4 HEAVEN'S SAKE!

Hyatt is 4!!!!

With finals week for Hyrum coming up and then spring break (where his plan is to drive semi the whole time), the kids and I decided to go down to Utah for those two weeks.

We went down on Friday night (the 2nd). On the 3rd (Hyatt's birthday), we had a party!

Now, if you know me at all, you know I'm notoriously horrible at planning parties and celebrating any type of event. Lucky for me, I was in Utah, surrounded by family that knows how to celebrate. Maren and Nana came to my rescue and planned a party for Hyatt to be held at the castle at Nana's place.

Hyatt had told me that he wanted to be dressed as a cowboy for his birthday (I think he was still harboring disappointed feelings about not being able to dress as a cowboy the weekend before at the party for Marlee and Rocky).

So, his wish was my demand, and he was decked out in his cowboy shirt, cowboy jeans, boots (which are too small now, but he insisted on wearing them), spurs and a pair of cap guns with a holster, which he'd really wanted for his birthday.

Here's the weird part. Though Hyatt was desperate to be a cowboy, he decided weeks prior that he really, really, REALLY wanted a knight/dragon cake. He has a knight costume that would have been cool with his cake idea, but he still wanted to dress as a cowboy. Leave it to a 4-year-old...


How in the world was I supposed to do a dragon cake? Luckily, I had Maren around who knew how to make a fantastic cake that looked (and tasted) like a giant oreo. That sounded fantastic to me, especially since it only required her creative genius, not mine.

But what about the dragon cake? He had been asking me for it for weeks, but I'd been hoping he'd forget about it when the time came. I was feeling a little guilty that I didn't make one for him. There was only an hour or two before the party, but he hadn't forgotten about it!

So I pulled out the computer and looked up dragon cakes on google images. Hyrum figured I could make one as good as any that we found, but I was skeptical. Then John (Maren's husband) came up with the brilliant idea of making the dragon cake out of rice krispie treats, which was better so there weren't two actual cakes.

Here are the two cakes I combined ideas from for my dragon.

You want to know a secret? I've never made rice krispie treats before. Ever!

I ran into a couple of problems, because it wouldn't be a project done by me if I didn't snag it up (keep in mind, I'm the one who sews things that end up falling apart).
1. I doubled the recipe, but forgot to double the amount of rice krispies I added to the pot. The result: floppy.
2. The waxed paper the recipe said to use to smash it into the pans stuck like crazy! A serious pain!

A baggie sprayed with nonstick spray did the trick (yet another brilliant idea of John's).

3. I ran out of red food dye (it takes a TON to drown out the pink that the marshmallows try to turn the red into), so the second batch (which was carefully doubled) was a bit more pink than red.
4. I made the entire dragon out of the first, reddest batch (except for the head), but since I didn't double the cereal in that batch, it was a bit soft, so the dragon's body kept trying to flop over. A few balls of leftover krispies rolled in chocolate (to look like boulders?) did the trick for holding him up (again, the creative genius of others).

It was almost as disastrous as the method I used to make my own barbie cake for Tilly's 4th birthday. I obviously didn't have enough supplies to finish the decorating of the cake either. Story of my life. I'm resourceful because I have a hard time spending money and feeling fine about it, but then everything ends up looking very DIY.

Okay, so ready to see how it turned out? Ta-da!

The special effects were fun, breathing smoke and fire and all. It was perfect that the party was in the castle. It literally looks like a (cheesy) castle on the outside.

I still preferred the taste of the oreo cake though. It looked and tasted amazing! I think I ate most of it.

Nana bought kites for the kids, so they made a valiant effort to fly them, though it was rather windless. It was still fun for them all!

So many people came to the party! Most of the entire Johnson clan was there, and Tana and her family came too!

Even...Grandma Sheri came (pause for amazed silence, then cheers)!

I don't want my kids used to getting a ton of presents on their birthday for fear the bar will be raised each year, but some people couldn't resist and he got loaded anyway, which was fun for him. Everyone was so sweet!

I think Talea was as thrilled as Hyatt about his presents.

The one thing we got Hyatt, aside from his guns, was a remote controlled car. Okay, I confess: it's been regifted. Hyrum got it for Christmas 3 1/2 years ago, but then the battery died or something and it ended up in storage forever. It was new to Hyatt though, and he was pretty excited.

In keeping with the dragon theme, Nana got a pinata and the kids had a blast!

Since Easter was the next day, we had an Easter egg hunt with the kids inside the castle.

Look at the cousins that were there! (top row, left to right) Kiersa, Jaiden, Braxton, Reuben (bottom row) Arrianna, Hyatt, Paisli, Starlett, Talea, Marlee and Sabreena (not pictured: Rocky).

It ended with a nice surprise: Tasha, Cage and Dru arrived from San Diego in time to hit the very end of the party!

Tasha's poor little dog sunk in the mud up to its belly while there and couldn't get back in the car, so we washed it in the only place we could think of, with it being freezing cold outside: Nana's sink. Nana is allergic to dogs and it's getting worse each year so just by washing the dog in the kitchen, Nana had a reaction and had to take Benedryl for a couple of days and lay down. I felt so bad I couldn't even face her!

The party was fantastic though, and way more than I ever imagined. I'm sure it's one Hyatt will never forget. Thanks to all who helped and/or came!