Happy Birthday Mckay

Wow, I can't believe that my son is 1 years old!  This year really flew by!  I have loved being Mckay's mom, taking care of him, playing with him, and getting to know him.  He is such a fun, happy kid, I am so lucky.
We had a birthday party for Mckay this Saturday.  I think I got carried away, because I know he will not remember any of it, but I had a lot of fun planning the party.  Here are some pics of the big day.

Here are Mckay's grandpa and cousins to celebrate his birthday. Only Grandpa Sainsbury's great love for Mckay could have gotten him to put this party hat on, but it makes for a great memory!

 I made cupcakes for his birthday.  There was some dispute as to whether or not it was a bear or a monkey. . . they are monkey cupcakes.

Mckay had no trouble whatsoever downing his monkey cupcake!  This kid eats a ton.  It took him about 3 minutes to eat the cupcake, and about 10 to clean him up.  The fitting end to a fun party.  I love this kid

A whirlwind April

It's been a month since I've blogged, and I didn't even realize it until I saw the date of my last post.  I guess this April has just been packed with lots of fun milestones and events, and I haven't really paused as often as I should to reflect and record.   Here are a few things worth blogging about:

The California Trip

We went to California over conference weekend with our England side.  My love for San Juan Capistrano grows every time I visit. . . it is such a beautiful place!

 The England house is about a quarter mile from the beach.  I love going to the beach and walking around.  Unfortunately, Mckay is afraid of the ocean.  This was one of the few shots of him near the beach where he isn't crying.  Here's hoping he outgrows this!

 Disneyland is always a blast!  Mckay, once again, cried on every ride we took him on except Buzz Lightyear, but he did enjoy Mickey's Toon Town.

And, of course, general conference!  Let's not forget that.  We spent many an hour on these couches filling out our conference packets.  It was absolutely wonderful, as always.

Graduation

The end of April brought Chase's long-awaited graduation.  Technically, he has two more classes he's taking Spring Term, but after many months of convincing, he consented to attend his graduation.  I am so glad, and so proud of him.

Graduation was early in the morning.  Afterwards, we went out to brunch, and then went home for a much-needed nap!

Easter

We began the weekend with the graduation, then moved on to Easter.  Saturday was the Sainsbury's annual Easter Egg hunt. After a year or so of extensive remodeling, it was fun to have the hunt on the newly enlarged front lawn.  Mckay had a blast, and was very good about putting eggs in his basket.

We also held a little Easter egg hunt in our condo.  Mckay absolutely loved picking up the plastic eggs and shaking them, and was thrilled when Mom and Dad didn't even make him wear clothes (something that is becoming a growing challenge with him lately).  It was a wonderful weekend.

Check out that funny yawn:)

A craft explosion

This weekend I went up to Kamas to enjoy a Stander Girl Trip.  This is an annual tradition that my mother-in-law hosts.  She invites all the women and girls from the Stander side of the family, and for a weekend, we cook, eat, craft, and enjoy one another's company.  It is a lot of fun, and I came home with lots of wonderful goodies:

 This granola we made was so yummy!  I am glad I got to take a recipe and a jar home with me.

 Nothing says spring like a brightly colored yarn wreath.  I am going to hang one on my door this week, and pray that the weather warms up!  Also, inside the wreath is a collection of crafted magnets.  Cute, huh?  A cheap and easy way to customize your fridge.

 Print off a couple of black and white photos, and use watercolors and crayons to color them in.

 I think my sister-in-law Courtney carried the honors for making beaded earrings.  She made a pair for me while I was still wrestling with my yarn wreath.  Thanks Court!

 Jeannette worked very hard on that granola, whipping out batch after batch.  Thanks to her for her hard work and Joanne (I probably spelled that wrong) for the recipe!

 My job was to provide a cupcake recipe.  I borrowed this idea from from my next-door neighbor Andrea.

Mckay, of course, loved spending time with his cousin Jaxton.  Hanging out with Jax has lots of perks, one of them being able to get to the cereal . . . snack, anyone?
I had wonderful time on this trip!  Thanks for all who came and shared their talents.

And the awards go to . . .

The other night Chase and I were winding down for the night as we watched a little TV.  We flipped the channel to TNT, and there we watched a portion of "Jurassic Park."  It's been years since I've watched that show, and I'd forgotten how much I love love love it.  It started me thinking, "What other shows have I not seen in awhile that are good enough that I want to root them out and find them?"  One thing led to another, and I have  a list of my top favorite films in recent history:
(Be warned: My films usually fall on the quirky side of things, so this list may not be for everyone, but it is for me!)

