Superhero Birthday Party!

My baby boy has turned 4! I can't believe it. He's getting so big so fast. I just want to stop time because before I know it he'll be out in this world on his own. He started the morning off with a large pile of blueberry birthday pancakes, whipped cream, and sprinkles with bacon on the side - his favorites. I had decorated the dining area with crepe paper and balloons the night before and had made his birthday cake. Every year so far the cake has been a hit but this year I was stumped. I ended up doing a really colorful cake & cupcakes with Buzz Lightyear and the Evil Zurg. I thought it turned out good and Jace was super excited when he saw it. It ended up being much easier then the candyland cake he wanted last year. I got the house cleaned up and Craig cleaned up the yard and mowed the lawn. We got the bounce house out and the kids started arriving. Everyone he invited was able to come except Gavin, Nolan, and Aiden. We started off having a superhero training camp. I had them practice some running, do a short obstacle course, and do some flying training in the bounce house. They had a blast. After that they earned their Superhero capes that I had made for them and their Superhero water guns. They played in the back yard while the Evil Goobermonster (Craig with a crazy wig) hid the cake. He came out with a bag of bombs (balloons) that they had to diffuse. Then he started spraying them with goobers (silly string) they got him with their water guns until he gave up and told them the cake was in the closet. They all ran to the closet to recover the cake. They were all great little Superheros. Jace blew out the candles on his Superhero cake and everyone got a cupcake. We cleaned up and Jace was able to open his presents. He was practically shaking with excitement. He got some CARS action figures, a toy bow and arrow, a Batman action figure, the movie Hercules, a fishing game, an Iron Man mask and wrist disk shooter, some money, Buzz Lightyear pajamas and a Bat Mobile tricycle. The kids just took turns playing with all the toys until their parents came to pick them up and then they got their treat bags with Superhero candy, crayons, bubbles, etc. .

The Superhero Birthday Party was a success!

While everyone was outside shooting their guns and "flying" around in their capes Brooke took advantage of time alone with the cake. Luckily it was stolen by the goobermonster soon after otherwise it may have been gone before anyone even noticed.

Here are the Superheros holding their guns getting ready for the Goobermonster.

We have Super Drew, Queen Karli, Bat Gabe, Jace Lightyear, Spider Chase, Strawberry Girl, and Dash. Unfortunetly, the Goobermonster was only caught on the video camera.

Here is Jace getting ready to blow out the candles on the Superhero cake.

Opening presents - everyone was eager to gather around Jace. In fact, you can't even see him.

Mommy and her little Iron Man Jace.

Whew . .a success. One of the kids saw me taking pictures and wanted to help. He did a pretty good job taking this of Craig and I.

In the end, Buzz Lightyear drove off a happy little Superhero in his new Bat Mobile.

Makeover

I had a girls night out with my gal pal Laurel. She showed me how she does her makeup because it always looks fabulous and she did my hair for me too. We ended up cutting and straightening it. It's not that I don't love my long curls but every once in a while you just have to change it up. Here is the finished project . . the new me . .at least until I wash my hair and it goes curly cue again.

Seaside in July

We packed a lunch and all our beach gear and headed to Seaside, OR for a couple hours. The salty sea breeze felt amazing and the kids had so much fun. They just kept running and smiling then running some more and giggling like crazy. They built a sandcastle and we all played a little beach baseball which was lots of fun. Luckily Craig is a great hitter even when he has to dive for the ball. Pitching was a little tricky with the ocean breeze. The kid's ball was just too light and kept getting carried away in the breeze. Craig took the kids out by the water and let them get their feet wet. After relaxing and enjoying the sound of the waves we packed up and went to a park for lunch, then headed home.

We had an awesome beach day.

Here is bright eyed Brooke excited to start her day at the beach.

Relaxing Daddy

Mommy & Brooke

Daddy getting ready to pummel me because I'm taking too many pictures.

Daddy & Jace playing beach baseball.

Jace building a sandcastle.

Brooke's contribution to the sandcastle - laughing and throwing sand.

Daddy & Brooke dipping their feet.

Berry Pickin' Fun

My friend Laurel invited the kids and I to go berry picking at one of those U-Pick berry farms that are all over the place up here in Oregon and Washington. Anyways, it was super hot but so much fun. Jace and Brooke didn't get many berries in their buckets. They all ended up in their mouths, but I was able to get about 8lbs. of raspberries and 4lbs. of blueberries. By the time we got home we all were beat and just zonked. It was worth it though because now I have bags and bags of frozen berries that are great for snacking in the summer sun, smoothie making, and jam.

We had lots of berry pickin' fun.

Gabe, Andrew, Jace and Laurel just a pickin' away.

Brooke Michelle eating her weight in berries.

Andrew and Jace enjoying some blueberries.

Laurel and Brooke in the blueberry field.

At the end of picking and there are no berries in this bucket. Jace gobbled all of his up.

Here are the berries that I picked. That's right 3 buckets full.

After we got home we were completely filthy and super tired . The sun zapped all our energy. We just wanted to lay on the couch and not move.

