Birthdays, Carnivals, and Melt Your Skin Off Heat! All in one weekend!

Just a warning - this post contains a lot of pictures. But I have a really hard time deciding what pictures to put on the blog and what to leave out. So why choose? Why not put them all? So I did. Anyway, this weekend was a really busy weekend for us - which is rare. We usually are boring and not busy so I took lots of pictures to capture the moments.

On Thursday my parents came to watch Rix swim and then we all went to Costco (without Bryan, who was working). I think my parents regretted having us with them - their Costco trip doubled in time because everything is slower when you have three kids. But it was fun and I got my Costco chicken bake, so the world is good. This picture is of Cole and Papa waiting for Rix to get dressed after swimming. Cole loves Papa - he really only talks to Papa and during his bath. (And look Carissa - dad is talking while taking the picture!!!)

Washington had record heat this last weekend. It was in the 90's on Friday and Saturday, with Saturday being the hottest. The boys cooled off in the pool and colored on themselves, each other, and the new deck (AAAAH!) with bathtub crayons. Bryan, in the back, is building our new fence and dying of heat exhaustion. That night we went to Red Robin for Bryan's birthday and sat out on the patio at the restaurant. It was so so so nice! And we got our onion rings for free since they didn't come out before the meal - awesome! Sometime it makes me sad that I didn't like onion rings when I was younger. Think of all the times I missed out on eating onion rings back then!! But don't worry - I'm making up for it right now :)

Friday night was the Idlewild Elementary Carnival. I went to elementary school here and went to this carnival every year - and this year Rix is old enough to go. Almost all the classrooms had carnival-type games with little prizes (aka - junk, but Rix loved it) and the fields had those big jumping toys and dunk tanks. Here Rix is throwing the ball to dunk the girl, but he missed all three times. However, just so you all aren't worried, he ran up and pushed the button to dunk her anyway, much to the parent volunteer's dismay (but I was so proud!).

Rix picked out this owl mask (why an owl? I don't know! There was lots to choose from.) He loved all the little prizes he got and was so determined to win some of the games that we played them several times in a row to win the big prizes.

Rix really wanted this balloon thing and he finally got it and was so excited (hence the excited face).

Rix and I picking out more junk, I mean toys, with his leftover tickets.


Rix and Nana showing off the cake Rix won at the cake walk. We did the cake walk several times throughout the night, and the last time we did it Rix won. He was so excited because he wanted to win one for Bryan's birthday. But when we went to pick out the cake he said that he wanted it just for himself. Three year olds can be so selfish!!! It was really funny.

Bryce eating his cupcake for his birthday. We combined Bryan's and Bryce's on Sunday so that we could party all at once since next weekend is Memorial Day weekend and most people will be gone. Bryce chowed down the cupcake, while Bryan chose lemon bars for his dessert (he would have liked red velvet, but I made it two weeks ago for my dad's birthday and cheesecake was too expensive to make).

Bryce got a "bubble monster" from Aunt Jodi. He laughs so hard with this! You blow the bubbles and use the monster to eat the bubbles. It counts the bubbles and "burps". Nice, Jodi. But really, it is so cute.

Bryce has an obsession with legos, so Bryan and I got him those lego sheets to he can play and Nana got him this lego set. Thanks!

Bryan finally got his nasty can of nacho cheese and chips. I think it's so gross, but he thought it was great. My mom and I also got him a big hammock stand for the hammock we got last year from Dave and Lindsay. He set it up that night and we haven't left it since. (Okay, we did, but we didn't want to.)

And because it's Bryan's 28th birthday (last Sunday) I thought I would let you know some things about him that you may not have known, or maybe you did.

* You will almost always find Bryan watching TV after work to "unwind" but often he is watching the Food Network Challenge or Iron Chef America.

* Bryan has, on occasion, slept in Cole's room to let me sleep, but won't hear him crying. I will be in the far bedroom and hear Cole crying and Bryan, who is sleeping in the room, won't hear him. I'm not sure I believe him or not.

* Bryan can only remember a list of two things. If I call him and tell him to go to the store and tell him to grab milk and eggs, he will get them. But if I say, grab milk, eggs, and Oreo Cakesters, he will either forget to get one of the items or call me and ask me for the list again. He is aware of this inability to remember and is learning to write things down.

* He is always optimistic and things nothing bad will happen because it hasn't yet. Like when he let Rix go on the roof of the house with him I, of course, freaked out. Bryan? All he said was "I've never fallen off a roof before!" or when I told him not to build the playfort in the back to high in case one of the boys fell off he replied with "the playfort in Heber and Hinckley were high, and all of us boys survived". Um, okay, but that doesn't mean that it isn't going to happen!!!

* I try to get Bryan to drink diet soda if he is going to drink soda (less sugar) so when I refill his drinks at the restaurant I mix diet with regular. He can always tell, even if there is just a little bit of diet in there. Hey, I'm trying!

* He loves spicy food, Mexican food, and fried rice or teriyaki. He will always order the most fattening item on the menu and not think twice about it. He loves when I try new recipes and honestly tells me his opinion. He could make a meal out of chips and salsa or dip. He always refuses lettuce and tomato on his sandwiches. He loves to BBQ.

* He loves to build things and figure out how things work. And he loves to help people figure out their buiding problems.