Kailee's 5th Birthday!!

Pinkalicious Party!

Happy 5^th Birthday Kailee Bug!! This little thing is growing up WAY too fast! She had the CUTEST birthday party last Saturday with her favorite girl friends; Jordan, McKaylie, Maddelyn, Brooklynn, Maizy  and Ava. It was based on the Pinkalicious books and it was stinkin’ ADORABLE and we all had so much fun! It was darling, and the girls were in HEAVEN! It was pink, pink, PINK! Pink cupcakes, pink push pop cakes, pink dipped marshmellows, pink candy galore, pink gum, and even pink punch.. If pink doesn’t describe Kailee to a T, I don’t know what does!  Little princess is ALL girl! Thanks Angie, for such a fun party! And Kailee bug.. STOP GROWING ALREADY! 

We were able to snag her after the party for the rest of the weekend.. She fell asleep in the car from all the fun she had and slept ALL the way to our big surprise.. LAGOON! J After a drowsy walk in, she woke right up and literally didn’t stop until after 10! She was in HEAVEN! We rode kid ride, after kid ride, after kid ride and she was so patient in line.. She was the best little girl that day and even got to paint her face and chose a green tiger! (SHOCKED she didn’t choose the princess) From then on out, she was in full character.  Growling and hissing and making us laugh! (side note: daddy loved her SO much and wanted to let her have the $10 face painting on her birthday so bad, he literally ran ALL over Lagoon looking for an ATM. We are so lucky to have him!) Her favorite ride was the swings, I think she rode them 5 times or more! She would laugh and yell our names anytime the swings would bring her close to us. It was pure heaven to see that big tiger smile! She was so good we left WAY later than expected, it was well after 10 by the time we got to the car.. I couldn’t believe, and still can’t believe how good she was.. no whining or complaining or attitude. AT ALL. It was bliss for daddy and I!  the attitude is coming right along, as expected I guess, and it was fabulous to have a full day away from that! She was such a good kid and fell right asleep when we got home. Tiger on her face and all! She even slept until almost 9 the next day! The 5^th birthday is going to be hard to top!!

Happy Birthday baby girl! 5 seems so big, and there are so many exciting things happening in your life. You are just starting Kindergarten and you couldn’t be more ready. We are SO proud of you and love you more than you’ll ever know. I’d like to think that where ever I was 5 years ago, August 25^th, 2007, that my heart skipped a beat when you came into this world. That somewhere, deep down I knew.. that  my life was forever changed in that very moment. Thank you for blessing me with this opportunity to help raise you, help guide you, help teach you and help show you about this crazy life. I’d never sleep if I let myself worry about all the bad things in this world you will someday face, but I know you’ll be a leader, and that makes me happy. There are so many things I want to tell you and show you and teach you one day when the time is right. I want to save you from some of the heartache I experienced. I want to tell you about dumb choices I made that really made life hard at times. I want to share my mistakes and my bad choices, and even more  I want to share with you my growth and happiness, in hopes that you can be stronger than I ever was.. but most importantly, I hope you remember, that your mom and dad love you more than anything in this world, and so do I! and I hope when it’s a little too embarrassing to talk to them about things, you’ll turn to me. That we can be friends, even if I have to discipline too. In the next few years there will be lots of changes in your life, but the fact that you are our WORLD, will never change.  We love you bug, and are SO SO happy to have a big 5 year old in our lives! Happy Birthday Kailee Grace! I hope your day was everything you could have ever hoped for! XoXo

 

Jeona's Birthday!

Happy happy birthday to my pretty friend, Jeona! Jeona and I grew up in the same ward, but to say we were friends, may be a stretch ;) I did love that her parents brought Nutterbutters every Sunday to Sunday school, but her and I definitely werent fond of each other.. neither of us really know why… But lets be honest, its quite possible I was a tiny brat. Me!?!?  I know, sounds crazy.. ;)

Our first year of friendship came just after I started my sophomore year. We had our differences for a VERY long time. (Again, I was maybe a little brat? Shocking.) Regardless, over the next couple of years our friendship really blossomed. I remember hearing about this new “Travis” guy she was dating. Quickly, they were inseparable, and I got to know one of my favorite guys in the world! They are so lucky to have found each other! There were a couple of years just out of highschool that I spent a TON of time with them. I was able to be a part of their relationship from pretty much the beginning. I remember when she called to tell me she was pregnant with Drake. I think I called every day during her last couple of weeks to see how she was doing. I fell in love with him the day he was born and couldn’t wait to get up to Tremonton every weekend to hold him! I have SO many amazing memories with Jeona… San Francisco, Club Munns, her apartment, and hanging out at her and Trav’s new house where I spent MANY nights, rabbit hunting, and possibly some of my wilder days.. ;)

