  He's pretty smart this kid.

Quinn has been sick this week.  First ever puking stomach bug, which for an almost 5 year old is a pretty good stretch.  He loves school and the warmer weather because it means he can jump on the trampoline.  He was outside so much on Saturday he got a sunburn.  He is playing t-ball with Jack and although he's only had one game, he says he likes it.

Elliott is wrapping up band for the school year this week with a final concert on Thursday night.  He loves band and does a great job.  He is still playing on his competitive soccer team, though right now they are the bad news bears of soccer - but without a major turnaround insight.  We've got some major soccer soul searching to do in the next few weeks.  Elliott is a nice boy, a good brother, and though he had a conflict and couldn't attend, was invited to his first birthday party for a girl.

Aunt Christina and cousin Isaac came to Utah for general conference and we were able to take them out to dinner.  Over spring break we, with the rest of Utah, went to the broadway performance of The Lion King at the new Eccles Theater.  It was fabulous by the way and the boys, particularly Wyatt, were just enthralled by the whole thing.

We celebrated Easter with shaving cream dyed eggs and talks in sacrament meeting.  Ross and I "celebrated" our anniversary with me having a gigantic freak out meltdown and ruining the whole day.  We have lots of homework, school projects, practices and games, meetings and church responsibilities sucking up all our time.

But, we like each other and look forward to Sunday dinner at grandma's house every single week.

Random thoughts from a four year old

Quinn says some funny things.  He's probably the funniest person in our family.  Here are a few of the things he's said this week that were pretty amusing.

At bedtime:
"Dad, when guys sing songs sometimes they say 'baby', but they mean girl."



In the car:
"Mom, why do some boys and girls kiss each other on the mouth?"
"Mom, have you ever kissed dad?
"Why would you kiss dad, he has the stinkiest farts in the whole world!"



In the bathtub:
"Mom, which animal is bigger an indominous rex or a blue whale?"
"Which animal is bigger, a blue whale or a mosasaur?"

#MaximizeCaliforniaTime

My brother wanted to go to a wedding in Temecula, California, of a sister missionary he had served with in Lithuania.  I wanted a day or too off, with only myself to worry about.  (Selfish?  Yes!  But I'll deal with the guilt of that later.)  The two of us decided to make a mini vacation of it and spend the weekend in Southern California.  We invited our sister, but she couldn't make it.



The plan was simple.  Fly to California, drive the PCH from Long Beach to Oceanside stopping at every single beach along the way, and then drive back to Long Beach and fly home.

Our Saturday morning flight had us on the ground in California at 7:30 am.  Yes, you can do the math on that one, but it meant I had to get up at 3:30 in the morning.  I don't have hungry babies anymore, so that early of a morning, something I haven't done willingly for years was a bit of a killer.  But, it meant we could maximize our time in the sunshine.

We arrived, had breakfast at our favorite place, The Sugar Shack Cafe, in Huntington Beach and then we hit the coast.  We were at Huntington all alone, minus a few surfers.  We played in the tide pools at Laguna Beach and ate a delicious, yet greasy and stomach unsettling burger in Oceanside.

The drive to the wedding was dark and winding.  We spent a total of 5 minutes at the reception - typical Mormon thing if you get my drift - and then drove back to Oceanside to sleep harder and deeper on a hotel bed than I've ever slept maybe in my life.  And, I'm a professional sleeper.

The next morning, Sunday, we toured Oceanside.  There wasn't much to see if you get rid of the grime and the homeless folks on every corner.  But, the pier was cool - pelican unafraid of humans and wooden planks, and the California Surfer museum, though small, was packed full of useful and interesting surfing information.  A topic I know nothing about.

The Oceanside beach is small.  At Dana Point, we watched a surf competition in the rain, and got drenched ourselves.  Walking up a steep hill, in a minor downpour, on a cold and blustery morning with sandy feet isn't my favorite way to travel.



Once we got back to Laguna Beach for lunch, the rain was making way for a perfectly beachy California afternoon.  We decided to spend a good part of our Sunday at the church of Crystal Cove beach, tucked away from most tourists, noise, and worldly chaos.  The beach is such a fantastic and magical and marvelous place sometimes.  I lost my brother, but I was perfectly content sitting in the silence, soaking up the waves and the sunshine.  A perfect revival for a tired soul.



We drove past the Newport Temple and scared a trespasser, watching him take a flying leap into some shrubbery.  Instead of heading up the coast for one more beach, Seal Beach, we decided to watch the sun set behind the waves at our beloved Huntington Beach.  The Sunday drum circle was pounding away, the crowd was happy, the surf appeared to be good, and the sky was a bright orange as we walked out to Ruby's Diner, got a malt to split and walked back down the pier.



One of the faster weekends of my life, but a memorable one.

Thanks Willie for the invitation.