Birthday Celebrated

Poor little Lydia was sick as could be on her first little birthday, she was absolutely miserable! So the only thing she really got to enjoy on her birthday was a few minutes of playing with balloons and a sucker!

We pushed her party back a few days so she would be able to enjoy it! We did an ice cream sundae bar and cupcakes. She got her own little cake, and she didn't know what to think of that! She took one danty little lick and that is able all she ate! I stuck her hand in it trying to get her to dig and and she just shook her hand to get the cake off! We had so much fun celebrating with all of our family! And we are so beyond happy to celebrate a year with this sweet little baby we couldn't live without!

Just Stay This Little

 Look at this little chubby baby! I can't believe a year ago today we were preparing to meet this little cutie! I didn't think I could ever love another kid as much as I love Mae. But boy did she make her way into my heart! She is such a calm and good natured girl. She has a smile that shines as bright as anything I've ever seen! She is so sweet and loving. I can't believe how fast a year can go by. I can't imagine our lives without this little love bug, I don't know how we survived without her!

My Little Dancer

Mae started dance today! 

Isn't she adorable?!

Minga & Such

 This is Mae and her new bff Minga. Yes the scarf is named Minga, and she has lost her family so she has come to be a part of ours! This is also a great pic to show off Mae's outfit! She has decided that she can dress herself. So some days we go out in shorts and snow boots and that's alright! She loves having that independence! 

 Enjoying some Cotton Candy at Grandma Luwanna's 80th birthday bash!

 The kids and adults all enjoyed hours of endless fun on this big beauty!

Goodbye to a Lifetime

Those of you who know me know how absolutely obsessed I am with Harry Potter! I remember one rainy day in fifth grade gym class our teacher began reading us the Sorcerer's Stone. That was the beginning for me! But the obsession didn't really begin until the 3rd book, Prisoner of Azkaban. From then on it became such a fun adventure! We went to all the midnight book and movie releases. Making t-shirts, dressing up, making magical food and of course reading! I'm a little embarrassed at the number of times I have read the books, but I'll blame that on my poor memory! It seems I find something new every time I read them! It has been so fun looking forward to this last movie, its agonizing to anticipate what they would do with it! But it is so incredibly sad that this lifetime of magic is coming to an end. But I guess it never has to really end, that's the magic of a book! It being the last midnight release we decided we better do it in style!

And of course we had to have plenty of delicious food from the magical world! We had butter beer, mulled meed, pumpkin pasties, chocolate frogs, licorice wands, lemon drops, droobles best blowing gum, fever fudge, ton tongue toffee, ice mice, jellied slugs, crumpets, cauldron cakes, rock cakes, dirt cups, acid pops, canary creams and an absolutely amazing gryffindor cake!

Aren't they talented?!

 We had 2 food venues, Honeydukes and the Potions classroom!

Decorations! 

My sweet husband hand carved wands for everyone!

After enjoy the tasty treats we played a few round of Harry Potter Scene It! Of course Mae and I killed it! She makes a mama proud!

Then we headed out to the movie!

Overall I have to say I really loved it.

And I can't wait to experience it all again with through my children's eyes! Mae is already in love!

Summer

Its been a busy busy summer! Full of fun and adventure, it hasn't left much time for blogging! So here's a quick little recap of what we've been up to! Mae went fishing with her daddy

We've been spending lots of time at the pool, which sadly I don't have any pics of! Reminder to take my camera!

Lots of park dates, Lydia really loves the swing! 

For the 4th of July we went to the Balloon Festival! 

We went to the Real Game with my family to celebrate my dad's birthday!  Lydia was so funny with the fireworks! She was fascinated but a little scared so she kept grabbing and holding on to Mae!

And I was lucky enough to get to go to the Katy Perry's concert with my girls!  

So far its been a great summer!

Jack be Nimble, Jack be quick

 I made this little nursery rhyme book for my sister in law's baby shower. It was so much fun and I think it turned out rather cute!

Hope for Sarah

I met Sarah almost 6 years ago when I started working at Breathe day Spa. She was an incredibly hard worker, but she took the time to get to know all the people she worked with, and was genuinely nice and considerate. I later found out that she had battled cancer as a teenager, but she had been in remission for awhile.
She and I were pregnant at the same time, and Ella was born 3 months before I had Mae. Sarah found out shortly after having Ella that her cancer had returned. She has now been fighting for almost five years. She is one of the most incredible people I know. 

{Determined. Faithful. Optimist. Strong. Beautiful.}
{Courageous}

This past weekend they had a benefit 5k for her, and I was lucky enough to participate. It was an incredible experience to witness all the people pulling for her!
It is also incredible to witness her strength. She is truly someone who is a tremendous example and inspiration to me.
I am pulling for her, I believe in miracles, good things happen to good people!

Check out her blog, it is inspirational!

Hope for Sarah

Family VGetaway!

My parents rented a condo down in Mesquite over Easter weekend and they were nice enough to invite us to come! I'm not sure that it made for the best vacation for them, but we had a blast! 

Its a 5 hour drive, I was so nervous for Lydia to be in the car that long, but she was amazing! She was awake the entire ride and just as happy as can be! We made it about 20 minutes before Mae on the other hand was asking "how much farther?" Oh boy! But she did great too!

We went swimming every day which was a blast! Mae would beg and beg all day to go, then we'd get back to the condo after and I would tell her that she needed to shower and her reply was "I didn't even want to go swimming so I don't have to shower!" Wow she is a firecracker!

Lydia absolutely loved the water! She was smiling, giggling, screaming and kicking! It was so cute!

It was a super relaxing trip, we swam and ate and relaxed, saw Rio and went bowling. It was so nice to get away and do something different. 

Mae keeps asking me why we can't go back to the place with the pool and live there. I keep wondering why not myself! I would love to live somewhere that stayed that warm. It was amazingly uplifting to get some sunshine!

 Ahh don't you just want to pinch those cheeks?

A few days before Easter curious Mae happened upon the Easter Bunnies stash of goodies. I thought Easter was sure to be a bust after that! But he still came and left all the goodies hidden around the condo, and she was still just as enthusiastic about even though she had already seen everything. And surprisingly she didn't really question it either.  My mom got the girls these cute matching little rompers for Easter and I thought they were the perfect Easter day outfit!

We packed up that day and went to Easter lunch with my family before making the journey home. 

It was so much fun to get to spend time as a family, and hang out with my family again. Its been a long time since we've been on a vacation together!