Happy Birthday Garrett!

Garrett turned 9 on Monday. I can't believe he is this old. I wanted to do something fun for him with his friends so I agreed to take him and 4 friends to see Cars 2. The boys loved the movie and afterwards, we headed out to the pond for some fishing. It was an ideal time to fish and the fish were VERY willing to take the bait. Luckily Chet and Beckie were out there with us to help man poles.

I think the boys all had a great time and everyone caught at least 2 fish. We just catch and release right now so there was lots of re-hooking and re-baiting poles going on but nobody was bored. There was always something going on as well as Beckie and Chet's dogs splashing in the water. Garrett was so excited to get a new and already stocked tackle box from Beckie and Chet.

Look at this bunch. They are a good group of boys but I smell mischief in the near future!

Haha! I'm glad Garrett has such a good group of friends.

After the pond, we went to Beckie's house where she graciously provided hot dogs for the boys. Garrett opened up his gifts from his friends and Grandma & Grandpa Purcell and then we had ice cream and cupcakes. Because I am not incredibly creative in the cake decorating area, I used Cars 2 erasers as toppers for the cupcakes. They were a hit with the boys.

After dropping the boys off at home, Garrett got to open his presents from Mom & Dad. He was so excited at all his gifts, especially his Angry Birds t-shirt.

Garrett is such a good kid and we love him so much. He is a huge helper to me and plays so well with Hannah and Ryan. He loves to go work on the farm with his Grandpas, even though his allergies make him miserable on the farm at times. He is going to be in the 4th grade this year. He is a great student and an awesome reader. We cherish every moment we have with him and are so proud to be his parents! Love you Garrett!!

Rock Climbing

In May, Garrett and Blaine went to our ward's Father-Son camp out. They went to Heise and had a great night. Our friend Tyler was up there with his boys too. Me and Jessica (Tyler's wife) spent an evening with our daughters and toddlers. We went to the river (running so high it was scary), picked up McDonald's for dinner (hey, they have a play area so the adults can talk) and then went and got ice cream at Reed's Dairy. Everyone had a good time.

The next morning, the husbands called Jessica and I and asked us to come up to Heise for a picnic. So, we packed up the kids and went. Tyler is an avid rock climber and had brought his rock climbing equipment. Garrett was so excited to climb the rock wall. After his first climb he told me I should try. Ya, no. Pregnant ladies should not be rock climbing. Plus, I'm pretty sure I weigh more than Tyler does and he's the one doing the belaying. Ya, I'll pass. No need to fling him into the air while I'm dangling above or falling rapidly below! Haha!


Garrett is on his way up the rock wall. He was loving every minute of this.

He's getting higher. He did really well considering this was his second climb ever!

A better perspective of how high the rock wall is and how high up Garrett is.

Coming down. He didn't weigh enough to be able to repel very well so Tyler had to do most of the work of getting him down (I think).

It was a fun day and everyone was exhausted afterwards. Sun, wind and rain will wipe out your energy. Thanks to Tyler for bringing the rock climbing stuff and helping Garrett. The next day Garrett asked me when we could get some rock climbing stuff. I suggested maybe we could just go with Tyler again. That seemed to satisfy him...for now!