The Zoo

Yep, here we are at the Zoo.... again. We just love the Zoo and who can resist when it is Free! The last Wed. in Feb. (the last winter month) the Zoo had a free day and although it was cold, it actually wasn't too cold and it was sunny. So it was actually a pretty good day! And the kids had so much fun!

Benji, checking out the map

The girls checking out the elephants

The Rhino is always fun to see

Aaron has this great kids digital camera and Benjamin was so happy to have a great friend who was willing to share with him.

Monkeys!

Abby got the biggest thrill out of getting so up close and personal with this little monkey

Getting a better look

More fun animals

Nap time?

The three musketeers

And we ended with the ever so fun Zoo carousel!

A fun day!

Happy Birthday Abby!

Can you believe it?! Abby is 2 years old! We had a "small" party. We only invited a few friends but our family is so big that it is never a small party. But it was a lot of fun. Abby loves Nemo and the Little Mermaid, so we decided to have an "Under the Sea" Theme. She loved it!

I made her a Mermaid cake. I wrapped the Ariel doll in fruit roll ups and made star fish out of gum drops, I also stuck gummie sharks and Swedish fish on. I think it looks great!

My mom made her this awesome Nemo Piñata! She is the best Grandma ever!

And of course the house had to be decorated like we were under the sea!

Complete with a fish net "catching" my light fixture. :)

And I was especially impressed with the octopus balloons that I made! They are amazing (if I do say so myself)!

Some of the guests were Mom, Allan, Lexi and cousin Lindy

Grandma Rosa & Lindy

Abby just loves her cousin Lindy (aren't they so cute together)

friend Sabrina and her older sisters

Aunt Lily, Aunt Rosi, Nena "grandma" and cousin Ruben

Of course Big brother Benji was there.

And we had one very special guest, Great Aunt Beth. She was here from California helping my dad and just happened to be in town to join us! It was so fun, we don't usually get her for things like Birthdays! She loves seeing her great nieces and nephews since she is practically a 3rd Grandma!

For Lunch the adults had Taco Soup and the kids had hot dogs shaped like Octopuses

Piñata Time!

Yea! We got candy!

Then it was time for Cake!

She did so good blowing out her candles!

and loved eating her cup cakes!

She is such a special little princess! We just love her! A few things I love about Abby is...
She is so independent
She is so Smart (her vocabulary is off the charts)
She is athletic (as much as you can be for a 2 year old)
She is sweet with her brother (but can drive him nuts too)
And she is such a Mama's girl!

We love you Abby! Happy Birthday!

Sledding

So this sledding day was really special because it was so spontaneous. We had wanted to go sledding for about a month now and every time it snowed it would melt away so quickly and the few times it didn't melt away, we either had sick kids or some other commitment that kept us from going. So now, in Feb. as we see winter melting away we thought that we would miss our chance to have another snow day. And then it happened... SNOW!! But it was warm and I knew that if we didn't go that day that the next day it would be gone. (And I was right, the next day it was gone). So I called up my friend Yadira and asked if she wanted to go and she said yes! So we took lunch to Pre-school and after pre-school and lunch we went to this great park with lots of hills and we had soooo much fun! Check it out...

The first run down with Abby

The kids were such troopers!

Abby shocked me the first time she marched herself, by herself, up the snowy, slippery, steep hill. She really is a little energizer bunny!

Best buddies having a blast

So this was funny, for some crazy reason I got this crazy idea to send my 3 1/2 year old with the 2 two year old girls down by themselves! What was I thinking??!! As I was about to let the sled go, Yadira said "Are you sure?" and I said, "No" and then I let go! Luckily nothing bad happened and they giggled the whole way down! If you look close at Abby's face, it says it all. She thought it was the greatest thing ever!

This is my awesome friend Yadira. I just love her and the great friendship that we have. She is so fun and always up for anything, even at the last minute. And because I am like that, I am so glad to have such a great friend like her who is willing to be so spontaneous with me all the time. I honestly don't know how she does it. She is a mom, she has a little photo business, she coupons, she is our Relief Society President and she still finds time to go out and do crazy spontaneous things with me. She is truly amazing!

Such a fun day! I will never forget it!