Slide Rock

We had the FUNNEST day! (is that a word?)

 Since Nik has the week off of school we decided to drive up to Sedona to visit Slide Rock (apparently a big tourist stop... there were people there from EVERYWHERE!!).  It is basically a river with slippery rocks that you slide down!  So fun!

 My girls!

 Ian is flexing his muscles for Grandma!! =) 

(it always works to get him to take a cute picture!)

 The water was SO COLD!!!!  But it felt so good!!

(once you got used to it!)

 Miranda wasn't a huge fan of getting in the water... this was about as far as she got most of the day, but she still had the time of her life!!  She was very worried that the water would take her flip-flops away!  And she about died when her floatie blew into the water and it got carried down the river a little ways before it was rescued!

 PAGING FIRST RESPONDER NIK... after we ate lunch and hiked back down to the river several people got hurt.  One man fell and cracked the back of his head open, one girl broke her ankle, another girl injured her foot, and another little boy fell and chipped his tooth all at about the same time.  When the man fell and cut his head open not many people did anything.  One woman offered ice and several others were very concerned and wanted to help, but just didn't know how.  Finally when he was able to sit up and he was bleeding Nik ran up and got the Ranger.  When he got back down the boy fell and chipped his tooth and there was Nik... a DENTAL STUDENT... standing right there.  I was happy to see him use his skills!! =)

After that most people started being careful again.

Now this is where it gets good!  As we were getting ready to be done for the day I wanted to go down one more time.  BUT I really needed a friend to go with me.  She didn't want to, but I convinced Miranda to go with me.  Earlier she had said "It might be a loady (little) fun, it might be a loady (little) cold."  She was not exactly happy to go, but I made her! =)  In a nice way of course!

 It was so cold, but she actually did have fun!  And she didn't want to do it again!

 Thanks for being my friend down the slide!!  I think she was proud of herself!!  And I was proud of her too for being so brave!

 My little lizzard... warming himself on the rocks!!

 It was really a perfect day!!  Nice weather, fun slides, and we finished it off with gigantic ice cream cones!!  How could it get any better?

 Just then... we watch a rainstorm come over the mountains and head toward us.  The sun was still shining so it reflected off the raindrops and was so beautiful!!!  We were glad we had already gotten out of the river as it rained pretty hard for a little while!

 Another smile for Grandma! =)

 This little thing did so good and is always such a joy to take anywhere!!  Everyone is always commenting on what a good baby she is and how sweet and happy she is!  She wasn't quite big enough to go down any slides this year, but maybe next year!! 

We left the park at about 4:30 and they were both asleep by 5:00pm!  Ian was so worn out that he didn't wake up until morning!!  I love when that happens because it means we had a really good day!  And we did!

Happy Birthday Ian

Well... My sweet Ian turned 4!!!

 We started the day off by opening ONE present!! =) 

 This is his AWESOME Transformers pinata!!  We bought it about four months ago because he saw it at Wal-mart and just had to have it!  It has been tempting him in my closet all this time!

He was so excited about his pinata that we did that very first after our friends arrived!!  Everyone took a good few swings.  We even let Truman (the biggest and oldest) wack it as hard as he could five or six times, but it still didn't crack.

 Then we let each of the kids pull one of the strings on the back (the way it is supposed to be opened) and it still didn't break open so Nik had to just tear it open and dump the candy and prizes out!!

These are our friends!!

 Next we did a little art project.  We painted watercolor pictures with q-tips!  The kids seemed to like this part!

 Next was presents!  He got spoiled that's for sure!

THE CAKE

 This cake:  It was going to be awesome!!  Ian and I made 3 cakes... all different colors.  One green, one blue, and one orange.  We stacked them and stacked them, sticking them together with frosting and raspberry filling.   Nik made a marshmallow fondant and we covered our awesome cake tower.  AND THEN... it started melting because it is so stinking hot here in Arizona!  I put it in the fridge as soon as I could, but it was too late.  So I let Ian put the figurines wherever he wanted them and we decided it was the planet that "Zurg" lives on and Buzz and Woody were saving the day! =)

It still tasted GREAT!!

