Sedona, AZ

Jay and I took a mini-vacation to Sedona, AZ over President's Day weekend.  It was a much needed vacation and flew by all too quickly.  We decided to go to AZ because a new airline was flying direct flights from Rochester to Phoenix, and we thought that sounded pretty slick!  We had never been to AZ, so it sounded like a great vacation.  We did a little research and decided that we'd take the two hour drive north of Phoenix to Sedona and spend our time there.  It was definitely a different kind of vacation than we've had in the past.  The weather was cooler and there was no ocean to veg at!

The drive north had us feeling like we were in the movie CARS on Route 66.  The reds of the mountains was just beautiful and the cacti were a sight we're not used to seeing in MN!  The bright blue sky was amazing the entire time we were in AZ!

When we first arrived in Sedona, we stopped at The Chapel of the Holy Cross.  It was a church that was built into the side of a mountain.  It was really neat.

We chose a resort and spa off of Expedia.  We lucked it.  It was really nice and we'd definitely go back again if we were to visit Sedona again.  Unfortunately it wasn't really warm while we were there, so we didn't really utilize the hot tub and pool.  On the day it was 72, Jay braved the pool!  I did get in the hot tub.

We did some hiking while we were there.  That was the most enjoyable part of the trip.  We didn't do any super hard trails, just some exploring and on our last morning we did a higher climb!

We also did some shopping and eating!  Jay wasn't too fond of the shopping, but he did enjoy the food.  We were told to eat at Elote Mexican restaurant which was evidently "the best restaurant in Sedona."  We were told to get there early.  We did and we still had a two hour wait!  They served STRONG margaritas while we waited, so I suppose that helped pass the time!

Jack's LEGO Party--6 years old!

I think Jack gets just as into planning a theme party just as much as me!  He enjoys looking at ideas on Pinterest with me and planning ideas! We debated over  a Superhero party or a RAC party (no work for me), but we ultimately settled on a LEGO party this year.  Jack's been increasingly more interested in Legos over the last few months, so the theme seemed fitting.

I found an invitation on Pinterest that looked similar to this one, so I enlisted the help of my very creative cousin, Stacy, to create this invitation.  I thought it turned out so cute!

I hung the #6 Lego we built on the front door and made Jack stand outside in his Lego shirt for a picture. It was super sunny, so he was squinting like crazy!

As we were looking at cake possibilities, he was very ambitious for me.  He wanted some 3D cake that stood very tall with Lego guys and mini Legos made out of fondant.  I told him I'd have to quit my job to take more cake decorating classes to be able to do some of his fancy ideas.  We settled on some version of a Lego man cake.  Here's how his cake turned out.

It was actually a combo of two cakes.  I had to cut them up to make the Lego guy.  The hands cut out nicely but were ultimately impossible to frost, so I just used frosting on the board.  That worked quite well.

Weeks prior to his party, I began work on the favor bags and decorations.  Usually I like to take a day off work the day before the party, but I used my time off for an Arizona vacation with Jay, so the work was spread out over several days.  Jack was able to help me too!

I saw the idea of square Lego man heads for plates.  Jack and I had fun coming up with faces to create for the place settings.  We also ended up using one of the plates for the "head" of Pin the head on the Lego man!

There were three "games" at the party with a Lego man prize.  Guess how many Legos are in the jar, pin the head on the Lego man, and one of the plates had a Lego sticker on the bottom which won the kid a prize.  The prizes were mini Lego guys.

We also had a pinata.  We decided to string it up in the garage.  There's so much winter gunk on the floor, that Jay had to cover with painting drop cloths.  It worked well and the pinata seemed to be a highlight of the party.  I wasn't ambitious enough to paper mache my own Lego pinata, though!

Jack invited 6 friends from his kindergarten class and one friend from Sunday School.  All but one school friend came to the party.  It was a nice group of boys and they played well together.  They were NOISY, though!  Right at the start of the party, they started getting a little too rambunctious in the basement, so Jay went downstairs to lay down the ground rules.  It was so cute, he started by yelling, "Alright boys, huddle up, huddle up!"  He had their attention and then told them the rules.  They all listened so well and were well behaved.  I got this picture of Jay in action!

Jack has twins in his class, Gavin and Mason.  He told us how to tell them apart, one has a white stripe on his glasses and the other a red stripe.  That was a very subtle difference and we had a hard time telling them apart.  Those two could really crack the baseball bat on the pinata just like Jack.  I think they'll be baseball buddies this summer!

All of the boys!

Opening presents and eating cake was last.  What they enjoyed most was just playing and the pinata, of course!

Another successful birthday party!  My absolute favorite part was when Jack came up to me in the kitchen while I was cleaning up and gave my leg a huge hug and said, "Thank you, Mommy!  You throw the best birthday parties!"  Love that kid.  That makes all the work 100% worth it!

Happy 6th Birthday, Jack!