Azucena's 7th Birthday

Azucena's seventh birthday was pretty special. She loved getting mail from all her grandparents, she loved her new clothes and books from us, and she loved having friends over for a pizza party on Saturday. She'd been telling us for months she wanted to spend her birthday with all her friends and just play and have fun and that's exactly what they did. Azucena has a big heart and claims everyone as her best friend (with qualifiers: Kindergarten best friend, neighbor best friend, etc.). We love you so much, baby girl!

Azucena's Birthday Cake

Since we were visiting Mom and Dad, Mom asked Dad to make one of his legendary cakes to celebrate Azucena's birthday a little early. At different times, she asked for a blue cake, a rainbow cake, and a Rainbow Dash (MY LITTLE PONIES) cake. Dad hit it out of the park by combining all three! As you can see, she was thrilled! Thanks, Dad!

Aurora's 3rd Birthday

Aurora is three now! These pictures sum her up well: cheesy smiles, lots of energy, and crazy hair. :D

Adelaide's 4th Birthday

Grandma and Grandpa came up to spend some of Adelaide's birthday together. They brought a gingerbread house kit to share with all the girls and had fun putting it together.

 

 After Grandma and Grandpa left, we got the family gathered up and went to the theater to see MOANA. All of us loved it! The music was great and the animation was beautiful. We will definitely pick up a copy when it's released on home video.

Adelaide enjoyed opening her presents and picking out a cake (she saw it at Smith's and asked for it, specifically, even though we'd planned on making one ourselves).

Happy birthday, baby girl!

Azucena's Fifth Birthday

Happy birthday, sweet child! You've done a lot of growing up this year. You've been doing OT for a few months and it's helped you manage your emotions a lot more. You love knowing that every Monday you have a special appointment. You love schedules in general: you always ask what day it is and what we do on that day. You spend all day playing with your sisters. You love including Adelaide. It's harder to include Aurora, just because she can't physically keep up with everything, but you certainly try to help her out! You are so excited for school to start this fall. I hope it's everything you want it to be and I'm so excited for you to make new friends and learn something new every day!

Favorite colors: blue (like Grandma, you always point out) and orange
Favorite foods: mashed potatoes
Birthday meal: pizza
Favorite TV show: Doc McStuffins, Magic School Bus, Signing Time
Favorite activity: climbing trees

  

  Edit: Forgot to take portraits for a couple of weeks. Here is your five year old picture!

Aurora Turns One!

Happy birthday, baby girl! We are so excited you joined our family one year ago.

You have five teeth. You have orange streaks in the back of your hair. You say three words: "dada," "mama," and "ish" (which means "this").

You love bananas. I have no idea why. You will take bananas over anything else. You still like a range of other foods, but your preference is definitely bananas. You will look for them and bring them to me to feed to you.

You love your daddy most. If I happen to be holding you when your daddy comes home, you will push away from me and focus all of your attention on him--grabbing, calling, staring, EVERYTHING until he holds you. If I'm not holding you, you will run to him and reach up and insist you be held by him. You love him so much!

 Your brand new birthday Sunday dress.

 Birthday outfit from Grandma.

 You were so happy seeing the cake coming toward you. Then we placed it on your high chair and you could not care less. Sorry it was so disappointing! :D

It took a full minute before you would touch it, then you would barely poke it, then you were upset that you had sticky frosting on your hands, so you tried to use your clean hand to figure out what was going on and get the M&Ms off of the top.

Roommate Anniversary Dinner!

To celebrate our fifth anniversary (and Kerry's fourth, and Emily's golden birthday) we went down to Utah to party it up all weekend long and began the festivities with dinner at India Palace. Happily, Kendel was in town for BYU's Education Week and he came along, too! We really enjoyed the meal and the company and even though we were there for a few hours, the time was too short. I wish we lived closer so we could visit with these awesome people more often!

