Happy Birthday!

This past week Anabelle got to go to two birthday parties at a local private park here in La Jolla. The first one was for a friend at school. After it, Anabelle excitedly told me "Daddy! Daddy! Guess what! I saw a real pirate today!"

Maria then said "Yeah! He was a great actor... he never broke out of his role throughout the whole party!" Anabelle then looked at us and said "He wasn't a real pirate?" Whoops....

Then a couple days later, Anabelle's school celebrated Israel's Birthday at the same private park. To celebrate it, they went out to fly kites. Needless to say, Anabelle had a blast!

Egyptian Adventure

After a visit to the San Diego Museum of Man a few weeks ago, Anabelle decided she wanted an Egyptian themed birthday party so she could pretend to be an anthropologist.

So Nathan baked a delicious pyramid cake, while I (with help from my friend Lori) whipped up some yummy-mummy cupcakes, and we had quite an adventure.



There were bursts of giggles and squeals as we cut the cake and the kids discovered "mummies" hidden inside the cake. They kept coming back for more "excavation" opportunities (it didn't hurt that the mummies tasted an awful lot like marshmallows).


The mummy cupcakes were quite a hit too!

There were about 12 servings from the cake and I made about 30+ cupcakes, and yet we had "O" left overs. Some of the kids, including Anabelle, looked ready for a nap after eating so much baked goodness.

Good thing there were lots of games prior to the sweet feast...

As part of the adventure the kids got to decipher hieroglyphics, dance like Egyptians, and practice the ancient art of mummification (no worries, everyone went home with their bowels intact).





Doesn't Dusty make a cute mummy?



In addition to playing anthropologists, all the kids also had a blast digging for dinosaur bones (which, as Anabelle pointed out, is really the job of a paleontologist). With shovels, sifters, and rakes at hand they tore up the "dig site." Of course any good anthro-paleontologist can't do without his/her trusted dust brush. All of the kids LOVED using the little brushes to dust off their wonderful findings.







I think the dinosaur dig was the high-point of the party. Just ask Seth, who proudly displayed his find for the site photographer.

No one wanted to see the day come to an end, but I guess that just means it was a successful birthday party. Even Livy was sad to say goodbye to all her new friends.

Thanks to everyone who made it all possible.

Mushiness up ahead, you have been warned

"Adapt to the changes in our lives, that we may realize what is most important, that we may express our gratitude always and thus find joy in the journey.” -Thomas S. Monson

I borrowed this quote from a friend's blog because it describes in a nutshell my greatest hope and struggle. As Nate and I approach our seven year anniversary I am astounded as I look back on the amount of adventures we've had in this journey that is marriage. I must admit it hasn't always been easy, but it is those moments of complete and utter bliss that make it worth it. Sometimes it's the simple moments that make the most difference. Just the other night as I rolled over, cold and with a stuffy nose, I wrapped myself around my warm and cozy hubby and thought, "yeah, life is good."

Photography by Arika Reed

Thank you Arika for bringing out in beautiful colors the love we feel for each other and the fun that it is to be part of our family. If you are local to the San Diego area, we highly recommend Arika. Here's her link www.arikareed.com

Quality Time

This past month we've enjoyed a lot of quality time with family and friends.

Anabelle is having a great time showing Livy how all of her toys function.

Earlier in the month we were sad to say goodbye to our neighbors/friends Dennis and Josephine as the returned to Tanzania.

However, a few days later we were happy to see Gene visit with her girls (they moved while we were in Israel).

Maria went home for a few days so that her family could meet Livy, so Anabelle and I had a blast playing together while Livy and Maria were out of town. During that time we had fun watching movies every night like Heidi and dinosaur movies, going to the natural history museum, playing with Play-Doh to make letters, fish and spiders.

However, I have to say, my favorite moment was when I came home from work the other day and Anabelle excitedly said, "Daddy! Daddy! Can we use the telescope thing tonight to look at little body pieces?!" She was referring to a microscope I borrowed form the medical school a few months back for a histology class I was taking. So being the geeky father that I am, I said "Of course!" so we spent a good half hour looking at tissue samples and talking about all of the internal organs... poor girl...

Christmas sledding in St. George

In cahoots

Gifts from Up Above