KaBoom!

we feel extremely fortunate to be able to celebrate a day honoring our country and our many freedoms. we love our country!

we had a ward bbq on the 3rd, like usual, along with a big firework show put on by a local outlet mall. and it was a wet one this year. but i would much prefer to be wet from rain rather than sweat!

the primary was in charge of the activities while we waited for the fireworks. there was a fun cupcake walk (with no pics), a waterballoon toss, and a pie eating contest.

so without further ado...

patiently waiting for the waterballoon toss

it took me a couple hours to fill up 200 hundred waterballoons that afternoon and i had to keep reminding ellie to be very very careful not to pop any of them. well, when the first few balloons were tossed at the party, ellie was so confused and worried she started to cry. it took a little while for her to figure out she could now throw them and pop them. of course, by the time she figured it out, all the balloons were popped!

the young men and women were kind enough to help by wearing scrub bottoms and trying to see how many balloons they could catch in their pants. its much more entertaining that way :)

ellie learned the art of puddle-jumping by a master

jack and ellie love their friend bryce (or bryce-rice as jack calls him)

and here are pictures from the pie-eating contest...in the rain nonetheless. the kids had so much fun and it really wasnt a pain to clean up afterwards like i was expecting, bonus!

get it jack, get it!

he got it!

our friends:

connor

charlie

emily

and tom

ellie loved to show daddy the 'pitty' fireworks

a little bonding time with Obispo

jack was very quickly banned from sparklers for trying to poke other kids with them... what a kid!

what a nice way to celebrate independence day!

30

happy birthday chris!!!

this was daddy's way of making sure jack didnt help him blow out the candles

it resulted in many tears and the candles were relit so jack could have a turn.

chris, we hope your 30's are even better than ever!!!

buzz

to say these little people enjoyed toy story 3, would be a terrible understatement.

this was ellie's first real movie and she did surprisingly well. in fact, we didn't have to leave the theater early, which i would have bet money on before going :) all it took was a popcorn to share with daddy, a slurpee to share with jack , and all the m&ms one kiddo could handle... oh yeah, and a tootsie pop from grandma... thats all it took...

yahoo for visitors!

we have been spoiled this month to say the least. aunties rikki and delayna came to visit!

for those who may not know them, delayna is the tallest one and rikki is the "steve irwin-look-a-like" in that photo.

we had SUCH a great time while they were here, that i pretty much forgot about taking any pictures. BUT, it was rikki's birthday, and i did manage to be responsible enough to remember the camera for her celebration!

... it was a rikki rock star theme... maybe just "rik-star" for short...

i asked her to shred the guitar for some photos, which she kindly did. she just didnt realize i was actually video taping her. this ones for you rik....

part of her celebration was also a sleep-over! larissa and i got to hangout all night with the girls and not have to think of brushing someone elses teeth or changing diapers! our kid-less and boy-less night consisted of swimming in the pool at night - so fun- a wild game of truth or dare - also very fun- and late night chatting. then we even went to get pedicures in the morning!

this actually is very silly and kind of dumb, but it made us laugh at the time. so here goes. rikki and i both got the same pretty color polish with our pedi. we saw the girl next to us getting it and we both looked at each other and said "i want that" just like the lady on napoleon dynamite. i asked my asian pedicurist what color it was, and after several repeats i finally figured out she was saying "tahitian sun" but i asked to see the bottle just to make sure. boy, was i WAY off. it was actually called "cajun shrimp". i loved it so much i bought it and now ellie even has "simp" fingers and toes

these other pictures are the only other shots we got while rikki and layna were here. sadly, neither are in the pictures

for rikki's b-day gift, we decided to let her be the first to know about baby #3 and invited her to come to the ultrasound with me. we had a great time and it was such a special thing to share with her! i love my sisters!

waiting for june 18th

for quite some time (okay, 6 years!), we have been anxiously awaiting june 18th 2010. as an avid harry potter fan.... alright, more like freak.... i have been waiting for the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park to open in orlando like a child awaiting christmas morning!

trying real butter beer at the three broomsticks, being chosen by a wand at ollivander's, and sending a letter through owl post are just a few things that we have been looking forward to! sounds like fun huh!!!!

well, unfortunately, going to harry potter world and fulfilling all of our fantasies will just have to wait one more year :)

but after waiting 6 years already, whats one more?! besides i hear the roller coaster lines are supposed be a 5 hour wait opening week, yikes!

oh yeah, we are due december 31st... looks like no bubbly for new years either!

Florida Aquarium

this week, being chris' break from school, we headed up to the aquarium in tampa for a couple days! it was definitely worth the trip for our fish-lovin' family!

for those in the area, if you ever decide to go to the aquarium, just know that they have an awesome little splash park inside. bathing suits are required for the kids, so be prepared... we werent, so we didnt get to enjoy that part of the fun.

reality starts again tomorrow, but it has been SO NICE having our daddy home! we just hope he doesnt pick up the cold that the rest of us have at the moment... not a fun way to start a new semester.

because this blog is the only form of journaling and/or scrapbooking that i do, i am posting a bazillion kabillion pictures :)

they loved this mermaid. we thought it was a bit creepy. i begged chris to sit down for a picture with it and he said "no, because i know you are going to post it on the blog and make fun of it". how did he know???

looking down into the shark tank

this shell looked a lot bigger when ellie was in it :)

jack had no idea this shark was swimming behind him at the time, i think its a good thing too!

i have a wonderful way with kids. just look at how happy ellie is

dinner at the spaghetti warehouse.

we were hoping it was going to be as good as the brower family favorite: the spaghetti factory. it wasnt. but we still managed to eat enough to waddle out of the restaurant.

ellie is a good little noodle slurper

and jack tries to be

jack and ellie got spaghetti and meatballs. they both loved it and when ellie was done with hers, i gave her a bite of my alfredo. she grabbed my bowl and finished my second half :)

we stopped at a little chocolate shop and each picked out a treat. of course, anything with sprinkles looks good to these kiddos. i, on the other hand, picked something drenched in milk chocolate and caramel. mmmmmm

we love family vacations!

good luck this next semester daddy-o!!!!