Super Hero Birthday Bash!

Rhys is 2 years old!  When I asked him a couple months ago what he wanted to do for his birthday he said "cake, and, um, Spider-man?"  He's been obsessed with both these things for the past several months.  So we decided to throw him a Spider-man and Friends themed birthday party.  It was an absolute blast! 

 Practicing web-shooting skills before the guests arrive.

My good friend Natalie, knowing how stressed I get about preparing food for a crowd, volunteered her incredible catering talents and served up an unbelievable spread!  Thank you Natalie!  My sole contribution was adding the Spider-man cake topper to the delicious Costco cake.

 After enjoying the great snacks, David held a Super Hero training camp with 4 lessons- speed, agility, compassion, and strength.

After they raced, lifted balloon barbells, jumped over crepe paper, and gave each other hugs, they combined  all their practiced Super Powers in a race to rescue their mom with a great big hug.

Time for the race to cake and presents!

Every time I asked Rhys if he was excited for his birthday over the last month, he had only one thing to say "CAKE!" 

We couldn't believe how many wonderful gifts he got!  He was so excited about each one and hasn't stopped playing with them since!

It didn't take long for the crowd to converge- everyone wanted to help and be part of the surprise!  David had to crawl behind the table to get into the action!

We feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends here!  It is especially hard to be far away from our family during big events like this, but our friends helped make this such an amazing birthday for Rhys, and for David and me too!  Thank you to all the Super Heroes who helped save the day!

And Happy Birthday to our incredible little Rhys!

Snowed In

The infamous "blizzard" of aught 10 swept in today with a gusto, dropping an unbelievable several inches of snow within hours!  Everything in NYC shut down last night until further notice, in mere anticipation of this unlivable amount of white stuff.  Being the seasoned Utahns that we are, first, we laughed.  Then, we laughed more heartily.  Then, we put on our boots and went out to play...

Swing Kid

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous for the past week, so we've been taking advantage of it by heading to the park every afternoon. Rhys has decided that his favorite playground activity is swinging. He'd stay in that thing for hours if I let him- and sometimes I'm pretty tempted when I remember that every toy he has at home holds his attention for 15 minutes or less.
He likes me to push him as high and as fast as I dare because he loves to feel the wind in his face. He's my little daredevil! The kid next to him is a year old and his dad said he hated the swings until just a couple months ago. He was pretty impressed with my 5 1/2 month old thrill seeker.

I'm a pretty lucky mom that I get to experience these moments with him. I look around the park while we're there and see that most of the kids are with nannies. I'm so grateful that I get to spend my time with this little boy...he's pretty fun to be around.