MAX'S 1ST BIRTHDAY

Our little monkey turns 1 on Sept 30. We had a fun celebration for him at the park with friends and family. But before the park, we made his name in pancakes when he woke up on his big day.

At the park:

Jessica (with Olive), Annalee (with Kenndyl) and Christy came to with Max a happy birthday
Owen, Avery, Lexi and Chase playing around

Taylor and Megan eating pizza

Here's the birthday boy

Me with Max and Kenndyl (they are just a few months apart)

We made cake pops for dessert for the kids. This was my first try at making them and I think they turned out pretty good--we lost a few but this is what we ended up with.


Megan and Max
Grandma Virginia came from Utah to help us celebrate.

More kids playing at the park


Zach playing in the sand

Alex, me and our cabose--Max


He's getting into the cake


Here is the monkey cake I made. I think it turned out cute!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR FAVORITE LITTLE MONKEY-- WE LOVE YOU!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Here is Megan on her first day of 5th grade. That is the final year at her elementary school. Scary!

Zach's first day of 2nd grade

Megan and Sara end up dressing the same--by accident!

Chase's first day of preschool with Miss Shirley.

Alex's 40th

Alex turns 40 on Sept 4th!! Really crazy. We decide we need to have a big party and what better party to have than one that he really lived in and loved: the 80's! So, we had an 80's party --most came dressed up from the past and we enjoyed Mexican food (Alex's favorite) and of course enjoyed the 80's music.

Here we are--Alex and I

Brett and Christy

Jenny (our fierce margarita mixer--virgin, of course)

Some of our decor: we tried to find some of our old 80's favorites. Aqua Net, Sun In, NERDS, Jane Fonda workout videos, boom box, neon sunglasses, Smurfs, Pictionary, Goonies...the list is endless

Matt and Laura

Brad and Julie

Jim and Adrienne (sidenote: Adrienne is wearing a Homecoming dress that I wore in the 80's)

Rachel and Nate

Diana (with Jake)

Katelyn and Wade (believe it or not he won for best dressed male!)

David and Nicole

Annalee, Steve and Matt

Lori, Adrienne, Laura and Christy
Alex with his cake

Christy, Diana and I

We all had a great time. Alex doesn't really look 40, right? Well, thats what we are telling him anyway.

MAX'S 1ST HAIR CUT

Here is our little boy getting his first hair-cut. After the first hair-cut I always feel they look so much older. That is kinda odd since all that was done was cut about 1/2 inch of hair off.

The Snake Party

Jessica and I decide to have a reptile party for our 2 boys; Owen and Chase. Owen is turning 5 and Chase is turning 4. It turns out to be the hottest day of the year but the kids don't care and have a great time with all the reptiles! Here is Jessica and I being so brave with the big python.
A bunch of the kids holding onto the big snake.


Chase and Owen were thrilled with their party -- loved every bit of it!

Here is Chase getting up and close with the bull frog.
Chase and Owen holding a ball python. Neither boy was a bit scared of the animals!


Here is a picture of the 2 snake cakes that we made! We were pretty proud of these cakes although we had to eat them quickly since they were melting before our eyes. It was a fun party!

Balboa

We took a family day trip over to Balboa Island to spend an afternoon. Here we are going across the ferry to the Balboa Penisula.
Chase picked a corn dog to eat for dinner.


We played a little skee-ball.
And then of course we couldn't leave without having Balboa bars. Max was pretty into this!

Look at that face!

Megan-- a little wind blown.

The boys take a ride on the ferris wheel.

Fun times!