Birthday Boy!

Check out this cute boy! Can you believe that he is 3 now??? He is definitely growing up really fast! This is one of his favorite things to do, ride his bike. He LOVES it! Now onto the birthday celebrations. On his actual birthday, we started out with colored pancakes.
Here they are mixing the colors! Then they decided that they wanted crazy colored pancakes....
They love them like this! Since Brady was a work, we let Ben open one present early, and had him wait til Brady got home to open the others. (Now remember, another thing that Ben LOVES is the movie How to Train Your Dragon.) I found on a blog called 'running with scissors' a pattern for dinosaur tails. I decided that I should make Ben his own dinosaur/dragon tail! Here it is....
I ended up having to make Isabel one too, so they could have dragon fights and races, etc.... (I have pictures on my phone I will have to try to get off so you can see hers)
Isn't he a cute dragon! Ben used to be obsessed with the movie Despicable Me. That is what he originally told me he wanted for his cake, was a despicable me cake. I thought I was in luck.... twinkies would make perfect minions! Well, then along came How to Train Your Dragon. We looked at cakes on google, but Ben decided that he wanted the 'Big Wagon coming out of the mountain"......Hahaha knew I couldn't make a cake out of that one :) I consulted with Tracie, and she mentioned that lots of times on the TV shows where they make cakes, they use rice crispy treats to mold shapes..... Rice crispy treats I can do.... so here is how it turned out.
I had him molded out of regular rice crispy treats, then I was really smart and poured hot melted chocolate over the top, to make him brown...... Marshmallows melt with heat, so he quickly lost his shape :( So, I decided to just work the chocolate into the rice crispies and mold him again. So not only did Ben get the 'Big Wagon', he got a big chocolate dragon :) His eyes are made of melted white and chocolate chips, his teeth are marshmallows, his tongue is marshmallow fondant. The covering on the mountain is Brazilian brigadeiros! (basically chocolate caramel that is really yummy). I had to make 6 batches of rice crispy treats to make this bad boy, but it was all worth it when Ben woke up and saw it on Friday. (The day when we had people over for his party). In fact, he ran into the kitchen, saw it on the counter, jumped up and down and said over and over, "my big wagon!!!" (if you hadn't guessed yet, he doesn't say his D's really well yet) He then ate all of the dragons toes off..... and said it was yummy!
I couldn't just have rice crispy treats, so I made egg free (and milk free) cupcakes. (love those little kids with allergies) Then I made some marshmallow fondant, which is way better than regular fondant and way cheaper, and molded shapes for the tops of the cupcakes. Jen came over and helped me sculpt dragon tails, swords, viking hats (Isabel made a few of them...look at the one in the middle right under the red and blue dragon tail...) a viking ship, and fish. The kids loved them. Thanks Jen for coming to play :) I loved how they turned out!
When all the cousins arrived, they all went off to play, but Ben sat right by his cake. He was ready to dig in!
He was even the first one to start singing to himself! He blew out the candles about 1/2 way through the song! He was so excited!
Here I am lighting the candles. (Nice picture, I know) If you look close, you can see how Brady tied up Ben's new dragon toy, Toothless, to the fan. Ben wanted him to fly to kill the Big Wagon! We turned the fan with our hands to make him fly, cause it went way to fast otherwise :)
Just another cute picture of Ben and his cake :)
You can see the flying dragon better in this one. Here are the kids eating cupcakes.
Then it was present time! It was a whirlwind. He actually does love everything he got, even if it didn't seem like it at the time :)
Zoey loved the t-ball. This made Ben jealous, so he had to take it with him everywhere after that. Thanks everyone for the presents! He was spoiled! And yes, he has already played with both water guns :)
The next pictures need some explanation. Ben was being a turkey the other night, and when he turned around, Brady threw a ball that was soft and hit Ben on the bum. Ben thought it was funny and every since has wanted to have Brady play this game with him every night. I was telling my brothers and sisters in law about it, and had Ben show them how to play. All the cousins thought it looked like fun, so they joined in.....Nothing like a good game of Bum Ball :)
First you have to put your bum in the air, and then you wait..... if you get pegged with the ball, you have to fall down, laugh and say "ahhh". Then you get back up and throw the ball back to dad so you can keep playing. (This is a great game to get the kids hyped up before bedtime...)Ben was the one who was hit this time, so he had to fall over. What a fun way to end a birthday party! :) As Adam was leaving, he had to tell me that he was so excited because his dad said that they could play bum ball the next night at their house!! Glad I could help in the starting of traditions! Ben loved his birthday! Thanks to all who came!
I can't believe he is 3. They grow up way too fast....can't imagine my life without him :)

