11/2/13 Gastby Masquerade Ball. This was a girl ask guy dance & Lelu went with Tanner this time and 18 other kids including Chandler and two more boys from our old ward. Where else but UT would you see 20 kids ready for a dance and 40 parents in a backyard taking photos?

Lelu with two new girls (Megan and McKenna as opposed to Madison and Madison) as dates for the original three boys who travel together as a package. I think the 20’s was a good era to copy for a formal dance! Don’t they look cool?

11/7/13 Happy 12th birthday to my twins! I have a tradition of decorating the house with balloons and a banner for everyone’s birthday. When I went to Zurchers to get balloons I saw this one and thought a big balloon would be fun- not knowing how massive it was because it wasn’t blown up yet. They blew it up and this little old lady working there popped it. The whole store heard it and came up to see what happened and this poor little lady was traumatized with her voice shaking that it about knocked her to the ground. I told them they could just give me a refund but they hunted down another one. Getting it home was fun – I had to put it in my passenger front seat and it blocked my rearview mirror, my side mirror and the view from half my windshield. It was quite the hazard. But it was all worth it because they LOVE it!

B was out of town and the kids wanted to go to Joe’s Crab Shack.  I think it’s all because they dress them up, make them stand on a chair and the whole staff sings to them. I don’t think we’ve ever gone there NOT on a birthday. I think Ari’s coconut bra is more like an 82 year old than a 12 year old….

Ari’s new beehive leader made her this cake to welcome her in. I love this kind of stuff – esp when we are the recipient! Why don’t the boys do stuff like this? haha On Sunday when they called them up to the stand to say they were moving out of primary and on to the youth program, I was really sad! The last time I felt like this was when I took Aub to sunbeams – it’s just so final of a milestone that all of my babies are now grown up. Woe is me…..We’re officially old parents!

B got home so the real family partying continued. Of course, they each like different cakes so we had a full key lime cheesecake and a full picnic cake. And they picked two totally different home cooked dinners so we had an eclectic buffet on Sunday dinner of steak, mashed potatoes and Michele’s lettuce wraps (my girls are totally wowed by her cooking as am I after making this recipe that calls for 27 ingredients) We invited the J&C fam and then their two bff families for cake and we still didn’t eat all that cake.

11/16/13 Just when you think the party is over – think again! Indoor skydiving, surfing & pizza. And the birthday is finally partied out! Ready for take-off  L-R Back row Mr. T (being cool) Caden, Aubrey Front Row: Wyatt, Chase, Ari, Sierra, McKinley  We adore these kids!

TT flying

Check out their shoes – Converse are the THING!