Happy Birthday, Spencer!

I really hoped to get this posted before our trip to Florida but that would have meant no sleep for me so here is Spencer's birthday post nearly four weeks later.

Spencer turned seven last month, the day before we left for Florida. He was so excited. It was a big week for him! Here he is opening presents from the family:

His awesome cake: We ordered it from the bakery and then modified it a little by adding bullet casings as candle holders. He loved it!

He really wanted a friend party--his first one ever. I knew that squeezing a birthday party into the packing and getting ready to go schedule would require a massive shoe horn, but I wasn't about to tell him no.  

He invited 8 of his buddies and six were able to come. His theme? A hunting party! Well after a decade of princess parties I was a little out of my league on this one so Matt came home from work early to help with the celebration.

When the boys first arrived they filled out their hunting license info, got their camo bandanas and camo face paint on and then I took their picture.

Spencer's hunting license:

When they were all ready, they went downstairs for the hunting tournament. We set up 3 stations. Matt was in charge of the air-soft pistols complete with zombie targets:

Corinne manned the archery range where the boys bagged a variety of stuffed animals:

And Nicole helped the boys with the Nerf rifle shooting gallery. That deer didn't stand a chance!

After the tournament Spencer opened his presents from his friends.

Then they played several rounds of "Big-Game Basket" which is a manned-up version of Fruit Basket. (If you're not familiar with this game, Google it. It's one of our favorites!)

Spencer has always loved this game! When he was much younger he pronounced basket, "Bastick". He also used to put an Italian spin on words by adding and an "uh" sound at the end of them. It made me laugh every time we played this game and he yelled out, "Fruit-uh Bastick!" Well, I had almost forgotten that because it's been so long, until this party when he got going strong in this game and nearly reverted back to his old ways.  I could tell that he was really concentrating to make sure he said, "basket".

After the games it was back upstairs for cake and ice cream and lots of silliness:

Due to the busy week we had, we really threw this party together in a few hours, but it turned out to be one of the most fun parties we've ever had! I'm not sure how a party of this theme would fly in some parts of the country, but it was a hit with this crowd. :)

Happy Birthday, my little man! We love you SO much!!

Wish Trip: Top Ten Moments

When you wish upon a star

Makes no difference who you are

Anything your heart desires

Will come to you

We returned last week from Spencer's Wish Trip to Disney World. I will never again doubt the power of the Magic Kingdom! It was a wonderful week of fun and happiness together! We spent nine days in Florida and enjoyed every minute. I will be sharing more detailed posts soon, but for now here is our own Top Ten List of our favorite moments from our very special vacation!

10.  Holding the critters at Gatorland 

We all held everything but the scorpion. Claire made me laugh--no fear, that girl! 

9.  Spending an afternoon in Hogsmeade

Complete with a walk through Hogwarts and a quidditch match with Gryffindor, followed up with a refreshing pint of butter beer.

8.  Character Encounters

These are just a few of the many characters we met. We all fell madly in love with Merida. Ariel was a close second. I wanted to go home with Mary Poppins and Matt wanted to go home with the five princesses! :)

7.  Swimming pools in January
I kept trying to tell the kids, "We have swimming pools in Utah!" But they were so excited to swim so we made sure to give them a few opportunities. The daytime pictures are of the pool at Give Kids the World where we stayed for the first seven days. The night time pictures are from the 13th floor balcony of our hotel room where we stayed our last two nights.

6.  Ice Cream for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a bedtime snack

That title is no exaggeration! The ice cream parlor at GKTW was a favorite stop for all of us several times a day.

5.  Petting the stingrays and feeding the dolphins at Sea World

This was one of Spencer's favorite things about the whole trip. It was so fun!

4.  Chasing waves at Cocoa Beach

We took a drive one afternoon to let the kids see the ocean. The pictures speak for themselves how much they loved this!

3.  Thunder Mountain Roller Coaster Fireworks Show

Our last night at Magic Kingdom we rode the Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster. As the ride began and we came out of the tunnel the fireworks show was just beginning right over Cinderella's castle. It was AWESOME!! Best roller coaster ride EVER! 

2.  Smiles

The week was full of them! :)

  

1.  Cinderella's Kiss

This was our very last moment on our very last day at Disney World. We met Cinderella and she was truly magical! We were all awestruck meeting her and talking to her. Just before saying goodbye she gave Spencer a hug and then knelt down beside him. She told him to look at the camera and then she stole a kiss! If we had continued to take pictures you would see him vigorously wiping away the lipstick mark she left and scowling at his sisters and me as we all oohed and aahed and melted over his kiss from Cinderella! Yep. Definitely our favorite moment! 

What wonderful memories we all made!  Thank you Make-a-Wish and Give Kids the World for the trip of a lifetime!