Dining with a Mouse...

Since Karl and I began dating, his brother Aaron and his family have graciously invited us for dinner many a Sunday evening (Thank you!). Wanting to return the favor, but having a non-functioning oven not to mention a condo that isn't too fun for kids (I used to have toys for when my nephews came over but gave them away when they moved), Karl and I decided we'd take them out for dinner, but not just any dinner. We wanted to do something the girls would really enjoy, so we went the place kids seem to love the best...

Okay, so we didn't so much go for the food, but the fun. Now I don't know the last time you were at Chuck E Cheese, but let's just say 6:00 on a Saturday night is probably the worst time to go-- every kid in Henderson had their birthday party at that Chuck E. Cheese that night!! But, did that stop us from having fun and playing our share of games--- no way!

Lauren was a bit shy, I think the noise and all the kids were intimidating, but Uncle Karl kept her company.

Mallory and Halle hit the ground running. It was cute to watch them play -- it reminded me of when my sisters and I would go places and we always stayed together and watched out for each other. We had 80 tokens, or "pennies" as Halle called them, and the girls were in Heaven (so was Uncle Karl)

Even the big boys got a chance to play a game or two. I should have known that they would choose a shooting game!

And, believe it or not, we even managed to eat a bit of pizza,too!

We had a great time and hope that Aaron and his girls had fun as well!!

(F.Y.I.-- If you are looking for inexpensive birth control, Chuck E. Cheese is the place....let's just say that after one dinner at Chuck E. Cheese and my "baby fever" has gone into remission! Don't worry mom, I'm just kidding! But seriously, Karl and I were exhausted when we left!)

A sign??? Nah, the ward's just getting small....

So, lately I have had a bout with a sickness sometimes refered to as "baby fever"--- I wouldn't say I have a full blown fever, but more like I'm running a little warm. With so much baby talk around lately and between cousins having kids, friend's having kids, family talking about babies, etc., I've been mildly infected. Could be I miss my nephews like crazy, too (see Ana, it's your fault!). But anyway, I've been thinking about little bundles of joy when I got a call, out of the blue, to serve in a new calling in the ward (no more seminary). And what would that calling be??? Primary chorister!! Now I've had many church callings-- YW, Relief Society, Seminary-- but never a calling in the primary, and never as anything related to music. So I started to wonder-- could this be a sign? Is there a message I'm supposed to get from this? I thought getting married meant learning enough about patience already, right? :) Hmmmmmmmm.

Then it happened, I called my mom and heard the ear piercing shrieks of several crying babies. Which started me thinking....you know, there have been a lot of families that have moved out of our ward lately, so really my calling was probably a sign of desperation to fill vacancies because the ward is getting smaller---- yes!! We are, after all, not supposed to be a sign seeking people, right.....

Needless to say I'm not over my "sickness", but my temperature may have cooled a little bit :) We'll see...

All aboard the Birthday Train....

August is a big birthday month for Karl and I (his birthday is the 18th and mine is the 29th), and given that it was Karl's big 30th birthday I thought he'd enjoy a blast from the past....

Karl's favorite birthday cake is the mint chocolate chip ice cream "train" cake from Baskin-Robbins. What a cute little boy! Now I know where he get's his attachment to baseball hats...thank goodness he didn't form the same attachment to overalls!!

So I thought it would be fun to order him his very own train cake! Yum!!

Here is the birthday boy blowing out his candles. The cake was delicious, I might just make this a family tradition!!

As for me, I've always been a fan of german chocolate cake (I get it from my Dad!) so Karl had his sister make me a cake with her homemade german chocolate frosting. It was delicious (at least what I got of it-- Karl's 2nd favorite cake is german chocolate!) Oh, and don't bother trying to count candles, I think we only had 21 ;)

All in all, it was a great birthday month. And while I'm not in a rush to turn another year older, it doesn't feel so bad when the celebration is this sweet! !