Back To The Birthdays

Well, seeing as September has almost passed us by, I figured I should sit down and document the birthdays of Richard and Marshall. It was a grand weekend with Labor Day and a visit from Richard's parents. Not all festivities were documented with a camera, but I got some highlights...

Richard's parents arrived late Friday night. The reason for the visit was to swap us cars. They brought us their minivan and we gave them the Explorer. That's right, I am now a minivan driving mom. Sometimes I feel weird driving it, but it really is quite convenient and so much easier to get kids in and out. No more bending down for carseats, love it. Anyway, back to the weekend...

Saturday was spent visiting with Bob and Becky, watching football, and running errands. We rounded out the evening by cheering BYU on to victory (something that we haven't been able to do since then) and delicious, creamy Murf's custard. A perfect day.

Sunday was Richard's birthday and it came and went without a single picture being taken...oops! Our kids began the day bright and early at 6:00 am so we had plenty of time to lounge around, open presents, visit and get to church by 10:00 am. Bob and Becky came to sacrament meeting with us and then hit the road for home. That evening we spent time outside with wonderful cul-de-sac friends and delicious desserts.

Monday was Marshall's birthday and this is when I finally remembered to pull out the camera. This 3rd birthday for Marshall was very different from his others in that he was finally excited about presents! When he woke up he came running into the living room saying, "Those are my presents! Its my birthday!" He opened every single present and every time he would open a new one he would exclaim, "Oh, I love this tractor!" or whatever the gift was. It was darling. Here are some pictures to capture the excitement. He looks so old in some of them, breaks my heart.

Richard and I got him this tool set. Do you think he was excited?! Best birthday purchase we could have made. These tools have kept him fixing all sorts of things for hours.

Marshall with all of his birthday loot. I just adore this kid and his smile.
To the Toney family: This smile reminds of Danny's smiles when he was little.

After the morning festivities we had a Labor Day Brunch with a small gathering from the cul-de-sac. The food was delectable and the company was even better.

The rest of our afternoon was spent playing with Marshall and decorating the cake. Nothing fancy, although I did have grand intentions, but we stuck with the basic confetti cake and Marshall's decorations of choice.

We had an early dinner and then at 6:00 Marshall's little buddies and their families came over for a birthday celebration. It was a fun evening and by the end our house was in shambles and we were exhausted, but it was great. We sure are so blessed to have such wonderful friends here to celebrate these special occasions with!

Here are some random pictures of the cake and singing process, thanks Karisa. These, of course, were the only pictures taken of the evening.

I would like to mention that Richard blew out the candles as soon as we finished singing happy birthday. He didn't even let Marshall take a breath! Needless to say I was not very happy. This picture documents the flameless candles, Richard's mischievous smile, Marshall's surprise and my shock. So, after chastising Richard, I lit the candles again and we gave Marshall his chance.



Marshall still had a helper, but at least Duncan is his same age. But, soon blowing turned to spitting, and we let Richard assist.


Well, it sure was a wonderful weekend. I love my boys!