Bike Day!

We decided that all the cousins should have a day when they could ride bikes in the cul-de-sac! They were all very excited! Uncle Grant even drew pictures for mom and dad (a few days before, but still cute!) We ended up getting together on Thursday night, after my kids recital practice. We had b-b-que hot dogs, but the kids didn't eat much cause they were so excited.
Ben was one of the first ones out there to show his cousins how to ride in his cul-de -sac.

Uncle Grant took Sam and Sarah (and Nara) for rides around the cul-de-sac. They loved it!
Adam hadn't ridden without training wheels before, so I had him get on Ben's little yellow bike. This helped him not to be scared cause he could just put his foot down and wouldn't fall very far. After a few times of me giving him a push to start, he was off and riding! After practicing for a bit, Jon took the training wheels off Adams bike and he was able to ride around! He LOVES it! Good job Adam! Adam and Noah had a blast riding together!
Here are Sarah, Nara, and Sam in the wagon! Nara got to hang out with me all day, and since we are SO exciting at our house, she only took a 20min nap all day. She was one tired girl! She did awesome all day though. (Jen was at youth conference! We will have to catch her next time!)
And of course, these 2 just love to play together, no matter what it is!
Here is Ari on Ben's bike with no training wheels! Her balance is pretty good, she just doesn't like to pedal fast. And, if stationary objects get closer, like a curb or parked truck, she jumps off of the bike! (both legs over the top so she is on the side of the bike!) I have to say she is really talented to jump off so quickly. :)
Ben can ride without training wheels too! (He likes to be bribed to do so though...... He can ride really far for a big piece of crab or an otter pop!) He says he needs to be 5 like Isabel to ride with no training wheels..... He is starting to do tricks on the balance bike, so it is just a matter of him wanting to take his training wheels off. His current training wheels are bald from riding so much! I'm pretty sure when he discovers that he can go faster without training wheels on , he won't ever want them on again!
Here they are fixing a chain on Adam's bike! Someone fixing things = Ben right there!
Brady got home from work, mowed the lawn and then joined in the fun! He likes the little yellow bike. Ben is impressed that Daddy can ride with no training wheels :) Brady had fun racing/teasing the kids. He rode almost every kid bike that was there. He would convince them that they should trade him.
Grant and Jon even rode the little yellow bike. Grant's flip flop slipped off and he biffed it, Jon made it, but not too far. Lots of fun! Tamina even came and joined the party after her 5k for relief society.
The kids had so much fun riding together that they were already talking about when our next bike party would be! So, until the next one ........

Memorial Day

Isabel and Ben were very excited to help me go get flowers to put on the graves this year. They helped me load them into the cart at Winco, then get them into and out of the car.
They had to arrange the flowers multiple times around the porch til they looked just right! They took their jobs seriously.
They wanted to make sure Grandma and Grandpa Morgan saw a picture of them with the flowers.
Here is Isabel looking cute :) I didn't get any pictures, but I did mom's side of the family and the Yamashita graves on Saturday. Grandma Tracie met me at the Ogden cemetery so I could find the Yamashita grandparents. Then Chris, Jen and Nara met us at Altarest on 36th st. Good news mom and dad, they give away hot dogs and drinks now! You picked the right place to want to be buried :) j/k From there we went to cemetery on Washington, across from the golf course. Isabel made sure to give Tanner a red flower, cause he was a boy and that was a boy color. Funny story at the Ogden Cemetery..... (not intended to make fun of anyone's name) I was reading names on headstones to the kids and the kids asked me what the name was on a round headstone.... you'll never guess what it was.... Pancake! They thought it was hilarious! So did I.
On Monday, we made it up to Logan in the snow. :( You can see some on the ground if you look close. Since it was raining, we didn't need to water the flowers, so the kids were all in charge of placing the flowers and taking the plastic off of them. They did a good job! Here are Isabel and Ari posing for Grandpa Grant, showing him the name Morgan on the grave.
This is the best picture I could get of the grandkids at the Logan cemetery. They did really good not to step on the headstones, scream or run around. I think the fact that it was cold helped :)
We had a hard time finding Olas Johnson there. We KNEW he was close to a certain tree, but come to find out, it was another tree that looked just like the one we thought it was :) Funny story about Isabel and Ari..... We asked Isabel and Ari to find the name Johnson on a headstone for us, so they walked around looking for it. All of the sudden, they came up to me and said, "Mom, we found Jesus!" They were very excited! They had found a headstone that had a picture of Jesus with no words on it, and they assumed that Jesus was buried there. Who knew Jesus was buried at the Logan cemetery?! :)
Here is Ben, taking his job seriously! He refused to wear his coat, cause Adam only had a sweatshirt on, so that's all he wanted to wear.....I ended up carrying him cause he was cold and wet and whiney..... :)
Chris got to carry Isabel. He said that it reminded him of last year, when he carried her the same way :) Traditions make for fond memories! Happy Memorial Day!

