What a birthday!

Jay's birthday was a success! We celebrated both on the special day with a trip to Sevilla and again on Saturday with a big birthday bash. What a lucky boy! Between both celebrations and 3 boxes of presents from his grandparents he definitely loved "my hap birthday," as he calls it.

On Wednesday evening we opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa and a few from mom and dad. Jay received some super 3 year old toys including coloring books, toy animals, a Dora the Explorer and Diego DVD (a HUGE hit), puzzles, games, a Lightening McQueen remote control car and a few new books.

I love Jay's Vana White look here.

Wow! After presents we headed towards Sevilla. We decided to take the train in since Jay has an obsession with them.
The new metro system is awesome, although a little confusing. We missed our train the first time around because we didn't realize we were at the end of the line and the trains coming in from Sevilla were also leaving to go back out to Sevilla. It was pretty funny when we saw the train pulling out in the direction we wanted to go. Luckily the next train was only 10 minutes away. We also accidentally bought the wrong kind of ticket (believe me, that part was beyond confusing) but after some friendly help from the Metro staff we made it through. Jay really enjoyed the train experience though, which was the whole point anyway. Once in Sevilla Jay had a major meltdown (it's my birthday I can cry if I want to) when he decided he wanted to play on the playground before eating. In the end, we probably should have just let him play first, but we were starving! After a not so pleasant time-out we ate our food. It's funny how kids are so picky. We got Jay a chicken nugget happy meal from McDonalds and with the choice of chicken nuggest, fries, soda and apples with chocolate dipping sauce he only ended up eating the apples. Not even dipped in chocolate sauce. Crazy! He ate the whole bag too. After eating we finally let Jay play at the playground and then it was back on the train and home to bed. A great day (minus the tantrum).

Saturday's hap birthday party was a lot of fun. It also ended up being a lot of preparation, but it was all worth it in the end. One of my huge accomplishments for the day was making Jay his very own train birthday cake. Thank you BettyCrocker.com! Of course making the cake wasn't nearly as easy as the website and video made it sound, but it turned out okay in the end. I'm certainly no professional pastry chef, so I was happy enough with the results. We invited all the family's from the ward with young kids over for the party (don't worry, there are only 4). We made plenty of good food for the gang. Claudia and Benjamin couldn't make it so that left Maria, John Johnny and Alba; the Box family; and Celso, Vanessa and Rueben.

Yup, I'm starting to sport the baby belly.

The party favors! Jay decorated the bags.

Jay had so much fun playing with his friends. He also loved his cake and opening presents. Here he is blowing out the candle.


Jay had been asking us all week if he could eat his candle. He thought it was candy! I kept telling him it wasn't to eat but he didn't believe me. When I let him smell it and told him it was yucky he said, "Yeah mom, yucky. I eat it at my hap birthday party!" :) I guess we had to let him try it. Unfortunately, it had frosting all over it so in the end I think Jay felt he was right about it being tasty. Luckily he only had one little bite before digging into the really yummy stuff!



During present opening time Jay received a bucket of play-dough, a Cars puzzle, a Cars game and a Cars coloring kit. Think he's into Cars? After the kids left we opened presents from Nona and Papa. Again, Jay hit the jackpot! Some of his favorites include battery operated Thomas and Percy trains, a tractor and firetruck (Red) from the movie Cars, a new board game, a Dora coloring book and a new Thomas the Train video. Do you think he's spoiled? He also liked this cool card Nona and Papa gave him that played "I Like to Move it Move it," one of his favorite songs.


Happy Birthday little one! Hope you had a wonderful time.

My baby is 3!!! Happy Birthday Jay :)

Happy Birthday littlest one!

I cannot believe you are 3. Time has flown and even though you're really not a baby any more, you'll always be our baby. Your daddy and I love you so much. I never imagined love could be this strong. Often I think to myself, "He's just perfect in every single way." I could never completely express my intense gratitude to Heavenly Father for giving you to us. You are such a special little boy. Let me tell you some things about you...

1. You love trains. Especially Thomas the Train. You were pretty excited to get this new train set for your birthday.


2. You love building with duplos. Especially when mommy and daddy play along. Often you like to make "train tracks" with the duplos and then you run your trains along them when you've finished constructing your train yard.


