Mike's Birthday

We stayed in Provo, Utah over the Thanksgiving holiday until Saturday. Mike's birthday happened to fall on BLACK FRIDAY! We slept in, but eventually found ourselves at the overcrowded mall to look for some good deals. Papa and Grandma bought some Christmas gifts for us, including shoes for Cari and Sadie. Mike spent much of the morning waiting in the car for us, but was glad to do so.

After lunch, we returned to shopping some more. We stopped at Costco where I bought Mike a chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream, a pair of jeans and some pistachio nuts for his birthday. He was so happy to find the chocolate cake was not sold out as he was very much looking forward to having it for his cake this year.

The married adults went out to dinner and Papa treated us all to Carrabba's Italian Grill Restaurant. We ordered two Antipasti Plates (with Calamari, Bruschette and Mozzarell Marinara) for an appetizer. Most of us ordered the Chicken Bryan for our dinners. Mike ordered the Spiedino Di Mare (breaded scallops) with garlic potatoes. Our waiter brought Mike a bowl of vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and roasted cinnamon pecans for his birthday and sang opera to him. I LOVED it!

We returned home to all of the kids and gathered together to sing "Happy Birthday" to Mike and have some cake and ice cream.

Of course, there was no way we were going to cover the cake with all the candles Mike's age would require, so we only used a few (We could say, he's "young at heart!")!

MMMMmmmmm.....

..........and I did eat.

THANKSGIVING 2011

This year, we traveled up to Provo, Utah (with Papa and Grandma) to Uncle Eric's home for Thanksgiving.

We stopped in Cedar City to pick up Cari and show Papa and Grandma where she lives.

 We got to Provo on Wednesday afternoon. The kids were immediately playing and having a great time together. Cousins are so much fun! The girls decided to "dress up" their faces by putting on make-up and doing their hair. Cari, Sadie, Kristi, Abby and Lizzie pose for a picture:

On Thursday morning, we played some football in the front yard. It was a lot of fun and great exercise too. I think Sadie ended up being the MVP of the game. That girl can really play!

Mike helped carve the turkey for our Thanksgiving feast.

Lizzie, Abby, Kristi and Aunt Julie:

We went to the park after we ate. In the photo below are Trevon, Cari, Mike, Cameron, Kristi, Nathan, Sadie, Abby, Jeremy and Josh Beulter.

Trevon showed me the course where he ran a cross country race not very long ago, all through the park.

We climbed a rope web and took a couple pictures.

This was a fun family photo.

We were very near to BYU campus and you can see the "Y" on the mountain behind us.

The kids played more football before dark.

We eventually ate some apple, pecan and pumpkin pies. That night we watched a couple of movies and enjoyed visiting. It was a wonderful day and we were thankful to have been able to share it with some of our extended family.

Corban is FOUR!

It really is hard to believe Corban is four years old! The time has flown by. He is a sweet little boy and such a blessing to our family. One of the things I love most about Corban is that he is so loving. Often, out of the blue, he'll say, "I love you Mom." Then he gives me a hug and runs to find his dad, telling him the same. 

He had a very happy birthday.  Papa and Grandma Beutler were here to celebrate with us.

He enjoyed all of his gifts. He got a new toy airplane...

...some clothes,

a train (the Arthur character) to play with his Thomas train track,

and money too.

I read him what was written in his birthday cards, and he mostly listened!

He wanted a white cake. Trevon helped to light the candles.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORBAN!

* As a note I have to mention that Corban was looking forward to his birthday. In our family we have had quite a few birthdays lately and he knew his turn was coming up. On the morning of his birthday, he woke while I was in the shower. I heard a knock on the bathroom door and when I answered he said, "Mom, you need to tell me 'Happy Birthday.'" It was sweet as he was only informing me that HIS special day was here.

Tis the Season

We had a beautiful weekend and it was the perfect time to hang up Christmas lights and rake up the leaves in the yard. I couldn't resist pulling a few weeds as well! Mike supervised and raced the kids down the lane on his scooter. Cari came home for the weekend and was a great help too. Here are a few pictures we took:

It was a nice day. That night, my dad came to pick up his car (here for repairs) and we had a nice visit with him and his dog, "Teddy" Higgins.

Autumn Piano Recital

Kristi and Sadie were in a piano recital this week.  Kristi played "Phantom of the Keys" by Randall Faber.

Sadie played "Arkansas Traveler" by John Thompson.

Of course, we enjoyed the evening of beautiful music and recognize music as one of many things we are thankful for. Another HUGE blessing we have in our lives is family. It is so nice to share our lives with each other. Heavenly Father has given us a wonderful family and we are thankful for the variety of experiences we share together (whether it be piano recitals or broken bones...).

As an update, Mike had an appointment with his doctor. The x-ray shows he is healing well, even better than most at this stage in the game. Dr. Reber had Mike make an appointment with his physical therapist to begin trying to walk on his foot (in the water on a treadmill device) in two weeks. That is two weeks sooner than originally planned on. Mike is pretty happy about that! When he finally returns to work, he will still have to wear a big boot on his foot for quite some time (Mike was not happy to hear that), but we're making progress and very thankful for that.

Cameron's Birthday

Cameron told me he didn't want breakfast in bed on his birthday, but he wanted to have pancakes and sausage for breakfast. 

I didn't want him to get syrup on his clothes, so he put on an apron to eat his breakfast, and rolled up his sleeves. I placed signs around the kitchen and living room telling Cameron "Happy Birthday" and "We Love You," and such. He had a happy day. 

After church, we gave Cameron some gifts. I put Cari's B-Day hat on him and he enjoyed turning the candles on and being the center of attention.

Kristi gave him a box of SweetTarts.

Papa and Grandma Beutler sent a sweet card with a birthday check. He was glad to open it.

He really wanted LEGOs and pointed out a few BIG ideas to me a few days before. We decided to give him clothes (including new shoelaces) and a LEGO Hero Factory figure.  I was glad that he enjoyed everything he received. It was fun to see the enthusiasm of a NINE year old!

Cameron was called on the phone with birthday wishes from loved ones. For dinner, I put a deer roast in the crock pot with onions, carrots and potatoes. Trevon made sure we recognized this was his contribution to the birthday meal.

We had a green salad too. I love adding cabbage to my salads...mmmmmmm!

Cameron said that he wanted a lemon or strawberry flavored cake. Kristi chose a strawberry cake for him. I'm guessing he won't have too many "pink" cakes in his lifetime.  We spread nine candles across the cake.

We sang him the "Happy Birthday" song...

...and watched him blow out the candles!

The next day, Cameron wore his new clothes (laces and all) to school.

After school, he checked the mail and opened a gift from Connie. He has enjoyed this GIANT checkers set, and the fact that his birthday lasted a little longer.

The day after that, Grandpa & Grandma Ferrin sent  a card too. I think the picture below tells his feelings about that pretty well! He had a great birthday. Thank you to all who made it special, and thank you to Cameron for being a special part of our lives!