Dandelions!

Blowing dandelions is a sure sign of summer, or so I thought! I took these pictures 2 weeks ago.... yet we are still having sweatshirt weather :) Got to love Utah weather!

Tangled Birthday!

Here are all the party details! I know I already posted these invitations, but I wanted all the Tangled stuff in one spot. :)Isabel invited 8 girls to her party. This picture was taken at the end of the party, but I wanted it at the beginning of the post so you could see all the cute girls who came! From left to right, there is Ari, Allie, Isabel, Sarah, Zoey, Emma, Shiloh, and Emily. Only one of her friends she invited couldn't come. They made princess crowns with lots of jewels and glue and if you look close, you can see frying pan necklaces on some of them. The Rapunzel braid was originally hanging on the front door, but letting the girls hold it made for a cute picture! Aren't the girls beautiful!
Here is the line-up of the food that was made. Pascal (Rapunzel's chameleon friend) cupcakes, blue jello with orange slice boats, and of course the cake. It was chocolate cake with a rice crispy/white chocolate tower. The hair lining the cake is twizzlers. There is a close-up picture later :)
These are the Pascal cupcakes. I think they turned out cute!
A close-up of the jello boats. (These were Ben's favorite!) The girls seemed to like them too.
Here is what I did for decorations. In the movie when Rapunzel gets into town, there are banners across the city that look like the ones below, so I got some felt and made Isabel some! The ones across the ceiling say 'Happy Birthday' and the ones on the fireplace say 'Isabel.' I tied purple and yellow balloons everywhere too. We had a Tangled table cloth, plates and cups too.
Isabel loved the banner with her name on it so much, that it is hanging over her bed in her room. I'm glad she liked it :)
When the girls got there, I had a coloring page for them to do. Rapunzel was missing her hair, and they had to draw it. I didn't get a picture, but they made Pascal party blowers too. The blower looked like Pascals tongue! Then I had purple jewels and the girls took turns hiding them and finding them. They got to pick out flower jewels to put
into their frying pan necklaces, and then they got to decorate their own princess crowns! I thought this might be fun, seeing as Isabel loves anything sparkly and glue :) Lots of both were used! Then they danced with balloons to the Tangled soundtrack and played ring around the rosie!



Then it was present time! Isabel loved being the center of attention! All the girls took turns bringing Isabel the present they got her.

Ari made sure to get her a Tangled Barbie, so that she and Isabel could be twins. (Ari had one already). Isabel loves it and takes it everywhere. She is even having me teach her how to braid! That's an adventure! Thanks Ari!