 Blowing out the candle!!  Ian had a little help! =)

 After our friends left we ate lunch and had a little "family party" where Ian got to open the presents from us and his Grandparents.

 He got a new pair of shoes and when he opened them he said "Yes, I've been wantin these for ever!!!"  I was glad.  I don't know if you remember, but last year his birthday was not so exciting for him.  He had opened all of his fun presents while we were visiting family in Utah and then the presents he had from us were mostly clothes and things he needed.  After opening them he said "those weren't good presents."  I was bound and determined to make this a better birthday for him!!  So as you can imagine I was pretty happy when he got so excited about his new shoes!!

Covering his eyes while we bring his big present in!

 A BIKE!!!!!!!

 The first thing he said when he opened his eyes and saw his bike was "It doesn't have training wheels."  And it didn't.  We decided to get him the bigger size and just buy the training wheels separate so that he would last longer on it!  He opened his training wheels next and then we were set!

 Awesome new helmet from Grandma... it came with a cool bell that we put on his bike too!

 And of course he had to go for a bike ride even though it was SO HOT (like 108 hot) and he loved every minute of it!  Miranda was also excited for Ian to get his new bike because now she gets to ride his little tricycle!!  She also loves riding in the carriage!!

 And we finished the day off by watching Aladdin and making popcorn!  He had a great birthday and I was so relieved!!  Thanks to both sets of Grandparents for helping make it a very special day!!  All of the pictures where he is smiling were for you... I'd say "Ok, this one is for Grandma so smile", and he would!!  He is not big on getting his picture taken lately!

We love this little guy so much!!  He is such a smart, talented, funny kid!!  He makes friends wherever he goes and is always asking questions!  He loves to do projects and can always make Kamryn laugh!  He loves to play transformers with Nik... they are always flying around the house getting bad guys (or being bad guys!!).  He is doing so well in preschool and loves going!  He cries every week because he doesn't want to go to primary, but then every week when we pick him up tells us how much fun he had!  The other day Miranda had done something to him and then apologized and he said "It's ok, I forgive you."  I can't wait to see what he learns and does in this next year.  We love you Ian!!!!!!!!  Happy 4th Birthday!

Starting Preschool

Back to School Night

Ian could hardly contain his excitement to go to his "Back to School Night" at Miss Ronda's!

I loved seeing him so excited about something! 

When we got there he got his picture taken, traced his hand and wrote his name on it all by himself... we were both so proud!!

His classroom

His class played a "getting to know you" game and then we had cookies and milk! 

His first homework assignment!  He wanted to do it as soon as we got home!!  Hopefully that is the homework trend for the rest of his life!! =)

 

FIRST DAY

Starting on Sunday he started telling us he didn't want to go to preschool because I couldn't stay there with him and that worried him.  We reassured him that he was going to LOVE preschool, but he was still worried!

Monday morning was a mix of excitement and worry.  He kept going back and forth on whether or not he wanted to go!  He decided that he would go, but he was a little sad that Nik couldn't take him or see him go to his first day.  I told him if we took lots of pictures then dad could look at them when he got home!

Modeling his Buzz Lightyear backpack.

Trying really hard to smile his biggest!

The girls were so excited for Ian to start preschool!  They were very loving and supportive!

Giving hugs before we left!

In front of his preschool!

=)  She had to get out of the car to see that he made it to preschool!

This is his "I'm really nervous, but I'm going to smile so nobody knows" smile!

Sitting at his chair, but watching me very closely so I don't leave!

Tracing his name!  I was excited and happy when I saw these pages his teacher made for each of the kids.  It is a laminated piece of paper with their names written boldly on the first line, dotted on the second line and left blank on the third line so that they can practice writing their names!  Ian is going to thive going to this preschool!

After lots of kisses and hugs and me watching him write his name he finally let me leave!  I was so excited that he stayed without crying!  I thought I would be a little bit sad that my baby was starting preschool, but I wasn't... it was just pure happiness and excitement!

And this is his "I had a lot of fun, but I'm going to pretend I didn't" smile after we picked him up!! =)

Let's just say he is excited to go back on Wednesday!

And... Nik will be home at noon on Wednesday so Ian is excited that they are

going to ride their bikes over!

Love it!