Camden Turns 4!

Love this crazy, sweet, compassionate, shy, expressive guy who gets excited about EVERYTHING!

Camden turned 4 on August 18th! Since Belen was starting school and everyone seemed to be out of town for final summer outings we had a small family party on his birthday then had a party, embarrassingly enough, two weeks later!

Camden had a Jake and the Neverland Pirates Party! It was really cute.

He rubbed off his tattoo right after I put it on him. He's all dressed up as Jake!

Belen had a lil' tatoo hayday! I think when she finally finished she had 8!

We took some ideas from Aunt Miranda and had hot dogs. 

Traditional toppings for the kids and Hawaiian hot dogs for the adults. 

We had chips, lots of fruit, ring pops, cotton candy, pirate temporary tattoos, pirate hats and pirate gear kits as favors. 

Camden was dressed up as Jake in costume and daddy got a blue and white striped shirt and dressed up as Smee. 

It was simple and the kids and parents had fun. Just the way I like it!

Camden will be staying home with mom this year for some homeschool preschool and will start Kindergarden next year.

He's SUPER excited.

Camden is the guy in the family that seems to take it upon himself to right any injustice around him. He's compassionate and will stick up for and protect both his sisters.

That being said...he's 4 and suffers from all the normal afflictions most 4 year old boys suffer from.
I still see glimpses of his sweetness.

I am also VERY pleased now that he has stopped peeing all over his bedroom floor and is now FULLY potty trained!

Campout

These are the pictures the boys brought home from their camp out earlier this month

You remember, the one conveniently scheduled for my birthday.

I really didn't mind.

Belen and I had a unique opportunity to spend a special evening together.

Just the two of us.

And when Saturday night rolled around,

(The day after my birthday)

Zak took me out on a birthday date!

Dinner, birthday burger at Red Robin.

You too can get a free birthday burger if you sign up for their Red Royalty card.

Did you know that they will put a veggie patty on ANY of their burgers?

I did.

It's amazing.

I got the classic burger (veggie patty) with A-1 sauce added.

OH MY!

Then we went to a movie.

While waiting in line to purchase our tickets a gentleman announced, standing nearby, that he had tickets (for the movie we'd wanted to see, in 3-D no less) that he was giving away.

FREE.

We took the tickets.

He walked away. 

We entered, and gave our tickets to the ticket-taker.

He directed us to the correct theater.

We chose seats (there may have been only those two seats left, together even. Lucky us).

We enjoyed our movie,

in 3-D,

FREE!

But I digress.

Here is what the boys did while Belen and I had our girls night:

Early morning by the fire.

Sharing some warmth.

Exploring a cave during an early morning hike.

Just hanging with Dad.

Here's what I heard about the trip

They stayed up WAY late.

Camden slept like a rock.

Not surprising, this kid will sleep anywhere!

Dad didn't sleep much at all.

They woke up at the crack of dawn.

Several hours before Camden normally wakes up.

Camden cried when it was time to break camp and load up the cars to go.

He slept the whole two hour drive home.

Then cried again when he saw me.

AND ran away from me.

I think he would have ran all the way back to camp if he could have.

Belen's 4th Birthday!

Happy 

Birthday

Belen!

Happy Birthday, Belen!

Belen turned 3 on January 25th! We had a small party for her the following Saturday afternoon. She was able to invite 2 friends and their parents. Unfortunately one of her friends was sick and unable to make it and while she was missed, Belen and her other friend had a great time. They played Elefun, and with the balloons...and they also did what all little girls do when they get together...run screaming all around the room!

We ate some yummy tortilla soup that had been stewing in the crock-pot all day. We've made the same soup every year for Belen's birthday just because it's so YUM and perfect for warming you up on a late January afternoon.
I made cupcakes for Belen's birthday instead of a cake this year. It was perfect and I believe some variation of the traditional cupcake may make it's appearance for most of Belen's birthday's in the future because they are so much easier for kids to eat. Plus, these cupcakes are AMAZING! They are made from a cookbook called "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. They are much lighter and fluffier than 'normal' cupcakes and have a melt-in-your-mouth quality that is phenomenal.
This is the first year that Belen was able to blow out all of her candles all by herself! After her party, we had the opportunity to take Belen ice skating for the first time! Unfortunately I didn't grab the camera on the way out so we have no pictures. But, I will tell you that the first time around the rink was quite traumatic for her. She made if off the ice, came and sat down by mommy and Camden for all of 2 minutes, then went right back out on the ice and didn't come in until it was time to go home! She did a fantastic job with significant improvement in the few hours that we were there.

Happy Birthday, Belen!

Love,
Mommy, Daddy and Camden

Happy Birthday, ZAK!

Dear Zak, 

On your birthday, Belen and I would like to thank you for working so hard, and taking such good care of us! We love that you are goofy and love to have a good time but know when to be serious. 

We love that you don't mind ironing your own shirts because mommy hates ironing.  

We love than despite having long days at school and work you never turn down an opportunity to play with Belen when you get home. 

We love that you don't expect mommy to have dinner on the table the minute you get home ('cause it almost never is)

We love that you don't mind cooking for yourself and the rest of the family sometimes.

We love that you will try just about anything, once.

We love that you put so much thought and effort into birthdays and special occasions for us.

We love that even if you hate something that mommy did cook for dinner, you never say you don't like it.

We love that you keep the car clean.

We love that you are the only one on the planet who can get Belen to fall asleep in your arms.

We love talking with you and hearing what is important to you.

We love that you listen.

We love that what is important to us is important to you

We love that you say only, "How can we make that happen," when faced with a challenging goal.

We love how much you love us, and that you tell us often.

We love that you love the Lord and honor your priesthood responsibilities.

We love that you pray for us.

We love your creativity.

We love that you do all you can make sure we are happy.

We love that you don't mind riding your bike to work so that we can have the car, even if we don't often go anywhere in it.

We love that you've decorated our temporary apartment to look much like a missionary's apartment.

We love that you will wash the dishes if mommy doesn't want to.

We love all the many things you do for us that are so numerable they cannot be mentioned here and now just know that we love you very very much and wish you a very Happy Birthday.

Forever,

Allysia & Belen

SaveSave

Mother's Day

Now that I'm a mommy I find Mother's Day has become extremely important to me.  I get teary at church when all the primary kiddos sing to their mom's...of course there is always the little boy in the front who is making silly faces at his brother/sister but most of them are so sweet and you can tell that they are so happy to have a little something to "give" to their mommies..they are the ones with the big smile who is up there waving at mom.

Then there are usually a couple of talks given by a young person or two in the ward. They say the sweetest things to their mommies and pretend it's "like no big deal" but they too love their mommies and I can tell so the tears well up again.

Then a husband may also give a talk. The husband will say wonderful things about his wife's patience, nurturing capacities, and the pure love exhibited by his wife and how he'd be lost without her. All of which combine against my own ability to control my emotions and I try to inconspicuously wipe a tear or two from my eyes.

This Mother's Day also happened to be my 30th birthday. Yup, I'm the big three-OH!  This is a big one...and while my heart does skip a beat when I say it out loud, 30 years of life has brought me wonderful experiences, a life-time (so far) of learning, faith, family, amazing and enduring friendships that have helped me through a few tumultuous times of my own, a generous and loving husband who is my very best friend, and a beautiful daughter. So, to 30 years of living I say, "Bring it ON, and I'll take another 30 while I'm at it!"