How I love the sweet nectar of the Gods, this is the stuff that gets me through a night shift. I love it, probably to the point of addiction, really. My new job has a pop machine where we can drink as much as we want for free! I love it.

recap from last week's festivities

Cameron really wanted a birthday party like his older brother, but I was hesitant, three years old, what would I do to entertain several nursery-aged children. We decided to do sidewalk chalk and bubbles, then eat cupcakes and open presents. I found some cool sidewalk chalk paint and that was a hit. The funny thing was we had 4 kids out in the driveway all armed with their paint brushes and mediums of choice and yet it was super quiet. 'Parallel play' at its best, they all created works of art only a mom can appreciate and all were quite content just doing it by themselves. It was fun though.

Cam chose Raisin Bran Crunch for his birthday breakfast and we had McDonald's for lunch (Cam's palate still needs refinement). Later we opened family gifts and had birthday cake, he loved all the attention and kept saying thank you when we would wish him Happy Birthday.

Cameron's 3rd Birthday!!!

Cameron, Cam, Mr. Messy, Buddy, Stinker...three years ago our big-headed little guy came into the world...he didn't come out screaming, but has since made up for lack of noise at delivery. :) We are so glad we have our Cam, he lights up our life, keeps us on our toes (with all of the Cheerios he drops on the floor), and with his mischevious smile makes us laugh. We love you bud, have a great birthday!

NO Training Wheels!!!

It is turning into "jorden week" but I was so excited for the little guy, he finally rode his bike without training wheels!!!! He got camera shy and kept riding onto the grass, but he did it!!!

wahooo...

busy days

So as you saw, Jorden's birthday was yesterday...

...also Garrett's 3 month 'birthday'--on which he rolled over from tummy to back!!...Good times...

...So we had pancakes for breakfast, watched a parade go in front of our house--the high school band is practicing, let Jorden open his presents at lunchtime--the favorite being the Speedracer scooter (or 'cooter' as Cam calls it), later that afternoon we went to a t-ball game, then we went to a restaurant of Jorden's choice--we were banking on McDonald's but should have given Jorden more credit because he chose Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square. Then we visited Wal-Mart in Layton, which by-the-way, don't go to after 9pm, 'there are wierdos out there Fozzy'....but we picked up a cheap plastic pool for the party today and let Jorden spend his birthday money from Grandma & Grandpa--on a transformer no surprise.

Today was the party, Transformers themed, we had 14 kids in the backyard...they pretty much entertained themselves on the slip n' slide (borrowed from Nat, thank you!!!), splashing in the recently acquired cheap plastic pool and just chasing each other. I think it went well. We had hot dogs, Cheetos, juice boxes, carrots (so I would at least look like I was trying), sherbet push treats and birthday cake. Jorden got a lot of cool presents and I think the 2 hour "time limit" was perfect. I got up early and cleaned the house and had things organized--I know, not really like me, but it all made it go smoothly...which is good for my sanity.

So until Cam's birthday we will lay low...

Happy Birthday Jorden!

SIX years ago today my Jorden was born...wow how times flies. He is such a good kid. He has an infectious smile, a huge imagination, he is very smart and loves to learn. He is a great big brother and really cares about his little brothers and their feelings. Jorden has always been our little friend and 'goober'. He has been so, so very excited about his birthday, ever since we turned to June our daily ritual has been to count down how many days are left until June 17th and his birthday...ahhh remember when birthdays were fun?! He keeps us young and we love him to death!

Jorden you are the best!

Happy Daddy's Day

Scott is the best dad out there, I am a little biased, but he is.

He is so good with our boys and I love that he can take care of all aspects of our children's lives (like when I go to work), he can get all the boys bathed, dressed, fed, and get to church on time--at 9am even. He can build anything, he loves to work in the yard, I have mowed the lawn once in the entire time we have been married (almost 9 years!). He does laundry and dishes and cleans the house--I really sound lazy at this point....he is so nice to help me out with everything! He is so funny and lighthearted and such a goof, that I can't help but smile. He is liked by everyone and is just a good guy.

I love you man...

