Party time!

The boys' had a fun, simple birthday party this year.  They wanted a hunting party, so we gathered a few friends, shot nerf guns at balloons, threw "target practice" at stacked cups, then ate some goodies, and headed home.  

 As we were getting the cake ready we even had a fun little "freeze" dance party.  

They showed off their best moves and when the music paused, so did they!

We ended up with a fun little clan that brought some fun gifts.  I loved watching the boys open the presents and get excited about the simplest thing.  I wish the party hadn't had to take place on Easter weekend so we could have invited more friends and just played and played.

P.S.  Macy likes cake and loves to feed herself like a big girl.

Stratton Family Circus :: Photo Booth

Here's some pictures from the photo booth at Macy's party.  We got everyone to take a turn and I love how they turned out.  Somehow Colby and I never got one though.  Darn it.  So we just snapped one on my phone today and I'll post it at the end.

 (Brigham)

 (Tyler, Marshall, Karter, Brigham)

 (Camie, Harper, Mike)

 (Grandma & Grandpa Tom)

 (Cassadee & Brady)

 (Grandma Diane & Macy)

 (Great Grandma Stratton & Cierra)

(Grandma & Grandpa Stratton)

(Mom & Dad) 

(Mom & Marshall)

Macy Turns ONE :: The Party

We had Macy's birthday party yesterday afternoon and it was such a great time with our closest family (we totally missed those that live far away though...).  This little girl is so loved. 

A while back I was in Target and came across some darling party stuff that left me totally inspired.  I didn't know what direction to take it into right away, but I bought up a lot of "stuff" just in case it all sold out before birthday time came around.  By "a while back" I mean probably summer time.  Haha.

After a little pondering, I knew just what we would have to do!  A circus party!!!  If I'm being totally honest, it did cross my mind to track down a magician, and a clown, and some fun animals, but then I remembered I was planning a party for a one year old.  We would be lucky if she cracked a smile and went along with opening presents.  So I scaled back my thinking a bit and just found a few special details and spent the rest of the time leading up to her birthday loving on her cute little face.

I ordered the invitation from this super great Etsy shop, called Picadilly Lime. 

Thank goodness for others who sell their talent on the internet!

I got really excited about the little details for the party and was really pleased with how it turned out.  I think there were just two more little things I wish I had thought to do before the day of.  I won't mention them though, because I don't want to take away from all the cuteness that did come together.  

I'm positive the gold animals were my favorite detail.  Everyone made sure to comment on them too, which totally made my day!  I'm really glad I took the time to make the poster that highlighted Macy's life right now.  I've spent way too much time on the computer doing work lately that it would have been really easy to just skip it, but I just couldn't.  That was probably my second favorite detail.

Huge shout out to my awesome sister-in-law, Cassadee, who made the fabulous cupcakes.

She's seriously amazing and I couldn't thank her enough.  If anyone local wants some for any event, I'll get you her #.

Here's the birthday girl herself!

She took everything rather seriously so I'm glad I got a photo or two of her toothy grin.

Pretty sure this was the only time she smiled with the cake in front of her too.  She gets into everything, all day long, so I was sure it would be no different with cake and presents, but not so.  She was very deliberate and dainty and really just wanted the individual sprinkles and would have been happy if there wasn't cake and frosting in the way of those.  Haha.  Silly girl.

She was very funny about the presents and wouldn't open a thing and didn't really crack a smile.  Colby had to open every one of her presents.   She was definitely ready to be done once she had opened up two baby dolls and strollers!  They were a total hit.  I know she loved every gift though.  She woke up bright and early today to play with all of them.

She did a great job sharing the strollers with cousin Harper, but was happiest when she had both.

What a lucky little lady.

We had a photo booth too, and I plan to blog those pictures ASAP.  They were so hilarious.

The party was totally fun and I'm, again, so grateful for all the love that was showered on our little Princess yesterday.

Birthday Boys

We kept birthday celebrations pretty low key this year, but that doesn't mean we love these boys any less!  On Marshall's actual birthday we took the boys to Antigravity (a big trampoline arena) in St. George because I promised them we would go do something we've never done before.  They were super excited to run wild there.  I left my good camera in the car (I had to ditch the "party" to go take pictures at a wedding) so all we have here are photos from my phone.  At least we have a little something :)  They played in the bounce houses for just a little bit before we all went crazy on the trampolines.  The boys had races with dad and I showed them a trick or two by bouncing off the "walls."

