{ Happy Birthday Tates! }

I am in denial that my son is 4 years old. For some reason 4 seems so much older than 3. At 3 they're still considered a Toddler, but by 4 . . . their a big kid now.

Here are some fun facts about Ayden:

*He is LOVING school. He has all his sight words memorized, and not only does he know all the letters and their sounds, he can write them all too! He loves to sit at the table and ask me how to spell words. He can also sound out a lot of words, and even spell them too!

*He is still the sweet nurturer that he has always been. He loves to take care of his "pets" (all the stuffed animals he can find) and gives them all names. Then I have to watch them when he is gone.

*Ayden LOVES spending time with his dad. They have a blast together. One of Ayden's favorite things to do with dad is to watch "go utes" games. They also like to make forts, spell words, play with play dough, and do magic tricks together. Ayden wanted to grow his hair out so he could have spiky hair like his dad.

*Ayden has lots of friends in the neighborhood as well as at school. No matter what though, he will always consider Madi to be his best friend. They have played together ever since we moved here. He was only 19 months old.

*He is in a tumbling class and has mastered cartwheels, round offs, head stands, and hand stands. 1 more year and he can start taking a break dancing class! He loves to tumble anytime and anywhere. Seems like every time I turn around, I see him upside down.

Ayden's Favorites:

Color = Red
Food = Pasta
Treat = Gum
Book = Cat in the Hat comes back
Show = Little Einstiens
Clothes = Anything camo
Activities = Color, dance, play with his pets


Ayden had a really fun birthday week! On Saturday night we went to the new Chuck E Cheese that just opened in Layton! He had lots of people there too, who love and support him. Nana and Papa, Jenny and Trevor, Uncles Brian, Todd, and Michael, and Gramps and Gram Parsons! (He also got a package in the mail from his cousins in New York, which made his day!)

{Playing skee-ball with daddy}




He especially likes opening presents!

{giving out hugs for all the presents}

{with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Trevor}

Then on Sunday (his actual birthday) we had Sunday dinner at our house with the Hammer side of the family. It was a party with the Halls, the Hammers, the Brains, Codye and Bapa, and the Flittons!

{the pumpkin cake, as requested}

{more presents!}

{with Aunt Codye}

{getting some Bapa loves}

{Blowing out the candles}

Ayden is really grateful for all the love and support he got from his family this week. We are so lucky to have so much family so close by to celebrate with us! Thanks guys, we love you!

{Bad computer karma}

It is well known that my parents have bad computer karma in their house. The internet never works and the computers are always having issues. We had high hopes that once we moved away from there. . . the bad karma would no longer torment us.

 

 We were wrong.

 Our house is exactly the same! We are constantly having issues with our internet as well as our computers malfunctioning.

So that was my way justifying my lack of blogging lately. Not only have I not posted, I have been unable to read the posts of my friends and family. 

So until the curse is lifted. . . I'll continue to wonder how you all are doing and what is going on in your lives. (damn computers. . .how did we ever live without them)

{ Seasonal confusion }

We have having some issues distinguishing the season at our house. It was E day at Ayden's school and he decided he wanted to bring a hard boiled egg for show and tell. 

So we boiled up some eggs, but that wasn't enough. Of course we had to paint them!

{Yup . . . April in October}

Then we woke up Sunday morning to see this . . . 

That's right, a winter wonderland. December in October!

The boys had a blast making a snowman! A Snowman in October! 

What a crazy week it has been!

{ Salsa }

One of my good friends made and canned salsa a couple weeks ago. Logan and I are crazy about homemade salsa so after tasting some of hers. . . I got a crazy idea.

I roped my friend Michelle into joining in the madness and next thing you know. . .
it was SALSA DAY!

step 1:

Head out to the Day Farms here in Layton and pick us some jalapenos, aneheim peppers, green peppers, and onions.

step 2:

Find anyone and everyone with a garden and round up many tomatoes.

step 3:

Put all the ingredients into the food processor and blend them up really well before pouring them into huge pots and boiling them for 2-3 hours.

step 4:

Once the salsa was done we poured it into many many jars.

step 5:

The final step was to place all the jars in a water bath for 40 minutes to seal them. We were so lucky to have so many friends and neighbors that helped make this all possible.

{Texie, Luetta, me, Michelle, Wendy}

So we started out not really having a clue what to do and with much help ended up with 70 jars of delicious homemade salsa. What a day!