Ashton has really grown the past year. He is almost as big as Lexie and can tackle the kids to play until they tell him that they are done. He is going to be a tough teenager. Ashton loves Motorcycles and trucks. Only motorcycles he calls "go-go's". He runs through the house riding his pretend motorcycle. Nothing makes him happier than riding the four-wheeler with Grandpa and going fast. Racing is his favorite with a "we beat you" after every ride.
We went swimming in Castle Dale. He had fun after he had became used to the water and being afraid that we were all going to drown. As soon as he blew out his candles he had to take the motorcycles up the jump. The frosting became mud to him and oh the fun he had.
We love you Ashton and Happy Birthday.
I was a little bit surprised when Tara said that she wanted a volcano cake for Van but I will do anything that they ask. I know that Van still loves to put things into his mouth. What better toy to go into the mouth than a dinosaur. So here is his cake.
I have the next two pictures switched so I will go to the end and then back. Paul was lucky enough to get this most marvelous picture of Van after eating his birthday cake. Mark tired several times afterwards to get him to smile again and it didn't happen. Oh, how we love this special little boy who looks so much like his daddy.
As we lite the candle and tried to get Van to blow it out, he instead reached out to touch the flame. I don't think that it burned him but with all of us yelling at him to not touch it, he was scared and began to cry. It took alot to get him even near the cake. Tara decided to get the dinosaur covered with frosting and the lava, which was very good, and have him try that first. After that first taste he was all over the cake. Hence the preceeding picture. 
We all got a kick out of Tara. She really has a difficult time with Van getting dirty in any way. But she was the one to help him make a mess out of himself. But notice the apron. She didn't want to get anything on her. 
Today was Josh's first day at Kindergarten. It is still hard to believe that he is old enough for this but then he is five. He has been going to pre-school for the past two years and even has been riding a bus. Even though he doesn't look to excited in this picture, from what I hear he was excited this morning. He said that his teacher didn't read a book to him because in Kindergarten they don't read. He did make a puppet though. Reading is highly over rated in the eyes of a five year old. I wish that I could have been there to hear his stories. I miss that, not having kids in school. Now that the grandkids have started going to school it is only going to become more difficult more me. They are growing up. I love you Josh.
On the last game, on Wednesday, they gave the players trophies. The baseball on top has arms and legs that bend. Of course Kyler thinks it is the greatest.
For Kyler's birthday he received a new bike. He has worn out his old bike. It won't take long for these news tires to wear down to just rubber. He loves riding and can do several stunts, one hand, no legs, jumping off the curb and his favorite skidding and making black marks. He is quite the clown. Don't get in front of him or he just might run over you.
For his birthday cake he wanted Ben 10. If you don't know who that is, you are not up on your super heros. We record Ben 10 so he can watch them when he comes to visit. I think the kids have their grandma figured out. They don't get toys unless they are on the cake. I think they figured this out before I did. Ben 10 loves to save the world. So he is saving a city, a little bit to late though. Kyler had his party on Saturday in Riverton. All he wanted to do was see "Toy Story 3" in 3D. We loved the movie as did Kyler and I'm happy that he requested it. We had cake and ice cream at his Grandma Bradfield's. 
(Sorry about the extra picture)
Josh loves to play and his favorite activity is to play with his imaginary puppies. Bolt is the main one that always goes with him. He loves to feed them and sleep with them. Because of allergy's he will never be able to have a real puppy. When I asked him what he wanted on his cake he said puppies. So this is what I came up with. He had a hard time leaving them on the cake after he put them on it. He had to make sure that each puppy had food, M&M's. Because some times he has a cat involved we also got him a cat. These animals went to bed with him the night after his party and one remained in his hand all day Saturday.
Josh had a party with his friends on Tuesday, and then with the family on Friday night. His cousin Clara was able to come and together they had fun playing. It is hard to believe that he now will be going to kindergarten. In fact he starts in just a couple more weeks. I still can't wrap my brain around this concept.
Bauer's fourth birthday was on June 3. I wanted to wait until they arrived here to post. Plus I found out that on the actual day and other days of celebrating he would say that he was still three because he wouldn't turn four until his party in Utah. The night that they arrived in Salt Lake we celebrated this special boy's birthday. We went to a splash park that is close to Mike and Kassy's home in Riverton. We were lucky enough to have the eight grandkids in attendance. Hunter was the only one missing. 
Bauer loves spiderman. He was spiderman for Halloween and when I asked him what cake he wanted, well of course, it was spiderman, with webs. It was an easy one for Grandma to make. How we love this little man. How grateful I am that they were able to visit and we were able to celebrate Bauer's fourth birthday. I miss him all ready and he hasn't even been gone twenty-four hours. Three months better go by quickly.