Noah and Evie's swim birthday party

Noah and Evie had been asking for a friend birthday party. We'd never done one before because I'm kind of lazy like that. For the first time I thought, "Sure, why not." So we rented the Swim Center's party room on April 26th for two and a half hours and invited six friends - sibling pairs with three for each. Noah chose Jack, Asher and Eli. Evie chose Elle, Mia and Aly. 

After swimming for an hour, everyone came back in for multiple pieces of cake and dippin' dots ice cream. "This is ice cream?! I don't like it." Hence the multiple pieces of cake.

Gift time!

 The kids made many, many laps floating along the river. Mia, Aly, Evie, Asher and Elle.

Our one rule was that no one was allowed to be left out. I think they did their best and I hope no one's feelings were hurt, but sometimes they got separated. Here's Evie, Eli and Noah who were playing on the slide.

Mia, crazy Evie and Asher carrying Elle. 

Watch out kids! That Terry is a scary one. 

Evie went down the slide mostly because Aly was doing it. I think she was still a little short for it...

The boys - Noah, Jack and Asher. Missing Eli somewhere.

After two hours of swimming they still didn't want to be done but our time was up! I snapped a few shots of the whole group before we left. Noah and Evie had a fantastic time and I'm glad we did it. But once every five years or more is probably enough for me!

Sylvan Lake and Sunday Gulch hike

A couple days after we returned from the Middle School Bike Trip Terry took a day off and we went to Sylvan Lake for a hike and a swim. I was super bummed I had forgotten my good camera and was stuck with cell phone pictures...

As we were walking down the path to the lake Evie remarked how sad she was that she hadn't seen Aly for such a long time...

But right after she said that, someone from the water yelled out, "The Biers!" It was Aly!!

It was so random that we happened to be there at the same time. They were only able to stay for a short while but the kids were ecstatic to play with each other for a bit. 

Eli and Noah

Aly and Evie. 

Ezra and Samuel tried out their swimming wings for the first time.

I climbed the big rock next to the beach to take a few photos. 

Beautiful 

That's me! 

After only about an hour at the beach we were sunburned and ready for our hike.

We did the Sunday Gulch Trail...or part of it. The last time we had been there was when Noah was a baby, only a couple months old in fact! 

I scanned in to my computer a couple photos from that first baby Noah Sunday Gulch hike. July 4, 2005!!

Mommy still had a few pounds to lose from the 55 she gained on that first pregnancy so we don't need to see a close up picture of me and Noah. But Terry and Noah are adorable! Oh, and that shirt! It was Terry's one souvenir from our honeymoon in Hawaii and he gave it away to Herbergers for a clothing drive so he could get a coupon and get me a Christmas gift. I was so bummed! But yes, it was sweet. But I miss that shirt.

We stopped at the first waterfall, the first of many. Look at that big 11 year old!

The trail goes down this hill very steep hill, following the water course from the back of the lake. It's so steep you really do need those handrails. 

Another waterfall. 

And another! 

The entire trail would have taken two and a half hours so when we came to the bottom of the hill we turned around and climbed back up. 

Cute girl in front of the pretty stream. 

Noah, Samuel, Evie, Daddy, and Ezra. 

Back at the top Terry took my picture of front of the trickling stream coming over the dam. No wonder the stream was not as big as I remembered. 

From the top of the dam. 

Those are our kids. :P 

It was a hot day and the water was irresistible to the boys, especially because they wanted to throw in rocks...during our entire hike back around the lake. 

Terry's panoramic of us and the lake. 

We had Noah take our picture.

We loaded up in the Envoy and drove along Needles Highway through Custer State Park enjoying the views, or at least Terry and I did. 

The Needles Eye

The kids just really wanted to go home and of course Ezra fell asleep. 

Terry "evened" out his bike trip tan by adding another layer of red, then brown. There are three or four different shades there! 

sleepover!

We had a youth group party at our place last Friday night and since our new friends, Marcus and Jackie were coming from Custer, an hour away, we invited them with their four kids to stay the night. Our kids were so excited about having their friends stay the night that we even let them stay up late. I think they're still recovering from it. 

Noah and Eli are about a year apart in age. Evie and Aly are bff's and are only like a month apart. Samuel and JT are only a month apart as well. And Rowdy, their baby, has to play with Snap I suppose ;)

Enjoying Terry's pancakes the following morning.

superbowl party

So we had our first Superbowl youth party at our house February 3. Who was even playing? 49ers and Ravens? I always forget. But it was fun. It's neat to have people over and sort of "break in" the house. Though of course, we hope they don't literally break our house. 

We had one group on the big couch downstairs. 

playing wii mariokart and not watching Beyonce during half time

And another group upstairs. We (okay, mostly me) are really looking forward to having the dungeon space available for more seating. The big couch is pretty darn crowded into that room. But the kids did have fun on their flying turtles (no big kids allowed though because something would get broken).

Our friends Marcus and Jackie brought their four kids for the fun, which took care of my kids and theirs since they mutually kept each other busy having even more fun. Noah looks so serene with Eli.

Evie and Aly are good buds. They are almost the exact same age and play so well together. Evie is much more social than Noah. Or Samuel. I think it's mostly a girl thing.

Case in point? Samuel and JT appear to be playing together, but they're really playing next to each other. That's normal for two year olds, but I think Samuel will end up being more like Noah when it comes to social situations (Noah is more aloof).

Samuel is like "My wall track"