Zip-a-dee-ay and Heidi-ho, It's Birthday Time for Me!

I love birthdays!

Started the day off with an early, foggy morning run. Unfortunately this was one of my last runs because we still have not figured out a time to fit running in with Robert's seminary schedule. That's okay though. I've kept up with my stationary bike, Slim in 6 workout and Zumba.

For lunch we went to Pizza My Heart and got shirts for the whole family.

Then for dessert we went to Yogurtland

My crazy kiddos!

That night we dropped the kids off with the Hewitts and went to WICKED! Robert got the tickets with the Joseph tickets that we went to in May as a discounted bundle for my Christmas present, but it was no mistake that he chose my birthday as the night for Wicked. I love it! I've seen it before but it was so great to be with Robert for his first time seeing it and for me to see it again.

I think one of my favorite parts of this birthday was my Facebook feed. The day before I posted that I would love if instead of the usual "Happy Birthday" post people would post the first memory that popped in their head about me. So many people responded! It was such a fun walk down memory lane.

It's been a great 27 years!! Can't wait to see what the next 27 years have in store!

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!