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!

Birthdays!

Yesterday we went to 2 Birthday parties! Can we just say.... to much cake! No, but really it was a lot of fun! They were pretty special birthdays too! First we went to my niece Lindy's 1 year birthday! Don't you just love the cake Lexi made?! The frosting is fondant (everything but the duckies), yes the soap, the faucet, and the nobs! Amazing right?! Lindy is totally obsessed with Rubber Duckies, so of course it was a rubber ducky theme! It was so cute the house was also decorated super cute with duckies.

The cake she actually destroyed was a different one, but she sure did a good job destroying it! She is sooo dang cute!

This is deffinately Allan's baby! ;)

The next party we went to was for Aaron (Benjamin's best friend). I even got to make his cake! It was a Toy Story theme, so I made a Buzz Light year spaceship cake! Benjamin thought it was pretty cool!

Here it is with the Buzz and Alien candles on it at the party.

And here are the kids posing for a picture with the big card board cut outs! I went half on these with Yadira, so you will probably see them again at Benjamin's party. :)

Itty Bitty BASKETBALL!!!

Itty Bitty Basketball started Jan. 3rd and I think Benjamin was more excited for this than Christmas! He LOVES Baskeball! Are you surprised? Like father like son. Anyway, here is his team and individual photo! He's so cute! And looks just like Isaac! Here are a few highlights...

5 little buddies all participated together
Isaac, Dillon, Benjamin, Aaron, & Bentley

"Passing" a beach ball

A creative way to get them from Station to Station (pretending to be Crocodiles)

A Team cheer!

Play Defense

Here Benjamin is making a shot! But of course one of the coaches totally blocked the picture. Oh well. In the first pic. he is about to shoot and in the second you can see his awesome follow through, look at that arc in his wrist! He's a pro! And by the way, he totally made the shot! Way to go Benjamin!

Two little cheerleaders!

Being mischievous

On the last day they played a lot of "games" against each other, but at the end they added a game of duck, duck, goose.

The girls enjoyed watching

And at the very end, they brought out the giant parachute again! It was so fun!

And a Visit from Lenny the Lion!

Being Silly & giving High fives! We had so much fun! Thanks Yadi for the great pictures! My blog would be nothing with out you!

Jesus wants Benjamin for a Sunbeam

Well, here he is! Can you believe it?! I have a child in Primary! He was so excited after his first day in Primary. After church he jumped into my arms and said, "Mama! I went to the Primary!!!" (in Spanish of course). He absolutely loves it! I get lots of praises about what a good boy he is! He participates and has even said the opening prayer all by himself. He was so proud! How time flys. It seems like just yesterday he was a baby. He is such a good little boy! I just love him!

Happy New Year!

For New Year's we decided to join my in-laws at their ward New Year's Dance! It was a blast, especially because we did not have our kids with us!! We got to dance the night away! My sister-in-law decided not to go and offered to watch the kids! We couldn't say no to that! Thank you Rosi! You are the best! Last year was full of blessings! We hope to have another great year. Here are some pics of the party.

Us

My in-laws

My sister-in-law Paty and her new hubby Carl

A few of my handsome nephews

The party!