Allary's Birthday

Allary turned 4 on September 25th. The day before her birthday, she got to bring cupcakes to preschool. She was very excited about that. Then on the day of her birthday we invited all of the little girls in her class to a party at Arctic Circle. They came in princess dress-ups and they played and had lunch and ate pink cupcakes with sprinkles. It was really cute and Allary had a great time.


That night we had Trisha and her family, Kevin and his family, and Anne and Brady over for a fun party at our house.
Here she is opening her fun presents.

A Sleeping Beauty dress-up dress from us. (and possibly her Halloween costume also).

Cute clothes from Grandma and Grandpa M.

Fancy Nancy doll from Grandma and Grandpa M. So cute!

Polly Pocket and princess raisins from Trisha and fam. Can you tell she loved the raisins? :)

Tinkerbell Color Wonder from Kevin and fam.

Movies from us. We also got her a giant floor puzzle with letters and numbers. It was a big hit and I don't know why I didn't get a picture of it.

Thank you everyone for coming and for the great presents!

This is her cute cake from Cold Stone. I don't/can't bake and so it's usually better in my case to just buy it, and man do they make good cakes there. Mmmmm.


After the party, we had Megan and Paige stay for a fun princess sleepover party.
I just love little girls so much. And how lucky these 3 girlies are to have each other, fun cousins right at the same age. There was a lot of giggling and pink and silliness and dress-ups and more giggling. Just cute.


The next morning, Jason and I took all 3 girls to a bounce house.

Did I maybe go a little overboard on all the birthday extravaganza for my little girl? Yeah, probably, but how fun it is to spoil her and go all out for her special day. I seriously can't believe she is 4 years old. She is the joy of our lives and a blessing to our little family.

Weekend of Fun

These photos are actually from quite a while ago. Jason had a super busy (busier than normal) month and when we found out he had Labor Day weekend off, we decided to make it a "weekend of fun." I was in need of both making and having plans and we were all in need of some stress-free fun.

We started out our WOF by going out to dinner. We went to a really fun restaurant with kind of a Rainforest Cafe type atmosphere and they have live shows with high-divers and music and lights and things, Allary was totally enthralled. I don't know why I didn't take any pictures.

Then Saturday, we went to the Museum of Ancient Life.


This is the erosion table, Allary's favorite part of the museum. Even Dad had to get in there and help her with her terraforming.



I was trying to get photos of the big dinosaurs in the background of these next two photos, but they turned out pretty dark. Oh well, they are still cute photos I think.



Allary was afraid to crawl through this small tunnel, unsure of what she would find in there...
So Dad convinced her to brave it out. I love her face and how she is clinging on to him. :)

Digging for dinosaur bones.


After the museum, we got lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at IKEA, where we spoiled ourselves with a few new items. Then we met up with my siblings and went out to dinner. Great fun.
Sunday, we relaxed and ate good food and watched movies.
Then Monday, we headed out for another day of fun. Allary has really been into space and astronauts and spaceships lately and so we took her to the Planetarium.

I love the excitement on her face. She's been telling me that she is going to be an astronaut when she grows up. But, she is not going to wear those white or orange space suits, her's is going to be pink and purple. :)

Here she is being a weather-girl. She is watching herself on the tv monitor.

And here she is exploring the landscape of the moon...

and of Mars.

I love this photo. I left the red-eye there, I think it makes her look more Mars-ish. What a cute little martian. :)

That night we came home and had another good dinner and watched a movie together. It was such a great weekend.
I will post photos of Allary's fun birthday celebration soon.

First Day of Preschool!

I can't even believe my baby girl is going to preschool. I'm excited for her but I am also having a bit of a hard time with it. It just signifies the passage of time and makes me sad. I know it's totally over dramatic, but can she really survive out there, anywhere, but right here with me? I know that's dumb, especially given that it's Allary. She is the most independent kid I know. In fact, I was talking to her a few days before preschool and I said, "what am I going to do here without you while you are at preschool?" She put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Mom, you'll be alright. And then you'll come get me." I feel like she is the strong one here and I am the one clinging to her leg needing her to stay with me. She's always been that way though. She's never cried when I've left her with sitters or at nursery or anywhere. I guess that means she feels confident and secure and has no doubt I'll be back. I love the sweet relationship that she and I have. She is my little sweetheart and we do everything together. I can't even put into words how much I love this girl.

Here are some photos from this morning.


I did her hair-do last night so that I wouldn't be rushed this morning. It took forever to do the twisties, but I thought it turned out cute.




She LOVES her backpack. I asked her what kind of backpack she wanted to get (fully expecting pink or princess or Hello Kitty) and she said, "I want a monkey backpack." Really? OK. So we spent the good portion of a day looking for a monkey backpack. I showed her all kinds of other backpacks I thought she would like, but her mind was set. We finally found this one at Kohl's and she was thrilled. It says, "Live like a rock star!" and it has a monkey playing a pink guitar. It's actually pretty awesome.

As sad as I was to leave her and feel like she really doesn't need me, it sure felt great to go get her and have her come running out to greet me with a big hug. Even after we got home, she was especially lovey and talkative and so happy. While she was gone, I went shopping and also got her some little "first day of school presents." I got her some Polly Pocket dolls and a Hello Kitty notepad and pencils and her first little pair of scissors. She has previously been banned from scissors for cutting little slits in her brand new bedspread (Grrrr). She picked up the scissors when she saw them and said, "are these mine to use?" I said yes and she threw her arms around my neck and said, "You're the best mom EVER!" :)
She had a great time and was so excited to show me her little projects she did today. I am so proud of her. What a smart, beautiful, confident little (I mean big) girl she is!

Life is Good

We love our new neighborhood. It's quiet and beautiful and open. We've got great neighbors, lots of little kids. And we love that we have a church, a park, and an elementary school all right in our little community.
I took these photos at a great park just down the road from our house. It's within walking distance, but we only did that once since the way down is quick and fun and the way back up is steep and hot and exhausting.



Allary just wanted to show off some of her drawings on camera, and I actually ended up snagging these really cute shots.





Life is good. I am making new friends in the ward and continuing to adjust. There is much work to do on the house, mostly the yard, but Jason is far too busy with work. I have been busy nesting and decorating and making it my own. I love the challenge of decorating on a budget. I think I am pretty good at taking what I already own and making it new and pretty and unique. Maybe I'll post some pictures of some of my decorating projects later.
We're all just getting over some nasty stomach bugs and other than that, all is well. :)

Haircut

These first pictures are just to show how long Allary's hair was getting. I have to blow dry it and straighten it out with my big curling iron to get it to look like this.




I decided it was time to trim it up and even it out in the back and I've been debating on giving her bangs for a long time now. Here's a few shots after the trim. Again, this is with it straightened out as much as possible.

Jason's Birthday

Jason's birthday was actually a while ago, July 21st. He turned the big 30 this year! We just celebrated with the 3 of us by going out to dinner at Chili's and opening presents. I got Jason some good new Wii games he's been wanting and he also got some new shirts.