Birthday Boy

Bentley's birthday was May 26th. He is my little four year old now and this birthday was the first one that I layed in bed the nights preceeding his birthday and cried because before I know it, he will be getting baptised, holding the priesthood, loving girls that names aren't 'mom', going on a mission and eventually settling down and having his own family. Just typing this is making the tears well up. All I ever wanted to do with my life is be a mom. What will I do with myself when that time in my life is over? Let's not even think about that...
Like all moms, I love my two, sweet little boys more than words can describe. It gives me an idea of how much Heavenly Father loves ALL his children...But that's a whole other post...
ANYWAYS...
My little Bentley had been wanting a 'Batman/Spiderman' Birthday Party. I started thinking of some simple ideas..It seemed pretty easy; there's super hero stuff everywhere! But 2 weeks before his birthday, he went up to Grandma and Grandpa Whitear's house to watch Daddy shoot his bow. He noticed that some of his six year old cousins had bows and he was dying to give it a try. His sweet, Aunt Ayrion taught him how to put the arrow in, pull it back, aim for the target and let it go! He was hooked. That whole night he yelled, "Mommy, I want a bow! Can I have a bow burfday?!" Of course Dallin liked that idea, so a 'Bow Birthday' is what we gave him. I thought maybe it could be a 'Robin Hood' theme..but there was seriously not ONE thing at ANY store that had to do with Robin Hood or archery. I made do. It was pretty simple, but he absolutely LOVED it.

We started the night off with a bbq and letting the kids run wild. I attempted to do a couple Robin Hood games, but Bentley was much more into playing on his own.

Right in the middle of eating, Bentley started ripping open his presents and it was done and over with in 2.5 seconds.

All the boys have pretty funny expressions in this picture.

He got an Iron Man from Grandma and Grandpa Whitear.

He also got a hummer that pulls a trailer from the Schillers, a camo shirt from the Myers family, playdough, and an iron man mask from the nieghbors, some small iron mans with a motorcycle from the Gibsons, a scooter from Grandma Michelle and a BOW and ARROWS (with flat tips) from us.

SPOILED.

This was the best I could come up with as far as a Robin Hood Theme. Some gold coins, sherriff badges and Maid Marrion rings. These huge cupcakes were only about $17 at Costco by the way!

A big smackaroo for Grandma.

It was a 'Bow Burfday' after all, so the kids got to take turns shooting a target.

He is a skilled archery master.

Jace liked his Iron Man stuff too...

All the kiddies took home little knap sacks with their treats.

Bentley had a great birthday, it was just what he wanted. I just love making that kid happy!

Mexico

I'm finally getting around to blogging about Mexico! I have never been anywhere tropical and it is definitly something I want to do again! I was so lucky to get to go for FREE! Yes, free! A long time family friend of ours owns a business where she gets free trips as incentives to sell certain product. Well, she was able to get a free trip for herself, her best friend, my mom, my sister and ME! It was so much fun to spend a few days relaxing, laying out, swimming, EATING, and being responsibility free! I can't wait to go somewhere tropical with Dallin and my little family. I think vacations are such an important part of life. They create such wonderful memories and you're able to have fun as a family. The only problem is they're so dang expensive!! We've decided we will live in our cozy, little house forever if it means we can take family vacations! Going on vacations are way more fun than living in a fancy house! Unless there's a way to do both........hmm......


white sand, turquoise water, straw huts...doesn't get much better than that!

This was the path back to our room. We saw all sorts of creatures!

The gorgeous pool that we took late night swims in! :)

Our crazy group

right: Toni (family friend), me, my mom, my sister, Toni's best friend, Toni! Funny, huh.

Senioritas!

We decided to leave the resort and see what the downtown shopping was like. Definitly a culture shock. We left our gorgeous, 5 star resort, went 2 miles down the road and saw major poverty. This little boy, Pablo came running towards me, climbed up on me like a monkey and started kissing my face!! I asked if I could take a picture with him, he was so cute. We gave him 5 bucks, which made his day.

That balloon animal on our heads is suppose to be a penguin..I don't see it..

We went to this water park called Xcaret one day and saw these cute dolphins putting on a show and playing with the visitors. We saw parts of the ruins, got to go swimming in a undergroud tunnel/cave and saw lots of turtles, gators and tropical birds.

awww....the food.... all inclusive is the only way to go. I ate my heart out and drank about 562 virgin daqueries/pina coladas/dirty bananas each day. Yes, I had a drink called a dirty banana-I'm cultured now.

It was a much needed good time for my mom as well, considering the rough 2 years she has had. I can't wait to go back!!!