Happy Birthday Grandma Diane!

Bring On The Games!

Welcome to the 2008 Butler Olympic Games! Our family loves the olympics. We're celebrating opening day with a little bit of our own olympic fun.

Steel Days Fun Run! by Melissa

We had a great time on our vacation at Grandma and Papa's house or as Kate would say, "My friend's howsh." One of my favorite memories was the Steel Days Fun Run. We've been running in the race since Parker was a toddler and the kids have run in the race every year since then. This year was the first time that all three of the kids ran in the race together. They are all awesome competitors and never quit! CONGRATULATIONS!

Kate's First Haircut, by Melissa & Kate

Hogle Zoo, by Melissa

We went to Hogle Zoo in Utah today and had a blast! The kids wanted pictures of all the different animals... so I did my best to satisfy them. We also wanted to share our adventure with Daddy because he is being such a big boy and stayed home to fulfill his work responsibilities. We really miss him. Love you Daddy!

Kate loved the elephant because he turned his back-side to us and made a huge pee-pee and poo-poo. It's all that she talks about. Pee-whew! I guess that's a major part of her life right now because she is newly potty-trained. It's kind of a big deal for her... and her Mother ... and her diapers.

Parker really liked the cheetah interaction with the trainer. We saw the cheetah find his hunk of meat and gnaw on his bone. Sick! (FYI: Sick is the new slang word for COOL!) 

Grace loved the penguins. We even got to see them eat some fish and dive in the water. Grace says that they are cute little wobbly guys.

We hope you enjoy our little outing. I don't know about you, but I'm pooped! (Sorry elephant, no pun intended.)

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!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy Birthday Grandma! Even though we tease you by calling you an old lady... we truly think you are neat. In fact, we love you so much that we had to bundle all of our love into a movie. We hope you enjoy our nifty birthday moves made just for you!

From Parker: Happy Birthday Grandma! I love you tons and tons. I love it when you tease me and bring me treats and stuff. You always comfort me when I need it. You’re a pretty good Grandma... for your age! And you’re also pretty good at four square (but, I know that I am better). Love you lots and lots and lots!

From Grace: Hi Grandma, you are the best Grandma! I think you should come and see my monkey with the unibrow and a lot of things too! Please have the best birthday that you can. I love it when you hug me and tell me that you love me. My favorite thing about you is that you are my Grandma. I also love it when you help me. You are good at four square, loving me, being happy, teaching, shopping and giving me clothes. You are a good person in all ways. I love you forever and ever.

From Kate: I like that you laugh at my burps. I wish I could go "boop" on your tummy and hear you laugh. Last time you visited, I cried when you left and I wanted my Mommy to pick you up in the car. I was sad. Now I like to call Amanda, "Nama" cause that's your name and I like to say it. I have fun when you talk on the phone to me. Thanks for listening and for eating my pizza when I feed you through the phone. You always like it! I wub you... burp... Nama!

From Melissa: Happy Birthday, Mom! I am so lucky to have you for a Mother. I know that I like to give you a hard time about the good old days (your lack of clothes, towels on the car seat, the yard stick, de-junking, etc.), but even those silly moments hold a special place in my heart and always will. I don't know what I'd do without you. You have always been there for me and are always the first person to ask how I feel. I love how we have developed more than a parent and daughter relationship because now we are best friends! I love all of the things that we have in common and even don't mind "turning into my mother" because it would be a privilege to be more like you... But, don't expect me to walk outside with my garments showing. You deserve only the choicest of blessings on this very special day. I love you and always will be your sweet Melissa.

From Wing: Mom, the first time I met you I think I saw too much of you! Did you really think the washcloth was going to cover you? It is then I should have known we were gonna be close no matter what! Grin. It certainly showed you were open to having a new son in the family. Thanks for being Mom to me.

Grace's Cooking Show 2: Cookies!

Dear Fans,

Who doesn't like cookies? In my show this week I have a special guest star! Please enjoy the movie.

Grace's Cooking Show: Rice Pudding by Grace

Hi my dear fans. The show was very fun to make. I hope that all my fans like it too. See if you can sneak a peek at my lost tooth in my video. I think I might make more cooking shows, or not. See for yourself.

Happy Birthday Papskerdoodles!

Papa, we wanted to give you a big hug on your birthday, but we are just too many miles away. So a video blog is the next best way for us to show you how much we love you. Watch our little video and imagine little arms and hands hugging your big Papa body.

We also have a few things to say that we couldn’t fit into the video...

Parker: "Papa, I love the way you give us treats and that good stuff. I'm really happy that you do that. But what I love the most is the way you tease me because it adds fun into my life. I hope that you will have a fun birthday without me, but still this video will feel like I'm right there with you. Bye, bye, Papa. I LOVE YOU!"

Grace: "Have a happy birthday and a great day and have a good school for a while and stuff. What I love most about you is that you are fun to play with and you make me happy. I like the toys you make for me and how you always want me to be happy. You are a hard worker, especially for me. I love you tons and tons and tons!"

Kate: "Apa, Looooove you … treat … snack … yummy! Happy day … burp (he-he)!”

Wing: “Hey pops, I’m going to remember antelope hunting with you and Parker for a long time. I don’t know if spotting the coyote, badgers and antelope will come first, or Parker poking out his BB gun to rescue the antelope anchored with sagebrush. Hmmm…. probably the 20 times you had to “go” in 100 yards! Grin. Love You gramps.”

Melissa: “Dad, there is not a day that goes by without me thinking of you. You amaze me in so many ways. The way you work for and care for your family touches all around you. Thank you for being such a powerful example of love, compassion, endurance and sometimes patience. It is comforting to know that you will always be there for me and support me in your loving way during even the most hard of times. I will always love you. Thank you for being my Dad. Please take good care of yourself so we can continue to build more and more memories together.”