My birthday

This year I turned 46. I celebrated by cleaning the church and going to two sessions of stake conference. But before then, I opened some presents, like a new speed cube, a tablet, and a running hydration vest.

My birthday dinner was poke bowls between conference sessions, so Amber made a strawberry birthday cake for me the day after.

Damon's birthday

Damon turned 15 this year, and he's grown tall enough for me to believe it. He's already started his online course to get his drivers permit.

For his birthday, he got an assortment of things. Some were random, like the piano T-shirt worn by Michael Jackson (we just saw the movie Michael recently) and socks with Amber's face on them.

He got some games, like Ricochet Robots and two Monopoly expansion packs.

And of course, he got some technology, like gaming headphones, and some games on Steam (Hollow Knight, HK Silksong, Minecraft Dungeons, and Cat Quest III).

He's also done such a good job with his running that I wanted to get him a better running watch. He immediately figured out that you can put games on it.

Amber had to go somewhere with Carmen after dinner (tortilla soup), so I finished frosting the carrot cake, while Olivia carved his name out of carrots, and we all sang to him when they got back.

Olivia's birthday

Saturday was a busy day. In addition to the Mud Run and Carmen's prom, it was also Olivia's birthday. Amber made cinnamon rolls for her for breakfast.

She opened presents later in the evening. She got an eclectic mix of things, like 3d-printed creatures from the boys and a prognosticating pickle.

She got some useful things, like kitchen gloves, waxing kit, and hubcaps for the Marshmallow (all but one had mysteriously disappeared).

She even got a few things she might have wanted, like a gaming headset.

She chose a strawberry cheesecake for her birthday treat, and in an act of defiance she bought new candles instead of the random old ones we always use.

Miles's birthday

Miles turned 13 this year, which means we now have 4 teenagers. Fortunately, he's a pretty nice teenager to have around. He had to wait for Amber to finish helping with Shrek costumes at ESE before opening his presents in the evening.

He got a lot of cello-themed presents, like cello music, a cello shirt, and a miniature cello (which Olivia improbably guessed before he even opened it).

He has also gotten deep into cubing lately, so of course he got some new twisty puzzles, like a gigaminx and a square one.

And I couldn't not get him this Lego set, since he already has the plushie version (and it looks just like him).

And Miles's birthday would not be complete without his name spelled out in strawberries. Happy birthday Miles!

Milking a cow

The kids did their church camps during the first few days of Spring Break. When they got back, I took a day off work so that Amber could redeem her birthday present to milk a cow. We drove a couple hours west to La Grange to the Jersey Barnyard.

It's a working dairy farm, and we got to take the full tour. We started off with some of their smaller animals, like goats, chickens, and rabbits.

We paid a little extra for bottles of milk to bottle feed the calves.

They had two groups and we had to wait a while, but they gave us free Blue Bell ice cream cones for our trouble. After our wait, we took a hayride to the cow milking area.

The farmer brought one of the cows, gave us a lesson about the cows, and taught us how to milk it.

Carmen took to it naturally of course.

She got the milk flowing for the rest of us.

It was a fun excursion, and Amber was happy to finally get her wish.

We bought some raw milk to take home with us. I was hoping it would be amazing, but other than a slightly different flavor, it wasn't too much different than HEB whole milk.

Kahlan's Quinceañera

Hyde and Kahlan invited us to Kahlan's quinceañera on Saturday. They had their house all decorated and had lots of yummy foods to snack on.

We mingled with all the people that came, then they had some speeches and a daddy-daughter dance.

Happy 15th Kahlan!

Amber's and Carmen's birthday

Amber's and Carmen's birthday was on a Sunday, so they opened their presents in the afternoon after church.

Amber got several math-related gifts, like a Gen-Z slang sign for her classroom, a book of math jokes, and math "poetry" magnets. She's also been on a Michael Jackson kick lately, so I got her a Michael Jackson songbook.

But her big gift this year was a certificate to milk a cow. This is something she's always wanted to do and I found a place where she can do it in La Grange (about 2 hours away).

Carmen got a necklace, some cosmetics, socks, some pens and notebooks, and a new water bottle and backpack.

And of course, a book of accordion music.

They also both got each other cow shoes that they serendipitously found in their sizes while shopping together. It seemed especially appropriate given the cow-milking certificate.

For their birthday treat, they had a delicious apple crisp and ice cream.

My birthday

This year I turned 45 years old.

My big present was a new running watch. I was sick of my cheap one not connecting to GPS, so I asked for a Coros Pace 3. I also got a hand vacuum, National Parks playing cards, a portrait drawn by Carmen, and a shirt from Pierre, SD, among other things.

It is interesting to be solidly middle-aged, but I'm in the best shape in my life so I'm hoping there will be many more birthdays to come.

Damon's birthday

Hard to believe, but our little Damon is now 14 (and not so little).

His voice is changing and he's growing like a weed, but he's still pretty much the same old Damon. He was very happy to get a calculator, "O2" cube, build-your-own-tech kit, Minecraft piano music, Lego spaceship, and more.

And no one appreciates a Useless Box more than Damon.

Olivia's birthday

We officially have an adult child. Olivia turned 18, or as written with our random selection of candles, 1+9+5+3.

Her birthday was on a school day, so we didn't anything big to celebrate, but she did get some presents like beef jerky, books, clothes, and gift cards.

She's staying here to go to Lone Star next year, so we'll have her around for a bit longer, even if she is all grown up.

Miles's busy birthday

Miles's 12th birthday was on a very busy Wednesday, so he opened his presents Tuesday night instead.

He's really been into Rubik's cubes lately, so he was very excited to get a variety pack of larger cubes.

He also got a new suit, water bottle, and of course, some Lego sets.

And no birthday celebration would be complete without his strawberry cake.

Amber felt bad that everyone was busy on his actual birthday, so she had him skip school and took him rock climbing in the morning.

That evening I went with Sam Orme, a friend from college, to see Steph Curry and the Warriors play the Rockets. He has a tradition of visiting a new area to watch an NBA playoff game every year and chose Houston this year and invited me to come along.

At the same time, Damon was at the high school with his middle school orchestra, where Olivia and Carmen and the rest of the high schoolers played in a concert with them. That night was also the combined activity where they were supposed to race their pinewood derby cars. Miles didn't want to go alone, so we had someone else race their cars for them.