Lexi's 2nd Birthday

On Saturday, May 24th, Lexi turned 2!  We had a low key morning hanging out at the house enjoying all of Lexi's new collection of princess dresses from Grandma and Aunt Jayann (amazing!) and went to the park.  That afternoon, we had a little party with family and a few friends to celebrate.  Lexi seemed to think the whole thing was FANTASTIC!

She actually slept through the first half hour of her party till I decided a 3 hour nap was long enough and went to wake her up.  She was none to thrilled to be woken up, but when we made it down stairs, this was the face we got.  Looks like waking up to a house full of friends and balloons all in your honor isn't such a bad way to start the rest of your day!

 Add in some frosting and a crown and life is looking pretty good!

 Some of the cookie decorators (and devourers, too!).

 Yep, she's loving this whole birthday thing!

 What cute kids

 More cute cookie decorators.

 Brad got Lexi this Minnie Mouse balloon and it was definitely the hit of the party!

 Since everyone was already all hyped up on sugar, we decided to open presents before cupcakes and ice cream.  Lexi had fun digging into all those cute bags!

 My mom helped Syd with one of her 10 hour projects for YW to make Lexi an Ariel princess dress.  They got her this crown to go along with it and no matter how many times we tried to turn it around, this was how she wanted to wear it.  She kills me!

 The aftermath of present opening...all Lexi's friends had a great time shredding tissue paper and making a huge mess.

 But the best part of the whole experience was watching her face as we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her.  Honestly, it was priceless. She was sooooo elated and didn't want it to end!

 After several attempts, she did finally blow out the candle.

 Wow!  I love that girl!

 Brad ended up making a fire in the backyard and all the kids had a great time playing around out there.

Once  the party was over, it was time to relax and enjoy the spoils.  I absolutely love reading with my girls and they were so excited to new books to add to the collection.  (Notice Libby is sporting one of Lexi's new dresses from Grandma...we'll see if Lexi ever gets a turn.  Good thing there are 6 of them to go around!)

What a great 2nd birthday!  I sure do love that little munchkin!  Happy birthday, Lexi!

Too HOT!

You know it's bad when your husband would rather sleep in the girls' room than in your own because the AC is way better in there.  Yeah, we had some record-breaking temperatures recently and it was too much for Brad to handle.

 Two vagabonds stealing Lexi's bed.

I'd say, yes, three IS a crowd...especially in a crib when one is a full-blown adult male. 

The girls loved their intruder, though!

Prom 2014

Not many people can say they got to go to Prom with their husband, but I get to....over and over and over again!  I LOVE it!  There's no one I'd rather go with!

 We've been off the circuit for a few years, but I decided this year that we need to get back to going - it's a great free date night and an excuse to get all dressed up.  Plus, it's always fun to see my students looking (and for the most part) acting their best.

My mom was nice enough to watch the girls for us. so we enjoyed a nice dinner and then a night out on the town.  It was a GREAT date night and brought back lots of fond memories of our own Prom nights.  Such fun!

(Again, Lexi is off running around somewhere and refused to be in the picture....that girl!!!)

Mommy & Me Crafts

When I went to Libby's school for Mommy and Me day, we got to paint a little tile and do some other art projects.  They glazed the tile and gave it back a few days later, so here we are showing off our artwork. 

P.S.  We finally got new accent chairs to replace the old hand-me-downs we've had for almost 7 years (YIKES!) and I love them!  It's so nice to have some color in our lives!

Swimming Lessons Graduate

After two weeks of swimming lessons, Libby is an official graduate!  She was awesome!  She absolutely loved the whole experience and wants to swim, swim, swim all the time now - hooray!

 Look how thrilled she is to be jumping in!  I love that little eager-beaver grin that never gets wiped off her face!

Posing with her teacher, Miss Barb.

 Showing off her floating, 

 swimming,

 jumping,

and diving!

 Yep, I'd say that's the look of pure success!  She took the class with two of her best buddies and they all did great.  Way to go, Libby!

Mother's Day

After a beautiful walk on the beach in the morning, we had a nice day a church, snapped a quick family picture, and then headed to the Stewarts' for dinner where my nieces made dinner for all of us moms.  What a great treat!

 This is what being a mom is all about!  I am the luckiest person alive!

