It's great to be 8!

Dallin turned 8 a couple weeks ago. With Maryruth's family in town, we had a family party of 25 people.

Brennan is just so excited about this one! Note the pink princess gift bag. That's what happens when you have a baby sister.

  

My kids' love Heath (ice cream, candy bars, etc.), so I made him a Heath Bar Cake. After poking a hot chocolate cake with holes, I poured sweetened condensed milk mixed with a jar of caramel over the top, let it cool, covered it with Cool Whip and topped it with crushed Heath bars. It was super yummy! 

Then on his actual birthday we had tacos and watermelon (his favorite dinner) and more cake. Good thing I made 2 of them.

Then of course there were lots of jokes about the diaper box he unwrapped.

Inside the diaper box was this awesome black and red tool bag (his favorite color combo) filled with a bunch of little presents.

Rope + red sheets + big and little clamps + flashlights = a fort kit!

My kids are always making forts, but it's hard to get the heavy blankets to stay up. Plus they always sag in the middle. This way they can clamp onto furniture and tie the rope to various things and clip the sheet to it. They get really creative.

They've made some pretty amazing forts!

Of course the best part about turning 8 is getting baptized. He was looking forward to this for a long time, and it was lovely. Grandpa gave the opening prayer, Spencer gave the talk on baptism, Tyler played his violin (Families Can Be Together Forever), Dave performed the baptism and confirmation, I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, and grandma gave the closing prayer. And as I mentioned earlier, everyone took turns holding Chloe. 

Afterwards we gave Dallin the option of either going out to lunch or going to the movies. He chose to see Ice Age. Then Levi screamed as we approached the dark, loud theater, so I got a refund and took him home. Luckily the boys brought me home a big bucket of popcorn. It was a great day.