Happy Birthday Ron!

This week was Ron's 33rd birthday! We had alot of fun celebrating with him. We got him some video games and wii points. The kids each made daddy a gift, Kaeryn painted an ancor shelf, Tristan painted a wooden plane and Jaxen colored a wooden skeleton. They each choose it themselves and gave it to him. Jaxen was so cute when he finished making the skeleton he exclaimed" i think daddy's gonna LOVE this!" Very cute. This year for Ron's cake I made him a mushroom cake from the super mario games. He loved it. That was his favorite one so far. He told me I was the "best wife ever!" I have to say that I think this is also my favorite cake i've made. I was very happy how it turned out. I love you Sweetheart! Happy Birthday!

Grass Valley Fair!

August 15th we went to the Grass Valley county fair in Grass Valley, CA. It was so much fun! Out of all the fairs we've been to I think this would have to be one of the best. It was very well put together. The kids each got to go on a couple rides. This was Jaxen's first carnival ride(other than the merry-go-round) and he loved it. He was so excited to go on this to which is in contrast to last year when we tried the merry-go-round and he hated the wind in his face. But this time he didn't mind the wind so much and had a blast. Tristan reassures me that he had fun on this ride too(even though I couldn't get a good smile from him). We didn't know the little boy who is riding with them. He wanted to have a ride and there was a space with Jaxen and Tristan so we offered to let him sit with the boys. I have to admit I was a little worried at first for Jaxen because he really has a thing about wind in his face, but once the ride started he just smiled and pretended to drive the car and had no worries. It was so cute! It was funny because, you know how moms and dads will stand on the sides of the rides and wave hi to their kids as they pass them, well I was trying to be one of those moms because I wanted to get a pic of the boys as the ride was moving and they wouldn't look at me. I kept calling and calling and they just kept playing and playing. I had to laugh at that. I was able to get their attention a couple times but it was always when they were on the other side and I couldn't get a picture. silly boys. But I am so relieved and happy they had a good time.

Each of the kids played a game at the fair and won! Jaxen decided he wanted to try a fishing game where there were a bunch of plastic fishies swimming in a circle and he had to catch a fish. I helped him swing the fishing pole into the water because he couldn't quite get it into the water, but once the fishing pole was in the water he had so much fun trying to catch one of the fishies. But he did it! He caught a fish and won a stuffed lizard which he calls "apple lizard". Tristan played the game where you have to toss ping pong balls into the floating cups. After a few tries he was able to get a ball into one of the cups and won a stuffed lizard. Kaeryn played a balloon dart game. Which she won but daddy was talked into going for the next level so he played the next level and won a stuffed frog for Kaeryn. They were all very proud. Jaxen has been so cute because for the last week when he has said his good night prayers he has told the story of how he went fishing and won "apple lizard". He is very proud of that.

After all the games and rides we went to my favorite part which is all the animals. I love the animals. They had the cutest pygmy goats and babies. They are so tiny just like little puppies. The pigs were very fun to go through because Jaxen has a stuffed pig named Jakers,which is his favorite thing(next to his cars of course), and he would run up and down calling"there's a jakers and another jakers and another jakers and another one!" It was so funny. The Budwieser Clydesdales were there. THey are amazing horses, just so beautiful and majestic. We were even there when they paraded down the path hitched to the wagon. We also watched some of the other demonstrations that day. There was a lady who brought a horse that was ready to be trained. She was taking the next few days to demonstrate the different points of braking a horse. She pointed out the different body language signals the horse was giving her and how she would correct them of help the horse to feel secure. We also watched a demonstration on pack mules. I can't remember the name of the family but they are an award winning family with their mules. They demonstrate all the versitalle ways you can use your mules. This day they were demonstrating how to pack a canoe or kayak on your mules. They actually invented the harness used for it. It was really neat, I thought. Then there was a Tennesee walking horse group that was showing the different gaits of the Tennesee Walking horse. They also brought in some Peruvian Pasos to shoe the difference between the two breeds and to have a friendly competion of racing with glasses of wine. That's one thing the pasos were bred to have such a smooth ride for noble women ride while holding a glass of wine. Tennesee Walking horses also have a very smooth ride. It was fun to watch the riders trying not to spill but still have the quickest time. It was alot of fun. We also saw a Pony of America club. They came to demonstrate the different jumps they are able to do and they explained a little about what the club is. The last demonstration that we watched was four giant Shires and two clydesdales hitched to a wagon. They were demonstrating the different roles of each of the horses and their body languages and also the skills of the drivers and the importance of the relationship the drivers and the horses need, especially with the front horses. It was very exciting for me to watch and i'm glad that my family was able to see it with me. They here me talking about horses all the time and the horse I used to have and all that fun stuff. It really was a beautiful day!

More of the museum

Kaeryn had so much fun helping with the statue. It was exciting to watch the kids have fun making art! They even got to pose with Abraham Lincoln, except Jaxen, he was a little freaked out. The exhibit was really neat to see. There were some original documents of the events that happened at that time. I think the coolest thing we saw was the lincoln family bible which was the bible that President Obama was sworn into office on. It was a neat piece of history to witness. We really enjoyed our visit to the museum and look forward to the next exhibit.

The California Museum

A few weeks ago we went to the California museum. They were having an exhibit on Abraham Lincoln. It was alot of fun. When we got there they were doing kids crafts. The kids got to make themselves a top hat and a beard. They were also making a statue of lincoln out of paper mache an the kids were able to help out with that as well. Here are Jaxen and Tristan coloring these pictures which they are going to be deco podged to the statue of lincoln when it's finished. Jaxen and Tristan will each have their names and ages on the statue. It was so fun to watch. They also had games for the kids to play.