Here's Macy, her festive bow was in the boys' honor.

When we all made it home that night we found a special delivery on the porch from Marshall's "girlfriend," Meg Bringhurst.  A box of cookies with his name on it!  

Marshall thought that was pretty cool!

On this same day we also watched Marshall play soccer (they won 2-1) and ate lunch at Subway.  On Tyler's actual birthday we met up with some family at Krave for some yummy frozen yogurt.

On the weekend between their birthdays we had cake and presents at Grandma and Grandpa Stratton's house.  Their cousins gave them some awesome Ninja Turtle toys and the boys were freaking out as they opened them.  I got a hilarious video as well as a couple pics on, you guessed it, my phone.  (It's just so much easier than carrying around my big camera.  I'm getting lazy, I suppose.)

Colby turned 30.

Disclaimer:  I feel like a total jerk that Colby didn't get blogged about on his birthday.  I'm getting this done almost two weeks later.  Eeek!

This year was a big one.  Colby is now 30!  Even though he has a few more wrinkles and a considerably larger amount of chest hair than when we got married, I can't think of a more fantastic, rugged, handsome fellow I'd like to be married to.  He can make me laugh more than anyone in the world and makes my heart nearly burst when I think of all he does for us.  And on top of that, he gave me my adorable kiddos that make my life so rich!  Love you babe.

Wow, these pictures are grainy... but that's what happens when you don't take pictures of/with the birthday boy until the sun goes down.

To celebrate his big day we met up with our long lost pals, the Davis', and ate at Anasazi Steakhouse.  Colby and I love some good food and love trying new places, but whenever he hears me say "this place sounds so good" he gets a little nervous because I really like some weird stuff.  He was a tiny bit skeptical that I made reservations for a place he knew nothing about, but I think it worked out ok.  You really can't go wrong throwing a huge piece of meat in front of that guy.  I think it's safe to say it was the best steak I've ever had and definitely the best steak in St. George.  We might just head back for other special occasion.  I'm thinking we each get a different type of cheese fondue... one monster steak to share... and some dessert fondue!  Or two of those even.  Mmmm...

Colby, I love you.  I'm so grateful for all you do for me and the kiddos.  You're the best!  

Hope the next 30 keep getting better and better.

We Partied. Angry Birds Style.

Today was the boys' birthday party, and it was fun even though the weather tried to ruin all of our plans.  I determined that the moms of today's moms were WAY cooler than we are now because they didn't have the internet and Pinterest to get all of their ideas.  They had to come up with this stuff on their own...

I got this invitation, the pizza idea, and the water balloon target all from Pinterest.  (Bless that site.)

It started out with some Angry Birds coloring pages and some general boy playing out back.  I'm so glad we have grass now or else all those crazy kids would have been inside the whole time (thanks a lot wind!!!) and I would have gone crazy.  Then we made some festive pizza.

  

We launched water balloons "Angry Birds Style" at the cool target thing that Colby built.  I feel lame that I didn't get a good picture of the one Colby built.  I'm sure I will sometime.  I think we'll keep it around for a while.

The idea came from Parents magazine's website.  Awesome, huh?

After everyone had a couple of turns launching balloons at the target, they decided to try for some more exciting targets like Grandma & Grandpa Stratton.  I don't actually think the kids came up with that, but the slingshot holders did.

That quickly turned into a water balloon mob on Grandpa.  He's such a fun Grandpa!

Then we played a little game with buckets of water.  We had big plans for all the kids to get soaking wet, but we woke up this morning to some yucky wind, so we adapted our plans to keep everyone a little more dry but still be entertained.

Once everyone got hungry we enjoyed a windy picnic on the patio.

The boys got spoiled by their buddies... thanks so much everyone!  It's great to have friends like you.

Don't you love that Tyler finished opening his presents wearing the flippers we got them for Hawaii.  I do.

Some birthday cupcakes were had and then it was time for some peace and quiet to return to our house.

I remember before Tyler was born I was nervous about how close their birthdays were to each other, but it has been darn fun so far.  We sure are grateful our boys love each other like they do.

Love you kids!