Deacon Turns Four!

Deacon turned four this April. He has been watching Hook at grandma's house and decided he wanted a pirate birthday.
He loves having his face painted to look like a pirate and of course no pirate is complete without his hat, sword, and hook:

He had to have a pirate cake too:

Make a wish!:

Grandpa dressed up in Deacon's Thor helmet from Aunt Kim:

Avery the pirate:

 Me and my little pirate:

 Jude and Deacon with their best scary pirate faces:

Deacon with Aunt Katie and Pirate Nixxin:

More Pirates- Lydia, Deacon, Carly, and Adrian:

Easter 2012

We had a fabulous Easter! Scott was able to come home for his last leave before heading to Afghanistan. It was wonderful to spend some time with him. We had fun decorating eggs with Deacon and taking him on an Easter egg hunt. Deacon was thrilled to find a sword and a Spider Man shirt in his Easter basket:

We were able to spend some time with Scott's family too. Scott's sister Julie got almost everyone together for one last Hurrah at the family's favorite restaurant- La Casita:

Spring Break in Moab

We had a wonderful Spring Break in Moab! It was my first time and I loved the beautiful red rock formations. We went with my parents, Shawn, Whitney and their kids, Kimberly, Jake, and Gatlin. We stayed in two cozy one room cabins with bunk beds and spent our days hiking and four-wheeling. The kids had a blast climbing on everything in sight and I enjoyed the stunning beauty all around.

Happy Deacon:

Grumpy Deacon- he often found himself in trouble for getting a little too exuberant with his walking sticks that quite often turned to swords:

Some of the girls- Carly, Whitney, Kim, and Me:

 My mom with her walking stick:

 Cool Cavern:

 So pretty:

 Delicate arch:

 Deacon and the girls:

 Dad and Mom at Delicate Arch:

 Just the right size:

 The gang at Dead Horse Point:

 Me and D at Dead Horse Point:

 The kids ready for their ride:

Carly, Deacon, and Adrian: 

 My sunshine in the sunshine:

 The girls are luckily patient with Deacon's craziness:

 Deacon with Grandpa and Grandma:

 Shawn and Whitney's family:

 Deacon with an ever present stick/sword:

 Kimberly and Jake:

 Adrian with Uncle Gatlin:

 Some of the gang:

 Carly enjoying the ride:

 Happy trails:

Crazy Deacon

My little Deacon is growing and growing and developing such a fun little personality. He is Mr. Inquisitive. He seems to ask a million questions. Some of them make me laugh like, "Why doesn't grandpa have any hair on the back of his head?". Some of them are head scratchers like, "Why is my nose by my mouth?" And some of them I call his angel questions because he's probably going to have to wait and ask an angel to get an answer like, "How did Heavenly Father make me?". At least he is not asking me about the birds and the bees yet. He is pretty certain he came to earth in a spaceship just like Superman. He has his routines that he has to follow religiously or he gets extremely grumpy.

For instance, he has to come snuggle with me in my bed every morning. If I'm already up he insists that I get back in bed for awhile. After a few minutes he is ready to start his day:

He wears his Darth Vader cape everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE. The only two place he doesn't wear it are church and preschool. It is a very versatile cape. With it he can be Darth Vader, Superman, Spiderman, Thor, one of the three musketeers, a pirate, or even a cowboy.

He has been watching the Living Scriptures movies and loves to pretend he is Nephi. Even in this picture he has his cape slung around his chest. I'm telling you it is a very versatile cape! Deacon can't just watch a movie. He has to act out the entire thing while it is playing. When Lehi is eating the fruit of the Tree of Life, Deacon has to get an apple out of the fridge for his prop. When Laban is drunk from alcohol Deacon has to get some water to pretend that is his alcohol. He has quite the imagination! Don't get me wrong his little quirks can be exasperating at times, but he is so much fun and such a sweet little boy!

Bears and Birds

The Veteran's of Foreign Wars had a little party for the kids who have a parent deployed. Deacon was thrilled to pick out a new teddy bear that is dressed just like Daddy. He even calls it his daddy bear.

They also had some people come from an organization that helps injured birds. He was able to see some cool owls:

This little guy was teeny tiny. It almost didn't look real- so cute:

The kids with their bears and the veterans:

Deacon at home loving his daddy bear:

Snow Finally!

We didn't really get a good snow this year until February and by that time Deacon was more than ready to try out his new coat and gloves and play in the snow. I had a hard time taking pictures because all he wanted to do was throw snowballs at me. Then he would laugh and laugh. He is so much fun! I just love him to pieces.

The sneaky snowballer:

Attempting a snow angel:

"I'm going to get you mom"

It was a bright day with all that snow and he had a hard time keeping his eyes open:

Cheese!