Lake Elsinore

Brad has been wanting to take the boat out for its first trip of the season for awhile now, but thing just keep popping up to deter us.  So, we finally made it happen this weekend and we were so glad we did - it was awesome!  It was just our little family and we had a wonderful time.

 The life-vest sisters!

 I've always been a firm believer that even just a few minutes on a boat can put anyone to sleep - here's the proof!

 The girls had lots of fun playing in the sand.

 Sand-angel!

 After we let them play to their hearts' content, it was our turn!  We weren't sure if the girls qualified as official "flag-girls", but we gave them each a flag and called it good.  They were excellent little helpers and kept both of us very safe! ;)

 I got to wakeboard and ski and Brad wakeboarded.  I forgot just how much I love it - soooo fun!

Heading back to the dock after a fun-filled day.  Can't wait to go again soon!

Mommy and Me Day

Last Thursday was "Mommy and Me" day at Libby's preschool.  I was so excited to take time off of work and go spend the morning with my little angel in her class.

 Libby and I working on our craft.

 Showing me some of her number tiles she likes to play with.

Then, the took all of us mothers into the social hall and served lemonade with cake and fruit.  What a fun morning to spend with my little school-loving cutie!

(One main thing I learned from the whole experience - we've got ourselves a talker!  Yep, Libby liked to have a comment for everything the teacher said - all on-topic and cute, but she definitely likes to be heard.  Hmmmm...I wonder where she gets that from! ;)

Swimming Lessons

Libby started swimming lessons this week and she loves it!  She's gone four times (and has four left to go) and is really doing great.  She is jumping in off the side and swimming to her teacher, floating, and diving (from a step, not the side) to find "treasures".  What a cute little fish!

 All set and ready to hit the pool!

 Her teacher, Miss Barb keeps the pool at a nice 90 degrees, so Libby really loves it!

 Zeke and Libby waiting for their class to start (Ian was out that day, but it's the three little buddies all in a class together - so fun!)

 Lexi enjoying the view from the sidelines.  (On Libby's first day, Lexi went for a swim herself - in full clothes, and unintentionally, but she's been better since!)

The eager little beaver and her teacher.

Hoedown Time

As a part of the Stake Primary board, I got to help put on our Stake's annual Daddy-Daughter night.  This year it was a hoedown theme and it turned out pretty great, if I do say so myself!

 Sporting my duds - complete with a real gun and holster, too!  Yep, call me crazy but I brought a real gun to a church activity.  Hey, if this were Texas, that would be totally normal! ;)

 My big project was making the "wanted" posters of the bishops and stake presidency. I went around and took all their pictures in ruffian attire and had them each pick a fun nickname.  It was a fun project and I'm pretty sure the girls loved it!

 My pardners in crime - the Stake Primary Board.

Showing our wild side!

It was a ton of work, and totally exhausting while it was going on (mostly because I was in charge of the "bean bag toss at a stack of cans" game and to spend the whole night on my hands and knees picking up and re-stacking cans - whew!), but a raging success!  So much fun!

Train to an Angel Game

Last Friday we decided to take the train to an Angel game and had a great time.  It was just our little family and the girls had so much fun showing Daddy the ropes on the train!

 Whenever we've taken the train before, Brad has always just met us there, so it was fun to have him as a part of the whole experience.

 The girls did a good job 'cuz he's sold - no traffic to battle, a nice ride with a totally different perspective, no paying for parking, and no gas...not a bad deal, eh?!

 We had cheapo seats, but that's half the fun, right?!

 The weather had been super hot, so tank top dresses were perfect all night long!

 Someone is in cotton-candy heaven! ;)

 Ooohhhh....so is someone else! Gooey, sticky mess - they loved it!

The game was fun, but ended up being a pretty long one.  It wasn't over till 10:30, and the train doesn't leave till a half hour after it's over.  So, by the time we got home, it was almost midnight! And, wouldn't you know it, the girls never fell asleep for a second! They were wired the whole time.  I think Brad's face says it all for how the two of us felt by the end of the night.  Exhausted, but a super fun night!  And, by the end of the game we had the girls straightened out - they had started the night cheering for the Cardinals the whole time (whom we weren't playing, it was just the last baseball game they went to), but they're back to Angels pride now! ;)