Birthdays!

Our family has two birthdays in November, Julie's in the middle of the month and Andy's near the end. Julie officially entered her mid-30's this year (she's no spring chicken!) and Andy hit the big boy 4-year-old mark. We had a great time celebrating with them and with everyone who came down to San Diego for Andy's party. He had a fantastic time and was very glad to see you! It will be hard to top!

Julie's presents. If you look at the top of the gifts, you'll see pipe cleaners tied into bows. It was Andy's idea.

Despite my earnest desire to put 34 candles on her cake and set off our fire alarms, I restrained myself and just put in enough to make the shape of a 3 and 4. It still gave off quite a bit of light.

Andy insisted that his gift to Julie be a Build-a-Bear. He picked it and it's outfit himself. He also came up with the bear's creative name of...Rainbow.

Lizzie was just happy to get her hands on something that she could chew.

Andy's birthday, as befitting a newly minted 4-year-old, was a bit more involved. Since his birthday was in the middle of the week, we celebrated as a family first and let him open his gifts from us.

Julie rigged his bedroom door so that he would have balloons falling on him when he opened it first thing in the morning. It was pretty entertaining to hear him open his door first thing that morning, followed by a confused silence, and then a question, "Why are there balloons in my door?" He quickly became very excited when he remembered that it was his special day.

Andy with his Spiderman balloon. He insisted that Julie buy it.

I had to include this picture of Lizzie. She's just so darn adorable!

That's right folks! He's 4 (and a pretty big Spiderman fan, if you can't tell)!

We decided to save his Spiderman cake for his weekend party and got his choice of doughnuts instead. He also got to choose dinner (we had McDonald's). He was pretty stoked.

Blowing out his candles...

...and they're out! He wanted to tell me his wish right away, but I managed to keep him from spilling the beans for at least 5 minutes.

My two November birthday peeps! I sure do love them!

Andy's big party was the following Saturday. We are very grateful that so many people were able to make it, including our family from Sacramento. Andy had a fantastic time and is already planning next year's celebration!

I'm convinced that Julie has a future in professional cake decorating. It makes me want a Spiderman cake for my birthday!

As part of the party entertainment, Julie and her sisters put together a superhero floor background and had the kids pose as superheroes. Needless to say, it was a hit.

This picture has a bit of background to it. Andy had gone to a friend's birthday party a couple of months ago, and noticed that Spiderman was there. He then promptly went up to Julie and informed her that Spiderman was coming to his birthday party. When Julie responded with, "Really?", he said, "Yes. I already invited him." That's right. My son marched up to Spiderman at someone else's birthday party and invited him to his own shindig. The kid knows no fear. As you can see in the picture, he was still very excited to actually see him.

The obligatory high five with Spiderman!

Spiderman was actually fantastic. He entertained a gaggle of 3-5 year olds for an hour, running all over the backyard, playing games, and putting up with them for much longer than I ever could have. If you're interested, give me a call and I'll give you his number. It was worth every penny!

Andy with his official Superhero certificate. Apparently, my son is now certified to fight crime!

A tug-of-war with Spiderman. Spiderman won (although he did let the kids win a second round).

Lizzie ate while everyone else played. A girl after my own heart!

Playing limbo with Spiderman. Andy's crab walk strategy was unconventional, but highly successful.

Blowing out the candles on his cake. He didn't even spit on the cake much!

Getting this many kids to pose for a picture is a bit like herding cats. All I can say is I'm glad I'm not that guy in the Spiderman suit!

Even Lizzie is a budding superhero. She just needs to learn to leave the buildings alone...unless she wants to be a supervillain!

Well, that's it for our birthdays this year. One more post and we're up-to-date for the year! Wish me luck!

Trips and Halloween

As the end of the year approaches, I realize that there are several major events from our life that we have yet to blog about. In order to cover those before 2013, I'm going to do a post each night for the next three nights. Without further ado, let us begin!

In August we packed our little family of four into the minivan and set out on a one-week vacation to Southeast Idaho that got me in touch with my Western roots. We first met my family in my old stomping grounds of Blackfoot, Idaho for a family reunion. We then drove to Driggs, Idaho, where we stayed at a fantastic cabin with my brother Phil's family and were visited by my Mom, Dad, sister Cassie, brother Daniel, and nephews Joey, Billy, and Wyatt while we were there. There was hiking, fishing, game playing, and attempted star-gazing (primarily unsuccessful due to some wild fires that were raging several hundred miles away). It was a very relaxing trip and much appreciated!

