3 Parties for Brynlee's 4th Birthday

Our sweet Brynlee turned 4 this month!  She has been requesting a "Hula" birthday since February...so a Hula party (or parties) is what she got.  When we found out we would be in Montana a week before her birthday and that Halle, her cousin, would be there too, it would be a perfect time for a birthday party.  It wasn't until we got to MT that we found out that ALL of the cousins were going to come which made it all the better!  So thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Bennion's perfect backyard setting, cute decorations and Yummy food, Brynlee had a wonderful Hula Birthday!

 

The Girls...Jake didn't make it there until late that night.Sand Castle Cake... the Chocolate seashells the best part, they were dangerously good!

Brynlee was beyond thrilled about this outfit. My mom and I spotted it at a store and just laughed...if Brynlee were an outfit this is what she would be! When she saw it she exclaimed, "Just what I always wanted!"  There is a better picture of it later on in the post.

Greatest Cousin's Ever!  This is everyone but the 3 Babies.

On our way back from Montana we stopped and stayed the night in Lander with Jake's parents.  Grandma Smith surprised Brynlee with another Hula party!  Brynlee really spread the word about this Hula theme!  Grandma Smith took us all out for pizza then we came home for cake, ice cream and presents!

Such a cute "Hula Girl" Cake.  Brynlee thought is was so neat...and it tasted delicious too!

A Beautiful Princess "Nightdown" (as Brynlee calls them!) So thrilling:)

Even though Brynlee had already had 2 parties by the time we got back to Utah, none of them actually fell on her actual Birthday.  It didn't seem right to not do anything on the special day so once again Brynlee got to celebrate.  This picture cracks me up...I'm not sure who's face is better.  Lydia's Joyful "I'm gonna grab those candle's and I love this helmet face", Brynlee's "Oh yeah all the attentions on me" face or Gracie's"Oh come on, she gets  ANOTHER cake...I want to blow out some candles!" face!  Brynlee was very kind and allowed Gracie to help her blow out the candles this time...it was very sweet:)

Brynlee got her very own Big Girl "Tony Hawk Hula" bike.  Okay so it's really not a "Tony Hawk" bike but we kinda had to tell her it was.  You see we took her to Toy's R Us awhile ago to see what kind of bike she wanted.  To our surprise she passed up every princess sparkly bike and fell in love with a pricey Tony Hawk trick bike, with pegs on the back wheels and all.  When ever anyone asked her what she wanted for her birthday she responded "A Tony Hawk bike" without hesitation.   Well I just couldn't picture my sweet little princess loving girl riding around on this Tony Hawk bike, and there was no way I was going to pay the price for it anways!  So when we found this "Hula" bike we convinced her it was a different Tony Hawk bike and that it fit better with her Hula party.  Luckily she bought it...but nobody tell her it's not really a Tony Hawk bike!!!! 

On the day of her birthday, Brynlee got her hair cut.  When the girl cutting her hair found out it was her birthday she gave her this awesome bow to go with her awesome outfit!  

Luckily I was able to convince Brynlee that is a Birthday outfit, and it can only be worn in public on her birthday!!!  

Happy Birthday Brynlee, we love you some much.  I'm so grateful for your tender heart, spunky spirit, sassy style and your love of snuggling.  May you never loose you lisp or your excitement for life! xoxoxo

4th of July weekend 2010 Mega Post

In our family there usually isn't much discussion on where we spend the 4th of July.  I'm pretty sure there has only been one year since we've been married that we haven't spent the 4th in Lander, Wy where Jake is from.  It's like nothing you've ever seen, you really have to experience it because there is no describing it!  Anyways more on that later....

Here are some photos of our weekend.  We played at the park, watched and lit fireworks, celebrated my nephew Justin's Birthday, and even rode horses.  It was such a great weekend!

4th of July attire 

Playing at the park

The reason Lander is so phenomenal on the 4th is because of the Fireworks.  Every year a local orthodontist, Dr. Bills, puts on a firework show that is amazing!  10,000 people come to see the show!  He is also a member of the LDS church and before the show missionaries serve ice cream and watermelon.  The best part is that it's all free!!

Here we are waiting for the fireworks to start.  We had to take cars down to save us a spot that afternoon, otherwise there's no way we would have been anywhere near the fireworks!

As you can see we are sitting on the side of the road so Jodi is giving a " don't cross the white line or you'll die" lesson!  It worked, good job Jodi!

A view of some of the cars... there were SO many more than this though!

"Writing" with flash lights... pretty neat I think!

