Two Birthdays!

Every October comes with a lot of excitement because we have 3 birthdays to celebrate.  Carter and Wyatt had their birthdays within the last couple weeks.  (Not only do the two boys look identical, but their birthdays are only 2 days apart. )  Mallory's Birthday is this next week, so I'll post that later.

Here are some pics of Wyatt's Birthday:

I made the dorkiest Birthday hat for Wyatt.  I was trying to be thrifty and use up an old torn gift-bag, and ended up with a feathered dunce-cap.  It's embarrassing for me, but good for a laugh.

Wyatt ripping feathers off his dunce-cap

 Wyatt got a Leap-top computer for his birthday.  He loves it.

Wyatt's Leaptop

I'm not terribly proud of this mailbox cake either, except that it was easy to make and only took 20 minutes to frost.  If I were to do it again, I would round off the top more (making it less rectangular), and I wouldn't use fun-fetti frosting (yeah, it looks gross).   However, the wonderful thing about two-year-olds is that they don't  care.  Wyatt actually ate it (he's not a big dessert fan), and in the beginning he even tried to open it (meaning that it resembles a mailbox). 

Mailbox cake

Carter's Birthday:

I think this is the last year I'll be able to trick Carter into thinking that his presents didn't make it in time for his Birthday.  I told him that his gifts (that were coming in the mail) may not arrive by his Birthday, but if they didn't arrive in time I would make his Birthday TOTALLY AWESOME by giving him a bunch of Pringles that he could eat all day.  (He goes crazy for Pringles - he'd eat a whole can in one sitting if I let him)  Carter is so optimistic that he was able to convince himself that Pringles on his Birthday WOULD be great.

The evening before his Birthday, he saw me buy a bunch of Pringles, and in the morning, I gave him some wrapped Pringles to "psych" him out and then surprised him with his real gifts.  Carter is always a great sport.  He was annoyed that I had tricked him for like the 3rd year in a row, but ended up calling his Birthday the "Best Birthday Ever."

Birthday Pringles

 

Carter got Lego Games and a Bey-Blade set for his Birthday. 

Carter's presents

I was thrilled when Carter told me he wanted homemade Oreos instead of a cake.  How easy is that?!

Birthday Cookies

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOYS!!

Some Recent Outdoorsy Stuff

One of the things that makes Idaho bearable enjoyable is the outdoors.  We have been surprised to find so many scenic places within 45 minutes of Rexburg.  The two that we have enjoyed this last month are Harriman State Park and Monkey Rock.

Josh and the boys went camping at the Harriman State Park Yurts at the beginning of October.  They pigged out on tons of sugar and junk food.  They also went on a fun hike.  Yurts are awesome!

Mallory and I (and poor Wyatt who by default gets grouped with the girls) had a girls night out while they were gone.  We made a princess crown for Mallory's pet dog toy.  It was delightful, except that I found the crown torn up on the floor the next morning.

We discovered a new awesome place to take the family, called Monkey Rock.  We have already, in the last month, spent at least 4 hours there.  The amazing thing about the place is that you drive through flat farmland to get there.  You'd never guess there was a waterfall nearby as you make the drive there. 

 Just around the bend from the Monkey Rock waterfall is a small woodsy area where the kids have found an AWESOME climbing tree. 

We took our good friends with us to Monkey Rock a week ago.  We knew these friends when we lived in Egypt and we have a picture of these two (Carter and this friend Avery) in front of the pyramids.  I have to admit that they appeared to have much more fun climbing this tree than seeing the famous pyramids.