8. Lord of the Rings Trilogy:  This film blew my mind.  My favorite thing about it?  First,  gorgeous cinematography.  Second, the stuff they have to deal with is so hard, that it makes me feel like I can't complain about anything.  Their noble-ness rubs off.

7. Rudy.  I know that guys have been known to cry in this movie, but I love it too!  The poor guy tries so hard!

6. Ever After.  There are Drew Barrymore-haters out there who may disagree, but I liked this show a lot.  The music is pretty, and the setting is interesting.  Plus, the evil stepmother and stepsister are so unlikeable, that it makes me happy when they have to wash laundry forever (I am now exposing a slightly vicious streak . . .)  But seriously, when was the last time you watched a chick flick not produced by A&E or BBC that didn't have any sexual content?  They are few and far between, and therefore must be treasured.

5.  Muppet Treasure Island.  This show is plain funny and full of one-liners.  You are never too old for the muppets:)

4. Princess Bride.  Here is a show that has it all!  As the grandpa says, there's adventure, danger, sword fighting, giants, poison, six-fingered villains, revenge, R.O.U.S.'s, and, of course, true love.  The great compromise for chic/flick loving girls and action loving boys.  Besides, where else could you hear a line like this:  "Fezzick, are there rocks ahead?"  "If there are, we'll all be dead!"

3.  Clue.  I must bust Clue out about 4 times a year.  This movie is clever, surprising, and funny.  And, as if one good ending weren't enough, they give you three!  Come on, people!

2.  Beauty and the Beast.  I don't know what it says about me, that I have so many kid movies in this grouping, but this show is great!  I could go on and on about why I like this cartoon, but it's too hard to say a little, and too easy to say too much.

1.  Jurassic Park.  I want you to close your eyes and remember the part where the kids are in the jeep with the scummy lawyer, and suddenly they hear an impact tremor.  The water in the glass shakes as the tremors get stronger.  Silence. The goat is missing, and suddenly, you see a giant clawed arm rip down the metal wires.  Did you get chills?  Yeah, this movie is great.

Well, folks, that's my list.  I am sad to say that I only own 2 of these 8 movies, but after writing this list, I will not be surprised if a few more of them don't find their way to my DVD shelf.

24, 25, 26 . . . 39!

I consider myself a young person.  For those of you who are my age and older, I bet you would consider me young too.  For those of you who are younger than me, you may think that 26 is a ripe old age.  I certainly never did, but yesterday may have changed my mind.

Piano Student: It's almost my birthday.
Me: Cool!  How old will you be?
Student: Eleven.
Me: Wow, that's great.
Student: How old are you?"
Me: Guess.  (I know, I know, I was asking for trouble!  I don't know why I said that!)
Student:  . . . . You're forty-two!
Me:  What??????????
Student:  Ha ha ha ha ha just kidding!
Me: Oh, good!
Student:  I really think you're thirty-nine.

Gaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuggghhhh!  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!  When did I stop becoming young in children's eyes?  When?
For those of you near the age of 39, let me just say, I still think you're young, so please don't be offended by this post.  It's not so much the age I'm struggling with, it's the sudden jump of thirteen years. It would come as a shock to anyone.  Right?

St. George Trip

I have always thought taking a vacation to a warmer climate is a good idea in February.  After all, we've already plowed through (literally!) several months of winter, and my desire for warm weather really rises this time of year.  Luckily for me, I got to go to St. George with my Sainsbury side of the family over Presidents' Day weekend.  Thank you Englands for letting them stay at your house down there!
Here are some of the fun activities we did.

 Mckay is a HUGE fan of the hot tub!  He would stay in there until he turned into a raisin if we let him.

 I managed to get Chase in the pool, if only for this family shot.

 Chase took us on the "short and scary hike" (the hike above the 'Dixie' sign).  It was lots of fun, and gave me a chance to try out this little baby pack.

We had a wonderful time in St. George.  I am excited for when it's 60 degrees in Orem!

Quarter of a century!

Chase had a birthday last week . . . the big 25.  He is now officially a quarter of a century!

 We spent his birthday weekend up at the England Kamas cabin.  Later that night, we went to Park City's Main Street to celebrate Chase's b-day and to enjoy pizza for dinner.

 I got some cake decorating supplies for Christmas.  Here is my first attempt to use them.  I think, all in all, that I did a pretty good job.  The blobby shape in the bottom right corner was supposed to be a football . . .

 The devil is in the details.  I forgot the candles!  Luckily, Chase improvised.

 Hooray for birthdays!

Family Home Evening was spent on the farm.  There, Chase got Birthday Celebration Round II.
All in all, turning a quarter of a century has it's perks.