Aleky's Birthday Party

Better late than never we decided to have Aleky's birthday party when we could have a lot of friends come over and when we could have time to put the party together. Ironically, we didn't have very much time today but Michelle worked very hard and had a little family miracle. And before we knew it all of our friends had arrived.

We started with letting the kids run wild in the back yard while Michelle quickly put the finishing touches on the cake. With the guidance and assistance of our resident pilot, Matt Badel, we were able to create a virtual replication of a modern day war plane...almost.

Next, we rounded up the kids for a quick art project. They had to decorate their luggage (goodie bag) and check it in. This went pretty well except everyone wanted the red marker at the same time.

Once they everyone had their own marker they really went to town. We just ran out of room so some of the kids had to find additional space elsewhere in the room.

After checking in the luggage we sang "Happy Birthday" to Aleky and then moved to the kitchen to eat the cake and ice cream. Our boys loved it, especially since they didn't really have time (or desire) to eat dinner!

After opening presents each kid picked up their luggage at the baggage claim. It was so wonderful to have so many friends come to support us with Aleky's birthday party.

Happy Birthday Aleky! You're growing up so fast. You won't be our little baby boy much longer but we still love you.

Birthday Surprise For Aunt Trista

My sister just had her birthday this week. Her boyfriend (Mike) tried to call me a couple of times this week. After a little phone tag we finally connected and he began to lay out his grand scheme of surprising Trista for her birthday. As circumstances would have it, her birthday fell on a Thursday, after she would be finishing a long shift at the hospital. So Mike's ideas was to have a surprise party on Friday instead.

We thought it would be a great idea except that the party was scheduled to start after their date ended, around 8:30 pm or so. Since our boys go to bed at 8:00 pm that posed a little problem for us to attend at Autumn's house. So, with a little texted messaging, we arranged to host the party at our house.

Then on Thursday evening I get another call from Mike. He wants me to call up my sister and "set the stage" by asking her if I could ask Mike to come over tomorrow (Friday) to help me move something. Then he would have an excuse to come over and bring the cake. Then he would say that he forgot his coat and would come by and "pick it up" and SURPRISE, there would a party all ready to go. He gave me specific instructions as to when to call Trista, what to say and everything. So I played along.

When I called Trista that night I wished her Happy Birthday. We talked about her day at the hospital and how she wasn't doing anything special that night (all by Mike's design but unbeknownst to Trista). I asked the appropriate questions and Mike happened to be there too so I talked with him. We even went through a whole dialogue for Trista's benefit. And we were ready to go.

Friday evening we're told that Mom was expected at 8:15 so that if she arrived late she'd still be on time. Larrisa was on the ball and got mom out of the door in order to make it at 8:00, right on time! Well they were the first to arrive so the go to help decorate. Cheyenne managed to make it just before 8:30 and help put the finishing touches on the preparations. Then we got "the phone call" asking if Mike could stop by and pick up the coat he had left earlier that day (he had never actually come over at any time). Of course we were still up and thought that would be just fine.

The plan went perfectly! Apparently the day had some interesting weirdness to it, none of which had anything to do with us so we found out about it later but it sounded quite fascinating.

It was great. Trista is so good natured that she loved the fact that everyone had worked so hard to have this party for her. We were set to play games and have cake & ice cream. In the end, reliving the day and the subtleties of the plot won center stage. Trista was certainly impressed with the great effort put forth in her behalf. A few more of her friends arrived and we talked a lot, were entertained a little and laughed the most.

In the end we just wanted to wish Trista a happy birthday. I'm impressed that Mike coordinated this great effort with our family, especially since I've only met Mike on one other occasion. It was great.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRISTA!

Happy Birthday Aleky

Today Aleky celebrates his 1st birthday! It is hard to believe that he has already been with us a full year. He is fully mobile (when he wants to be) and is beginning to crawl around the house. It is time to secure the stairs to avoid any extraordinary mobility discovery opportunities! He pulled an empty flour bucket down this afternoon; it didn't hit him but he lost his balance and fell over which sent him to tears and he received a needed hug from mom. Then moments later he pulled the garbage can down; there was no hug this time! I had to fortunate opportunity of cleaning up the mess as it had descended part way down the stairs. Aleky was invited to spend some time in a different room.

We decided to hold a small family party this evening for Aleky. While his 1st birthday is very special he didn't really know who he wanted to invite and he was very particular about leaving anyone out on accident; so we compromised and settled on the immediate family in or around Provo. That kept the preparation to a minimum but still allowed us sufficient celebration.

Those in attendance for the celebration included his uncle Kyle, aunt Janeil, cousins Katie, Anna & Troy, Grandma Jones, aunt Trista, aunt Cheyenne, and aunt Larissa. Also in attendance was Neil, Kelley and Zach Johnson. We sang Happy Birthday to Aleky but I don't think he really understood the significance of the occasion nor did he appreciate the amount of attention that was focused on him.

