Party Party!

Sunday was a great day-- cousin Andrew Tesch opened his mission call to Costa Rica.  There aren't very many people Clark looks short around!

Abe correctly guessed Central America, but did put his little arrow directly pointing at Costa Rica.
This is the second mission call in a row that Abe has correctly guessed.  I suppose we should pay more attention to where he predicts.

Also on Sunday night, we hosted a birthday party for the two cutest, almost twinner cousins in the world.  Emi is one day older than George.

We had pizza for dinner because George said it was his favorite food, and we get half off of Papa Murphy's thanks to Clark, and I just had a baby and didn't want to plan or cook a meal.  If anyone was disappointed in the meal selection they were smart enough not to complain to me!

These four-- Takara, Faith, Cannon, and Kaylee-- really enjoy hanging out together.

Maiya, Caroline, and Peter getting a moment on the trampoline without all the big kids.

We divided into teams for some good trash-talkin' Minute-to-Win-It games.  Here is the cookie face challenge.  Abe and Allison were the big winners.

My favorite moment of the games was Faith competing against Bethany in the tissue pulling game.  Bethany did come out on top (although there was an accusation of cheating), but Faith was hysterical to watch because she was so determined and focused.  I always knew this was one of her great qualities, but to see it in action over something so trivial as pulling tissues from a box was so funny.

Cannon versus Aunt Laura for moving ping-pong balls from one bow to another using only a spoon and your mouth.  

Some people thought they couldn't do it, but George and Eli were impressive with their m&m and straw sucking skills.

And they waited so patiently to get their turn at a game.

In our discussion the other day, we realized that George has had a pinata at ALL of his birthday celebrations and Cannon has had one at only one of his.
Why the unfairness?

I don't know and I don't really care.  Nobody seemed that bent out of shape that George is the only child in our family who consistently celebrates with pinatas.  Maybe he always asks for one and the others don't.  Oh well, the nice thing with a pinata is everyone partakes of the goodness.

George takes a whack at it.

Emi, the other birthday kid, in action.

Grandpa gets Cannon all set.  Bethany had control of the rope and the position of the pinata-- she showed Cannon no mercy.

Faith was the last of the little kids to get a turn and then the candy and treats rained down.  Everyone seemed satisfied and there were no tears, so that's really as much as you can hope for with little kids and a pinata.

 So much for no cavities at the dentist last week.

 And back to simplifying the food for this party, ice cream sandwiches and Creamies were the cake and dessert.  I mean, really, why must we complicate everything?

Grandma and Grandpa Cannon gave Emi this cute little play tent and Peter quite liked it as well.

My darling niece, Takara, was such a good helper with Greta.

Some of the party headed home after the dessert, but my siblings and Naomi stayed and we visited outside in the cool of the evening.  I cannot express enough how much I love summer evening outside visiting with friends and family. 

Abe finally got his picture he has been trying to get for almost three weeks now.  A family picture with all of us (except Tessa of course).  With our teenagers schedules we haven't had a chance to get a family picture with Greta in it.  And I'd say this is pretty good for propping up the phone and setting and little timer and hoping for the best.  At some point in the near future we'll get a nice family picture, but this will do nicely in the meantime. 

No post is complete without a Greta picture:)