Birthday Fun for Seven Years

We favor family celebrations for birthdays and it usually gets drawn out over a few days. Isaac seems to feel that the year should indicate the number of days it's celebrated .... In which case adults should have a heck of a lot more fun and for much longer than they do! Either way, we did get to do a lot of things he wanted and had a blast together at them.

There was the customary dim sum brunch where all his favorites were ordered. He also enjoyed mango sticky rice from breakfast - twice! It's rice and fruit, pretty much the equivilent of the sugar box cereals but much better tasting! We also spent some time at Peter pipers pizza for some food and fun. Initially I was planning to head home with Eli early, but even the little man enjoyed a game or two.

In the evenings while e kids were sleeping I worked on Isaac's chosen fondant theme for this year - pokemon! I enjoyed myself and got better as I went. With the leftovers the kids had a fun fondant session creating their own pokemon and eating them afterwards.


Friends came over for cake and ice cream. I saw a brilliant picture of poke balls created from Rice Krispies and molded a few for decor, dipping it in chocolate for the finishing touch. Isaac love it all, especially the sugar and enjoyed one a day for a few days after. He was extremely excited for his friends from swim team to come, Max and his sister Alex and I'm glad we were able to arrange sometime to play together before everyone got here.

Of everything he received is favorite were the pokemon cards handed down by the Bakers. He spends hours reading each one and attempting to play the game with Keila. She's a good sport despite the rules constantly changing to fit his whim.

It was fun to celebrate with him, he is growing and changing so much. Already he talks of next year when he wil have the opportunity to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Life moves along impossibly fast sometime, I'm so grateful for the moments I can remember and love and the people who make them so worth remembering! Happy birthday my first little man!

20 Weeks

I'm halfway!!! How quickly time flys and it's even faster now that I can finally eat again and not sleep like the dead! I had been so blue the months before and I hadn't realized how much those two things had affected me until these last few weeks. It's been exciting to have the energy to paint the boys room and start planning the girls room. Swim team and Isaac's birthday has been a fun and busy diversion and of couse the ultrasound this last weekend was a major highlight.

We went as a whole family and while the images were hard to distinguish at first, the kiddos soon caught on. Especially when we got a good shot of her little legs and feet. "Cutie toes!" Was the exclamation and as if in response, baby girl kicked her feet away and the tech had to go chasing them around my belly to get another shot and measument of the bones. In fact any time the ultrasound tech would go in to do some measurements, I could feel her shift and curl inward as if to say, "don't touch me! It's squishy enough in here without you poking around!"

Keila was fascinated by the process and held my hand through the whole procedure. She wanted to know if it hurt me or her sister, and if baby would respond to touch would she respond to her voice. She was disappointed to hear that it would take some time yet, but I assured her she could have many long chats with her later. Even now there are moments she will just stop and gently rest her hand on my belly or lean in tenderly. Clearly this baby girl is someone she has longed for and missed for a long time. Here's a side profile of the little gal.

Can't wait to see the little gal!

Taller at Seven

I can't believe Issac is seven years old! He was so excited and we had to tease him and ask, what makes you so different from being six yesterday and his reply was that he felt taller!

Taller or not, he certainly is older and it shows in so many ways. Perhaps it's this year he's had at kindergarten and how he naturally leads in class both academically and socially. There were things occurring in the boys bathroom that were inappropriate that the teacher didn't know about. Perhaps because of age or his strong sense of right and wrong, he was quick to tell me and his teacher and the problem was nipped in the bud. Never once did he dither about how others thought of him and I prayer this will continue on as he gets older. This sense of self and seriosness was really obvious at the kindergarten graduation. They had a short video where each child was asked what they want to be when they grow up. There was plenty of firemen, policemen, teachers and doctors. Of course there were a few superheroes, ninjas and the odd ones like a kitty ... I knew Isaac's before they showed him saying it, " a person who studies rocks and gems!" I asked him about it later and why not something lie a ninja, his reply, " nah, that's just silly! This is real life, rocks are cool!"

