Jace's Birthday

Jace turned one on Thursday, July 14, but we waited to celebrate his Birthday until Sunday, July 17. For dinner everyone was able to make their own bagel pizzas.

Then it was on to present time!

Jace really loves balls, but hasn't settled on a sport yet so I made an "all-sports" cake although Nate did say that I forgot his two favorite which are golf and tennis. Maybe next year I can include those. It was a pretty sad cake, but I did not have time to spend on it. I was pretty rushed, therefore it is a bit sloppy. Oh well, Jace still enjoyed it.

He really loved digging in to the cake. At first he was trying to pull the balls off the cake, and then he just wanted to feed everyone else. Eventually we got him to taste it and then he had some.

He was so messy that it was straight to the bath. There was cake and frosting everywhere and after he got out there was a blue ring around the tub.

Happy Birthday Jace!!!

I can't believe that my little boy is already 1. Time flies by so fast. Here are some pictures taken during the last few days of him that I just love.

Jace is at such a fun age. He has such a cute little personality. Tonight we took him to dinner at Golden Corral. He was in Heaven because he got to try tons of different food, spit it out and throw it on the floor just like he loves to do. And since it was all you can eat and he was free then I didn't feel like I wasted my money even though it was still a waste a food. My sister Cindy and brother Pat joined us. Jace just kept yelling "hi" at everyone. That is his favorite word and he really expects people to respond. If you don't he will just keep saying it until you do or until you are gone. It is pretty funny to watch.

Jace loves to do whatever anyone else is doing. He hates to be left out. Callie is really into puzzles right now. Jace notices how much attention she gets from doing them so he will dump out all of the pieces and then just throw them back onto the board in random places and clap for himself because he wants the praise that his sister receives. It is so cute.

Jace is also a big teaser and he already has a sense of humor. When people want to hold him Jace thinks he is so funny when he reaches for them and then pulls away when they go to grab him.

The other day I was folding laundry and Jace came over and messed up the stack of clothes and then crawled away laughing. And then did it over and over. It took me longer than normal to get the laundry folded that day.

Jace loves to play in the bathroom, especially with the toilet. He knows he is not supposed to do this and so he tries to be sneaky about it. Today he crawled in there and when I told him to come back out he just looked at me and smiled and then shut the door.

He is walking, but not quite on his own. He will take a few steps but then loses his balance. I think that most steps I have seen him take so far is about 9.

Jace also is really spoiled and throws fits and fists when he does not get what he wants. I can tell already that he is going to beat up on his big sister. Poor Callie.

I am so blessed to have such a cute and fun son. Happy Birthday Buddy.

4th of July Weekend

We had a fun filled 4th of July weekend. On Friday evening we met up with one of Nate's old mission buddies and his family for some dinner. Afterwards we took the kids to play at the park.

Not only do they look a lot alike. Now they have matching sunglasses.

On Saturday since we were going to be without water all day, we took the kids to seven peaks. Jace loves the water. Callie loves it as long as it is warm and not splashing her face.

Earlier on Saturday morning our neighborhood did a little bike parade for the kids. This is after we decorated Callie's bike on Friday night.

Here she is getting ready to ride in the parade.

They even had a fire truck lead the children down the street. It was really cute. You can see Callie at the bottom right of the picture getting ready to join in.

On Sunday evening we went to my parents house to visit with my sister Jen who is in town from Seattle. On Monday evening we had a dutch oven dinner at my sister Ang's house before the majority of the family took off to the Real SL game. The picture below is of us all in our patriotic colored get-up.

After we got home that evening I put Jace to bed and Nate took Callie down to our block party firework show. There were a ton of fireworks and treats. Callie had a lot of fun and didn't get to bed last night until just before 11:00pm. She has been pretty whinny today. Hopefully we can get her back on schedule soon

Geyser out our front door

On Saturday morning I heard a pounding on my door at 7:00am. I was hesitant to answer it since I was just in my robe, but the pounding continued and so I opened the door. It was my neighbor and he said, "you guys better get out here." This was the view out my front door.

Apparently the main water line burst just across the street. Our driveway and yard were flooded.

Look at the force the water was shooting out of the ground.

Our entire street turned into a river. It took the water company 50 minutes from the time of the burst to get the water shut off.

The water was coming with such force that it was hitting our garage.

This was the river that formed in our backyard. By the time the water was shut off it was only 2 feet away from flooding our window well. I was getting pretty nervous. Luckily many of our neighbors were out there helping and ready to take action if the water reached anyone's window wells.

We were all lucky that our lots sloped just perfectly. The water went to the back of our yard, ran across the back of our neighbors yard (getting really close to some window wells though) and then funneled out onto the golf course. The Ranches golf course had a water hazard for a few hours in the morning. Right where the water is gathering there is actually a drain there.

It was definitely an interesting morning and I am so glad that our basement did not get flooded. The situation could have been so much worse. The brake in the line is still not fixed. They were able to put a valve in to pumped water to the rest of the street, but our house is the only one that is on the other side of the brake. Since it was a holiday weekend they will not be able to fix it until at least Tuesday. Currently a water hose is hooked from our neighbor's meter into ours so we can have water. I have definitely taken running water for granted. Glad the water company was able to rig something up for us so we wouldn't be without running water for 4 days.