With a Sprinkle of Fairy Dust

Confession time! I celebrated Tessa's Birthday 2 1/2 weeks early. In my defense she was so excited after Kylie celebrated her birthday on August 14th, and I wanted to do it before school started. She was having her first friend (a.k.a "big girl") birthday this year and I was worried if we waited until Labor Day no one could attend. So you judge....bad mom or SMART mom?




Either way it was a super fun day! It was a tinkerbell party! The girls arrived and we put on fairy wings! We made fairy wands next...they did such a good job.










Then with a little help from day we cracked open a flower pinata.

Next were purple flower tinkerbell cupcakes and finally presents!

Tessa loved having her friends come! It made her feel so grown up! Kylie was there to..."to help" she kept telling me!

Happy Birthday to my Silly Girl!

First Day, Hooray!

Had to post these pictures of Kylie on her 1st day of 1st Grade!

She had a great day. Her favorite thing...eating school lunch. Chicken sandwich, curly fires, watermelon, chocolate milk, and cake. Lunches have sure improved since I was in Elementary School!

When she got home she convinced Dad to pull out her loose tooth. She is growing up too fast!

Of course I am posting this the night of the second day of school so I must share that a little boy in her class kissed her on the cheek today. She told me it was embarrassing so we decided she should tell him, "I'm glad you're my friend but my Dad says boys can't kiss me until I'm 18!"

W-I-L-D...wildcats!

This last week I signed up the girls for the Woods Cross High mini cheerleader camp. Our friends the Seljaas' clued us in and we were happy to join our friends.
It was 2 days of instruction and then the girls got to preform at the football game during half time. Here's how the adventure went:
Day 1-Dressed the girls in their most "cheery clothes" and added to my "Mom of the Year" resume by remembering water bottles.

Kylie is in love with cheering instantly and happily waves as her group goes to the other gym to practice. Tessa rarely looks at the cheerleaders instructing her group, comes over at least 20 or so times to get a drink from her water bottle. I harang my 14 month old on the bleachers in the blazing hot gym for an hour and a half.

Day 2-I repeatedly drill into my almost 3 year olds head that she needs to WATCH and COPY what the cheerleaders are showing her. She follows them for about 5 minutes before attempting to come get a drink. I threaten to throw away her waterbottle if she doeasn't do cheer (never thought I would be "that" kind of mother...don't tell the "Mother of the Year" slection committee). She wanders around her group distracting other girls who are trying to cheer. Her favorite part of the dance is when they finish and lay on the ground kicking their legs...she doesn't get up for a few minutes. I worry that at the performance that my daughter, who I have nicknamed "the wanderer" will not only NOT cheer but will wander off the field.
Kylie is spot on following every move of the cheerleaders and excited to perfrom!

Performance Night-We arrive at the start of the game and the girls sit in their groups the entire first half! I don't know how they kept them happy and all together. My daughter has Cheerleader Michelle who she has bonded with carry her around. The perfromance goes better than I hoped. Tessa does a lot of body jiggling (no wandering) and Kylie was so cute!



We finished the night off with some ice cream for our two little wildcats!

Kylie's Turns 6!

It's hard to be the youngest in your class and wait all summer for your birthday but Kylie did it. We started her birthday with a birthday dinner at our favorite Chinese Restaurant China Star, which we affectionately call "The Fish Place" because of the tank filled with carp in the entry way.

The next day was Kylie's Swimming Birthday Party. We made cute invitations, and gift bags.

We met at Bountiful Park for a pinata, pizza and cupcakes and presents. Then we went swimming at the South Davis Rec Center.


I only have pictures of the park because, as I do every year, I have everything planned and ready except for a fresh battery on the camera. So imagine a shallow pool and splash pad and 12 wet, happy girls!

After the party Kylie got to have 3 of her cousins stay for a sleepover and opened mom and dad's presents with them!


Kylie also discovered the infamous "Heavy Heavy Hangover" head-bumping birthday chant her mother said as a child!

AUGUST 17th...A Special Day (Continued)!

So as you may or may not know August 17th is very significant to me for two reasons. The second reason is because on August 17th, 2004 I gave birth to my first child, a beautiful girl we named Kylie Mae!
As we drove up to the hospital at midnight on August 16th we realized Kylie would be born on our anniversary! I tease Kody that I wasn't sure if the roses were for our anniversary or for having our baby!

AUGUST 17th...A Special Day!

So as you may or may not know August 17th is very significant to me for two reasons. The first reason is because on August 17th, 2001 I married my husband Kody.
A little background information for all of you.
Kody and I met while living in the "marriage inducing" Old Farm Apartments. Kody's cousin was my roommate and our buildings were steps away from each other.
Kody forgot my name the first 3 times he met me (love at first sight, right?!) including asking his roommate what my name was before calling and asking me on our first date...he was overcome by my beauty I know! :)
Our first date was on Halloween to the Famous "Logan Pumpkin Walk."
We saw each other everyday after our 1st date until we both left for Thanksgiving Break.
I said "I Love You!" first.
We discussed marriage 2 months after our first date. We were engaged 4 months after our first date and had a 6 month engagement (not a great idea)!
We got married in the Bountiful Temple and honeymooned on the Oregon Coast.

I wanted to post pictures but alas we have actual photos of our wedding...no digital images...yes, we are that old!

Oh How We LOVE July!

July is always so much fun! With the 4th and the 24th the whole month is basically one big party!
On the 4th there was:
Patriotic fashions...
fingers and toes!
Roasting Marshmallows!

And of course fireworks!
The next week was our first full week at the cabin. We headed down to the lake...


soaked up some sun,
played in the sand,
and fed some seagulls! *I told Kylie the seagull was the state bird. Then told her the story of the pioneers and the seagulls and she asked me every day for the whole week to re-tell her the story!*

Then it was time for some 4-Wheeling! Dad wanted us to checkout a "Ghost Town." When we got there we saw some old barns and house....and people who still lived there. Basically the same thing you see in lots of little towns in Rich County! We teased Dad every time we drove by something like this...
that "there's a ghost town!"
No, but it was pretty cool! Especially the old saw mill that we stopped and ate lunch inside!

The girls were real troopers considering we 4-wheeled 50 MILES!!!!
In the evening we loved playing at the Garden City Park.
On the third day we decided to drive around Bear Lake! We stopped in Paris, Idaho and toured the Tabernacle.
I'm always impressed by the beauty of these buildings. Despite the time and sacrifice the saints always built buildings that last and that are amazing to look at!
As we drove around the lake we were hoping to find a spot to stop and eat lunch. We didn't have any luck and ended up back at the park less than a 1/2 mile from the cabin. As we ate Kylie said, "We sure took the long way to get to this park!" :)
We dabbled in some sidewalk chalk art and
built a fort using some natural shrubbery near the canal.


Then just as we were all out of ideas (and fun) our second cousins joined us for more excitement; on landand sea!
On the 24th we joined my family at the PickleVille Playhouse to see Bandito Ride Again! It was hilarious and we all had a good time!
We are going to be sad to see July end!