Too Much! Too long!

I don't even know where to start. There has just been so much going on for the past two months that I haven't had the chance to update, and now there are so many things to catch up on, and... I don't know where to start. (Wait, did I say that already?) I suppose I'll just share a few of the highlights.

Since my last update we have:

* Gone hiking and exploring through/around Rockville


* Introduced Ryker to the swimming pool


* Celebrated Adam's parents' 50th wedding anniversary with a fun Hawaiian themed party



* Celebrated my parents' 25th wedding anniversary with a surprise party for my mom (sadly, my camera batteries died part way through the party and I got very few pictures. This is the only one I have of both of my parents.)

at which I showcased my (only slightly pathetic) first attempt at cake decorating
* Gone camping with Shane and Dusty's family

(The boys play in the back of the truck)

(Anicka does her first solo marshmallow roast)
(Katie gets attacked by the S'more monster)
(Ashlee nearly loses her battle with said monster)

I'm also sad to say that since my last update my great grandfather, Frank Reed passed away. I don't have any digital pictures of him, but I have a portrait of him and his sweetheart together that I would like to scan and put up here. His funeral was very touching. I have never been to a military funeral before, and was so moved by the military salute and the playing of taps over his grave. I think one of the most touching moments at the viewing was the '21 gum salute', where each of the grandchildren and great grandchildren were given a piece of gum to chew and we all 'snapped' our gum to salute grandpa before they closed the casket.
As sad as I am to have lost both of my great grandparents, I am glad that they are together again and free of pain. I am also glad that grandpa didn't have to be apart from his sweetheart for very long.

On a happier note, Ryker has learned a new trick in the past two weeks. Here is his new method of travel:

Congratulations!

I'm very proud of my awesome siblings. Evie is Pine View's Sterling Scholar in Drama and Jesse graduated with Honors. They both also graduated from Seminary this week. Congratulations, you two. I love ya!

Pirates!

I'm finally getting around to posting pics from Anicka's birthday. After lunch on her birthday we made cupcakes together. She loves to help me bake. This is the first time I ever let her use the mixer solo. She was pretty pleased with herself.

She loved decorating the cupcakes, too.

But her favorite part was eating them when we were done, obviously.

We didn't do a cake on her birthday, just a plate full of cupcakes.


She loved the princess sunglasses that we gave her, but her favorite present was the movie Bolt, which she has to watch every single day now. She basically has the movie memorized at this point.

A couple of weeks later we had a pirate themed birthday party for her. We had eye patches, hook hands and balloon cutlasses for all of the party guests.


There was also a treasure map, which I had a lot of fun making.


The kids had to follow the map to find clues to where the treasure was hidden. Once they had all of the clues, they put them together to reveal the location of the treasure chest, which was filled with bags of pirate loot.

Then it was cake time. I had a good time putting together a pirate ship cake. It turned out okay, I had planned on having more time to decorate it. But it was delicious.


Anicka took a big bite out of the front of the ship right after this picture was taken.

Mohop giveaway

Fabulous Fun Finds is giving away a pair of Mohop sandals, which are only the coolest shoes EVER. Check it out.
http://fabulousfunfinds.blogspot.com/2009/05/mohop-shoe-giveaway.html

How you say...?

I recently started teaching Anicka to speak Spanish. Her new favorite game is "How you say?".
This is now the soundtrack to my day:
"Momma, how you say flower in Spanish? Momma, how you say pickles in Spanish? Momma, how you say Chinese in Spanish?"
The sad part is how often my answer is something like "Er... Um... Gimme a second to think..."
But that's another story.

Despite the frequent lapses in my memory, Anicka is picking the language up pretty well. We showed off her new skills at Sunday Dinner at grandma and grandpa's house yesterday, and she was wowin' the crowd when grandpa threw her a curveball.

Me: How do you say 'shirt' in Spanish?

Anicka: Camisa!

Me: How about 'pants'?

Anicka: Pantalones!

Grandpa: Hey, Anicka. How do you say 'Monkey' in Spanish?

Anicka: Um.... Anicka!

Really hilarious.

Also over the weekend: We finally had Anicka's pirate party. Pictures are forthcoming.