Birthdays + Baptism = Busy

Parker turned 8 on April 6, 2011!  He was so excited for this birthday because he'd be baptized!

 He got lot of presents but his favorite was his Scout shirt.  With every present he opened he said, "I hope this is my Scout shirt!"  He also loved his new scriptures.

For his birthday, I thought it was cute that he just wanted it to be with his family.  Traditionally, I let the kids have a big friend party for the 8th.  He's such a sweet boy.  He wanted to have an Easter Egg Hunt and dye eggs, so we had Easter a little early this year!

Parker was baptized on April 9, 2011 in Brigham City.  We chose to go there since it would be so much closer for all the family and he could be baptized with his cousin Adam.  We were so thankful to have so many family members come.  I was especially surprised that my brother Nolan, from Washington, could be there.  Tori and Brian even hurried home from a trip they were on in Arizona to be there.  Thanks FAMILY.  WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

Grandma Harper embroidered a towel to use on his special day.

Grandma Lee gave the boys each a big candy bar bouquet.  It was sure a special day for these boys.  It rained and snowed all day, but that didn't matter.  The weather cleared by the time we left for Malta to spend the weekend with our parents.

All dressed in white!

I love this picture!  It's pretty special to have two sets of great grandparents come to your baptism!  The Baxter's and the Crump's.

In our Sunday best after church.

This post is all backwards, but this is Parker's Pinewood Derby.  This was the day after his birthday!  It was sure a fun busy week for him.  He was thrilled to have the winning car for his pack and took second place overall!

He also got the "Best Design" award.

Madison had a big project in her Social Studies class.  They are studying the Medieval time period and had a big "Castle Days" where they had to make a castle and then dress up for the day. She got second place "Judges Award" and won a squirt gun and a big bag of Swedish Fish. We had fun doing this project together. 

Ashley had a big "I Can Learn" program.  She got to sit by one of her BFF's, Macie.  This weekend I let Madison have a "Girl's Night Out" party.  Parker and Ashley each had a friend over too.  Nate was camping with the Scouts so we had to party without him.

(Lucky him!:)

We are sadly saying good-bye to the good old boat.  We bought a newer one and will be selling this one (hopefully soon).  Call us if you're interested.  This boat has been in the family since '92.  It was sure a great boat and we had lots of fun memories on it.  

Helen turned 60 this year!  All her kids except for Jordan (who's serving a mission) came.  Tami flew out from Mississippi and Lisa drove from Arizona. We surprised her at Maddox.  She was totally surprised.

After the lunch we met at the church in Perry so all the kids could see her too.  James also celebrated his birthday. 

It was also my Mom and Dad's birthday in February.  It starts with Dad's on February 17, Mom's the 19th, and Helen's the 21st.  Mom and Dad stopped by on their way back from being in St. George.

The kids always wish they would stay longer.

Dennis, Helen, Scott, Terra, and their kids stayed a night with us on their way to see Lisa and Brian in Arizona.  They got to see Madison play basketball.  

The kids sure enjoy having people come to visit us.  They'll sure be happy to move closer to family someday.

Savannah and her friend Ellie.  They love to be twiners,  so I made them matching skirts.  (They're still good friends, even after the awful haircut).

Savannah at her "Bring a Pet to School Day".  This was a funny story.  This poor fish.  I thought I was being so careful driving it to her school by pouring half the water out and putting it in another bowl just in case it splashed.  Well, I stopped (slowly I thought) at a stop sign and everything went crashing up to the front of my van, rocks, water, greenery and a little fish flopping all over my carpet.  I about died!  I decided I didn't have time to go home, so I scooped up the fish and put it in less than a 1/2 inch of water and drove to her school.  I didn't know if the fish would make it.  It kept flipping itself out of the water on the rocks.  I quickly asked her teacher if I could get some water from her faucet.  Luckily, the fish lived and Savannah was so excited to show her fish, but our poor car was a mess and leaking water all over the road!!!  Her teacher asked how I got it here without any water and I said that it did have water, it's just all over my car now.  Everybody got a pretty good laugh out of that one.