Danny's Surprise Party - Party Like A Big Kid

Danny turned thirty while he was away in Vanuatu so we weren't able to celebrate this big milestone with him.

Danny on his birthday in Vanuatu

I of course made plans anyway. :) I planned a surprise birthday party for him with his family and disguised it as a family barbecue. I pulled it off and he was surprised as can be. He had no idea that this event was for him until we got there and his family was able to jump out at him. The backyard looked like a little carnival. I was able to borrow some giant games for his party. I wanted him to know that just because his age says old it doesn't mean we have to stop playing like big kids. It was a lot of fun and I'm happy I was able to finally surprise him with something since usually the surprises in the past have been spoiled or discovered. Happy birthday Danny! Party like a big kid!

Giant Checkers

Giant Connect Four

Two games of Corn Hole

This is Danny's birthday post however it the night turned into taking pictures of Grant. He was loving the giant checker board and we were loving his cute little face.

Blessings Through Others

Being a solo parent for nearly seven weeks has been the hardest thing I've done and I could not have gone through it without gratitude and counting my blessings that were sent to me through others. I kept a personal journal and noted every time I felt love shown to my family through other people. Some days looking through this list that grew longer and longer was the strength I needed to get through that day. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and I'm grateful that others were willing to listen to promptings that helped us out when we needed a pick me up.

Home From Vanuatu!

He's home! His plane landed really late and I considered getting someone to watch the kids since they would have been in bed but after being gone for seven weeks I felt like the kids needed to see their dad. Also Danny needed to see his kids and it was a happy reunion. I'll have to do a separate post of my favorite pictures that Danny has from Vanuatu because he got some pretty good ones.

PS. He did put them to bed. :)

Grandparent Zoo Day

My parent's decided that they wanted to do a zoo day with all of the grandchildren. They broke it up into two different days to make it more doable since there are a lot of kids. They also asked for some parent help so I volunteered as well as Melanie. In our group we had nine of the grandkids and the ages ranged from under one years old to six years old. It was fun but would have been a lot more enjoyable if I wasn't in a state of worry for most of the time. While driving to the zoo I noticed that a yellow light turned on my dashboard but I wasn't sure what it meant. It turns out that it was a warning regarding the air pressure in one of my tires. The light originally came on when I had fifteen more minutes before arriving at the zoo. I kept driving because I felt that I was close enough to be safe. By the time I parked my tire was completely flat. There was nothing we could really do at the time so my dad suggested we try to enjoy the zoo day and then figure it out when we were done. I tried my best to enjoy all of the animals and all the kids but the thought of us being stranded at the zoo was also where my thoughts led to a lot. I was also stressed because Grant has not been great at accepting bottles and I knew he was hungry which was adding to my worries. Anyway I did hide my fears to the kids and they really enjoyed themselves. Everything turned out great in the end. My dad helped me get to a tire place and even paid for a new one so that I could get safely back home.I was very grateful for how it turned out and am glad that my kids were able to enjoy the day with their grandparents and cousins.