Surprise!

Ayden had his eye on these cupcakes all afternoon Anderson was happy just playing with a bunch of balloons
Brandon and JJ
Riley, Aimee, and Greg
Ashten Kaleb 7, Ayden 4, Nicholas 5, Jocelyn 5, Bella 2, Ashten3, ?, and Riley 2, playing Duck Duck Goose
I love when there is a surprise party on TV and they walk in having no idea what is happening, but I have never been to a successful surprise party before. Something about the "SURPRISE" gets me every time. Today, we went to a surprise party for Megan's husband, Jerrod. It was perfect, he had no idea. Megan did a great job planning his 30th birthday and had a "this is your life program" with surprise guests and all. I love the Swannack Family so it was fun for us to get to spend time with all of them. I love that my kids get to play with the Swannack grandkids just like I got to play with the Swannack kids when I was young!

This is Ladies Night...Oh, What a Night!

Megan Guddat, Me, and Haley Cook Me and Megs
Haley and Megan rolling in their parents Mormon Mobile

Yeah, we are hot!

Megs and Haley sporting some Wal-Mart merchandiseMegan is in town for a vacation with her hubby and kids. She planned a "girls night out" for my birthday. Haley was able to come with and the three of us had SO much fun! We started out by having dinner at Red Robin. Of course they had to embarrass me by telling our server that it was my birthday which caused them to sing. Afterwards,we went over to spend some money at JoAnn's. After that we went to Wal-Mart to see if they had any great clearance on craft items...It was a bust. But we did have lots of fun shopping! Our final stop was to Cold Stone Creamery. Which was a funny end to our night out. We all had to go to the bathroom by this time. But as I was going in a young guy was coming out, saying to his friends that someone was going to have to clean that up. When I realized that there was only a single unisex bathroom, I turned around and went to him saying "What did you do? I have to go to the bathroom." He said it wasn't what I thought and told me he would show me a picture. Then changed his mind and invited me back to the bathroom so he could show me. Apparently, someone thought it would be funny to put a brownie on the edge of the toilet seat. At least that's what he called it. I decided I would wait til I got home. Later, as we were eating our ice cream and my new friend was leaving, he called to me from the door, "Hey, I knocked it in for you." HAHAHA! I rarely get out of the house and now I know what I was missing! We came back to my house and did some crafting. It was the best night, I couldn't have asked for a better girls night out!

Happy Birthday to Me!

My last year before it's "all down hill"

(as my Dad informed us)

I am 29 today. Wow, I'm getting old! This morning Mom and Dad called to see if we wanted to go to pizza for my birthday. Afterwards, Ashten, AJ, and I headed off to get my Driver's License renewed as it was expiring today. Ayden went with Papa. We all met up at Grandma B's house to build a bookcase. The boys were big helpers. AJ wanted to be helpful but ended up falling

face first onto the edge of the particle board side of the bookcase. Leaving him with a bloody nose, a scratch across his cheek, and a black eye. It looked worse than it was.

Mom, Dad, and Grandma B Mariah and Nofo
The Party Planner

I was leaving all plans to Armand as he has been gone in the Philippines for my last two birthdays. Unfortunately, he didn't make any plans until he got off work. He picked up Safeway China Express (by my request) and some ice cream. then, he came home and cooked up some BBQ. It was pretty fun for a party planned an hour and a half before it was to happen. Armand gave me a digital camera for my birthday, now I should be able to keep up on the blog. Thank you to all of those who took time to send birthday wishes, you made my day!!

Baby Girl Taylor

Taylor Rae Betenson Tana and Taylor
Britany, Taylor, and Brad
Taylr Rae Betenson The world is definitely changing. This morning I got a text message (actually two text messages) about babies being born. Technology is awesome! The first text was from a friend who had had her baby boy just before midnight last night and the second text was from Brad and Britany. Taylor was born this morning, weighing in at 7.4 pounds and measuring 21 inches. She is beautiful! We can't wait to see and hold her. My parents now have 5 grandchildren ages 4, 3, 2, 1, and 0! Someone better hurry up and get started on that next baby...

Ten Years Later...

Jerrod and Megan Guddat and Me and Armand

Tonight, was the Class of '98 Stadium High School reunion. Megan and Jerrod came in from Rexburg so we piled in the minivan which is super cool, I know and headed over to the Tacoma Lawn and Tennis Club. We immediately noticed that there were not other minivans there. Cassi met us at there and we got to visiting with everyone. It was very awkward to walk right up to people and say hi but I think we all had fun, maybe not Jerrod and Armand. Megan and Jerrod won married the longest at 6.5 years and then us at 6 years. We think that we also won the award for most kids, 3 kids each for each couple. It was a fun night after getting over the initial weirdness. I can't wait to see how people grow up in ten more years! I can't believe that I have been blessed with a husband, 3 gorgeous boys, a home and great friends and family. Seeing some of these people who have not grown up, still partying like it's high school made me feel even more blessed for the life I do have.

Mmmmmm Chicken!!!

This morning I woke up to Armand saying, "Amie, I think you need to feed the kids". I came out to look and saw Ashten sitting on the coffee table with a whole roasted chicken. He was just eating away. I guess it's better than when they get the whole box of fruit snacks or cookies out and finish that off.

The Date

We have a tradition that if you give a talk in Primary, Mommy will take you on a special date. So far Ayden is the only one who has gotten to do this because Ashten is in Nursery still. Ayden chose Dairy Queen for our date. On our first date Ayden chose a Banana Split and he shared with me. This time he got a strawberry sundae and a fruit punch and ate the whole thing by himself. It's so cute to see how much fun he has on our dates. Last time he told me that he liked how quiet it was. I completely agree!