Happy Birthday Julia!

Julia turned 6! After a last minute change in plans she decided on a Tangled party. She got lots of fun stuff and we went to Red Robin for dinner where they sang Happy Birthday to her. The best part was the ice cream sundae of her very own!



New roller skates. Mom should have bought knee pads to go along with them!





Some of our cousins were able to come to the party and it was so fun.



Julia wanted to have party hats with "hair" like Rapunzel. Some of the party guests liked the hats more than others. :)











Julia's birthday buddy was in Seattle this year and she was so excited that Laura was able to come to her party! What a fun day. We love our Julia!!

Benihana of Tokyo

For Cameron's 8th birthday we decided to take just him out for a special dinner. We went to Benihana in Seattle. We invited his grandparents to go with us to make the night even more special. We had such a fun night. Cameron loved everything about it. He liked using chopsticks to eat, trying new foods, watching the chef cook the food with the big knives and even got his very own fancy smoothie drink. We love watching Cameron's excitement for life and makes taking him places like this so much fun!

Race Coordinators

Last Saturday Mitch went for a run while Cam and Julia were playing in the front yard. When I came out to see what they were up to I had to take a picture. They were waiting for Mitch to come home and had set up a finish line and cones to show him were to go after he finished his run. Cameron had made a sign that said "Go Dad" and they had used sidewalk chalk to make the finish line, arrows to the shoot were a message said, "Way to go!" They are on there way to organizing their own fun runs!

Leaving the 200 Club...

Cameron's Baptism

It is GREAT to be EIGHT!

Cam is 8! He woke me up this morning at 7:00 am by staring at me from about an inch away from my face saying "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" It was a beautiful day and great way to start off the first official day of summer!



He was very excited to get to opening his presents.



He got a Michael Jordan jersey (those aren't the easiest things to come by these days!), Mr. Sketch scented markers, scriptures with his name on them, a "NBA" basketball, some tennis balls. Also some cool stuff from Grandma's and Grandpa's, Katie and Laura.





Instead of having a friend party Cameron got to choose an activity that he wanted to do with his family. He decided to go bowling! We had a lot of fun and boy are little kid bowling shoes adorable.





The hit of the night was the fries!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMERON!!!

We love you!

Mariners Game

Laura was kind enough to give Mitch and Cameron some free tickets to the Mariners vs Phillies game. They had a great time at the ballpark! While the boys were gone cheering on the Mariners, Mom and the girls stayed home and had a girl party. It included eating ice cream with lots of sprinkles, cooking, taking a warm bubble bath and putting our hair in curlers and playing a game of Candy Land. It doesn't get much better than that!





Cameron decided to make a poster to hold up during the game. Mitch said he held it up every inning hoping to be put on the big screen. His sign was so cute!!

Fall City Days Race

Last Saturday we ran in the Fall City Days 1K and 5K races. It was pouring rain and freezing cold. Unfortunately I didn't realize how insanely cold it was until we got there and didn't have enough warm dry clothes.



Here are the racers waiting for the races to start. Natalie was so happy that she was going to be running. Mom was a little less thrilled and hoping to just make it to the finish line!





Cameron was determined to win again. He came in 2nd with 107 1k runners!





I am happy to say that I made it! Natalie ran the entire thing without stopping. She was so cute.



Mitch ran in the 5k and placed 3rd overall in his age group! He got a trophy and the kids were impressed.



Natalie was so excited to get a medal at the end of the race.



Here they are soaking wet and freezing!

3rd grade here we come!

Cam is a third grader. Is that even possible? I remember 3rd grade with a lot of detail and it is hard to believe that my child is old enough now. Cam's last week of school was a whirlwind of activities: Field day, limbo party, game day, award assemblies, and his favorite a drive-in movie. (As you can tell there was a lot of learning going on the last week of school...HA)



Here he is making his car for his drive-in.

If you are thinking, wow that looks sort of like a dead Christmas tree in the background of this picture taken in June you would be correct!



On the last day of school Cam got a little teary. It was hard to say good-bye to his class that he has had for the last 2 years and his teacher. Next year he will have Mrs. Garmey who he will have for both 3rd and 4th grade and his classroom will be right next door to Julia's. Cam finished off the school year by going over to his friend's house for a party and having a major water balloon fight! In the last week Cameron has had his baptism interview, got his cub scout book, and his Faith in God book. I feel like we have grown up leaps and bounds in just a short amount of time. Hope I am ready for all these changes.

Last Day of Kindergarten

I can't believe it but Julia is now a 1st grader! On Move Up Day she found out that she is going to have Cameron's teacher, Mrs. Lagerquist for both 1st and 2nd grade. She also found out that her very best friend Megan from preschool is going to be in her class. She is so EXCITED.





Julia had a kindergarten graduation picnic with a the other kindergartner's in our ward. Believe it or not this isn't all of them. Our ward is huge with kids....

On the last day of school, I almost shed a tear not because Julia is going to leave me all day next fall or that my afternoon naps have now come to an end with school being out, or not because my house is going to be a disaster all summer long but because I SURVIVED the bus all year! That is 175 of school with three trips to the bus a day, 525 round trips home and back! I was on time dropping off and picking up everyday except one day when the bus came really early and Julia and I missed it. Hooray for summer vacation and NO BUS!!

U2 Concert

Mitch and I were lucky enough to be able to go to the U2 concert with Kurt and Megan. The concert was held at the Qwest football stadium. Our seats were near the top but we had a great view of the show. By the time we walked from the car to our seats in the stadium I was exhausted, that is some steep climbing! Lenny Kravitz was the opening act and then U2 came out! I think our baby will either come out loving U2 music or deaf, one of the two. The music was so loud that I could feel the vibration in my stomach! Some of the people sitting around us were almost more entertaining to watch than the show itself. What a fun night.

Yahtzee Fever

This might be the best game ever invented--Electronic Yahtzee.

Cameron just fell in love with it and just can't stop playing it and Julia thinks she needs her very own for her birthday. I might need to buy myself another one! It has become very competitive around here, who can get the high score. What? A Stuard competitive? Never....

Trek Around the Trail

Last Saturday was our Stake's annual fun run, "Trek Around the Trail." It started a few years back and has gotten to be a big event. There is a 5K run/walk and a 10K run. With Mitch being called as the Stake Athletic director he was put in charge of the whole thing. Good thing he knows a thing or two about putting on a race! He did an AWESOME job organizing the run and putting it on. He put a lot of time into it and it showed on race day.



Cameron ready to run the 5K!





There were 146 runners registered for the race.



Laura was kind enough to come down and run with Cameron in the 5K since I wasn't able to. When the gun went off Cameron took off like a bullet leaving Laura to never catch up!



Mitch placed 3rd in the 5K.





Cameron did AWESOME. He came in 14th overall in the 5K and 1st of all primary aged kids with a time of 27:45.



Here is Laura wishing that we hadn't talked her into coming down to run!





Mitch announcing the results and winners of the races.



Cameron accepting his lollipop award for coming in 1st in the primary age division.



Julia keeps telling me that next year she is old enough to run the 5K. Stay tuned....

Anybody needing a good laugh can come watch the Stuard family run in the Fall City Day's 1K and 5K run next week. Where I will be waddling a 1K with the one and only Miss Natalie Jane.