What's so funny?!?

My birthday party!

Amy and the kids helped me have a spectacular birthday. It was so much fun to spend the day together and do lots of fun things. We spent most of the day playing in the house and then went to dinner at Noodles.

After Noodles, we went to Home Depot and picked out some fun plants for our house. The girls have wanted to plant some flowers since Grandma and Makell were growing some in Idaho, so we got four types of flowers and we'll see if they grow.

Here's a picture of the three craziest kids in town. Even Ryan looks like he's posing... I'm a pretty lucky daddy to have such great children.

Here's a picture of the cake Amy made for me. It demonstrates another purchase at the Lego store - little molds of Lego bricks. Amy had quite a bit of fun making this cake and getting the blocks out with the little bumps intact. Despite the pleasant experience, she says (for some reason unknown to me) that there won't be any more Lego cakes for a long while. Doesn't it look great though?

Ryan enjoyed the party even though he didn't get any cake.

Chelsey and her red Lego.

Emily chose a yellow one. Yum!

I'd like to thank Amy for giving me such a great birthday! I couldn't have asked for anything more. Thanks to all of you for your phone calls and cards and presents you sent to. I have a great family and wonderful friends and I'm very grateful for all of you.

May the Force be with you!!!

As promised, here are pictures of one of the products of our Lego store shopping experience... This was one of my main birthday presents and one of the most fun things I've ever done. Presenting the Ultimate Collector Series Imperial Star Destroyer, Lego Set #10030:

The pieces right after dumping them from the box, still in their baggies.

All 3104 pieces, after dumping them in the box to attempt to sort through them and begin the project... Many frustrating hours were sent sorting through pieces, trying to find the right one. Overall, it was a pleasant experience, but there were a few times...

Building the main skeleton...

The ship starts to take form.

The main body is done.

Me with the finished product. All I know is that I'm definitely not ready to take it apart yet. Not only is it too cool to take down, if it takes half as long to take apart as it did to put together, I don't want to start for awhile.

This is a photo of the finished project in its place of honor on top of the entertainment center (i.e. the only possible place in our house that it would fit...). Amy was nice enough to let me leave it there for a little while before putting it away. Should make for a good conversation piece... :)

Happy Birthday to Jason and Paul!

Paul and Kim Morrison have been some of our very good friends during school here at MCW. The other day, Kim and Amy planned a surprise combined birthday party for Paul and me since our birthdays are close together. Here are some pictures from the festivities:

Chelsey, Ryan, Adam, and Emily - they have so much fun together!

This is a picture of me accepting my prize for winning our NCAA basketball bracket tournament. The competition was stiff, but everyone who knows me well knows how well I know my college basketball - I'm hard to beat...

Paul and I holding our presents - certificates for a free day of golf. Luckily, Paul is patient enough to go with me and not laugh (too much).

...and a cake to match the theme. Kim did a great job on the cake, especially on the faces of the two golfers.