Go Donald!

Bryson (and his cousin Spencer above) just finished performing the annual 3rd grade Disney program. This is big stuff in our town! The kids have watched this program since Kindergarten, and every year it gets bigger and better than ever. Bryson has said for years he wanted to be Donald Duck. He was happy to find out after tryouts that he had landed the part!
Bryson was the star of the show, going in and out of many songs and dances. He was the "comic relief" , his job was to make everyone laugh. This picture is taken at the end of the show when the rest of the third graders yell, "Duck, Donald, duck!" And then out of the sky falls a bunch of balls that land right on Bryson and makes him fall to the ground.
Here is Bryson dancing with his class, his partner is a cute little girl in our ward (she was Simba). I've decided that when you are in 3rd grade, you must not smile while you are dancing with a girl. You don't want to look as if you are having fun, dancing is strictly business!
Dancing to . . . can you guess? "It's A Small World"
Here is Bryson trying to steal the show away from Mickey! Go Bryson! I was so proud of him. I must have some of my Mom in me. I sat there watching His program with tears in my eyes because this use to be my baby just yesterday. What happened?

Happy Birthday McKay!

I can't believe my baby just turned two! McKay had a
fun birthday: going to soccer games and helping us work in the yard. The highlight of the day was when Brady and Karen came up for dinner.
The weather was so warm and nice! Paul decided to make tinfoil dinners for us all, and we had a picnic in the backyard.
McKay discovered STRAWBERRIES while I was making his birthday dessert (brownies with pudding and strawberries - very tasty - if anyone wants the recipe). Anyways, McKay went and found his own little step (our cooler) and stood on top forever eating strawberry after strawberry. He would spit out the green top on the floor in a nice little pile for Mommy to clean up, but because it was his birthday and I was busy with dinner, I let him enjoy his new discovery. What a tasty birthday treat!


McKay had fun opening his presents. He got a new sandbox to play in (his Daddy is so excited about cleaning up all the sand). But McKay's favorite gift was the dum-dum sucker that Garrett gave him. I don't think McKay really understood what all the fuss was about, but we all had a fun time pampering our little two year old. He is still our little baby and we all love him to pieces! Now, I guess its time to take away that bottle. . .

Soccer Season!

The boys are once again playing soccer. And of course, they are all on different teams. So that makes Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings a little crazy at our house. Trying to be at three different games and making sure you are giving equal viewing time to each boy can be stressful at times. But, its worth it! The boys are doing awesome.
Yesterday, Tanner scored 3 goals in the first half, knocking kids down right at left (Brady and Ryan remember the treehouse playground?). There are advantages to being the 3rd boy, Tanner has watched soccer games since he was born and has really learned the tricks of the trade.
Garrett is also doing well this year and has enjoyed having his Dad as the coach. Garrett has liked the little "incentives" we have given him - a quarter for everytime you kick the ball - it has really "paid" off for him.

Bryson is loving soccer (do you like my action shot?) and is hoping to try out for a comp. soccer team this summer/fall. He is a fast and aggressive player and likes to be in the middle of the action. Bryson is trying to talk his dad in to being the comp coach.

The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

The Good: While in St. George over Spring Break, we decided to go on a hike and take a picnic to Snow Canyon with the Parker girls (and Savannah). The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time together running around and exploring.
The Bad: Garrett, who had actually told me that morning that he didn't want to hike into any caves, must have had a little feeling of what was to come. After hiking for about 1 1/2 miles, we found a cave to go inside and explore. But, while trying to walk down between two rocks, Garrett's foot got stuck and he feel head first onto another rock.
The Ugly: Garrett is a very lucky boy. When we got to Garrett, his head was bleeding and we could't tell yet if he needed stitches. Luckily after cleaning his wound, we realzied he wouldn't. But, Garrett did lose a whole lot of hair. The rock he hit literally scalped him, infact there was a clump of hair underneath the rock. Garrett was pretty self conscious about it first, but the more people paid attention to it, he decided it didn't bother him. He said to me, "Mom, make sure you get a picture of this for our blog!" We just hope his hair grows back now.

Sunburn Survivors

Meet Garrett, almost 7. His mother is an average 32 year old. She thought she was doing what was best for her children. But, what she didn't know (or really did know, but didn't think) is that boys can get burned on cloudy, overcast, and even a chilly days at the pool.
Meet Tanner, age 5. He was having the time of his life, little did he know he was getting that "first of the season" sunburn while shivering in the cold pool water at his Aunt M'Recia's house.

Meet Bryson, age 9. He was the one most affected by the sun - not needing a life jacket and seeming to constantly be outside all day Monday of his Spring Break. Little did he realize that one day with no sunscreen would make the rest of his Spring Break miserable!
LESSON LEARNED: When in doubt, WEAR SUNSCREEN!

The Easter Egg Hunt (Vegas style)

On your mark, get set, GO!... All 28 cousins ready for THE HUNT. (Luckily all eggs are marked with the names of each cousin).
It seems to me that most of the boys' Easter egg hunts in Heber City have been done inside because it is too cold and maybe even snowing outside. If we have been lucky enough to get outside, we are all in jackets looking for eggs in brown grass that hasn't even had the chance to green up yet. This year was different though. The whole Ritchie family was together in Las Vegas for Jonathon and Eliza's baby blessing (sorry I should have taken a picture of their new little Abigail- she is adorable!). So, we decided to our family Easter egg hunt at M'Recia's house. The kids had so much fun!

As you can tell, this was not our typical Easter Egg hunt. The eggs were not hiding in grass, but rather they were in palm trees, around the cement basketball court, and floating in the pool. Bryson of course was not going to let this egg get away. He risked getting his clothes wet (which he swears he did it because he had to)
to get that one egg. Thanks to all of our older cousins who hid the eggs (which I might add in the most interesting spots) and made our Sunday afternoon so fun.

LOOK WHO'S 35! (in dog years)

Tanner turned 5 years old on April 3rd! He wanted a dog for his birthday. He talked about this for a long time. And even though Tanner was ready for a new dog, Mommy wasn't. So we settled on having a doggie b-day party with all the right trimmings. The cake above is our masterpiece. We had a fun time putting it together.
Tanner got lots of presents. But one of his favorites was the cookies that Grandma Edwards made him and sent in the mail. Our boys think it is the greatest think to get mail with their name on it. So, you can imagine the excited Tanner felt when he saw he had a package with his name on it.
Bryson and Garrett where a huge help with the party. They had planned a barking contest for all of our little puppies. They were very prepared and had even made up awards for all the different types of barks. They both took this very seriously and were very eager to help. The puppies thought that Bryson and Garrett were awesome!
These are the puppies that came to the party. I had to get a picture right after all the puppies were dressed up. It didn't take long for the puppies to want to take off their ears and collars. But, they all looked pretty cute for awhile.