Sydney turned 8 last month.  She requested a red dragon party.  I managed to find a pinata from Oriental Trading and I made this cake.  The picture actually makes it look better than it turned out, but Sydney and her friends thought it was awesome so it was a success.

We had a family party Sunday night, the 22nd, because Ben was working a long-shift the next day on Sydney's actual birthday.  The family cake was a LOT simpler.  However, Sydney was impressed with the sprinkles.  I was buttercream-making master by the time I finished frosting both of those cakes and the cupcakes we took to her classroom on her birthday.

Tyler did not bother waiting for a fork.

The following weekend, my parents and Ben's mom were able to come for Sydney's baptism.  I was busy making dinner one night so I asked Zack to take the carrots out of the fridge and put them on the table.  He left with the carrots then returned them to the fridge a couple of minutes later.  I told him again that I needed him to put the carrots on the table.  He gave me an exasperated look and said, "I did!" and left the room.  When I walked into the dining room later, I found that he did, in fact, put the carrots on the table.

Sydney was baptized on April 29, just in time to attend the temple dedication the following Sunday.

She shared her baptism with two other girls in our ward.  It was a good service, and I'm really glad our parents were there, even though I apparently didn't take and pictures of them.

Sydney adopted a pet a couple of weeks ago.  This is Turty the Turtle.  She really wanted to keep him, but we did some research and decided it wouldn't be a good idea.  When I told Sydney that we were going to release him, she was really sad.  I told her that keeping him would be like if she had to stay inside all the time alone and not get to eat any of her favorite foods again.  She understood so we had a goodbye party at the lake behind our house.

Tansy and Zack and both playing tee ball.  Tansy is on a 5&6-year-old team, and Zack is in Start Smart, which is a parent participation, skills-building program.  They are both really enjoying it.

This past Friday, we promised the kids a backyard campout.  We bought a 10-man tent from our neighbors a few weeks ago.  Sydney is the only one of our kids who has been camping.  Tansy turned 5 in March, so that tells you how long it's been.  We decided this would be a good trial run.  The kids loved helping Ben set up the tent.

Meanwhile, I built a fire.  This was my first fire ever.  Sure, I used 8 matches, but this girl made fire!

We roasted hot dogs and had watermelon.  Of course, there were s'mores!

We stayed up until 9:00, so these little people were exhausted!

Ty woke up nearly two hours after Zack and Tansy.  It might have something to do with the fact that he stole my spot on the air mattress.