Lydia sat and watched TV with Jake's dad for longer than I've ever seen her sit still.  She loves Papa!

Justin's Birthday is on the 4th of July so of course with celebrated!  Pinata, cake and presents!

Lydia's ready to watch her Uncles put on a show of there own...love the outfit!

Snaps!

Sparklers!

Like I said, it's hard to describe what it's like in Lander on the 4th, you just have to experience it yourself.  The whole town in like a giant Firework display, everyone is letting off Huge fireworks.  Just to give you an idea here is a video of the fireworks that people were letting off just down the street from Jake's parents house.

 My mother in law just sent me this picture of Lander in 2006.  It's a pretty good representations of what it's like!

Everyone got a turn riding Grandpa's horses.  We were so glad with Lunch (the horse) decided to join our picture!

Lydia and Zack, can you believe he's only 13!

Feeding Pokey...I love Gracie's face in this one:)

We had such a great weekend!  We hope your 4th was enjoyable too!

SWAGGER WAGON

My friend Ashley had a link to this on her blog and when I watched it I just laughed my head off! So I thought I'd share it with all you mini van drivin' Moms and Dads out there that can relate! Enjoy:)

Gracies's Preschool Graduation

We had our first ever graduation last night when Gracie graduated from Preschool! She had such a wonderful time in preschool and learned a lot too. Ms. Kiley did such a great job all year long and with the graduation night. It started with a program of songs and poems by all the preschool kids. We were surprised when Gracie had a part singing a song about Lollipops!

They recited a poem about being a star, the sunglasses were a fun touch!

We also didn't know that the "graduates" (the ones going into Kindergarten) would be wearing a cap and gown. They even marched out to "Pomp and Circumstance" (is that the right name?)

I had an odd flash forward to Gracie graduating high school and I about lost it. I had to keep telling myself what a fool I would look like if I starting blubbering at a Preschool graduation! Aren't they cute though!

Gracie with some cuties from our ward. The other mom's and I joked about taking the same picture at High school Graduation... wouldn't that be funny!

Congratulations Gracie!!

Now let's make sure High School Graduation doesn't come as quickly and Preschool Graduation did!

A Pinkalicious Birthday for Gracie

I can't believe it but my little Gracie turned 5 yesterday May 17th! 5 seems like one of those landmark birthdays to me. 5 is a real kid. Officially out of toddlerhood, starting school, and into the big girls section at the store (don't love that!). I can remember when she was a baby thinking that this day would never come... but it did and way too fast!!

We celebrated her Birthday with a Pinkalicious party. It's odd to think that you may not have ever heard of the book Pinkalicious since it is read not less that 3 times a day in this household. If you have a little girl its a must read, so check it out! Gracie invited 4 friends over to decorated crowns and wands, play the typical birthday games with a Pinkalicious twist (cupcake, cupcake, yum instead of duck, duck, goose, pin the heart on the necklace instead of pin the tail on the donkey), read Pinkalicious and decorated cupcakes. It was a lot of fun.

Pinkalicious Decor

Not one of those balloons survived the entire party, I swear the wasps were popping them!

We started with 12, there were only 6 by the time the party started!

Silly Faces

Love this action shot, it was an intense game!

Later that night when Jake got home we gave her our present, a scooter. She loved it, can you tell?

After a Wonderful (ha, ha) McDonalds dinner (Gracie's choice) we came home and enjoyed some Pinkalicious Cake

We are so grateful to have Gracie as part of our family. She is such a joy and a blessing to us. In honor of her 5th birthday, here are 5 things about Gracie:

1. She is a go with the flow kind of girl. I love this about her. It makes my life so much easier!

2. She still loves to hum and now has started singing quite a bit. She never knows the words, but that doesn't stop her from belting out a song anytime, anywhere! I've had to stop her couple of times in sacrament meeting even. Her favorite song to belt out lately is "All the Single Ladies" the chipettes version of course.

3. She has a very tender heart. If she happens to catch anything even a little violent on TV or somewhere she is instantly concerned and leaves as quickly as possible.

4. She hates Funder (thunder). There is nothing Fun about Funder! I've bonded with her in this aspect. I was extremely afraid of thunder when I was little, so I never turn her away during a storm!

5. She can handle her big wheel bike like nobodies business! She has a sparkly pink princess bike but she prefers the radio flyer big wheel. Her favorite trick is to go as fast as she can then turn so sharp that she skids around in a circle. It's pretty funny to watch.

Happy Birthday Gracie, We Love You!!