Zoey got her a Tangled brush that sings! She loves it! Thanks Zoey!
Allie got her coloring books (one of her favorite activities!) and some outdoor toys! Awesome! Thanks Allie!
Shiloh got her a cool badmiton set! These are definitely Ben's favorite :) Anything he can hit with is great! Isabel loves them too! Thanks Shiloh!
Emily got her a cute Belle doll and blanket! Isabel said that the blanket is the best, even better than Ben's favorite car blanket, because it is soft and stretchy! Thanks Emily!
And Emma got her a Hello Kitty scrapbook kit! It took Isabel 3 days and 4 glue sticks and a lot of jewels to put her book together, but she did it! She is definitely a fan of her cool cutting scissors! Thanks Emma!
Then it was time for cake! I got lucky and found a #5 candle (I couldn't find any other candles....) I think that it turned out cute! And Isabel said it was just what she wanted! Chocolate cake with green marshmallow fondant. I used rice crispies, white chocolate melts, and marshmallows to make the tower. The top is an ice cream sugar cone covered in purple candy melts. The flowers on the cake are made of fondant and the hair lining the cake is yellow twizzler candy.
Even though there was only one candle.... it took 2 tries to blow it out! Luckily everything tasted good! Never know how things will taste with no eggs or milk in them! :)
Then the girls headed out to the sandbox out back to play! Isabel said that it was lots of fun and that her favorite part of the party was ALL of it! We made the girls a take home bag with a tangled coloring page, flower suckers, a purple bead necklace and a ring and anything else they made they could put it there!
A special thanks to my sister in law Kandi for all of her help! I forget how long it takes to do cute stuff sometimes! Thanks again Kandi, I couldn't have done it all without you! And thanks to all the girls that came to help Isabel celebrate! She loved every minute of it! Happy Birthday my angel!

Ben funnies

Isn't this the cutest picture! I sure think my kids are cute, that's for sure! I have to post about Isabel's first friend birthday party, but I thought I would throw this post about funny things Ben has done. Here goes!
1. Ben got a paper cut on his finger, and I told him he could go get a Toy Story bandaid to put on it to make it feel better. I went to check on him a few seconds later, and he showed me is finger. There was purple liquid stuff on his cut. He then showed me a bottle of liquid childrens tylenol that he had poured on his cut. He said, "see mom, it feels better now!" Then he started to cry cause it started stinging. Funny, until I realized that he got the child proof lid off......
2. Grandma Tracie is in the process of getting her kitchen redone. Last Monday she had her granite counter tops delivered, and they also put in her new sink. Ben would walk up to the counter and rub it and say, "Oh Nama, I love your new counter..... I love your new sink! love your paint!" Every time he would walk by it! (Remember my kids love food and the kitchen, so he probably said it a lot!) Tracie said that it was super cute!
3. Another thing that he loves are his Spiderman and Hulk boxers. I was folding laundry right out of the dryer and Ben walked up. He looked in the dryer and saw is Hulk boxers, grabbed them and started rubbing them up and down his cheek. While doing it he said, "Oh mom! You washed them! They are my favorites!" He does this any time I wash any of his clothes. It just struck me as funny, seeing how it was underwear. (And yes, I do tons of laundry, so it wasn't like he was deprived of having those boxers for any long period of time!) :)
4. He LOVES the Wii game Just Dance for Kids. Tamina has one at her house, so we go there to play. It's the first thing that Ben asks to do if we go over to her house. Little kids dancing is awesome. Funny stuff! It's a whole lot of head bobbing and body shaking. I recorded it on my phone, so if possible, I will transfer it over here.
5. At nursery a month or so ago, they had a lesson on keeping their bodies clean. Sister Skadden gave each kid a sample size baby soap, sponge with hairbrush (the kind you get in the hospital) and a pink wash bucket for newborns. She works in a hospital, so she got them for cheap. Ben loved his bucket, so I let him put it in the shower with him. Almost every day I go in to get him out of the shower, and he has his legs indian style inside that little bucket! It is so funny! He will not be happy when he gets older and realizes I have a naked bathtub picture of him on my blog! :) Too funny to pass up! (at least there are no private parts showing!)

