Mike turns 70!

What a fun party we had to celebrate Mike's 70th birthday!  We met at Jordan Ridge Park in South Jordan for a yummy dinner of hoagie sandwiches, chips, salads, watermelon, cupcakes and ice cream. Then we headed over to the most amazing pool that we rented for the evening!  It had an awesome water slide, and cliffs to jump off of.  I was so impressed, that the first thing Mike did when we got to the pool, was climb all the steps to the water slide and go down!!!

If he could do it, I had to do it too!

Everyone had a BLAST!

The boys spent almost the entire time jumping off the cliffs or going down the slide.

Jack

Parker

and even tiny Zac LOVED it and went off the highest cliff!

Logan learned how to do a back flip

Oliver also did awesome flips!

The girls loved it too!

Gabbie

Savannah

Even the dad's got into the action

Jamie

Jordan diving in

There's no where better to be than a pool when it's HOT outside.

Thanks to Lani for being our lifeguard, no one drowned or even got hurt, Hooray!

It was definitely an evening to remember.  I can't even count how many times Savvy said to me," This is the best party EVER! "   I would totally have to agree!  We were so grateful to everyone that came and helped make it such a special day!  Mike and I decided we want to make this a tradition.

I totally forgot to get family pics before Krista's family left. They had just gotten home from Moab where they hiked in the heat, so I got a picture from their trip to include.

 

FINALLY! Boys Christmas mini vaca

These boys are soooo busy!  It took forever to find a couple of days they were all available to do our little getaway.  It finally happened, and it was worth the wait.

We met at 10:30 Tues. morning and headed to the movies.  Our theater does a kids movie at 11:00.

After the movie we hit Cafe Rio for a yummy lunch.

Then off to the Clark Planetarium for some fun.  This is one of their favorite places.

A little moon walking

It was so fun to see Tatia there with her littles and her mother in law and sister in law.  I was so glad she was there, she found Zac when he escaped from us. 

He had gone back to the kids play area.  He was only gone a couple of minutes, but it was TERRIFYING!

After the Planetarium, we headed to the hotel.  We took our bags up and changed into swim suits.  They swam in the pool and enjoyed the fun water slides for a  couple of hours.  Zac and I did a dinner run to Panda and Wendy's, (gotta keep everyone happy)  The big boys talked us into letting them have their own room.  I had to book 2 rooms since they didn't have any that would sleep 7.  They were right next door to each other, but NO connecting door.  I was planning to sleep on the sofa sleeper, but they assured us they didn't need me.  They promised to keep the dead bolt and the other lock, locked and they did great. (I think that was one of their favorite parts of the trip.)

We stayed at the Staybridge Hotel, and they had an amazing breakfast!  Waffles, bacon, eggs, all kinds of fruit, yogurt parfaits, muffins, bagels,all kinds of breads,and cereal. Most of these crazy boys picked cereal!  After breakfast, we checked out and dropped Mike off at home.  We headed to Splash Summit.

What a fun Water Park!

Jordan and Jamie met us there with Savannah.  We had such a fun day, I was going on the water slides with them all day,  so I didn't have my phone with me to take any pictures. ( Luckily I could steal a few from the internet.)  Jordan ran to Dominos, and got us 3 large pizzas which we devoured.  You can really work up an appetite at a water park.  I'm so grateful that everyone got along so well, the big boys all adore Zac and make him feel like he's one of group.  What a fun trip!!!! 

 

Happy Fathers Day

 We had a fun time celebrating these great fathers on Fathers Day.  We missed Krista's family who went to Matt's grandparent's cabin to celebrate.

We had a delicious dinner, pulled pork sandwiches with a yummy mango coleslaw, fresh pineapple, strawberries, and grapes, veggies, green salad, pink fluff salad, chips and angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream.  

I'm so grateful for all the fathers in my life and especially for my Heavenly Father.

Lani's birthday

Last night, 45 of Lani's biggest fans, got together to celebrate her 64th birthday.  

Jamie and Emily hosted in their beautiful and fun yard.

The kids had a great time being together.

It has become our Birks summer family reunion.

It's a time when cousins can get to know each other

and just have fun together.

 

Libbie's birthday and a fun hike with Krista's family

Libbie turned 20 in May, unbelievable!  We had a fun lunch at Aubergine, a yummy restaurant in Riverton.  She is such a sweet and amazing young lady, we love her so much! 

Afterwards, I went on a hike with Krista's family, we had a great time,

 

Service with a smile

A few weeks ago, Jordan sent out a text so see if anyone would like to join his famly in making dinner at the Ronald McDonald room at Primary Children's Hospital. He has been wanting to involve his kids in service and got on the Just Serve website, and signed up.  It is for the families of kids who are in the hospital.  Krista's family and I wanted to help.  You have to do all the prep work there, so we made it as easy as possible.

We bought 3 Costco rotisserie chickens and made 50 chicken salad sandwiches.  We bought chips, potato salad, tiny oranges, carrots and ice cream sandwiches.  They never know how many people will show up, but told us to plan for 30.  We only had 4, and a few of the workers, but we had a great time being together making the food, and we got to eat it too.  It was yummy!

I have a lot of free time on my hands.  I've enjoyed making quilts for the Humanitarian Center,  but wanted something else to do.  I checked out the Just Serve website and found an opportunity to help at the local homeless shelter.  The last few weeks, I've been able to go and do odd jobs like sweep and mop floors, wipe tables and help serve lunch.  I have enjoyed visiting with the people there and hearing some of their stories.  

 

Molly's Missionary Farewell/Mother's Day

This has to be one of my best mother's day ever.  It was our sweet granddaughter Molly's missionary farewell.  She gave a beautiful talk focusing on her relationship with the Savior and how important daily discipleship is.She is going to be an amazing missionary.  They had a delicious brunch at her house afterwards.  

I only got a few pictures

Krista's family

Molly and her parents

Jordan's family

Josh's family was at the farewell, but they were heading to St George and left before I remembered to take pictures. I just saw this on Instagram and loved it of Molly and Libbie. We sure  miss Hailey who is serving a misson in Texas.

  

 What a great way to spend Mother's Day.