Fourth of July

Our boys go to bed early.  We learned early on that whether we let them stay up late or go to bed early they wake up at the same time, so they go to bed early.  They have never been awake to see fourth of July fireworks.  There were amazing fireworks we could watch on our deck for our city festival earlier.  I carried Hyrum out of his bed, all the way down to the deck, and sat him on my lap to watch, because I thought he would be excited.  He never fully woke up but asked me if I could take him back to bed after a few minutes.  That boy loves his sleep:)  My family was in town for a reunion, so we decided to do the boys first 4th of July fireworks show.  Aerial fireworks are banned in our neighborhood so we crashed at my friends, the Felix's, for a fireworks show.  She also had family over, so it was great to combine all of our fun!

The boys really loved the sparklers and all the fireworks.

 Here are Grandma and Grandpa Rushton holding Baby Emmett and Connor while we were running around helping with sparklers.

Scott and Michelle's family stayed with us for a few days.  The boys loved having cousins around to play with.  We loved having Scott play the bagpipes for everyone during fireworks.

 The fireworks escalated in size and wow factor throughout the show.  Brett shot off a huge 9-aerial pack last.  It was beautiful and amazing!  I LOVE fireworks, and now that Brett has gotten a taste of the pyrotechnics, I have a feeling he may even do a little more next year.

Emmett is ONE!!!

Our sweet Baby Happy is officially a year old!  Time has flown by so fast.  Emmett is loving, snuggly, a GREAT sleeper, easy going, a lover of ALL foods, and a perfect baby brother.   We love him SO much!  We had Hyrum and Emmett share a birthday party day this year, so we partied all day long.  Hyrum's was in the morning with his friends. We did a quick clean up and Emmett's party was with the family and Grandma and Grandpa Partridge in the afternoon.  We just love our cute boys.  I had the birthday boys in matching 'lego yellow' shirts with their age on it. 

The older he gets, Emmett is becoming much more explorative and wiggly.  His brothers love playing with him.  It's fun laying down on the floor and having Emmett climb all over you.

The baby loves having his own little toy to play with.  

With everything going on, and the busy-ness of the day we almost ran out of time for him to eat his birthday cupcake.  I'm so glad that he got to smash it just before going to bed.  This boy sure loves his sweets . . . and making messes, it was a match made in heaven.  Happy Birthday Happy!

Hyrum's 7th Birthday!

I can't believe I have a 7 year old!  Hyrum has been so excited for his birthday the past several months.  He LOVES planning parties.  Once we narrowed it down to a theme he was giving me instructions left and right.  He was very specific about every detail, and as much as I would have loved to make everything the way he wanted, most things were just not feasible.  We made some substitutions and changes from his plan but ended up with a very fun party that he was happy with.  It was a lego theme, so when people arrived they colored lego movie coloring pages and put on the party hats that Hyrum picked out.

A big hit at the party was when Brett taught the kids how to make a balloon animal.  All the kids loved this one.

 After animal making we opened presents and ate some yummy ice cream lego cake.  He had three very specific design ideas for his cake, which were all WAY beyond my abilities, so I informed him that I would suprise him with a different idea.  He was worried about it but was very happy with the end result.

After we filled them with sugar, we armed them and blindfolded them for Hyrum's traditional pinata. 

 

 While we waited for parents to arrive we all played with legos.  It was a fun party.

We saved a little bit of his birthday for the afternoon when Grandma and Grandpa Partridge could be here.  He loved being able to celebrate all day.

More from Family

One great thing about a Partridge vacation is that everyone is taking pictures.  I wanted to share a few pictures that were shared with us of the vacation.  Thanks family for capturing moments that we didn't!

There was a fun place we dropped our two older boys off at to play called 'Aunties Beach House'.  They loved it!  I think Brett liked it too;)

Here's a little candid picture of us while we were waiting to be seated.

I'm so glad this fun moment was captured. Brett and Hyrum had just shot out of the slide and the tube flipped Brett out.

Proof that I did get wet:)

Our poor sweet baby was so snuggly.  I loved laying with him snuggled on tight on a beach lounger.

 Here's the whole crew!  It was a great trip!

The boys were awesome on the red-eye flight home.  The baby even had some good sleep laying on top of the tray tables. 

 ALOHA oe Hawaii.  You will be missed.

Aloha 3rd Edition.

One of the fun activities we did while we were there was building little canoes to race.  

Emmett perked up enough to play a little bit before we left.  He didn't explore much, but I was so glad that he go to get a little wet in the splash pad.  He even laughed a little.  He's such a cutie, even when he's not feeling well. 

I'm so blessed to have such a fun Hubby.  The boys adore him.

 We got to meet the main man at a fun character breakfast where lots of Disney celebrities made appearances and danced with us. 

 Here we are at Pearl Harbor.  It was an honor and privilege to watch the historical video and walk on the USS Arizona Memorial.  We had a talk with the boys about the significance of where we were and what happened.  Behind us you can see the USS Missouri, the Battleship where WWII ended, and where I worked as a tour guide when I was 20.

Aloha! 2nd Edition

My favorite pool at the resort was this because it had an infinity edge which made you feel as though you could swim straight from the pool onto the beach. It was absolutely breathtaking.  On our last night there I took Hyrum out for a night swim.  We swam in this pool and enjoyed the star-like lighting throughout the cave area.  It was amazing and Hyrum has said a few times that this was his favorite part of the vacation.

The beach was perfect for kids.  They loved being able to play with cousins and swim all day!

When we first went to the beach Owen was very hesitant to go near the water and spent most of his time FAR from the ocean.  After some time and persuading he finally ventured close enough for his toes to feel the sinking of the sand when the water runs over his feet.  Before too long he was splashing and playing with everyone else.  

I think Hyrum was in heaven with all the people to play with.  He was making friends with SO many people everywhere he went.  A couple of times a day I would hear some random kid say hi to hi.  I was waiting in line with him to go down the slide and there was a little boy a few people in front of us and he got so excited, I could hear him say, "Dad! That's Hyrum! I know that kid!"  He is such a fun boy.

The trip was amazing for Hyrum, Noah, and Owen, but unfortunately our sweet Emmett was sick with a stomach bug and fever for the first three days.  Just look at his sad face in this picture.  I think this is a perfect depiction of how he was feeling during the trip. We brought him out a couple of times a day for fresh air by the pool and to be with us for dinner.  Brett and I took turns with him in the room.  Brett was amazing and stayed with him the most. 

Aloha! 1st Edition

We had the opportunity to join the other Partridges in a family reunion/adventure on Oahu in June.  IT was a beautiful getaway and the kids had SO much fun!  Here are some of the views from our room:

I really can't say enough about how excited the boys were each day to get outside and in the water.   There was a huge lazy river, two pools, a kid hot tub, splash pad, etc.  Basically there was enough to do that the kids could never be bored. :)

Our room was on the top floor so we had an awesome view of the resort below.  Here's a segment of the awesome lazy river.

Hyrum and Noah loved going on the water slides that went down the 'mountain' in the middle of the resort.  When it got dark the lighting on the mountain made it look like a fire-y volcano.  It was pretty awesome.

Here's one of our dinners together with the whole family.  The food was delicious!