::pinatas are cool::

Every year on my birthday growing up my parents would get a pinata for us to smash. It was truly awesome. I posted a few old pictures of it last year on my birthday.
It was a fabulous tradition, and our best friends down the street, the Williams would always join us. I can't think of a year that they weren't there.

So, my mom had a brilliant idea. She planned a mini pinata party for when I was in town, and invited the Williams! And since all of us who used to be the kids have kids now, they were the ones smacking the pinata around. It was awesome.

The Mercado Latino in Provo came through for us with a cool rainbow pinata. They had so many different kinds there I had a hard time choosing.
We smashed it in my parents (recording) studio, which is also traditional, since the 31st of Jan isn't usually the best weather.
My mom got all the big kids blindfolded, turned them around and then set them free.






The littler ones were kind of nervous and unsure.

But with a little reassurance and parental aid they went for it too.

And had fun.

A group of cuter kids I haven't seen. Honestly.
The pinata beating was fun to watch. Although I was really worried I was going to get hit in the head with something--a big stick, a rainbow, a kid. It didn't happen, thank goodness, although one of the valiant beaters did get a splinter. But luckily he was brave and it was removed.

Finally I gave the pinata a quick unobtrusive rip and opened it up and bit, and the oldest strongest kid was able to send the treats flying!
Everybody did a good job gathering and sharing around.

and enjoying the spoils.

And afterwards we got to enjoy big pieces of Costco birthday cake.  What could be better?  I even got a big huge yellow rose from Megan since it was my birthday (sort of--like two weeks before).  Awesome.
It was so fun to get to do this, thanks Mom! And it was just great to get to see Joel & Beth and their kids and Megan and Mags. It's been way too long (besides the meetings and greetings in cyberspace of course.)

And if you want to see more fun photos of the event and hear more about it go here to my mom's blog!

::slightly unbelievable::

So the super long, twisty turny drive down highway 1 from Monterey was worth it. Totally.

I have more fun seals to show you at a later date when I have more time.

::cali::

We finally have internet for just a few minutes, it's been hard to come by so far on our jaunt through California.
So here are a fun photos of the natural beauty we've been enjoying while driving through northern CA. It's beautiful, and the air is so fresh. It smells great.
Enjoy!

The beginning of the mountains north west of Sacramento. I bet with leaves on the trees they're even prettier.

Clear Lake. It was gorgeous.



The redwoods.

All the rain was worth it for this beautiful rainbow.

Humbolt Bay, way up north in Eureka.

We're having fun--we'll be heading south down the coast tomorrow.

::max's partay::

Max loves fish. That's all there is to it really. So naturally, when trying to work up some sort of theme for his birthday party (besides just kid birthday party) I thought of something fishy.
I made a bunch of fish and such to hang from the ceiling for decor, and we also hung blue balloons, hoping they would look like bubbles. So it could feel like we were all hanging out under the sea with the fish.

The green crepe paper is a stand in for seaweed.

The fish cake and Grandma Kathy's fishy quilt fit in quite nicely too.
A quick pre-party photo with the grandparents:

I think it was really fun for Max to get to spend his birthday in UT among all the family. It's so special for him to be there anyway, then to add his birthday into the mix it was just super exciting.
Instead of birthday spankings we thought we'd make sure he got some upside down birthday tickles. Much more exciting.

Max was just so excited to see Kris, he flew in just an hour or so before the party started.

We had lots of fun family at the party.

It was so nice of everybody to be there. And Max got a few fun presents too. Kari got him the stuff so we could get him a fish. A little tank, and all the necessaries.
Grandma and Grandpa got him a remote control car (that proceeded to break pretty quickly) which he loved so much. And he got other fun stuff from the rest of the fam (including us).
We played some fun fish games. Hot and cold with the hidden mama fish. Except the closer the kid got to her the "wetter" they were, the farther away the drier. That was pretty fun, though Derek just couldn't figure out why we were all yelling at him all the time.

We also played pin the fishy in it's home. Pretty plain, but functional. The kids liked it.



The highlight of the evening for Max though I think was blowing out the candles. He felt so cool. And the cake was so adorable. Since we made the cake the day before it was a little like torture for him to have to wait so long, but he did a good job.





He's very proud of himself.
What a fun night. I feel so lucky to have such wonderful family members on both sides that love and support us. Thanks so much for making Max (and us) feel loved and special, and happy birthday to my sweet five year old!!

::birthday (observed)::

You know how on calenders it'll show some sort of holiday--like presidents day for example.  If the holiday falls on a weekend, it'll be "observed" by the government workers on some other week day, so that they still get to have a day off.
Well, we're using that sort of theory today, and observing Max's birthday even though in truth he doesn't turn five until this coming tuesday. Don't leak that to him unless you want to be in trouble with me.
Kris and I are going to be on a trip to California starting tomorrow, trying to experience some of the Northern areas we've never visited. This is to make us better informed when it comes time to move back west in 2010.
Anyway, when we planned the trip Max was going to be coming with us, but since we planned it, his saintly grandparents (all four of them are quite saintly) decided to hang onto him here in UT, which will make our week long road trip much easier.
So I felt awful about missing his birthday.
Good thing it's a mom's prerogative to arbitrarily change dates.
Today is his birthday for all intents and purposes and we're having a blast.
He started out with a candle in his pancakes.

And went on to get a birthday haircut. He's spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the balloons we're blowing up for his party. I think it's been a great day so far. And the best part is that I'm here too!

Yesterday Kris's sister Kari, the master cake maker, came up and helped me make a birthday cake for max (I made the cake part and she did the rest, but now I know much more for next time I try to make one on my own).
She's awesome. Max always wants a "fishy cake" for his birthday, so after some research we decided on a cute one.



It turned out SO cute. Thanks Kari!! Max loves it. He keeps peeking at it.

(sorry Kari, I wish I would've taken a picture of you with the light on you instead of in front of the light. Arrgh)

And now I'm off to pick up Kris from the airport. He's coming in just in time for Max's little birthday party. It's so fun to be here and get to have a party with the families! It's really a blessing.
Happy birthday adorable little Max, we love you!

::worthwhile::

Tell me if you think the following was worth going outside on the freezing cold sidewalk in my socks, having to leap over snow piles.


I think so. Boy the mountains here are gorgeous.

::randle family dinner part 2--rats::

After Max and Jennifer finished eating dinner, they headed off to play. Max's dinner consisted of about 100 pieces of pineapple and one slice of garlic bread. I don't care if he's picky as long as he eats fruit!

Max and Jennifer had a pretty good time together playing downstairs in the toy room. I'm sure they made a mess, but they were happy.

While they were off playing, cousin Cammon brought out his rats. He has two of them. I'm not sure what their names are or anything, but they're cute. I didn't think rats could be so cute, even pet rats!
One of them decided it likes my mom, and used her for a dining room table.



I didn't touch them because I was afraid I'm allergic to them--just like every other animal on the face of the planet! But I wanted to, because they were so cute and fuzzy.
Like this:

Then everybody sat around and told stories while the rats ate their fruit loops. It was pretty fun.





Not everybody's mom would be cool with a rat crawling all over them. But mine is, she's just cool like that.

And cute Sydney just watched and wondered at it all.
Then we got tired and went home. It was a fun night. I love seeing everybody, it's so nice.