HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER!

TYLER IS OFFICIALLY 7 YEARS OLD!

Tyler FINALLY turned 7 on the 24th of July! He has been waiting for this day for a whole year! He absolutely just loves getting older and was thrilled to get to have a birthday party. He wanted family for this one and not a whole bunch of kids his age (I was okay with that - didn't have to come up with games and things).

It turned out to be a relatively small party. Here is Hailey, Emma, and Aunt Pat. Uncle Mark couldn't make it, he was very ill, Kurt had to work and Bryan had taken all the boys out of town to visit their grandparents and that left Debra home but she wasn't feeling very well either.

Here are a few of the other guests. Kelsey, Kimmy and Chris!

Poor Dad was the only adult guy there but I think he didn't mind. We had cake, ice cream and coffee. That makes up for it all!

First to the gifts! Tyler hit pay dirt! He got a cool shirt, a buckaroo game which is fun and some skittles in this picture!

From here on out - it's Lego Country!

Hard to see in this picture but Hayden paid for this set himself! And Tyler even got a limited edition gold Lego Character Key chain!

Since I had a feeling this was going to be a LegoFest, I decided that I was going to make that the theme . . . I tried my hand at making a "Lego Brick" cake. It is strange looking but I think it turned out okay! Was very interesting to get icing onto! Very sad because when I called Tyler into the kitchen to show him he had no idea what it was (I held back the tears) but Hayden guessed. Thanks Buddy! Tyler got excited after he figured it out!

Hayden and Jonathan added some of the finishing touches. They lined up Lego Characters all around the base of the cake. We added candles but the problem was that there were only 6 knobs and Tyler was going to be 7 - Oh, what to do????

Anakin Skywalker came to the rescue and flew in on his spaceship carrying the final candle on the end of a skewer! (Hayden was VERY concerned that this ship was going to break free and fall into the cake - I mean VERY concerned)!

So, here goes Ty blowing out the six candles . . .

And for the seventh one to officially make him 7! He had a lot of fun with this. Looks like Grandpa wants to give him a little help in the background!

The party turned out great! All the kids helped Tyler put together the Lego sets and played the bucking donkey game, ate lots of cake and ice cream and candy. Later on it was fun to sit out front with Dad, Chris, Kelsey, Hailey, Emma and me and chat about a lot of different things! We even got to see a huge falling star! Emma and Hailey had never seen one. Everyone ended up leaving after 10:30 p.m. I think for Tyler it was a birthday to remember!

I think after today I am going to take some time and look into buying some Lego Stocks. I think we own half the company by now!

Roseberry Summer Music Festival!

Here are some wonderful pictures that Hailey took of her trip with her father to the Roseberry Summer Music Festival! I was hoping to go this year but my schedule didn't match the schedule of the transportation there and back so it didn't work. I am hoping it might in the future because it looks like this is a fun event and you sure can't beat the scenery! Hayden went with Kurt on an earlier date but they didn't have the camera so, here goes . . .

On the way up to Roseberry . . .


I am pretty sure that my cabin should be sitting right in that little grassy spot there! (they would have to move the highway though)!

I love scenery like this - could just sit and watch it all day!

Hailey always has to find a funky way to get herself in the shot! Good job Hailey!

The stage for the festival.

I think Hailey said this is a shot of the town of Roseberry. . . hmmmm - pretty interesting if you can get the whole town in one photo! Sounds like my kind of town - no left hand turns at the light!

Seems like a good crowd!

Believe it or not this is an instrument! It is called a (name to come). Kurt said that it was very expensive. I think I just need to put a violin, a guitar and some other instruments in the driveway and run them over with the car a few times and then proceed to glue them all together in one it might be pretty close!

Wonder if Hailey tripped with the camera here?

The soon to be ghost town of Tamarack!

I believe this is Cascade Lake.

Beautiful!

This is the motel that Kurt and Hailey stayed in. Hayden wasn't too happy to hear about that because when he was with Dad they slept in a tent and nearly froze to death. I think he said "Hey, no fair"!

Interesting shot again, Hailey! I didn't post the two pictures Hailey had taken inside the room because one was Kurt brushing his teeth and the other one had two nice, warm beds that would have made Hayden sad.

They were really nice rooms so am not sure what was up with the dilapidated door number!

Pictures taken on the way back home.

Kurt and Hailey arrived looking road worn and exhausted. A normal 1 1/2 hour trip ended up taking them over 3 hours because the traffic was so heavy coming back down from the mountains! Although I missed out going on the trip, that is one area that I feel like I was glad to have missed!

Get Together #2!

On the 10th we got to have another family get together! Unfortunately Kurt didn't get to be there till late due to work, Pat wasn't feeling well and the Jensen family already had plans to go to the cabin in McCall when we found out that Ray and Cheryl were to be in town a few days before they headed out camping! Conrads and Dad were able to come so we had plenty of chatting and kids playing!

Jenna enjoyed having her picture taken! Brodie brought his own guitar this time and Hailey pulled out her violin - Jenna wanted them to put on a performance but the two musicians just did a little dabble of playing on the front porch while us adults sat on chairs on the lawn. I should have had them play louder so we could have background conversation music!

Bryan, Deb and Dad. It was a beautiful evening outside!

No event would be complete without lightsaber battles. The boys did this for most of the night. It is amazing how long they can keep this up!

Jenna and Tyler are like two peas in a pod! They both love each other a lot, love to jump, wiggle, giggle and keep moving - did I mention keep moving?

This picture was taken shortly after the last one - they keep moving!

Ryan and Dylan found a neat little hiding spot in the bushes at the basketball court next to our house. Dylans picture wouldn't work for some reason.

Yes, Hayden is wielding TWO lightsabers . . . this kid really practices this. Too bad they don't have fencing at his school because I truly believe he would be spectacular at it!

Ray and Debra!

Cheryl, Dad and Bryan!

It was so fun just to sit and chat - catch up on what we all have been doing and the things we are going through. Really wish that Ray and Cheryl lived closer.

MMMMM - Cookies! I think Bryan wants Tyler's cookie!

It's great to have the common area/basketball court next door to our house - the kids have a lot of room to play and we can still keep an eye on them!

Dad was the first to go, then Debra, Bryan and the boys, then Ray and Cheryl around 12:40 in the morning! We had a lot of fun. Hope they can come to visit again this summer!