Valentines Day 2013

I really do love Valentines day. It's so fun to fill out all those Valentines, and do fun treats for my kids. This year we heart attacked their bedroom doors, and gave them each a book. I made our families favorite dinner and took a surprise batch of Micah's favorite cookies to his work. Micah in return surprised me with an iPad. Really? That put my batch of cookies and dinner to shame. I did heart attack his mirror in the bathroom that morning, but it felt silly next to an iPad. I was very surprised, but happy. He knew that I had been wanting one to use for my church lessons.  

Avery won for best box for the second year in a row. Her teacher went all out with prizes giving her a stuffed animal and candy as her prize. She was thrilled.

Abbie was disappointed that she didn't get to make a fun box this year. She was a big help in making Aliza's box, and Avery and I tackled this Minion. Well, Avery did it all actually except for his eyes that I cut out on my circuit. I kept giving her idea's, but she knew exactly how she wanted it. What did we ever do without Pinterest for cute idea's? We received a lot of fun Valentines from family in the mail which is always such a fun surprise.

Aliza's school party went well. I have had a lot of fun being room mom for her cute Kindergarten class. It was kind of sad knowing that it was our last party for the year. They were all adorable, and we did a lot of fun crafts and had lots of fun "heart" shaped snacks. It was a wonderful day!

Abbie turns 12

Having a birthday on a Saturday is always fun. Abbie woke up to a fun filled day. She started her day with crepes (her request) and then played a few hours of her favorite sport, tennis. She is training to start participating in tournaments and her birthday was her first day of training.

Outside was waiting for her a yard full of bee's welcoming her into Young Women's. I'm so excited to have Abbie in my Beehive class. Camp this year will be so much fun with Abbie there. I am looking forward to spending that time with her.

Abbie decided to collect money in leu of gifts at there birthday party to donate to the local Ronald McDonald house. On Abbie's actual birthday we were able to tour the Ronald McDonald house and present the checks to them. It was such a great experience meeting some of the families staying at the home, and learning exactly where there donated money is going. Between Abbie and Kiersten they raised $455. I was really proud of her for wanting to give instead of just receive gifts on her birthday.

Abbie's nickname in tennis is unicorn. Avery gave her this stuffed unicorn for her birthday, and Abbie loves it. We took this picture to send to her tennis coach just for fun.

Abbie was very excited to do baptisms for the dead, and decided she would like to do that for her birthday. It was such an amazing experience being at the temple with just Micah, Abbie and myself. We had the whole baptistry to ourselves, and she got a lot of special attention for it being her birthday and her first time there. It was a great experience. It was dark and cold so I didn't get a great picture, but you can kind of make her out in front of the Las Vegas temple.

After the temple we took her out for a special treat. She had been wanting to try this place called "The Crepe Shack" so that's where we went for a yummy treat.

She had to get a few silly poses in.

Abbie had a wonderful birthday, and really enjoyed getting packages and cards in the mail. We have wonderful family and friends that made it a special day for her. I still can't beleive she is 12 years old. She is turning into such a beautiful, smart, kind young woman. She is going to do amazing things in her life and I can't watch her grow. She is such a wonderful daughter and I feel so blessed that she is in our family. Happy Birthday Abbie!

Abbie's Birthday Party

Abbie shared a birthday party this year with her friend Kiersten who has a birthday the day after hers. It was fun to have a joint party because they both know many of the same people, and the more the merrier I suppose. They decided to have a mall scavenger hunt which was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun making up the list of where and what to take pictures of. They split up into three groups and ran (well walked fast to be respectful of others) throughout the mall taking pics. We ran into a small snag in the game when we first started playing because a security guard told us we couldn't take pictures outside of stores, but we could ask the store clerk inside of the store to take pictures inside. Everyone was really nice they had no problems with us taking pictures. In fact they looked at us like we were crazy for asking. We did what the security guard asked and had a lot of fun.

 These are a few of my favorite pictures of the evening. 

Everyone crowded in a bathroom stall.

Posing like a mannequin in a store window.

Trying on sunglasses.

Trying on sports gear.

Cute pose on a mall bench.

Singing Mary had a little lamb in a music store. The pictures were all so cute it was hard to pick just a few. We went home and made them into a slideshow that was so fun to watch. Aliza was hilarious trying to sneak her way into the background of the pictures.

We came back to our house to eat pizza, decorate cup cakes and play just dance. I attempted to do a chocolate fountain, but it didn't work. I melted all the chocolate, put it in the fountain and it wouldn't turn on. I felt really bad but we just ended up dipping yummy treats in the chocolate instead. It was still delicious.

Cruise Pictures

A few pictures from our cruise. Formal night and just a random fun picture. The girls loved getting in front of the camera for all the photographers. There were a lot of cute pictures, but at $20 a picture you can only buy so many.