.Utah Vacation .part 2: Ames's 4th Birthday

Bubs turned four years old while we were in Utah this year. This post is dedicated to him, and his big day.

I can't tell you how lucky I feel to be the mother of this amazing child. Ames has always had a conscience stronger than any desire to be naughty. He doesn't like to be in trouble, and he really seems to understand how to stay out of trouble. He isn't perfect though, sometimes he gets in a bad mood and pushes all of our buttons for fun… but he knows exactly what he is doing.

Ames is friendly. He talks about all of his friends and makes new friends everywhere we go. He invites random kids at the park to come over to his house "sometime" to play. Every day he is asking if he can see his friends or if we go somewhere he wants his friends to come too.

He's a lover. He tells me every day that I am beautiful and how much he loves me. He tells me that I will always be in his heart.

His goal in life is just to make anyone and everyone laugh all the time. He lights up to the roof when he sees someone laugh at something he did, and then he will do the exact same thing again ten times (for good measure) to see if he can get another laugh.

   

He loves all superheroes and knows way more about them than I probably ever will (thanks to Aaron's wealth of comic knowledge). For this reason I made a superhero themed cake this year.

 

He loved his cake so much! Seeing his face light up like this really makes the late hours of cake decorating worth every minute.

But what he loved more than anything this year was being completely surrounded by his many Leary cousins and Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents at his birthday party for the first time in his life! This was my favorite thing about his birthday this year too!

 

I love this boy so much it makes my heart hurt. He has such a sweet and tender spirit and he gives his love freely to anyone who wants it. Who wouldn't want it!? I love seeing him grow and learn and experience everything for the first time…His memory of everything amazes me. His attention to everything amazes me. His ability to be a good big brother amazes me.

Ames, you are an amazing four year old! I hope you never change…but if you do, I have a feeling you will only be getting better and better.

Here are a couple of birthday interviews that we filmed:

*****

And here are some close ups of the cake!

I made buttercream frosting and then I bought edible paper and cut out all the comic logos etc. Alice helped by attacking it before church while nobody was looking…so I had to redo the whole Spider-Man portion and also Photoshop helped to fix those parts, thanks Alice.

Really easy, and really SUPER!

.Utah Vacation .Part 1

We wasted NO time before getting over to all of my Grandparent's homes when we got to Utah. These people are precious to us. We really wish we could spend sooo much more time with them.

Our next stop was a party with my best friends Niki and Nichole and their families. I love being with these ladies more than anyone. Seriously. Friendships like this don't come around every dynasty. ↓↓↓

We went for a hike at the beautiful Provo River Falls with my sister-in-law Linda and her kids ↓↓↓

 

We really lucked out and got invited to Grandma Ellis's Birthday dinner with all of my Ellis Aunts and Uncles. We loved this! So awesome to see all these family members again after way too long. ↓↓↓

We had Sunday dinner at my sister Gwen's beautiful home in Lake Point ↓↓↓

Pioneer Day fireworks with Nichole and Joel (and kids)! ↓↓↓

Gateway Children's Museum with Gwen and Elisa (and kids of course) ↓↓↓

   

We discovered Alice had a particular affinity for rocking horses in my parent's fun backyard. She could spend hours on this thing. ↓↓↓

Air and I went on a date (this never happens)! It was special. Shopping, Trader Joe's, and Cheesecake Factory. ↓↓↓

Library with my padres ↓↓↓

We were in Utah for such a long time this summer (a month and a half), we managed to cross paths with my long lost Quincy cousins who live in Texas and Colorado! Jenny and I both named our girls Alice… and my GOODNESS these Alices are so cute together! ↓↓↓

It was so lovely seeing my beautiful cousins Jenny and Jessica again… words cannot express! I'm so lucky I got to grow up with these two amazing girls. They seem to just get more amazing with age too. ↓↓↓

We loved being together again so much we spent another day together at the aquarium! It seriously melts my heart to see our littles playing together and loving each other too… ↓↓↓

    

Ames made some great friends at my parent's home daycare while we were staying there ↓↓↓

We definitely hit the outdoor pools many times. Canada needs to take a hint…indoor pools don't compare! (okay, it's cold here. I know) ↓↓↓

And of course there is nothing like an Arctic Circle courtesy cone and milk shake after a hot day at the pool ↓↓↓

I got a sunburn... and actually broke out in hives! ↓↓↓



We visited my brother Tyler's family for dinner ↓↓↓

And this was probably the best thing ever…We spent a day at LAGOON with my sister Heather and her three boys! WHY didn't I bring our nice camera for this!? ↓↓↓

Here is Ames, preparing to go on his very first roller coaster ever in his life! He was scared and changed his mind about 47 times before I just forced him on with me. He never looked back!

 

   

Fearless Alice enjoyed the rides too. Too bad she's too short to go on most. ↓↓↓

 


 

By the end of the day, Aunty Heather had won over Ames's heart. He kept saying she was so beautiful and nice ↓↓↓

And Alice had run out of clean pants. But she would never let that stop her from finishing strong! ↓↓↓

Have you EVER seen so many terrible iphone photos all together in one place before in your life? Neither have I. Looks like I need to work on my camera lugging skills.

…more to come!