Blue and Gold Banquet

Last night was Reuben's cub scout Blue and Gold Banquet. I (Ryan) remember as a kid my older brother, Matt, had a Blue and Gold which they had to decorate a cake. It must have been in October, because it was a halloween themed cake. Matt and Dad built a fence of pretzels and ghosts of marshmallows in a pumpkin patch. In my mind it was a perfect cake and I thought it was so cool.

With Reuben's banquet each boy and their father were to bring a decorated cake that they did together. The theme was "...seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning…" (D&C 88:118). So with a great coach (Kristen) we endeavored to make a cake together. Reuben and I worked for a few hours on this cake and feel great about how it turned out. Kristen was awesome, while I'm sure it just killed her not being able to help. She stood by and watched.

The teddy bear was 100% Reuben's creation, while the rest we worked together kneading and rolling out the fondant. We had a blast working on this together and Reuben was so proud of it at the display.

Boys Day Out - Monster Jam

For Christmas we thought we would try something new. We wanted to take the kids to an activity that they would, hopefully, never forget. Kristen recently took the girls to "Toy Story 3 on Ice" and last weekend the boys and I got to go to a Monster Jam. I have never been to one so I was just as excited to see the trucks as Reuben and Lincoln. Reuben and I tried to guess who of the great trucks would be there. While it was a long shot I was hoping for one of my childhood favorites Big Foot, but my other favorite Grave Digger would be awesome. Reuben hoped for Grave Digger or Donkey Kong. To our great surprise our common favorite appeared.

I hope I am not too much of a dork to say this, but it was TOTALLY AWESOME. The competition ultimately came down between Grave Digger and Tazmanian Devil, as pictured above. In the end Grave Digger dominated, with a tire that exploded at the end of his run. How exciting!! Reuben and Lincoln enjoyed the show, too.

The entire time Lincoln sat with his hands over his ears, though he also had ear plugs in. Everytime a truck came out he yelled "no". But when all was said and done he could not stop talking about the big trucks and the loud noise, in fact he frequently plays with his trucks saying, "vrooom, too loud". We all had a great time together and look forward to the next event we can do together.

Big Boy Bed

I was out running errands the other night at the kid's bed time and Ryan was home with the kids putting them to bed. While I was gone Ryan gave Lincoln the choice of sleeping in his crib or in his big boy bed. He picked his big boy bed and hasn't turned back. Knock on wood he has done really well with it. To be honest it breaks my heart a little to have my baby all grown up and out of his crib. We went to the store and he picked out "Woody and Buzz Lightyear" sheets for his bed which he is in love with.

Lincoln is 3

Lincoln turned three this week at our house! It is crazy that my baby is 3 and not really a baby anymore. I love this little guy! He has a huge grin most of the time and loves to dish out his kisses to everyone in the family. He is all boy and loves to play catch or anything else his big brother is doing.

Lincoln is obsessed with tractors so a tractor cake seemed in order. He has been into tractors for awhile now and never really wavered to anything else. Maybe he'll be our farmer.

It was so hard to get a picture of him next to his cake this year because Lincoln was singing "Happy Birthday" right along with everyone.

We're Here

I haven't known what to post about... It is snowy and we've tried to stay home as much as possible. But here are a couple of photos to let you know we are still here :)

Lincoln found a great hiding spot when I took the contents that were in the cabinet out.

Reuben had to make a mask for a book report at school. He read star wars the clone wars, so here he is as Anakin.