Aleky really enjoyed his birthday cake. He finished every last crumb; at least his tray was clear, but I do recall seeing some crumbs on the floor...

We didn't really plan on presents but Grandma Jones had one anyway. It took Aleky a few gestures and hints before he realized that there was a present that needed unveiling. It became quite obvious that his brothers were much more interested in the new gift than Aleky was.

But not to worry, Aleky had plenty of fun with the best part of the present.

After the party was over the boys got ready for bed. Before heading home the Johnsons wanted to get Zach ready for bed so that the trip home would go more smoothly. That was a fatal mistake. Once the boys were in their pjs they attached without warning. Neil fought valiantly but the odds seemed insurmountable. But as fate would have it, he barely managed to survive.

We were surprised to learn that Janeil had come to Utah with her kids and wanted to stop by and visit. We didn't know she would be in the area. Our children had a fabulous time playing with their cousins. David, Donovan and Michael took Katie and Anna out to the backyard and played for nearly an hour. They had a grand ole time. Meanwhile, Aleky and Troy we're trading secrets on crawling and getting around the house.

Happy Birthday Khayyam!

Yesterday was my birthday. It's hard to believe another year has gone by. We spent most of the day trying to catch up from being gone camping. We're still getting stuff put away, dishes were done but then we ate again. But in spite of all the work that we had to do Michelle still put together a birthday dinner and movie date.

Michelle managed to talk Kyle into babysitting for us but his condition was that the kids had to be in bed, or nearly in bed, by the time he started; our movie started at 7:30 pm and the kids are normally in bed by 8:00 pm. That was an acceptable amount of child activity to watch. We also invited him to share our birthday dinner (marinated chicken breasts, mashed potatos and zucchini).

Kelley Johnson stopped to visit and brought Zachary with her. Since she was her she helped prepared dinner and Neil joined us when he got off of work. They also went to the movie with us (and went early to save us seats since they knew we would be pushing the deadline trying to get kids ready for bed before we left).

We left for the movie at 7:25 pm. The movie was the new "Indiana Jones" movie about the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We discovered that Movies 8 has 1/2 price Tuesdays (so that is the best priced night to go). The previews had already started when we arrived but we still managed to find the Johnsons in the dark.

After the movie was over I received a call from one of my tenants. Apparently the dryer cord/outlet spontaneously burst into flames and shorted out the entire apartment. They put out the fire but with the power out they didn't know if they should stay in a motel until the power could be restored or what. So I dropped Michelle off at the house and headed over to evaluate the situation. After reseting the breaker the power was restored. The outlet and cord were definitely burned and need to be replaced but that will have to be done when a qualified person can fix it.

After that detour I was able to join Michelle and the Johnsons for my birthday cake and ice cream. I feel so lucky to have a wife who went through all the work and trouble to make my birthday special. And I think we're pretty fortunate to have the Johnsons as our friends.

Yesterday was also the birthday for my sister Larissa, my aunt Carol and it is my cousin Alisha & Chris' anniversary! I'd say this must be one of the most important days of the year!

Olivia's Birthday

We were invited to celebrate my niece's birthday yesterday. She is turning 1 year old. So we gathered at the central meeting point, Grandma Joneses Houses. When we got there Darius was putting the final touches on his beautiful birthday cake, The Ladybug. Surprising to me, Olivia didn't actually tear her piece of cake apart when it was served to her. In fact, she need coaxing just to taste it (I guess I'm used to my boys who tear the cake apart trying to eat it and end up wear more of the cake than they actually ate). But she is certainly a cutie!

We were invited to share in the potluck (& BYOB) dinner before the birthday celebration. It was a time of relentlessly teasing my sister Trista who has recently returned from her mission (in Georgia) and is just getting past the "arms-length" mission rules and re-entering the world of dating. And since she was "caught" giving a hug to her most recent date she was teased about everything from dating to marriage, holding hands to kissing. The irony of it all is that she's just barely getting back into dating and still so innocent.


While the dinner preperations were in full swing the kids were playing inside and outside as their whims directed. But Michael managed to find a small amount of "trouble" in his wanderings. He managed to discover that his head could fit through the leg slats of the dinner table but once through his head didn't come out quite as easily. Needless to say he express his distraught feelings and rallied the appropriate attention to be rescued (those expressions were relatively minor but they brought a chuckle to all the bystanders).


David managed to summon the great hunter inside and captured a wild animal in the backyard, a little field mouse. He claims to have found it in the sandbox while he was playing. It was definitely still alive and he was quite proud to show off his prize. Most of the family was just worried about the little critter getting loose in the house should it be dropped; secondly they were worried about the germs! It seems that only his dad was proud of the valiant efforts of his first born son. The mouse was returned to its "natural" habitat in the sand (where his caring uncle Leo quickly disposed of the remains).