In the next year or two, life really changed for the both of us, and I started spending a lot more time in SLC. Her family grew by one, another baby came, pretty little Paisley. That’s when her and Trav’s life became more complex than any of us could have imagined. Drake and Paisley were both diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. I remember when she told me, I truly had no clue what it meant. I did my research, asked questions, and my heart broke. I knew there was no one better in the world to handle that trial than Travis and Jeona. To this day, they are one of the strongest couples I know. They’ve been through more hurt, worry and pain then any parents ever should, and you’d never know it. Both of them could light up a room with their smiles. I’m so blessed to know such fun and positive people. That is one thing about the two of them, they are so much FUN! It’s impossible to be around them and not laugh! They are constantly making fun of each other or laughing about something. It’s amazing to see such happiness when most would have crumbled under the pressure of taking care of two sick kids. 

Jeona, I think I can speak for all 3 of us girls when I say, we are SO lucky to have you in our lives. The example you are as a mother, a wife and a friend. Thanks for being so goofy, for letting us laugh at your blonde moments, and for constantly reminding us what life is about. FUN! Even when times are tough! Your strength and positive attitude amaze me and I’m so lucky to call you one of my best friends!

Thanks for such a fun and REALLY late birthday dinner/shopping! We need to take the guys there next time.. To Cheescake Factory, not shopping of course! ;) Love you! Hope you had a Happy Birthday! XoXo

'Stay'cation and Remodel Surprise!

Oh, how I’d love to go back! The last week of June was our big vaca of the year.. and it was quite fabulous! Our week started off with a surprise remodel we were doing for my Mother-in-law. I have the most talented and amazing sister in law who was DEFINITELY the vision here. But I know we all had an absolute blast helping her pull this off. I went from work on Thursday and spent the evening there, all day Friday and most of Saturday.

Before I get to the before and after pics, I just have to tell Aubrey, Amber and Heather (and the boys of course!) how much stinkin’ fun I had! It was a TON of work for 3 days, but somehow the girl chat, a LOT of energy drinks, a caffiene pill or six, 2 nights of Pizza Hut and lots of time with the family made it fly by! The before and after pictures really speak for themselves, so I will leave it at that! But quite a beautiful transformation if I say so myself! Aubs – you really are AMAZING! Your vision, talent and eye for décor are just a few of the reasons I’m going to miss you so much! Thanks for such an amazing experience. Spending time with you all, the look on JoLene’s face, and the joy in her voice made every second worth it!!

Before :

AFTER! 

 

Amazing, right?! Love it! And so did she!!

Week off!

I can think of a few things that would have been better.. Taking Kailee to Disneyland, spending a week on a beach in the Caribbean, blah, blah, blah.. but really, I may have found another favorite vacation spot.. HOME! We got to spend a week doing whatever we wanted, and it was FABULOUS! As I mentioned above, Thursday night through Sunday were mostly spent at the in-laws doing the remodel. From Monday to Sunday we had time with just the two of us, our families, and best of all, the three of us.. HEAVEN! Thinking about making this an annual thing! SO much less work than an actual vacation and no more than usual laundry ;) Monday we headed up to Lindsay’s to spend time with her and Brody. When we took this week off, it was mostly intended to help her out, but we didn’t want to smother her, so we just stayed a couple days. We picked her and sweet baby up and headed to my mom’s for the night. I offered and LOVED keeping Brody with me that night. We got to cuddle all night! I literally could eat his cheeks! It was nice to be able to help Lindsay out on the night before her birthday, I know she was so sleepy, so I was glad to let her sleep for as long as her mommy body could. The next day was her birthday, we had an awesome sushi dinner and just hung out! Loved my time with the new mommy and baby boy. I may be obsessed with him!

Wednesday we picked up little miss and spent the night at home! She even got to have a sleep over in our bed! ;) Thursday we spent the day at SevenPeaks, Friday evening we hung out at Ammon and Amber's and Saturday and Sunday were chill at the pool and family days. I really loved the whole concept of a ‘staycation’ and am considering making it at least an every other year thing! DEFINITELY recommend it for us busy career people! <3