Noah's Birthday and Halloween

 Noah just turned 6 years old. I love my Noah so much and don't know what I'd do without him! He's such a loving kid and always has a kiss and a hug for me. He also knows how to keep me laughing everyday. 

Since Noah's birthday is right before Halloween we decided to make a mummy cake and mummy cupcakes.

 Noah got a lot of great gifts. Grandma Larsen gave him the BYU cougar pillowpet and as you can tell by his face he LOVED it!!

 He was also really excited about the remote control helicopter from Grandma and Grandpa Thompson. For some reason Noah thought that he was getting and IPAD  for his birthday. He was convinced that one of his wrapped gifts was and IPAD. I don't know where he got the idea. Apparently he thinks that it's OK for a 6 year old to get a gift that expensive. Luckily he got distracted by the other gifts he got and wasn't too upset that he didn't get the IPAD.

We had another really fun Halloween. Noah was a transformer.  Peyton was Cosmo. Lily was Strawberry Shortcake.

 Devin and Vanessa had another awesome Halloween Party this year! It's fun getting dressed up. I don't think Phil ever dressed up until they started having these parties. I found these Homer and Marge costumes online and decided that's what we'd be. I had to stuff the wig wtih batting to get the wig to stand up, so it was kind of heavy wearing it the whole night.  The next day my neck and shoulders started to hurt and continued to hurt for two weeks. I will definitely never wear anything on my head that heavy again!!

 It has been fun to see Neil and Loralee get dressed up the last couple of years too.

 I snapped this picture and then when I went back and looked at it I realized it looked a little creepy. We all had a good laugh over it. Blackmail for Phil someday :)

 The kids waiting to see if they won a prize.

Devin and Vanessa as Vanilla Ice and Salt n' Peppa. Once again they hosted a fabulous Halloween Party. I'm already thinking of costumes for next year.

May

We didn't get back from Cancun until 1:00 am on Lily's birthday, so we decided to postpone her birthday a couple days. Fortunately she's still too young to know when it's her birthday. Lily loves cupcakes, so I decided to maker her this giant cupcake cake. When Lily saw it for the first time, she got a huge smile on her face and couldn't stop talking about it all day long.

Eva and Estelle came over a little early for Lily's party. I came into the playroom to find them giving each other a hug. I had to get a picture because this doesn't happen very often :)

The kids enjoying their food outside.

Lily enjoying all the attention and getting sung to.

Lily was excited when she finally got to eat one of her cupcakes. Or as she calls them "pancakes".

Lily, modeling her new dress-up clothes from Grandma and Grandpa.

We celebrated Phil's birthday last week. You'll notice Lily helping Phil blow out the candles. She thinks that it's her birthday anytime there are candles to be blown out.

Phil always loves to get the home-made cards from the kids.

Noah had his last soccer game. It was fun to watch him play. We might give him a break next year beacuse he doesn't love it as much as Peyton does.

Cancun

We went to Cancun at the end of April.

Grandma's enjoying the sun, the first day down by the pool.

We went zip-lining and they said that Lily was OK to go. I was surprised that they let her go. She loved it and went a few times. It wasn't until after we got home, that I started to think about what would've happened if she fell out of her straps while cruising over the water. I'm glad she didn't and that she had fun!

Noah zip-lining.

Peyton zip-lining.

Lily at the end of the zip-line.

This was a beautiful place and it was fun zip-lining, canoeing and swimming.

It was pretty humid, so everyone enjoyed taking a swim in the cenoyte.

After snorkeling in the cave, we stopped to see some spider monkeys.

Lily loved holding the baby monkey. She actually got swat at by the other monkey because she was touching it too much. Fortunately, it just gave her (and me) a little scare. But she still wanted to hold the monkey's after that.

Peyton was in heaven snorkeling here at Turtle Bay. He actually outswam most the adults and loved seeing all the big turtles and fish.

We spent half a day at the Marina doing water activities. Noah and I enjoyed some leisure kayaking in the bay.

Phil, Lily and Grandma.

We also went out on sail boats. Neil did a great job getting around.  We had a guide sail us around, because Phil and I didn't really know how to work the sailboat. 

Lily had a good time relaxing on the sailboat.

Peyton, enjoying a pina colada on the beach. We are really glad that we stayed at an all-inclusive resort because the kids were able to get food or drinks whenever they wanted to.

My mom enjoying the beautiful beach and water. She took several walks up and down the beach.

The kids enjoying some time at the indoor pool with Dad.

At the Mexican resaraunt we got sung to by the mariachi band. Lily loved it and danced around while they sang.

One day, when all the other adults went to Chitza-Itza, I dropped Lily off at the baby daycare. I wasn't too sure how I felt leaving her there, but she loved it. I was able to get this picture of her playing through the bushes, when I went to check on her.

Lily really enjoyed playing in the waves.

The boys, jumping over the incoming waves.

I have heard a lot of people say that you shouldn't take kids to Cancun. We are so glad that we took them and had so much fun with them!

The one thing that I really wanted to do was go snorkeling at Puerto Morellos. Phil and I came her on our honeymoon and it was the best snorkeling. It was fun to go back and see all the beautiful fish and sea-life.

Lily seemed to attract a lot of workers on the resort. This was our favorite waiter and he was really sad when we told him we were leaving. He cleaned up a lot of Lily's spills and thrown food. We had such a good time and hope to go back again in the future. Nothing beats the beaches in Cancun!!