Vacation - Midway with the Johnsons

We started off being able to attend our new little niece Olivia's blessing. My brother Josh and his wife Jan certainly have a beautiful new little angel they have added to the growing Johnson family. It was a beautiful blessing and it was so fun to be able to see all my family. We saw Justin for the first time in over 2 yrs. since he just got home from his mission to Jacksonville, Florida last month. I even scratched his back during church even though he was sitting on the wrong side. That's an inside joke. . .growing up I would only scratch his back if he was sitting to the right of me and if he was on the left then he was out of luck..
Brooke helped scratch his back too. We met back at Josh's house afterward for lunch and visiting then we headed up to the condo that my parents reserved in Midway near Heber City, Utah


My new niece Olivia Rebecca Johnson. Isn't she beautiful!


All the kids loved the baby . .

. . especially Brooke! She was very excited to have a "real" baby around.


I may just have to get her one. ;) wink wink j/k.

Dad, thanks for taking pictures at the blessing. For some reason my camera isn't working. I keep charging the batteries but as soon as I put them in is says low battery. I bought new batteries and a new charger but same thing so something is up with my camera. So sad.


Anyways, Josh was able to meet us up there the next day with Jan and the kids. Jace and Brooke had so much fun playing with Grant, Kendal, and new little Olivia. We pretty much had to hide or hold the baby because Brooke just LOVED her and she wanted to touch her constantly. I didn't mind holding her though . .I'm very baby hungry right now if you didn't know. We had fun with the new Rocket shooter that my parents got Jace for his upcoming birthday. I think everyone had a turn shooting and chasing each other around the condo with that thing at one point or another.

The boys and Jessica went golfing and then later Craig and I took Jace and Grant to Dairy Keen. It's this Burger place that has tons of trains going around the entire thing. They even got to eat on the large train out in front. They had lots of fun and the food was good.







I got to exercise with my mom and dad every morning by walking up the hills near the condo. We would have done more but we were at a high enough altitude that walking sufficed. We also got to swim in the crater at the Homestead. That was really cool. I mean how many people can say that they have swam in a crater? We left the kiddos back at the condo with Grandma and Grandpa, 65 feet down is a little deep for non swimmers. In fact, they required all of us adults to wear life-preservers - florescent yellow ones . .they were very attractive. The water was warm and Jessica and I were even able to swim down to the 1st platform at 25 feet down. This is Craig just outside the front of the gigantic crater getting ready to go inside:




Justin, Jessica, Jan, and Josh is under the water.





We swam lots and lots at the pool even though it was cold and just had a blast with everyone watching movies together and just catching up.

Happy Cousins:

Kendal, Grant, & Jace

Our vacation was coming to an end. We drove back to Centerville and Paula gave us a ride to the airport. We landed back in Portland at around 11:00 p.m. on Tues. July 7th and Brooke didn't sleep a wink. That was fun? We caught the bus back to the parking lot and picked up the car and drove over the bridge into Vancouver, WA and back to home in Washougal. What a day . .What a trip! Our vacation was over (sad face) we sure had a great time!

Vacation - 4th of July

We started the day off at the Centerville parade. It's the best parade for kids because they throw mounds of candy. The kids made out like bandits. I keep replaying the look on Brooke's face when they started throwing candy at us. . .her eyes just got so big with excitement. She was really fast snatching that candy up too.







Here are the kids enjoying the parade and putting their loot into the candy bag.


Some fellow neighbor parade goers had said something funny so everyone was cracking up in this picture. After the parade we were able to go hang out at Founders Park again. They had all these bounce houses there and food booths and tons of people. We didn't stop and eat though because we were saving room for the annual Muir 4th of July picnic at Craig's Grandparents home. It was delicious and the Brimley's home made ice cream was to die for as usual. It was wonderful to see everyone and visit. We even got a show from our little niece Lauren . .she performed her dance routine for us and is quite the entertainer. We hit the Clearfield Fireworks that night with Nate & Emily Wariner and their kids. It was fun to catch up.

What can I say . . we LOVE the 4th of July and we had a blast this year.



Here is Craig with his Grandmother Muir

Vacation - Seven Peaks Water Park

We left Park City and headed for Provo so we could take the kids to Seven Peaks Water Park as promised. Luckily it wasn't raining anymore. The drive from Park City to Provo was gorgeous. I couldn't remember if I had ever past by Bridal Veil Falls before but it was beautiful. It was funny because Brooke likes to point out all the semi trucks when we drive anywhere but she calls them "school bus trucks". I don't really know why. The actual school bus stops in front of our house every morning during the school year to pick up kids and she likes watching it so I think she just associates any large vehicle to be a school bus. Anyways, Seven Peaks was lots of fun. . .a little over priced but fun. Jace couldn't believe his eyes. Daddy got to take him on lots of water slides and I mostly hung out with Brooke in the kiddy play area. I did take her on one water slide. We sat in a tube together and she loved it. The wave pool was also a big hit. By the time it was time to go poor little Jace was just shivering like crazy. He has absolutely no body fat on him whatsoever. He's my little skinny mini. The Park was super overly crowded so we only stayed a couple hours but we had a great time.











Unfortunately, we didn't get many pictures of Craig and Jace because we had split up. Jace was so busy while we were there too. I managed to sneak one of him while he was taking a break to get a bite of grandpa's pizza for a second.

After Seven Peaks we were able to visit with Craig's grandparents that live in Provo and then we headed back to Centerville. We made it to the festivities at Founders Park. They had a concert with some band that imitated the beetles. They did a pretty good job. We stopped at the food booths and enjoyed dinner and a chocolate covered frozen banana for dessert. After the concert they had the fireworks and the kids were just amazed. It's so fun to watch their faces while they're watching the fireworks . .eyes full of excitement and wonder. Definitely a priceless moment.