We Love Our Pool!

We have been blessed to have a pool in our backyard during the sweltering heat of the Henderson summers. When we first moved here, Parker and Grace could barely doggie paddle. Now they are swimming fools and can perform several different swim strokes just by practicing with Mom and Dad. Our pool also makes us feel popular. I wonder if it's the pool or the Butlers that our friends enjoy the most during the summer?

Happy Birthday Parker!

It's hard to believe that my little boy is 9 years old today. Each day with Parker has been such a joy. He's the kindest, most thoughtful and lovable person that I know. He has a natural knack for making friends and is loved by everyone he comes in contact with. His teachers at school and church are often quoted as saying, "If all of my students were more like Parker, my job would be heaven. He is one of a kind!" I often times find him serving his sisters by sharing his treats or sacrificing a special something so that they feel happy and included in his life. We are blessed to have him in our family.

While Parker often times seems like the perfect child, he is still a normal boy. His most favorite thing to play is video games. He even wants to be a video game developer when he grows up and is striving to get straight "A's" in school so can go to a good video game school. So far, so good! He forces himself to be a perfectionist, but in the end he is happy with just doing his best.

This year his party had a Kung-Fu Panda theme. Parker wanted to go see the movie and invited just a handful of good friends and family. Some of his guests drove south from Utah to enjoy his special day and even more friends joined us after the movie.

After the movie, Parker wanted to have a pool party and unwrap his presents. We just love having our own pool!

Parker choose to have hot dogs, Cheetos and watermelon for lunch. Everyone loved them and almost everyone had seconds. Great party planning, Parker! Happy Birthday!

My First Baby, by Grace

This year for Mothers Day... I was a little Mother of a baby chick! I like to take care of the chick, but not clean up it's poop. Also, it is fun to play with it. Even when it follows me around like a little puppy. My chicks name was Amy and it was a boy, but my class liked to think of it as a boy and a girl combined because we would like it to be a girl most. I didn't like it when the baby chick would chirp all night so I couldn't sleep. When I left the baby chick alone and went downstairs, it would chirp and chirp for me to play with it. Joey was probably upset that I did not play with him because I mostly had to take care of the chick. Amy jumps from wall to wall and I don not like it when she jumps and poops at the same time. I got the baby chick from my teacher, Ms Borum. My baby chick did not hatch so my friends shared it with me and Ms Borum let me take it home because she said I was a special girl. I only had it for the weekend and I don't have it now. It lives at Ms Borum's house. She said Amy is safe at home with her and that I can visit her when I want to. I love my baby chick, Amy! (Or Amylio, if you want to call her a boy name!)

Vacation to Santa Monica, CA

Aloha! We went to California for the weekend as a reward for Parker and Grace being on the honor roll at school all year long. Ku Mei and Alana were very gracious hostesses and opened up their home to us. Without their hospitality, we would not have been able to go on our little trip. Thank you! 

Our families favorite place to vacation is at the beach. There's just nothing like a little surf, sand and sun to warm a Butlers heart. Ku Mei found this great family friendly beach at Santa Monica Pier. This beach was awesome! The Pier had tons of stuff to do with street art vendors, musicians, dancers, roller coasters, ice cream and an aquarium. The kids loved the hands on feel of the beach and pier. We also saw some ocean life up close and personal. What more could we ask for? Oops, did someone say, "Shrimp?" Well, your in luck because we also ate at Bubba Gumps Shrimp House... Yummy! Grace even tried the popcorn shrimp. Very brave of her.

The following day, we went to Sui Mei's sisters wedding. Her name is Julie. The wedding had a Hawaiian theme which was perfect, because we all had our Hawaiian Tropic tans on! (Except for Melissa... She came tanned as a lobster!) The food was great. The Luau entertainment was awesome with hula lessons and a fire dancer. But best of all was being with Wing's Chinese family. They are so loving a caring. We will definitely visit them again soon!

We hope you enjoy our slideshow!