The Scarborough Clan at Jensen's Grove in Blackfoot. It's hard to believe that we've got so many now.

My family. It was the first time in years that we were all together.

My siblings. Man, we look good!

My beautiful girls on a family hike in Driggs. I love these two to pieces!

We drove over to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, during the trip. Andy just had to get his picture taken with the bear and his baby sister.

One of the four elk antler arches at Jackson Hole. No trip there is complete without this picture!

I couldn't resist an old time photo at Jackson Hole. It just had to be done.

While at Jackson Hole, both Andy and I got cowboy hats. Saddle up, pardner!

Phil and I went fishing while we were there. We had taken the kids the day before and didn't catch anything, so we got up early the next day and returned, determined to catch something. Although it had been years since either one of us went fishing, we were successful, and returned with dinner. It made me feel very pioneerish!

Phil with a rainbow trout. Our scoutmasters would be proud!

After returning to the cabin with our catch, we then proceeded to clean the eight fish we caught. The kids were surprisingly interested and wanted to be involved throughout the entire process. We'll make good Idahoans out them yet!

Cousins on another family hike, this time at Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park. They sure had a good time together.

The culmination of the trip was a 13 mile round-trip hike to Table Rock, a hike that Phil and I did as young Boy Scouts. We were joined for the trip by our sister Cassie, brother Daniel, and nephews Wyatt and Billy. It's a pretty steep trip, but fantastic throughout. Billy and Wyatt did amazingly well for a couple of hiking newbies. They both made it all the way to Table Rock.

Phil on the way up. You can tell by his grin that this is his idea of heaven!

A view of Table Rock at the rock field with about a mile to go. It was all uphill from here.

On the side of table rock, right before the final climb. I will admit that I was a bit short of breath here.

Phil and I at the top with the Grand Teton in the background. Given my fear of heights, I was only at the top for a few minutes, but it was a grand view!

On the way back to San Diego, we stopped in Nephi, Utah for dinner at Erin's Uncle Jen's restaurant. Good food and, best of all, trains throughout the place. Both Andy and I were in heaven!

That sums up the Idaho trip. The next big thing for us was Halloween. I've always wanted to dress up as Darth Vader, but never did for various reasons. This year, however, I was determined to rectify the error. I also have the perfect family for it with two boys and two girls. I started early, convincing Andy that he wanted to be Luke Skywalker. Then we got a Princess Leia costume for Lizzie and a Queen Amidala costume for Julie, and we were set.

My life is now complete (although I do want the official movie replica costume, but Julie won't let me spend the money yet. I'll have to save my quarters)!

Friends from both our new and old ward came over to trick-or-treat with us. We were a smash hit!

Well, that gets us through October. Next up, Julie and Andy's birthdays!

This Post is Brought to You by the Number 12!

In order to commemorate the once in a century occurrence that is 12/12/12, I have decided to present the Scarborough Family's list of 12 Favorite Things. Enjoy!

12. Laughing

We pretty much laugh all the time. If not with one of us, then definitely at one of us. There's no shortage of material in this house!

11. Cowboys

It warms my Idaho heart to see my little boy staring steely eyed down the barrel of a gun. Giddyup!

10. Oranges

This one comes primarily from Julie, but we do love oranges. If for no other reason than the ability to give yourself an orange peel smile.

9. Swimming

I swear, Andy is at least half fish. He loves everything about the water. Given how much Lizzie enjoys her baths, I suspect that she's not too far behind her big brother.

8. The Navy

What can I say? We're a Navy family. Especially when it involves large cannon!

7. Cars

We all love cars, Andy more than the rest of us. He's also looking forward to driving...I am not!

6. Sleeping

As you can see...

sleeping is taken...

very, very, very...

seriously in this family!

5. Cousins

We love spending time with our cousins here in California!

4. Disneyland

Given that Andy's imaginary friends are Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, and sometimes Pete (if he's not being too naughty), it's pretty much a required trip at least once a year.

3. Star Wars

This one goes without saying.

2. Superheroes

We're pretty much in training 24/7. It takes alot of work to fight evil all day! By far the favorite superhero, however, is...

Spiderman! I think that if Andy could have Spiderman declared his legal father, he'd do it in a heartbeat!

1. Hanging with Mom

Because she always knows how to make us feel loved! It's pretty much what we do as often as we can.

Well, that's it. If we're still around at the next 12/12/12, look for the Scarborough Family's top 12 hobbies for centanarians!