A Very Mary Birthday!

Can you believe it??? Our little Miss Mary turned 3!

Her last picture as a 2 year old.

For her birthday breakfast she requested donuts.

The many faces of Mary :)

Once we got the donuts wiped off our faces and dressed for the day it was time to open presents.

These dresses are also going to be their Halloween costumes. Two birds with one stone? Yes please!

We found a great deal on a big set of Lego Duplos on Craigslist. It's been a huge hit for the whole family.

At one point, Mary requested we get her a unicorn for her birthday. Obviously, that couldn't happen, so we talked her into settling for a pony ride. We went over to our Bishop's house and he gave both the girls a ride. They kept their excitement very contained the whole time we were there (in other words, they said almost nothing the whole ride) but they were talking it about it near constantly for at least a week afterward.

Our bishop is awesome. He walked them around and around that little corral as patient as can be with them and the girls loved it.

Then it was off to the pool.

Hanging out poolside with my boy.

Tuckered out!

There was a bit of a meltdown regarding the frosting of the cake. She wanted one big pink star cake and one big chocolate cake. This is the compromise that was reached.

This picture cracks me up!!

We love our Mary! She's already proving to be the stereotypical three year old - lots of tantrums and lots of tears - but she also gives us plenty of sweetness to balance it out. Our family just would not be the same without our sweet Miss Mary!!

Boardwalk Dollar Nights 2014

Every summer the Santa Cruz Boardwalk does dollar nights on Monday and Tuesday for 10ish weeks. Last summer we were able to go almost every week. This year with our road trips and what not, we only made it to about half of them, but we had a blast every time. Here are some picture and video highlights.

One of both the girls' favorite ride this year was Ghost Blasters. It's like the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride at Disneyland, but with ghosts. However, I don't know if they liked it so much because of the actual ride, or just for the music that they liked to dance to in the line.

Lydia had begged every week to do this Freefall ride. One of the last couple weeks, I finally convinced Robert to let her try it. And it just so happened that a couple girls from our ward, Emma and Lainie, were in line with us which made Lydia extra excited.

She was a little nervous during the ride but still smiling. And when she got off she kept screaming, "That was the best ever!" and the next week, which was the last week of Dollar nights, she couldn't wait to do it again.

Mary, at seeing how excited Lydia was on the ride wanted to try it too. She was frozen like this the whole ride. Still a little smile, but frozen. I had to pry her arms off it at the end.

My attempt at taking a selfie of all 5 of us while staring into the blinding sun.

  

Our last ride of the summer was the Carousel. Will and Grant Hewitt happened to be in line with us.

Lydia says she and Grant are going to get married someday...

But Grant likes to keep his options open ;)

Goofy picture of these crazy dads!

Those eyes! They melt me!

Tired kids, but we had so much fun!

I love my little family and this Santa Cruz home or ours!

Instagram Revisited - July

7/2/2014 - Spittin image? #wonderman #dannykaye

7/4/2014 - This is how we decided to do fireworks this year. No traffic for us :) #youtubethroughthewii #winningatlife

7/5/2014 - Sometimes life just calls for a spontaneous family trip to Yogurtland #yum

7/8/2014 - $0.56 short stacks at IHOP? Don't mind if I do! Happy 56th anniversary IHOP! #yum #ilovemyfamily #photobomb 

7/9/2014 - Trying new ways to destress. Today's experiment - yoga. The girls got in on the fun too. #ilovemykids #yoga #corpseposeismyfave

7/10/2014 - This cutie is 27 years old today! I can't put to words the blessing Robert is in my life. He completes me and then some. Happy birthday, love! #ilovemyhubby

7/12/2014 - You can tell which room I'm deep cleaning by how many hair ties end up on my wrist. Today's project - my room 

7/12/2014 - Someone has learned that he has the ability to climb and that there's more to this world than what is on the floor. Which means this mommy gets to spend her days consoling him when he falls from his new found heights. #luckyme #ilovemykids

7/13/2014 - If I had a nickel for every time I've resewn the crotch on a pair of Robert's pants, I could afford to buy Robert a new pair of pants. #ilovemyhubby #hebetterlovemeback

7/14/2014 - Asked the girls what they would like for lunch. #dramaqueennumber1 is currently sent to her room for throwing a huge tantrum because I said she couldn't have just syrup for lunch. #dramaqueennumber2 started crying after I said a few suggestions and said through her tears, "I just REALLY want carrots and hummus." You would think I gave her the moon when I said that was a great choice. #opposites #parenthood #ilovemykids

7/18/2014 - Lydia filled the top one all by herself. I'm so proud! Mary filled the left half of the bottom one. She still has a little learning to do  #ilovemykids

7/21/2014 - Just killed this spider with my bare hands AS IT CRAWLED ON JAMES'S FACE! Feeling like Superwoman! #dontmess

7/22/2014 - Starting the morning off right! #highschoolmusical

7/26/2014 - Arizona, I love thee! #nofilter

7/31/2014 - My very favorite picture of my beautiful mother. #grandmashouse