today Jack has been making me laugh so hard! I gave him a bunch of nilla wafers this morning and his problem solving skills--related to the nilla wafers-- have been quite impressive! first, he took them out of the bag and put them in his train. The problem with the train is the high rollover rate. So, after picking up the wafers 4 or 5 times, he decided to find another venue. He found colby's little shopping cart and put the wafers in there. the problem here was the big gaps in the cart let all the wafers fall out as he walked! Next was the little toy helicopter with a hole in the top and open sides. the helicopter has a string that you use to pull it around. Now, amazingly enough he actually got them to stay in the helicopter in the first place. as he ran pulling the string, however, they flew out of the sides. It was so funny watching the frustration on his face turn to determination and finally victory as he decided that he wouldn't run with it anymore, so now jack, the helicopter and the nilla wafers are all sitting under the barstools in my dining room all in their proper spots with no nilla wafers on the ground!

colby's 1st birthday! (oddly enough, not a whole lot is about the party.)

The ride down was... interesting. The kids definitely had some fun, and also got sick of driving about 2 hours into our 9 hour trip. After they fell asleep in the car it became easier for us to relax and boy were we glad when we saw the city lights as we were rounding the corner(on the freeway) into roseville-- that is the sign that we are almost home**We both thought of it as home as we were driving in** When we finally got to the hotel, we were all excited to finally lay down in a bed! (Although I admit, I definitely had the urge at least once to call amelia and say "Okay, I'm here, let's hit up a twilight party!!!!" )
Saturday morning didn't come early enough for the kids, they were both up around 6am. We had a great time having breakfast at Grams' house, but we couldn't stay too long because Nana and Grams didn't want to share their dolls with Jack and Colby. Just kidding-kind of- they were wonderful company and we miss them already!
We got to spend some time with Katy, Scott (okay, scott was sick so we didn't see a whole lot of him) and Kristin and the kids after grams' and that was as fun as it sounds! Jared was like almost a teenager which was nuts! He said to Jack "You haven't seen me in a while so it's okay if you don't remember me" And I was thinking "Holy Crow! That was something I used to say to you when you were little!" Crap time flies!
Now for the party part!
We had a great time waiting for the silly annoying doorbell to ring at dawn's house because that meant that there were more friends to welcome in and say a long overdue Hello! (oh yeah, we got rained out so instead of playing in the park, Dawn let us overtake her house for like 3 hours! How kind, right?) The next hi light of the party was after singing colby "happy birthday" He ate the entire cake that was made for him! It was pretty fun to watch! I have a couple of videos of that going on so if I can figure out how to load them you should check them out! As he was doing that Kristin and Amber were cutting the cake and trying to make sure everyone got a piece ( I think there were more people there than we had expected.) and in Kristin's words "we recreated the sermon on the mount with the loaves and fishes!" minus the sermon and the mount they definitely did seem to create a whole lot of plates full of cake in what seemed to be an impossible situation! Colby loved the boxes and the bags that his presents came in and had a blast playing with them! --just a side note, since we have been home he has enjoyed playing with the actual toys that he received for his birthday!--
After the party Fred and I put the kids to bed and went to dinner with Amelia, Amber, Alicia, April, Kimi and Kristin (I know what you are thinking "the alliteration is rediculous!" but no kidding those are their names!) we had so much fun!
Then we spent the rest of the evening at Alicia's house, with the afore mentioned company, having a crazy fun girl talk night. (Fred kept himself busy trying to fix Amber's car seat, but we noticed him turn red a few times!)
On Sunday we were able to spend a little more time with Kristin, Amelia, and Alicia- We played some Wii (our first time by the way) and then went to lunch at Chipotle- a beautiful place we don't get to experience here in idaho!- then we headed for home!
I have decided not to go too much into the trip home other than to say "Slush on the ground does not count as snow, nor does it require chains!" the 9 hour trip home took us 13 hours!!!!!!!
Okay, trust me, I could have ranted so you should be proud of me! All in all it was a fantastic trip! We were so excited to round the corner into marsing because that meant we were truly almost home!** By the end of our trip it was again clear where our real home is! It is soo exciting to feel at home where we live and we are so grateful that this is the way we feel! Woo Hoo! GO BRONCOS!