Weekend Getaway

I recently got reconnected with my old 2 on 2 outdoor volleyball partner, Sasha! She called me and asked if I would like to play in the UOVA season opener in St George the 1st weekend in April. I talked with Brady and he said it would be fun to get away before things get to crazy with work and school, so we went! It was fun! Here is Isabel chilling at the park watching me play.
Poor Ben. He went to the dentist on Thursday to have some cavities filled and to have his teeth sealed. Well, he was numb and when I looked over at him, he was covered in blood. He bit 4 holes in his tongue. 1 of which went all the way through his tongue. He was pretty miserable :( At least he loved playing at the park with Isabel and Brady! (It took about a week and a half for his tongue to heal. I just had to put orajel on it and make really bland food for him!)
Here is Brady hitting the ball at Ben. Ben has pretty good hand eye coordination. I taught him to hold his hands correctly and he can bump the ball back to me. Isabel is getting good at it too!
Before we left to go home, we stopped by the St George temple. It sure is pretty.
I love this picture of Isabel. She loved being by the water. Couldn't get a good picture of both of the kids by the fountain! Ben just kept trying to touch the water. Surprise!
Here they are at the top of the temple steps.
They liked this picture, because they look so small and the temple looks so big!
Ben had to climb up all the stairs! So, instead of a cute picture by the fountain, I have a cute picture on the stairs!
They loved to show me which flowers they liked. Ben has an airplane sucker in his hand, you know the kind that has the propeller that spins... He liked to try and kill the bugs that were on the flowers. He was making them safe.
There was tons of pollen from the trees on the sidewalk, so on the way back to the car Isabel had us play the game where you had to go as fast as you could without touching it. Notice Brady is not playing :) Besides having to switch hotels the first night, we had a good time. I'm glad we got to go down there and that the weather was nice. Oh, Sasha and I took 3rd in the tournament. We got a gift card to pizza hut (dinner that night) and another gift certificate to Smash Burger (wherever that is?) It was fun to play with her again. I definitely don't move as well as I did when I was 20 (that's how old we were when we used to play!). I do love the sport. If Isabel really gets to be over feet, I would love to see her play!

Farewell Ogden Temple

We decided that before the Ogden temple was demolished, we should take the kids to see it one more time. Then they would be able to see the progress being made as they rebuild it!
When we told Grandpa Grant what our plans were, he said to make sure that the kids got to touch the temple. Grandpa, Isabel and Ben want you to know that the temple is hard and cold :)
This is the best group shot of the Morgan grandkids. Can't really see Isabel, but at least everyone is looking in the right direction!
Sarah and Ben took turns reaching as high as they could. And yes, Isabel's new past time is sucking on her hair :(
This one had the words on the front of the temple. Ben didn't like to sit too close....
Here are the grandkids on the Yamashita side. This is the best I could get. Nice huh. They look so thrilled. :)
I had to put this one on there. Whenever Ben is looking for something, he puts his hands up to his eyes like binoculars. It cracks me up. This is the first time I caught it on camera.
Here are the Morgans. Sarah, Ari, Adam and Sam. (Only got 3 looking in the right direction.....)
Adam does really good with Sam! Such a good big brother.
The kids ran right out on the bridge when we first got there. They were fascinated that there was money in the water. :)
The wind kept blowing the water from the fountain and Zoey kept telling me that it was raining! Nara is a climber. That wasn't too scary, until she had help from loving cousins! We switched photo locations for the safety of all involved!
Check out Ari's hair! The wind was crazy! Isabel took it upon herself to make sure Zoey was safe. She also was the only one who was allowed to push her :) She likes being the boss.
Here are our cute girls at the temple!
I thought this one was adorable of Sarah! I took our her pacifier and had her say cheese!
Here is Zoey getting rained on by the water! So cute!
Here is Nara. Such a big girl. She wanted to climb and run on everything! Got to love when they get mobile!
Before we left, they all wanted to go on the bridge again. I had them all go out there and point to Angel Moroni. At least they all knew were he was! It is sad that the temple is closing for a time, but it will be neat to see how it progresses!

