two birthdays

chris celebrated his 33rd birthday last saturday!!!

he and jack played 18 holes of golf in the morning, then fished away the afternoon, and ended the day with dinner at buca di beppos.

i think he had a pretty great day!

jack and ellie thought it was pretty special that they got to come with us to dinner... without charlie. 

just the big kids. and they loved loved loved the food, but how could you not love a colossal brownie sundae?

ellie couldnt stop dancing :)

while the boys golfed in the morning, we were able to spend some time with our little friend grace. she is just too cute!

here is a silly story about jack that still makes me laugh/cringe.

when he and chris went fishing, they went along with bo and aaron leishman, our new bishop at church. apparently aaron was catching quite a few fish and to jack that is the ultimate "cool". so in jack's own hilarious way of giving a compliment he says, to our bishop, "wow, you're so good at fishing, i'm gonna start calling you "top hooker!". chris and bo got a kick out of that one. hopefully aaron knows that "top hooker" is the name of a tv show about fishing...

 we celebrated america's birthday like we always do,

at the ward bbq

complete with.... 

hot dogs (char's fave)

a watermelon eating contest (jack's fave- because he won for his age group)

and a bike parade (ellie's fave)

we didnt stay to watch the fireworks because it started to rain. i knew it would clear up, but when two out of the three kids wanted to play in the van instead of outside, and chris was still at work, and knowing we would probably stay up late the following night, i decided to call it good. it sure was great having help from grandma and a great counselor at the ward party. im not sure how other primary presidents handle being in charge of activities without their moms around to watch their crazy toddlers!

but we did see fireworks last night with chris after having a fun day together swimming, going to see despicable me 2, and partying with the cousins. it was a splendid way to celebrate the freedoms we have in this amazing country!

and just because this was too funny not to share...

almost every night after dinner, chris turns up the music and the kids dance while we clean up. then we watch a bazillion clips on youtube. its a great routine :)