I love the way he has of winning people over, no matter the differences before. It has so much to do with genuine personality and his goofy enthusiam that will have people laughing at all sorts of things. Even the coldest most distant person can't help but crack a smile around his life-filled ball of energy. He is that way with everyone, adults and children alike and because of it I think he will always find a friend no matter where he goes.

He's begun to truly recognize his role as an older brother, particularly to Eli. He is willing to help with all sorts of tasks when it comes to his brother and Eli reciprocates by seeking comfort from him often. We've begun moving them into a bunk beds and I've found the perfect quote for their room. His nickname was initially Bubba when he was an infant. I never liked it and it slowly evolved into Bud. So the quote, "there's no buddy better than a brother!" Was absolutely made for their room.

He and keila are thick as thieves. It seems the time away during the school year has made him appreciate Keila's willingness to follow him in all his schemes. He has shown greater kindness and more patience when things are a little rough with her moods. They have a new found love of Pokemon and can be found pretending all sorts of scenarios together.


Everyone is always saying how bright Isaac is and I think it has to do with his hunger for knowledge. He is literally a sponge and will ask question after question until he sucks you dry. The subject matter is unimportant. We talked about everything from geology, biology to sociology and in the end he wants know how it effects people - a question I think is one of the most important ones that can be asked. I'm proud of his global thinking and hope that it will help him transfere his knowledge into wisdom with the coming years.

Here are some shots of him over the last seven years. Forgive me for posting too many, it's just hard to pick and each of them remind me how much he is his own little person long before he came to me!

Happy birthday Bud!

Quick Trip

We had a few things that needed to be done in Utah, so we made a quick trip up and plenty of fun along the way. We stopped overnight in Vegas and stayed on the Strip at Circus Circus. The hotel room was amazing when you only pay $30 and we lucked out in location, never needing to go through the casino and being right by the entertainment. But I think for all the craziness my children exhibit, we lead pretty quiet lives. They looked at the rides with mild curioasity but when asked if they would want to part on any of them they were rather reluctant. The games in the midway perked their interest but when winning became much harder they lost interest. The buffet at the Bellagio was a different story! Funny how kids are sometimes!

While Kent was busy at a conference, the kids and I were content to wander BYU campus. It truly is a beautiful campus and I reminisced of days gone by. Art and greenery all around to be enjoyed, (Eli loved the 'popcorn' tree) donut holes from the Cougareat, a random gift of flowers from a stranger (not so strange an event if you know the culture on campus), and the very best memory of all - all the pill bugs a little girl could want to pick up and love on!

Afterwards we went to visit with my Grandpa Wright. He now lives in a care facility and I miss his fairy tale garden oh so much. But we still enjoyed his company, he'd made a few rhymes and Isaac would smile in his quirky way and joke back with him. Keila was still obsessing about pill bugs but she liked Missy, Grandpas's cat. He and Grandma Wright were the closest grandparents i ever knew and declared us their chinese children! I missed cooking him a homemade authentic Chinese meal, but I got take out from a fairly decent place and we had a lovely lunch outside complete with coconut cream pie, grandpas's favorite. Aunt Connie even came our to join us! Isaac took this shot for us.

The following day had us up at Thanksgiving Point trying out the newest museum, the Museum of Curiosity. Unfortunately I had left the camera on overnight and without the charger, I only attempted pictures I thought might have a chance of turning out. We had lots of fun and Isaac even guided Keila through this maze of jungle canopy while I stayed below with Eli in the kiddie area. I was so proud of him for taking care of his sister and for the both of them in OT letting their fears get to them as they wandered along the rope bridges.


We filled up on the best ice cream from the BYU Creamery and stopped off at the Provo temple before picking Kent up from his conference.


We started our drive back that same afternoon. We broke up the monotony of the road with another stopover in Vegas to enjoy the fountains and gardens at Bellagio.

This is living art!

It was a crazy short trip but I'm glad we did it, especially to see Grandpa Wright.