St Patty's Day and Stories

Sarah and Sam got to come play on St Patrick's Day morning while Tamina went to the dentist. Ben made sure that the first thing he showed Sarah was the green juice, then he wanted me to take their picture. Aren't they so cute saying 'cheese' :)We had green pancakes for breakfast, green mac and cheese for lunch at the park with pears, and corned beef and cabbage for dinner. Ben insisted that the gravy for the potatoes be green. Isabel wouldn't touch them. I don't blame her, the stuff looked like snot! We won't be making that again :) Maybe green mashed potatoes or something.
Kandi and Zoey came over to exercise and since I had Sarah and Sam, I wasn't sure how good the workout would be, but it turned out to be really good. The kids loved to camp out around Sam to keep him entertained. Peek-a-boo was a favorite. We ended up meeting Holly and Carter at the park to play after Isabel got out of school. Kind of funny story about Ben.... All the kids were running around playing tag at the park. Next thing I know, Carter is crying and Ben is standing next to him. I asked Carter what was wrong, and he said that Ben had pinched him. I looked at what Carter was wearing and he had his jacked zipped up, so it looked like he wasn't wearing green. I asked Carter to show Ben his green on his shirt, and as soon as he did, Ben said, "oh, there it is. I sorry." Carter was fine after that too. He did make sure to keep his jacket unzipped though. Later at the park, Ben came up to me and said, "oh man mommy, I have water all over me." I asked him is he peed his pants and he said no, it was water. I asked him where he got into water at. He thought for a minute, and then said, "mom, the water came from my penis!" Luckily I had clothes for him in the car!
Onto another day..... we love the pizza dough from Winco. It is nice because there are no eggs or milk in it, and for under 3$ you can make 2 large pizzas, or in my case 1 large and 1 medium, cause I let the kids help :)
This little toad definitely keeps me on my toes. He has said some funny things this past week. He was helping me clean the toilets (his favorite job lately) and his head kept getting closer to the toilet. I was a little afraid that he would drink it, cause it smells minty, so I made sure to tell him that he would get really sick and have to go to the hospital if he drank it. He thought for a minute and then said, "oh, that what happened to nate nandma!" (Great grandma Maxine has been in the hospital for a broken hip recently) We made sure to tell great grandma at dinner on Sunday that the reason she was in the hospital was because she drank toilet water! It made her laugh.

Ben's favorite movie right now is this one. He actually talks about killing 'the big wagon' all the time. It amazes me how early kids develop a sense of humor. He laughs at things I wouldn't think he would. I really do like this movie, which is good because we have been watching it at least once a day. Before you think less of me, let me explain. Ben got a cough on Thursday last week. This is nothing new, cause Isabel had one too. It seemed like just a regular cold and cough. I started to worry on Monday when he started whistling instead of breathing. When I could finally get into the dr, his oxygen sats were at 91-92. (They go to the hospital if they reach 90) He got 2 breathing treatments at the office and they told me that he had stopped coughing and wheezing/whistling because the junk was stuck in his lungs. Yep, pneumonia. Great. He hasn't had a ton of energy to do much, so I let him watch this movie! He is doing much better today. We did albuterol treatments 3 times today, and that with the 2 antiobiotics seem to be helping him feel way better. He is even running around trying to catch Isabel, you know cause she is the "big wagon!" :) As I said earlier, this little toad keeps me on my toes!
I have a funny story about Isabel, but I will wait til the next post! She is a riot too!

Grandpa Barn & Popsicles

I went to pick up Isabel from school and Ari said that she wanted to come with us. So, we had a play day at our house! They ate lunch, played inside, and outside, and after a little while Isabel came inside and asked if they could have a popsicle. (Cause it was so hot outside. ~57) I told her yes, and she came back inside with a box of creamies from the big freezer in the garage and asked if she could have a "grandpa popsicle"? I had forgotten that those were out there, but told them they could have one! They were so excited! All 3 picked chocolate, just like grandpa!
The local elementary school had borrowed Grandpa Grant's stable to be a Charolette's Web barn, and had just returned it, so it was still sitting outside. The kids went and got chairs, put them inside the stable, and informed me that they were eating grandpa popsicles in grandpas barn! They thought it was so much fun! We had a fun day with Ari! It was nice to have her come play. It was also nice to finally have beautiful weather :) We even went to feed the ducks and play at Layton park with Kandi, Zoey, Jen and Nara. Isabel, Ari and Ben all had to take turns holding Nara to go down the big slide. Nara seemed to like it! :) All of the kids loved the merry-go-round, (Zoey included!) and Ben kept asking for it to go faster. Crazy kids! By-the-way, Cadburry Mini Eggs are the ticket to potty training for Ben. He loves those things, so I hardly have to remind him to go! Thank goodness!

Rub a Dub Dub......

Rub a dub dub, 2 kids cleaning the tub! It was cleaning day on Saturday and I gave the kids the job of cleaning the bathtub in their swimsuits! Isabel couldn't decide which swimsuit to wear, so she picked 2. (Notice the one on her head..) Silly girl.
Ben loved scrubbing and sliding around, and Isabel liked to pour water to rinse the tub. Cute pose, huh!
They cleaned/played for at least an hour, giving me time to clean the rest of the bathroom! Isabel even remembered to thank Heavenly Father in her night time prayers for being able to wear her swimsuit and play in the tub!
When I was at Harmons a while ago, I saw these marshmallows in the clearance cart for $1, and thought we should give them a try! If the kids got all of their chore lists done, they could have a fire and roast marshmallows. Can't beat a good reward!
All I have to say is those things were STICKY! We made them into smores. They were huge! Ben promptly ate the chocolate off of his and threw the rest into the fire. Isabel ate her whole smore. It took about 20min :)
Here they are eating them! Their faces crack me up!
Ben gave up on roasting his marshmallow and just put it on the roasting stick and ate it.
Isabel remembered to thank Heavenly Father for her fire and smores too. We have been working on her prayers lately, and she tries to say 5 things that made her happy during the day. She definitely had 5 things that made her happy! Good quality family fun! Except now Brady has the itch to go camping :)