Happy Birthday Ty!

Happy Birthday to our 14 year old. Seriously can't believe he is that old. We are so grateful for him and the part he plays in our family. He is truly such and amazing young man and D and I feel so blessed to have this incredible teenager in our home. We love you Ty!!! It should be a good day. We have some fun stuff planned and for a teenage boy when food is involved that makes it even better. "Let's Celebrate!!!"

Thanksgiving 2010

I really love Thanksgiving. I feel there is great power in being grateful and I have learned that power and it's affects this past year but especially in the past 3 months. I will make a separate post about what I've learned later but wanted to post some pictures from our Thanksgiving day.

This is the first year we have ever done our own Thanksgiving dinner with just our little family. It ended up being a very special day. I set a place for Wyatt like I do at Christmas time. I enjoy being able to do that at least a few times a year. It helps remind us of our eternal family and that Wyatt is still apart of our family here. We just can't see him with our physical eyes but he IS with us. There is an empty chair at our table which is still very hard to accept but we look forward to the day when there will be no empty chairs. When we can finally sit down together around our eternal table with everyone there.

We had the usually turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, veggies and pies and it was delicious. Before we ate our meal we had 5 M&M's next to our plates. We went around the table 5 times and we each told of the things we were most grateful for. By the end I had tears running down my face and I wasn't the only one teary eyed. Those few moments will always be a memory I will cherish. I have been blessed with an incredible husband! We all miss our little Wyatt so much but we are grateful for the knowledge we have that he will be ours again someday.

It was fun for me to make Thanksgiving name tags and to do cute napkins.

We got our turkey hats out. We haven't used them since the thanksgiving that Wyatt was with us. I decided this year it was time to bring them back.


An extra special part of our table setting are these goblets. This was the first time we have used them. They are my grandmas and are about 85 years old. It was fun to talk about them and where they came from during our dinner. Wyatt's middle name is Lewis after his great grandfather...where these goblets came from. They were a wedding gift from 85 years ago. It's going to be wonderful on each of these special dinners to have a part of them with us.

Aren't they just beautiful? There are two different designs. Grapes and leaves. I love them!

And to finish off our Thanksgiving post I just need to post a few of the pictures I took 3 years ago when Wyatt was just a few months old. Some of them are blurry but I love them because they show what JOY he brought into our life and how truly missed he is.

Oh how we miss that laugh and smile...

and those uncertain looks he would give as the flash would go off.

What a JOY!

I know I've said this before but I had no idea that day when I took these pictures of Wyatt in his cute little hat that they would be used just a few months later for his obituary. It's unbelievable...simply unbelievable. I remember very distinctively that morning getting him dressed and how cute he looked in his new little overalls and his cute hat. That's why I took these picture. Emily and I had picked this outfit out before he was born. It was still a little too big on him but we were both excited to be able to dress him in it.
We love our Wyatt. We miss our Wyatt. We are grateful for those 5 1/2 months we got to enjoy him.

Hayley's birthday

Hayley had a fun birthday. She woke up, got ready for the day and had her requested birthday breakfast..."birthday breakfast cake." She then got to open her presents from family and extended family. She was thrilled with everything she got. She is so blessed to have such wonderful people in her life. She then went to school where her dad came and read her favorite book...."Duck on a Bike." After school we took her out for her birthday lunch. She chose my favorite "Outback". She wished they would have sung happy birthday to her but they did give her a bowl of ice cream. She then wanted to go shopping and get a couple of things with her birthday money. We then came home and had a pizza party while watching a Barbie movie. To finish off her day she had and ice cream sundae and we sang happy birthday to her. I still can't believe my little ray of sunshine is 6 years old now. We as a family are so grateful she is a part of our forever family. We love you Hay bug!

Breakfast Cake
Waiting before she could open up her presents.

Present time...she was soooo beyond excited!

Gift from Wyatt. I found these two things a pillow and a ring and knew they were for her and that Wyatt would like her to have them.

Cooking set from an aunt and uncle.

Mermaid from aunt, uncle and cousins.

$$$$...she was so excited to go and pick out a Zhu, Zhu pet track and a play dough set. The rest went to pay tithing and into savings. Thanks everyone for the gifts!

Ice Cream Cone Party

Look who's turning 6 years old... and her mom let her have an "Ice Cream" birthday party. Can you see the shock in her face???
The invites



Off to deliver them. I scream, you scream we all scream for ice cream.
Party prep...
Learned how to make these festive balls here.
One excited birthday girl.



Ice cream cone cupcakes..directions found here.

Wrapped them up for a thank you favor for the girls to take home to eat.



Candy for the Sundae Bar

Ice cream cone sacks


Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream...CONE. (Duck, duck goose)
Pin the Cherry on top.
And of course there had to be a Sundae bar.
And a cupcake for the birthday girl.

All in all I think she had a wonderful birthday party. I posted lots of pictures and a few links just in case someone out there wants some ideas. Along with the above activities we had a screaming contest(and it was loud!) and we played a cake walk game. I also let them decorate cupcakes to eat and then they got to go through the sundae bar. They got some candy and a couple of ice cream cone erasers in the bags they decorated along with the chocolate covered cone and an ice cream bowl they ate their ice cream in. It was a fun day and hopefully a memorable one for our sweet Hayley. Tomorrow is her actual birthday. I'm still in shock that she could actually be 6 years old. It seems like yesterday when we she was born. What a joy she has been to us. A gift from heaven. It took us a long time and some heart ache before we got her here. So, we have enjoyed every minute we have had with her. What a blessing she is to us. We love you Hayley! We are so thankful you are in our life.