Well, I have tons of stories of this kid. Granted he has his moments of tantrums, not sleeping through the night, and just being a boy, but he sure is funny. He really is sweet, most of the time! (Especially since we are done potty training!) One fun game that we play is he will tell me that he loves me, I will say "I love you too!" Then he will say, "I love you three"..and we keep counting! Isabel usually chimes in with, "I love you twenty one hundred and four zero! (or some random combination of numbers!) I love it though! Being a mom is great!

All about Isabel!

Isabel is definitely my cutie pie! I had the flower over her pony tail, but she moved it to the top of her head! She loves to put flowers in her hair....right on top! I love it! It makes me smile. This post is going to be all about her. She turned 5 this week. Yep, my baby just turned 5. She is a very head strong little girl. When I was teaching her how to read (since she was 3ish) she would just look at me and say, "Mom, I will read when I am 5!" Same thing with riding her bike with no training wheels. "Mom, I will ride it when I am 5!" Needless to say, 5 was a big birthday for her!
Climbing trees wasn't on her turning 5 to do list, but she managed to do it! All the way to the top. Best part was, she could get down all by herself!
Steve next door was very persuasive/encouraging in getting her to keep climbing to the top!
And yes my friends, she did it. 2 days before her birthday, she started riding with no training wheels. (For her birthday she got a new helmet!) Her first comment was, "Wow, I can go really fast now!" It was hard to keep her off the bike before, let alone now :)
First day with no training wheels. I gave in and bought the kids a balance bike. It was an off-brand, so it was cheap, but it was the only one I could find that was big enough for my kids. What it is, is a bike with no pedals. The kids just have to run-ride it and balance their feet on pegs and coast. 2 days of practice on the balance bike, and Isabel could ride her bike! Hooray! Her teaching herself to balance was much better than me or Brady running behind her (we tried and failed).
We filmed her for grandma to see, but I need to find the cord to hook up my camcorder to the computer so I can get the video on here! Basically it says, "look what I can do grandma!" and she rides down the driveway!
After seeing Tangled, Isabel really wanted a friend birthday party with the theme of Tangled. I will post about the party later, but these are the invitations we came up with. A tower with embroidery floss braids. Isabel got to glue on the white paper with the information on it, and do the flowers. Then she rode her bike to her friends houses to give them each their own invitations.
On her actual birthday, we had TONS to do (other than birthday stuff). But, she did ask me for colored pancakes that they could stack in rainbow patterns, so that it what we did!
Later, in between school, the park, tumbling, soccer, and volleball, we made multi-colored cupcakes. This is what she wanted her Rapunzel tower cake to be made out of, but I couldn't promise that would happen, so I made them on her actual birthday. The kids decorated them!
Here they are enjoying them! Yum-Yum!
We even managed to find time to open presents before the soccer game! The $1 flip-flops got a great reaction!
New books, cause she can read level 1 books now! (Hooray!)
5 tubes of her own Dora lip gloss! They even had their own case!
And a wooden birthday cake with candles and sprinkles. Oh yeah, Brady is in the back with one of her other presents, a kick stand for her bike! Who knew you could buy those separate? I do now! She loved her presents and her dinner of b-b-que chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, rolls and watermelon! She also loved her crown and bag of goodies that she got at school! What a fun day!
Isabel is a really sweet little girl! She loves to help other people. I was busy making dinner, and I wasn't able to push the kids in the swing, so Isabel offered to do it! She thought she was pretty ingenious pushing 1 kid with each hand!
She loves to take care of others. She always wants to hold Sam and play with Nara or Zoey. This picture is of one of her favorite past times. She will go sit in the grandpa swing with Nara or Zoey and swing them. It is so cute! (She also pulls them around the yard in the wagon!) When asked at school what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said ,"a mommy, just like my mommy!" I love my angel and don't know what I would do without her! Happy birthday!!!!