"Park"

We are not 'rolling in the dough' if you know what I mean, but when we anticipated the arrival of the "George Bush" money Scott and I decided we wanted to do something FUN with it...we have wanted to put a playset in our backyard for forever and haven't got around to it, the closest we came was buying a kit from Home Depot where you have to buy the lumber separate and drill the holes and everything, well 'said kit' is still sitting in our basement waiting to be built.

Now I bet you can guess that the FUN thing we wanted to 'stimulate' the economy with...is a playset from Sam's club, the BIG one, the one sitting up on the shelves right next to the jet skis, treadmills and the tiny tent displays, yeah, that one!

We have some very nice friends with a truck and trailor that helped us bring it home, all five boxes and slide. Thanks Cox's!!!

The funny thing about it is the instruction manual: it is 72 pages long, has 111 steps to follow, recommends two (2) 'moderately skilled' people and 20-24 hours to install along with a 37'-8" X 22'-7" Safe Play Area to put the thing. Ha, ha, ha, hmmmm, can it be done?!

By golly, yes it can...I didn't help at all so the 2 moderately skilled people turned into Scott mostly, with a couple neighbors coming to help on occassion. I tried to keep track of how long it took us, but let's just say we started on May 19th and finished it yesterday June 9th...the kids love it and that is what counts! This will be a fun summer, especially since now we can walk out the backdoor and have instant entertainment instead of walking up to the school playground.

It is kind of funny that it is taller than our neighbor's house (they have a flat roof...yeah in Utah) and that it pretty much takes up the back portion of the yard, but what else were we going to do on the grass? (don't answer that)

So if you want to send the kiddos over, do! We would love it!

Cam's "park" in his "garden"

Book of Mormon Marathon

This past week was a combined young men/young women 'super' activity: we decided to read the entire Book of Mormon in 24 hours....and we did it--in 25 hours. We started on Tuesday night and for 5 hours had volunteers from the ward read to us in 15 minute segments, then we continued for another 6 hours on Friday night and got up at 7 am Saturday to finish it up--we didn't get out until 9:15 pm. Can I tell you how exhausting and exhilarating it was!!! The youth were impressive, it was hard for the leaders to be there that long, but there were a significant number of kids that were there the entire time. (I admittedly had to sneak out at times to take care of the baby and stuff at home.) We scheduled in breaks and had lunch and dinner on Saturday, and the amount of candy/snacks consumed enormous, but the spirit was very strong and the sense of accomplishment very great. Having different people read to us and following along really helped us focus on the story and understand it better.

My testimony was really strengthened by the experience...I know that book is true and is definitely another testament of our Savior Jesus Christ.

It was so neat, but we were all dead tired today at church. 'Family nap time' was excellent, very good sleep :) And now I just need to work on not talking in "B of M verbiage". Although I guess that is not a bad thing... ;)

National Doughnut Day!!!

So can I tell you how much I need an excuse to buy doughnuts...not at all, but here is an easy one, it is National Doughnut Day!

So later on we will have to go out and indulge on this oh-so-special of occassions

mmmmmmm, doughnut...

camera happy :)

I at times wonder if I am slacking in the memory department, in regards to a pictorial archive of my children...where we have a ton of our oldest and subsequently less with each addition to the Messel brood. So I go haywire on those days where I wonder if I took any pictures in the last month.
Garrett is starting to smile on demand, right when I need a pick-me-up his little mouth gets wide and his eyes are bright with wonder at my no-doubt crazily contorted face. It is all worth it after a sleep-less night or a 'down' day. I haven't quite been able to get that full-fledged smile on 'film' yet, but believe me it is cute and worth the wait!

This smiling gig that Garrett has taken on is endlessly entertaining for the "bigs", Jorden loves to make him smile. My favorite thing about Cam interacting with the baby is not necessarily when he is all happy, but when he starts to cry, Cam very matter-of-factly will look at me with his huge eyes and say, "Mommy, Gaerrrett sad, he needs his miiilk, he wants miiilk mommy." And this right after I have fed him...the cure-all is food, I wonder where he got that notion?! ;)

So here are few pics I got after my smorgasbord of picture-taking: