Surprise!!

On Saturday,Kristen and I surprised Tim and Donavon with a 30th birthday party. They were really surprised. Tim's b-day is July 9 and Donavon's is June 25. So we did it a little bit early, but K &D are moving in a week :( and we had to do it before then.

So here are some pictures of our fun. They're not great photos, but you get the idea. Kristen will probably have some way better ones.

We put up some pictures of the boys from childhood up to now. It was fun to see how far they've come.

This turned out so dark, I forgot to turn my flash on and wasn't paying attention to the pictures I was taking until it was too late. But we served burgers, hot dogs, and brats. Super delish!

These juices were a hit. The kids couldn't stay out of them. I loved these things when I was a kid. We also made felt mustaches for people to wear. Mustaches were kind of our theme for the evening, since the boys are now officially old men. Well, in the next month or so anyway.

We wrote in chalk on the pots. On one table it said "Happy 30th B-day!" and on the other it said "Donavon and Tim, Hooray!" I loved how the flower pots turned out.

I made the boys shirts to go with our mustache theme.

I love Jacob in the background. This kid was so chill all day long. I couldn't have asked him to be better.

We decided to celebrate youth by having a relay race that started off with a 3-legged race.

And ended with a massive water balloon fight. I love Tim's intensity in this photo. Water balloons are serious business.

James got soaked.

We made delicious chocolate mustaches.

We did cupcakes in a jar with a sprinkling of rock candy on top. They were a big hit and, oh-so-yummy!

Thanks to everyone that made this night a success! And thanks to the two birthday boys. We really couldn't have done it without you!

4 Lords and their Wench

On Saturday we went to the Arizona Renaissance Festival. We went with Tim's sisters, Amy and her fam, and Kristen. The people watching alone is worth the trip. Seriously.

Our cute nephew, Colin. He had Jacob cracking up.

When I first saw these girls, I thought, who would wear a fox tail like that? The answer? About 50% of the women at the festival.

Matthew and James got to pretend to be knights in a jousting competition. Neither one smiled the whole time. That means they had a blast.

The three boys got swords (thanks Amy and Brien). They had so much fun with them. And surprisingly, were very careful with them, although they did get in a few battles.

I love this picture. The pig posed, too.

Don't have a sheath for your sword? No worries. The back of your shirt works perfectly.

Cute Kristen. I keep hoping school never ends for Donavon, so that they'll stay here longer. We'll miss them! In the meantime, check out the hottie in the loincloth behind her. Oh yeah. At least he's not obese, like 80% of the people attending the festival.

And I'll leave you with one parting shot. This picture is honestly worth a thousand words and pretty much sums up a Renaissance Festival.

The Coolest Brothers Ever...

Kristen took some great pictures of Matthew and James. Thanks, Kristen!
Here is just a small sampling of her work.

Matthew loves to make funny faces for the camera. Luckily, he would forget this until a few pictures had already been snapped. He even tried out a few new variations. He was pleased with himself. Also, his new favorite word is "coolest." So don't even try to tell him he's handsome because he isn't. He is the coolest. And today was James' turn to not want many photos taken, so that's why there are only a few. Enjoy our "coolest" little boys show!