Max Kougar

Our Max turned 7!!! We had quite the celebration, we partied all week!

Our first gathering was the day before his birthday, Monday night with the Bevan's... dinner, presents and ice cream and cake

The next day, the 7th was his actual birthday, he woke up to 'blue' pancakes with a strawberry seven!!

7 years old on the 7th day of February~

we let him open one present before school, a new backpack!!! A BYU backpack!!

I saw this several weeks ago on my girls trip to St. George back in January, I knew I had to get it for Max for his birthday!!!

he of course, LOVES it!!!

later he got some more BYU gear and some X box games!

he was one happy camper

... then the Thursday after his birthday we celebrated with the Wade's! More dinner, presents and cake!

cute Nanny and Reesey!

Nanny got Max a mini Root Beer mug and Root Beer, cute!

 ~ mmm delicious ~

(Insert Happy Birthday song here)

And... to top it all of he got a friend party... wow, too many parties right! Well they only get a friend party every other year

so he invited some of his best buddies over to celebrate, I limit it to about 4 or 5 for my sanity's sake...  lucky for us the weather was fantastic and they played outside the whole time!!! Rare for our "winter" birthdays!!! It was great!!!

we did a pinata, played games and played outside...

and of course presents!!

He wanted a football cake every party, this time we switched it up a little, with some UTAH vs BYU... I had the kids sit on different sides and give a thumbs up or thumbs down for whatever team side of the cake they were sitting on... Jackson was our solo UTAH fan... haha, go Cougars!

I think he thoroughly enjoyed his many parties, and I'm just glad I'm not making a cake today... he had fun and is a fun boy! We love Max so much! He is such a joy and is a very interesting kid! He really is just fun to have around, I always love the perspective he has on things, and the ideas he shares...  Lots of personality and so many good qualities! We love our Max Kougar Wade!!!!

These are the youngest pics of Max I had on my computer, he was 3! Such a cute little boy! He's grown up a lot!

St. George Girls Trip

My girlfriends and I recently escaped to Sunny St. George for a fun little getaway~

Tamra is a St. George local so we crashed at her parents house... we woke up and made a yummy breakfast and had our own little body flow class thanks to Tricia

then we hit a "few" stores and went to lunch

I love you Paradise Bakery Oriental Chicken Salad

we made a quick stop by Tamra's old stompen grounds Pine View High! Go Panthers!

and ya, we made a pyramid of course!

Little snap shot of the successful purchases we all made!

We went to St. George  so some of the group could run in the

St. George Half Marathon, 

Tamra, Annie, Anna, Tricia and LuAnn

this was funny at the time, we were late getting to the race so we threw the cups out on the grass... had to be there I guess!

I had to take a picture of the cute note that Tamra's dad left for all the girls~Seriously cute man~! Her mom is fabulous too!!! Great, great people, love them!!

Z and I and mama Nelson were the cheering crew! We drove to several stops along the route to cheer our girls on,, and made a few awesome posters for the racers viewing pleasure~

After all our pit stops we drove to the finish to await our runners! One by one they came in!! Annie....

Anna

Tricia

Tamra

and LuAnn!!

Way to go Ladies!! They all did sooo awesome!!!

We had to snap a pic with all us girls who outnumbered papa Nelson big time!

At some point we hit this awesome ice cream place, that I can't remember the name of, but it was good!! We hit Paradise Bakery again and hit a movie, and drove home Sunday! Had such a great time with my bestest buddies! A girl needs good friends and I'm glad I can say I have some great ones!! We had a serious good time, lots of laughs, lots of uplifting moments and good times, good memories!! Love my gals!!

Brony Bron turns 5!!!

Bron wanted a NinJa Birthday! So that's what we "threw together", I didn't feel prepared this year but it was actually a big success!!

The kids get a friend party every other year, on the odd years... 

Bron wanted everyone to dress up, I told him that everyone might not have a ninja costume, so we had everyone dress up as whatever they wanted for our Ninja Themed party...

I had Brad play the role of the "Ninja Master" he did a great  job and taught the boys some moves... I gathered the recycle and the kids hit, kicked and karate chopped them all over the room

Ben Koch, Garrett North, Bron and Emerson Stevens...

They ate lunch and watched a Ninja show...

opened presents and had cake!

We also celebrated with Brad's family that night and my family the Sunday after...

his Ninja Cupcakes!!

Ninja or Pirate??

He got hooked up with lots of fun presents... he's really into Pirate stuff right now too, Kalli made him an adorable pirate pillow case and gave him some other pirate stuff too, of course we put the eye patches on...group pic of all of our best pirate faces...

:We celebrate all January's Birthdays:

Kara, Bron, Jesse, and Krystal!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

This is a big year for Bron he will start Kindergarten this fall! I added these pictures cause I kind of still picture Bron like this, as my cute little 2 to 3 year old toddler. The one who will give me hugs and kisses and snuggle me. The cute little guy who grabs his blankie, sucks his thumb lays on the couch to watch cartoons. This Bron, is how I could have him stay forever...

 I remember him sitting at the kitchen table (instead of his booster seat, just behind him) and thinking he was such a big boy! I took this picture for that very reason... it was one of the first times I recognized that he was growing up, 

he wasn't a baby anymore...

getting a big boy bed!

 

and this, classic Bron... he got a cut on his head that was bleeding a ton... we shaved around the cut to get a good look at it, he had to have his blankie and of course, the thumb!!

 This last picture is one of my favorite of Bron, seriously just look at that face, there is  something about him at this age that warms my heart!! 

 but ...he is growing up, there is less snuggling and less kisses... only a little less thumb sucking haha, but he is not this Bron anymore...

He is still my strong little man who can pound out 20 push ups and 100 sit ups and is still is very independent.  He will do so great in school, I don't think I'll worry to much about him, he is not a "mommy's boy" or a "daddy's boy", he's very social and outgoing, he's a good helper, a good leader and it seems like everyone wants to be 'Bron's' friend, and do what 'Bron' is doing... 

He has loved pre-school and has done well, I'm sure he'll run in those Kindergarten doors and not look back. We still have a little bit of time till he starts but I know he's ready and looks forward to it. They grow so much once they start school, it's a milestone and a turning point in their little lives, it will be that time where I look and recognize he's not a toddler anymore...   I'm excited for him but sad at the same time. We love this kid so much and of course, as always, look forward to what things he will accomplish this year!!