Arrow of Light

 Ammon had his Arrow of Light ceremony last night. He was so excited to earn it. He and 5 other boys earned theirs this year. Ammon is very much looking forward to going to Boy Scouts after his birthday. Our ward has a tradition to put a handprint on the teepee. There are boys' handprints on there who are currently serving missions. It's a fun tradition.

 Painting his face to represent all the different things he has learned in cub scouts.

 Getting the mother's pin.

Books are fun for Rydon

We are going to have to do something different with our books.

Baby food

Feeding Rydon is really really really gross. Today is the first time he finished a whole jar of baby food. Although, it does look like he is wearing about 95 percent of it. This is also the first time no food came out his nose while eating. I don't know what I did differently today, but maybe I should keep it up.

He's 8 months today

Mobile baby

He sits for a little bit by himself. He inchworm crawls everywhere, including under the table today.

Miss independent

A few days ago I found Ayla painting her own nails in my bathroom. She was pretty darn proud of herself. I'm just thankful the polish was still wet so it was an easy clean up on the tile. I put all of my polish out of her reach last week, but I apparently missed one.

Videos from Idaho

Videos from Idaho

I taught him how to swing himself. He loved it!

First time playing with grass

Abby and Quinn came to play with us. Alayna's kids are also playing. It's funny to watch them drink out of the shark mouth.

My Birthday

I went to lunch with a few friends from church. It was one of my visiting teaching lady's birthday as well, so we celebrated lunch with her. She chose Bravo Cucina, a fancier version of Olive Garden. The food was delicious and the service was excellent. We both got to choose a free birthday dessert....although I was suuuuper full from my lunch I still ate dessert. It was worth being overly full. I had mahi mahi with some form of mixed veggie stuff and mini cannoli. We have some amazing ladies in the Whitney Ranch ward.
Earlier in the week Brady kept asking me what I wanted to do. I kept saying I had no idea and  almost didn't care. I wanted the kids to be nice, no cooking, no diaper changes, or baby feeding for one day. He told me a few days before my birthday that his plans might fall through so we need a backup plan. So at 5pm Saturday he told us to all jump in the van cuz we had to drop the kids of at the church with our friends who were babysitting them. When I walked in the door 40 people shouted surprise! I was in utter shock and completely speechless. I even got a little emotional because I didn't know what to do for a minute. I cannot believe Brady pulled off a surprise party for me. I was completely in the dark about the entire thing. He conspired with my friend, Lisa, to get it all together. Even the kids didn't say a word about it except Gideon told me I get a cake. But it wasn't just any cake, it was a delicious ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins...I have wanted one for YEARS! It said "Happy 29th birthday *actual age may vary." It was pink with a Barbie on it and pistachio ice cream inside.  I LOVED IT! All of the ladies I had lunch with were also there which was so much fun. Everyone asked me if I had any idea about the party...and all of the lunch ladies asked me what I had planned later in the day. All I could say was I had no idea. I can't believe I never picked up on any snickering or silly looks from anyone at lunch regarding the party later in the day. I still think about the party often and smile over the fun memory. Most of the people I cared about in Vegas were able to come. We had a delicious Mexican fajita dinner catered by a ward friend. We had enough food left over to feed about 40 more people. After we cleaned up the church we took the extra food home and made four large complete dinners to deliver to families in our ward. It was so fun to surprise people with it, almost as fun as the party itself. Leftovers Sunday were so delicious. I am looking forward to pulling out the rest of what we had left from the freezer in a few weeks. I love fajitas so much! 

We have talked about hiring a "taco guy" to come cater a party for many years, but we could never afford it. Brady asked his coworker and our ward friend, Melvin to have his mom help him cater an authentic Mexican dinner for me and everyone who came to the party. Brady's job at Brahma has blessed us beyond measure this year. In fact, a few days ago I went to Costco for diapers and wipes and some other food storage things they had on sale that we wanted to stock up on. I got a little emotional in the checkout line because I saw how over-flowing my cart was and I knew I didn't have to worry so much about how much money I was spending this time. We have been so blessed and seen many tithing blessings in the last year. I am so thankful for what we have been blessed with.