Azucena's Fourth Birthday

Azucena has turned four years old! It seems strange that I have had children in my home for four years. That I four years ago I was blessed with such an intelligent and beautiful daughter. Azucena is such a special child. She is quick as a whip. If she hears or sees something once, she probably has it memorized already. She can quote entire episodes of things she loves. She can recite Family Home Evening lessons from months ago with no prompting. Azucena is also a wonderful big sister. She loves playing with Adelaide and is constantly trying to include her. She also helps out with Aurora--getting diapers and pacifiers, letting me know when she's crying or is hungry. While it's hard for her to wake up early (before 9 a.m.), she loves going to Church. She constantly sings Primary songs and loves helping Adelaide with her prayers.

Age: 4
Favorite color: Orange
Favorite song: "Shut Up and Dance" and "Dark Lord Funk"
Favorite Primary song: "Follow the Prophet"
Birthday dinner: Salchi papas
Favorite TV show: Blues Clues, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Mickey Mouse
Favorite snack: chocolate frosted doughnuts, M&Ms
Favorite outdoor activity: swinging at the park

 

Adelaide's 2nd Birthday

 Happy birthday, Adelaide! You've grown up so much in the last few months. You love trying to do the same things Azucena does, like counting and identifying colors. In fact, you're really good at the latter, and you're almost always right when you count up to five. You're running, jumping, dancing, skipping, and twirling up a storm. I can barely keep up with you! You're also incredibly loving--you're still a little mother to Azucena and to all the dolls in Nursery. You're going to be a great big sister.

 Her favorite gift is the baby doll she got from Grandma. She's been carrying it around all night.

 We made cupcakes for everyone to eat and put her candle in one. She was fascinated by the fire and Azucena helped blow it out. But she was in it for the sugar so she didn't mind.

Azucena's Birthday Party

As an excuse to get the parents up to Idaho to tell them about expecting baby number three (SURPRISE!), we threw Azucena a small birthday party. Since our place is pretty darn small and the closing date on the house isn't for another week, we reserved the church gym for the party, which resulted in very orange pictures. ::sigh::

But that's okay, because the girls had fun. :)

 We had a bubble machine (one of Azucena's gifts) and the kids loved running through the wall of bubbles, but the little ones (like Adelaide) kept sliding, whether it was floor or tarp. They were just too darn light! :D

 The food we served was an ice cream sundae bar and fruit served in ice cream cones. This picture is Adelaide not waiting to be served, but sneaking off with a bowl of ice cream while Mommy helps the other children at the party (my dad had my camera).

Azucena's Birthday Zoo Adventure

Last year when we activated our zoo pass, we made sure that we'd be able to use it right up to Azucena's birthday this year (she was free until the day before her third birthday). Conveniently enough, Brady's graduation was the same weekend as her birthday, so we would already be down in Utah and knew we could take her to celebrate. The awkward part of planning was that for two years the zoo had promised a safari in 2014. Then it became early 2014. Which became spring of 2014. Which turned into May of 2014. Which ended up being MAY 30TH. Clark and I were seriously having a heart attack about whether or not Azucena would actually get to see lions and zebras and ostriches like she wanted to.

Anyway, I know almost none of these pictures have smiles, but the girls actually LOVED being there. They stayed in the splash pad for about 20 minutes because they were having so much fun. Azucena kept climbing onto statues and asking for her picture to be taken. She got her last ride on the carousel (man that punch pass was a worthy investment!). We also were able to ride the train that had just re-opened. The girls didn't like the crazy noise (the brakes were super squeaky or something) but they liked riding it and seeing the animals a little closer.

Happy birthday, Azucena! We're glad we could celebrate your birthday at the zoo!

 

30!

Well, here I am, the big 3-0!
It has been interesting to think about the last three decades and how they have made me the person I am today. I am especially grateful that my parents took the time to drive for twelve hours each way to come celebrate with me. I was so happy to see my two daughters be excited to play with them and to eat the same junk food as me (ice cream, cheesecake, and monster cookies!). I'm blessed to have Clark by my side daily and to have his constant support and love.
My gifts this year were letters from family and friends, a giant food processor, flowers, chocolate, gifts from Washington D.C., a beautiful charm bracelet from the girls and a necklace from Clark. I also got a fantastic birthday card that referenced Cory and Topanga from Boy Meets World so you know that was my favorite. ;)
Here's to another 30 + 30 years!