3. You're always speaking jibberish! You love to run around the basement speaking your own language (maybe you think that's what we're speaking to you when we talk to you in Spanish?). You love to run. Often when I ask you what you're doing you'll tell me how a tiger is chasing you and you have to run fast to get away. I guess your creativity is already flowing too :)

4. You love water, but you hate swimming. For some reason you're terrified of trying to swim on your own, even with floaties or a life vest on. Playing in the kiddie pool is just right for you though. You also love your sunglasses and can't go anywhere without them.


5. You can sing a tune! You are really good actually. I've always been impressed how you can pick out the exact key I'm singing in and sing along with me. You can do the same thing when you hear bells or beeping sounds. You love to repeat the sounds and it's always in the correct key. Hopefully you'll keep up your love for music all your life. It's a valuable tool.

6. You love cars. You take them with you wherever you go and can play with them quietly for a long time by yourself. You especially love rolling them over bumps. In fact, you also love watching real cars go over speed bumps. It seems to fascinate you and whenever you see a bump you beg mommy and daddy to let you watch as the cars ride over it. Then you say, "Bump, bump!"


7. You love to play board games. Especially Shoots and Ladders. You also like memory and puzzles. We're still working on the concept of taking turns, but it will come with time.


8. You're a very happy little boy. You always have a smile on your face for mommy and a willing hug and kiss to give. You are a great little snuggler and you bring joy to everyone around you. I pray you will always spread God's love as you grow, serving others and sharing the light of the gospel with all you meet.


We love you so much little one!








p.s. I love sneaking into your room after you've fallen asleep. It's so funny how you use Eva as a pillow. What a sweet little boy you are! Happy Birthday!

14 weeks

Jay goes to Guarderia

My little boy is getting so big!!! This week he started Guaderia or Pre-school in Spain. He'll only be going for the last 2 months we're here then I'll probably wait until next year to put him back in in the States. Still though, I can't believe he's actually at this point! So far he's been pretty unhappy about the whole experience. He usually cries pretty hard when I drop him off and when he sees me when I come to pick him up he starts crying again. His teachers says he's okay while he's there though. The hope is he'll actually learn some Spanish. We'll see! Check out his cute uniform. So sweet :)

Switzerland

We spent 5 fabulous days in Switzerland with the Price's. We took things easy there, again tired of the "go go go" trips. One day we took the kids to Lake Zurich, across the street from the Price home.
Jay and Kelsey had a great time playing in the water.

Another day we went into Zurich and met Tally for lunch then toured around the city a bit.
Jessie showed us the famous stain glass windows by Marc Chagall in the Fraumunster Church. We were impressed! The stained glass is so unusual. It looks very modern and it is very beautiful. Chagall created the works in the 1950s, so it's no wonder it looks so much different than the typical cathedral stained glass.

One day Mike, Jessie and I took the kids to Pilatus, the famous Swiss cogwheel train.
It is actually the steepest cogwheel train in the world climbing 1,635 meters from start to finish. The train actually opened in 1889 as a steam cogwheel train, then re-opened in 1937 as an electric cogwheel train. Pretty progressive. The train takes you up through the Alps past beautiful trees, wild flowers and rock formations. The views of course are spectacular. At the top it was pretty cloudy, but occasionally the clouds cleared and we were able to see out. Jay thought riding on the train was pretty cool, except when we didn't let him stick his head out the window. He was pretty tired by the time we were done.It was a great trip and we're so glad we were able to experience the cogwheel train.




Tally took Friday off so we decided to go to a little town named Einsiedeln about an hour away to do a little hiking.
We saw horses, threw rocks in a stream and hiked up a beautiful mountain.
Jay and Kelsey were in heaven! It was nice to get out and view the gorgeous Swiss landscape. Jessie and Tally definitely live in an amazing place. Now why can't southern Spain look like Switzerland?


On Saturday the boys went on a 40 mile bike ride around Lake Zurich (way to go!) while Jessie and I took the kids to a little zoo.
The space in the back of the car was a little tight, but we made it.
We had a great time and really enjoyed the sea lion show. It was pretty impressive! Jay and Kelsey were transfixed the whole time.

We also saw many other animals including mini horses and elephants.


Saturday night we decided to have an adults night out and we left the kids with some friends of Jessie and Tally's. It was so fun to have a date night with just the four of us! We had some wonderful pasta made to order in front of our table and then we walked around the city and enjoyed the night free of kids. We went back home and watched an awesome BYU game which pretty much topped off the day.

On Sunday we had to say good bye. Aiden was sad to see us leave. It's always hard to part from such good friends, but we're looking forward to seeing them in Utah in December with Dan and Mikaela! The trio finally reunited :) Thanks for a wonderful trip guys, we love you!