Jence turns for Pirate style!

Jence is turning four years old next week.  We decided to throw his Birthday party a week early since we will be leaving to go to St. George and California over his real Birthday.  This was Jence's first friend birthday party.  I decided to recycle the good old pirate birthday party which is always one of my favorites.  Four years old is the perfect age when kids still like dressing up.  Jence loved his pirate costume.  He also begged me to build a boat for him out of a card board box.  We had a plank that the kids could jump off of and land into a kiddie pool full of balloons.  We also played an aligator ring toss, and throw the bean bag at the pirates on the wall.  Kate even sewed the bean bag at last minute for me.  She is such a life saver.  Over all it was a huge hit.  Only half of the kids wanted to dress up, but that's okay.  Jence loved it all and hopefully made a great memory.  If he's to young to remember it I guess he can look back at the pictures.  

We made it to the pumpkin patch this year.  

It's always a fun family tradition to pick out pumpkins the kids also enjoyed the corn maze, haystack slides, and the train ride.  Looks like we are all ready for Halloween time!

Kate sings national anthem!!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Mower sponsored a David Archuleta concert at our towns amphitheater.  Because of this she had the opportunity to sing the star spangled banner in front of about two thousand people.  Talk about nerve racking.  I actually wasn't that nervous until we got there and saw all the people and the huge speakers and professional set.  She was so brave, she new exactly how she wanted to sing it.  She told the crew she needed to be able to hold her mic.  That helps her not feel so nervous. This was about a thousand times bigger than any recital she had performed at previously. I started to get nervous when the sound guy was asking us how we wanted to sound specifics weather she wanted to hear her voice over the speakers or not.  I was like "I have no idea, we've never done this before".  Kate was amazing and got right up there and did her best.  Her rendition of the Star spangled banner was reverent, soft, pretty and totally her.  I was so proud and so glad once it was over.  It was a great experience that she will always remember.    She also had some challenges going into it.  Her voice teacher which she's been training with for the last few years had a sudden change in her husbands job which left us with out anyone to help her just a month before the concert.  I was scrambling to find a new teacher and we tried one that didn't go over to well.  She was good but just wasn't Kate's style.  Then we found an amazing teacher in Salt Lake.  Kate's voice instructor told us he was probably the best in the state.  We went to him a couple of times and he pulled out his guitar and composed a special arrangement of the star spangled banner just for Kate.  Talk about talent.  The guitar was perfect accompaniment for her soft sweet voice.  She sounded so cute, and sweet.  It was a different rendition than what is usually done with the song.  Usually singers belt it, but Kate just  sang it very reverently and sweetly.  I am really proud of her there were moments when she wanted to give up and cancel, but she kept trying and practicing and stuck it out.  Even when just last week she had a cold.  This girl has nerves of steel to have the guts to to this and I am so proud of her for doing something so tough!

Kate turns 11

 Kate celebrated her 11th birthday tonight.  Wow, eleven years.  Where does the time go?  She is growing into a beautiful young lady.  This year seemed to be a big year of growth for her.  She's not really into Barbies and toys.  Instead of toys for her birthday she wanted harp music, and a dance bag.  She also got some money from grandma Mower and grandma Woolsey, and a new shirt and lotion and bath gel from grandma Black. Kate is very practical.  One example of her practicality is when she said she didn't care what her cake looked like, she just cared how it tasted.  I still remember the days when she was  little. Months before her birthday she would excitedly scour the internet for the perfect cake.  I use to stay up all night long the night before her birthday party decorating the cake.  Then I'd love to see the look on her face when she'd come downstairs and see it.  I remember making butterfly's, mermaids, princess, and ponies.  I guess it's time to put away those childish things and so she chose a cheese cake instead.  It was delicious and also very practical.  It didn't require six hours of baking, and it tasted amazing.   I may still force her to pick out a frilly cake next year, if not for her then for me.  Old habits die hard.   I stopped doing friends party's when she turned eight.  It was just so much work.  I think maybe next year when she turns twelve we will need to do a big bash, but this year was a pretty simple low key celebration.  We invited my parents over and my Grandma over.   I made Kate her favorite meal.  Chicken Scampi.  I found the recipe online, and it turned out pretty good.  Tonight I let her and her brothers off the hook for homework and they are watching a Harry Potter movie.  

First Day of School

It was a successful first day.  Ben started first grade, Kirk fourth grade, and Kate fifth grade.  So far the kids all love their teachers.  Kirk came home and said his teacher who is new this year was so nice.  I was really impressed when we met them at back to school night.  I think it's going to be a great year!

  Ben has been really excited and he's trying out school lunch for the first time. 

 These pictures aren't the greatest, but the kids were wanting to get out the door fast and I didn't have a lot of time to shoot a bunch of photos. 

 take note of Kate's hair it took us a half hour to do it since she wanted it curled all over and lots of volume on top.  Kate has really gotten into hair styles and looks up cute ideas on the internet.

A photo shoot of Ben

I took Ben out tonight for a little photo shoot.  His Birthday was back in March and I'm sad to say I haven't gotten around to doing his pictures yet.  I always say that the first photo you take is always the very best.  This is proof of that theory.  This shot was right on.  I lost the light pretty darn fast we had a late start so only 5 or six turned out but this one made it all worth it for sure. 

family photo shoot

Our Families photo shoot.  I loved how these turned out, the sun was a little bright, but I think they look great!