Gavin Is 12!

 Happy 12th Birthday Gavin!!!

This morning I have been up early doing the traditional birthday morning preparations...

Birthday cake and presents set out on a pretty table to honor the birthday boy!!!

It's going to be a good day for Gavin. :)

 Since he will be going to his first official scout camp tonight, we took Gavin and the family out for a birthday dinner last night at Rodizio Grill! This is a Brazilian buffet that Gavin had been dreaming of and it did not disappoint! :)

 After eating all of the delicious food the workers brought out the drums and sang him an authentic Brazilian birthday song as they pounded away on those drums...It was so fun. :)

 We were at Trolley Square and right outside of the restaurant was a gourmet gumball machine booth and of course we had to pick gumballs for everyone and see all of the different kinds...if you look closely you can see several cheeks bulging with gumballs! ;) Kesslyn's was root beer, Gavin's was sprinkles, and Kambriella's was maybe strawberry lemonade?? I can't remember who had what...there were too many fancy flavors to remember!!!

 After we said goodbye to Tiffany, Colby, and Xaxton we headed back across the sky bridge to the parking lot, but not until we had a flash mob moment! ;)

This sky bridge had such fun dance music playing that EVERYONE was shakin' it as they were walking across! I of course told everyone to strike a pose and FREEZE and THIS is what we ended up with all in an instant...that's right, the Trickett's take Trolley Square! ;) ;) ;)

Needless to say, it was a fun night. :)

 Earlier in the day yesterday though, Kesslyn and I got a call from Grandma Trickett inviting us to the zoo and so we met her and Aunt Laura there.It was perfect weather and we didn't stay too long, just a couple of hours and long enough to have a little fun together.

Kesslyn and I chose everything elephants because we were thinking of Kierra...and if you ask Kesslyn what her favorite animal is, that is what she will say...elephants!

 We also watched the bear give himself a bath...

 And the mama and baby orangutan cuddle up and snack on...newspaper??? 

 I think the animals were loving the cooler weather because they all seemed to be out and about, alert, and on the go. Kesslyn really loved it.

 You can't see them very well, but there were a couple of bears laying under the log covering and Kesslyn literally wanted to jump the fence to go see them. She obviously doesn't understand that she would be their snack if she did...so she got mad at me for not letting her, but I'm convinced that because it was right during nap time that the fits began, we just needed to get her home to have a nap too...just like those bears. :) So, like I said, we didn't stay long, but it was a fun day.

Although I wish I could have had more of my family there...

When we walked past the tiger enclosure I got a little homesick for Carew too! His favorite animal has always been the tiger and every time we would go to the zoo he would stand in front of the glass there and wait until he could see the them.

BUT, TODAY is his P~day and I can't wait to hear how things are going for him! I sure miss that sweet boy! But, like I said before too...I wouldn't have him busy doing anything else because I KNOW that there is nothing better that will bless his life more than serving this mission right now at this time. Thank you Heavenly Father for every blessing that I see...they surround me on every side every single day and I'm just so very, very grateful!!!

Have a happy birthday Gavin!!!

XOXOXOXOXO