We are Pioneers

This year our stake had a fun pioneer activity, the same day as Preston's party, of course he thought it was all for him. ;)

Oh, and he thought he would dress up for the occasion.  No, I didn't let him wear this for long. ;)

We started out by having to do chores, washing clothes is our specialty.

Since we couldn't eat until we earned enough money to pay for it we even put Preston to work carrying water

We all decided to try our luck at grinding wheat too.  Preston just wanted to eat the bread.

His favorite chore of all was churning butter though, I think.

Or maybe it was hammering nails into the wood stumps.

He especially liked the games he got to play.

and the fact that he got to go fishing

and hunt for candy in a big pile of sawdust.

No, we didn't let him climb the grease pole, don't worry.

We did, however, let him get his face painted.

and he loved it of course!

He wasn't too happy about being put in jail.

He should have taken matters into his own hands, like Tesila.

She was a sneaky girl

But at least she was free!

We let Preston free eventually too, after the downpour of rain.  He was glad when he was safe in the nice warm car eating pretzels with his hair newly spiked.

The Thomas Party

Preston's party started off with all the kids playing with the toys.

I had set Preston's train out, but the kids played with just about everything except the train.

Even little girls were playing with the tool set.

Or playing the piano.

Eventually we decided to break out the Thomas coloring pages.

Everybody seemed to enjoy that.

It kept them busy for a very long time.

Then they wanted to hang their work on the fridge to show off to everyone.

It was amazing, it even kept the little ones entertained.

After the excitement of the coloring pages wore off we all ventured out into the backyard for bubble blowing.

Britni was gracious enough to help me out with that.  She's pretty much the best bubble blower ever.  Seriously.

All the kids had a great time chasing the bubbles.

It's too bad it didn't catch Preston's attention for that long.

Or anyone else for that matter.  Something new caught their attention...

a little frog that was hiding out in the grass.

They shared well

and each took a turn holding it.

Except for Preston.  He was too excited about filling his dump truck up with rocks.

Tesila was nice enough to keep him company.  Oh, and do you like how our kids aren't wearing any shoes?  Nice, huh?

Then of course another distraction came along.

The girls absolutely ADORE Bentley!

If you couldn't tell?

A little more playing in the grass happened

Then we decided to play a game.

Who knew "Red Light Green Light" would be so intriguing!  They didn't even try to win, it was funny.

We finally made our way back in the house for a story about trains.

At least it caught the attention of the older kids.

But the minute we said the word "cake" their attention span was gone.  Poor Preston had been waiting to eat his Thomas cake since the night before.

Unfortunately when it was time to blow out the candles he wasn't quite sure what to do.

But when it came to eating the cake, they all knew what to do!  Look at little Sawyer digging right in.  I had to give him an extra helping of frosting on top before I even got my cake! ;)

It turns out having them sit on blankets was a good idea.  To clean up all I had to do was take them outside and shake them... then wash them of course, but that's easier than mopping. ;)

Preston was sooo happy!

He just loves making a mess of himself.

What a silly boy!?

Of course after filling the kids with sugar they were ready to go once again so Ramsay kept them all entertained by blowing up balloons and then letting the air out so they would fly around the room over and over again.

Until finally Preston noticed the little stack of presents in the corner.  Everyone was more than happy to help him open them

and play with them of course.

While the adults chatted nearby

and passed the time by bouncing balloons in the air.

Don't worry, little Mateo didn't peep almost the entire time.

Poor Carter on the other hand was having a rough morning.  We were so lucky to have my mom there to help out!  At least he got in the Thomas spirit and fell right to sleep on Preston's new blanket after all the commotion was over.

After Carter woke up I wanted a picture of both boys in their train "gear."  They weren't too sure about it at first.

I wasn't suprised that Preston would be more interested in his train than getting his picture taken.

But finally I got one kind of decent one.  At least they were both looking toward the camera.  Oh, and isn't the Costco merchandise in the background lovely?

If you couldn't tell, everyone had fun!  Even if they were tired...