happy, happy birthday maxwell scott!

we have a FOUR year old!!!!!

my mind is blown.

wasn't it just yesterday that we were holding this little guy?!?!?

#bestillmyheart

(sidenote: i'm soooooo excited to have a newborn!!!)

well, like it or not, maxwell scott has turned FOUR. and my goodness, i have no idea what we would ever do without him!

we celebrated a few days early with grandma debbie & papa frank when they came down and they brought max a gift to top all other gifts: 

his very first pair of soccer cleats!!

he is in love. (to say the least!)

they also both got new weber state soccer shirts (which came in handy this past weekend when we went to boise to watch uncle aaron play!) and max got shin guards to go along with his cleats. 

on his actual birthday we started out the day with a birthday breakfast of pancakes, bacon & hashbrowns. the kids sat at the special "birthday table" and they each got a new rubber duck (a fun little tradition started at ave's last birthday).

that night we were up in provo since danny has night class at byu. we had the birthday boy's dinner request: twice baked potatoes, swiss steak, and salad (yumm!) and when dad got back from class we opened presents and had his "yo-ho brownie cake" (aka jake and the neverland pirates) that he has been asking about for months. (i was incredibly happy with how it turned out...and i think max was too!)

we didn't have time to wrap his presents but from us he got some new church clothes (complete with suspenders!) and two sets of legos (which he loves!) and my parents got him a box full of hats (fireman, pirate, king, etc...) and a watercolor book (which he also loves!)

he went to work building his legos the next day & couldn't have been more pleased. i foresee a lot of legos in our future...

max, you are a fireball! full of so much energy & passion for life. you love avery mae with all of your heart. you are incredibly smart and can do puzzles in record time. you've discovered a new love for legos. you would eat ramen noodles every day if i let you...but i love you too much :) you get the biggest smile on your face when you are running and/or playing soccer (or any sport for that matter!) you love to read. you can write your name! you love preschool. you are convinced that if the baby is a girl her name will be penny, and if it's a boy he'll be aaron. you say the sweetest prayers. you love primary. 

you are just an all-around awesome guy and we feel so blessed to have you in our family!

happy FOURTH birthday!!

xoxo.

flying kites & baseballs

you know that primary song, "it's always fun when grandpa comes"?? well, it really is true! (and grandma too, of course!) the kids love their grandparents and when we heard that papa frank & graunna debbie were coming down to nephi we were all incredibly excited.

since it happened to be a windy day, and oddly enough we only fly kites when they come down, max couldn't wait to try out the dragon kite that he got from uncle tim at the dentist. it is HUGE and was a dream come true for max. 

max also showed off his soccer and baseball skills and took advantage of having grandpa there to pitch to him (he is one lucky boy!) avery whipped out her strawberry shortcake bat and joined in on the fun too. 

they also got some quality snuggle time with papa while reading max's new birthday book from them, curious george!

thanks again for making the trek down (and for helping us can so much salsa!!) we love you both!

football season: the amateurs & the pros

football season is in full swing! unfortunately, i'm not a huge football fan...but i think it's fun to attend a game or two during the season. thanks to some sweet hook-ups, we've met my quota of two games and they have both been free!! can't beat that!

first up: juab high!! nothing like good, small-town high school football games! it actually is fun when we know half of the players (and at least two are in our ward!) we sat by chris & nell and ate wayyyyyyy too much sugar:

we also got to see the coug's play (even though it was freezing!!!!!!) our football buddies came with us (chris & lynelle) and we had a great time. is it bad to admit that i mostly went for the free food?! oh, and to be with my hubby :)

// a very blurry picture of some of our favorite people! one of these days we'll get a good one! //

i had to walk around during half-time (i may have eaten a little too much!) but we unintentionally found ourselves greeting the boys back on the field. it was fun to be amidst all of the college kids...made us feel "young" again! haha.

now that i've got two football games under my belt, i am good to go until next year! :)

mt. pleasant & drive-in movies

we've lived in nephi for three years and we had yet to check out the drive-in movie theater in mt. pleasant (less than an hour from us!) when danny's brother aaron & his wife missy were at her parent's cabin in mt. pleasant, we made it a date (with kids)! 

max swung on the awesome swing at the cabin, we tried out the famous sno-cones at "shave-n-cream", and saw planes on the big screen!

if you've been wanting to go to a drive-in but didn't know where to go...mt. pleasant is a happenin' place! :)

gumdrop construction

one of my favorite blogs is modern parents messy kids. she has some excellent ideas on creative things to do with the little ones (which is exactly what i have been needing lately!) her post on gumdrop engineering stuck out to me a while back, but we finally got around to (thank goodness for pinterest!) and the kids loved it. 

supplies needed: toothpicks, gumdrops and/or marshmallows, and a whole lotta time :)

picking corn in the fields

not only did we get a chance to pick raspberries this summer, but we spent some time in the corn fields as well! our ward boundary covers everyone who lives "out in the fields" (aka the farmers!) and boy, do we have some talented people in our ward. 

the rindlisbachers head up the church welfare farm in nephi and they do an incredible job. they invited whoever wanted to out to the corn field to pick extra corn and we jumped at the chance. we were a little hesitant at first (so many yellow bugs! and we were first-timers!) but avery, danny, and i quickly caught on...with max being a little on the stubborn side. 

the corn was delish and it was a pretty awesome family outing.

win win.