Nifty Nifty Look Who's 50!

My Wonderful Mother turned 50 this month! We decided to throw her a surprise birthday party and I have to say I think we pulled off the surprise rather well. She never knew about it and we were able to spoil her! Here are some fun snapshots of the party!

Jadee Lady of course loved the cake and eating all the purple frosting, that's right, no cake just spoonful after spoonful of frosting until someone caught her!

Everyone had to help Grandma blow out the candles...

Manda did a fantastic job with the cake!

Coming in, we all hid and surprised her. Here is the birthday girl with her 50th princess crown.

A picture of some of the food, we had all Mom's favorites, Tony's pizza, Don Pedros, garlic bread, salad with Tony's vinegrette dressing, and lots of chocolate!

The decor turned out so cute, thanks Manda!

Of course the girls had to find a place to hide...

Jade's first encounter with Pop Rocks!! I think she liked them!

Birthday Girl!

Jade kept stealing the garlic bread, eating out the middle and then finding a place to hide the rest. I cannot even tell you how many half eaten pieces we found that night!

This is a shot of what we put in the newspaper that week!

More decorations...

Kiera bear had lots of fun with her Aunt Kae!

We had some fun feeding the ducks outside. My crazy brother even picked one up! The duck was not so happy with him!

Maddi and Jade--had so much fun chasing each other around...

My younger brothers, both taller than me, but the youngest just passed up his older brother!

My Mom's mom was able to come celebrate with us. Aren't they cute!

Happy Halloween 2011

We started off the Halloween season by letting Jade paint her pumpkin. Of course, I did not want to clean up a huge mess so we put her in the tub to paint. She thought it was great and then she got to take a bath afterward to get all the paint off of her! Thank you crayola for making washable paint!




The YM/YW were in charge of our ward halloween party this year and since I am in YW I had to help with it. Ben had to work so it was just me and the girls. Here we are in our lovely costumes! Me, the ever favorite fall back costume, the M&M! Jade was our little angel, and Kiera was a giraffe. So cute! I especially love this picture of Jade as she folds her arms, it is like she is saying, "go ahead, I dare you to make me smile!"

After the halloween party, Grandpa and Grandma stopped by for a quick visit. They got to see the girls in their costumes and Grandpa helped Jade decorate her princess potato head pumpkin.

Grandma with Kiera

This was hard work! Jade was a great helper as she watched and let Grandpa do all the work...

Grandpa and Jade showing off their pumpkin!

Jadee Lady and her first princess pumpkin!

This was also Jade's first year that we took her trick or treating door to door. It was quite the experience as Ben had to work so I ventured off with both girlies. But, I think Jade had fun and to my surprise she said trick or treat at every door and gave a big thank you too! She was not even scared by some of the decorations. She did get a bit tired though, what a trooper!

Sisters...

Jade angel with her 2 favorite pals, Spiderman and Woody. She has to have both of them with her everywhere, she even has them with her in her crib at night. What a good little mommy she is!

I had to include this picture as it was hilarious and this is Jade's first experience with an oreo, a halloween oreo to be exact. I think her face, delighted grin and crossed eyes show her excitement perfectly!

Our Happy little pumpkin. Kiera is all smiles! I love this age!

Kiera eating real foods!

Finally!!! That is what Kiera is saying now that she is eating solid foods. She did not like the rice cereal at first but is now gulping it down. She is quite picky and has to have it super warm and mixed with my milk, not water!

She also has tried some butternut squash that we grew in our garden this summer...

Gotta love this face, she just stares sometimes....

I think more of the rice cereal made it on her bib than in her tummy! She kept letting it dribble out until she learned that by closing her mouth and swallowing she got more food!

You would think we were the meanest parents, making her eat cereal! Just look at that face!

Hee Haw Farms

My friend Rachel and I had the chance to take our girls to the Hee Haw farms last week. Jade absolutely loved it and I think her favorite part was the corn box. What an ingenious idea it really is and so much cleaner than sand! However, when I got them home, both girls diapers were filled with corn!

Trying to run...it felt like quicksand.

Her face says it all!

Kiera kept letting the corn run through her fingers and she would just smile and laugh.

Jade on the horsey swing.

Feeding the pigs. She actually chased after them with handfuls of straw trying to get them to eat from her. She loved being in the pen with the animals.

Jade and Mommy going down the big slide on our potato sack! Jade was shrieking in joy and I was well a little scared!

Jade got to pick her very own pumpkin from the patch. Every time she sees her pumpkin now she picks it up and says "punkin patch."

Jade, Rachel and Audrey on the hay ride.

Gotta love this face! Even Kiera had fun. My girls are growing up so fast!

Kiera is 6 months old!!

Six months ago our lives changed forever again, when sweet, little Kiera was born! It has been a joyful journey as Kiera has graced our home with smiles, laughter, and the sweet sound of her little voice. We really cannot imagine life without her.

Weight: 18 lbs. 9oz (90%) Still our little chunk, gotta love the thigh rolls!
Height : 27 1/4 in. (90%)

Just a few things Kiera can do at 6 months:

• Can almost sit up without help! Does great sitting on the couch or in her highchair.
• Can roll from front to back, and is trying her best to roll from her back to her front, but can't quite figure out what to do with her arms yet!
• While on her back, she will scoot her arms and legs so that she spins a full circle. I would technically call her mobile now because she is never in the same place I leave her in!
• Tried rice cereal for the first time but does not really care for it. She sure enjoys spitting it back out at Mama!
• Laughs her head off when her big sister jumps or talks to her in a sweet voice. She loves to watch Jade do things, no matter what it is.
• She gets a big grin on her face each morning as Jade gives her big hugs.
• Loves to hear her own voice as she babbles and yells most of her waking hours. She is not a quiet kid anymore.
• Has discovered her hands and legs and will chew on them constantly, yes even her toes!

Ben's B-day trip

Thanks to my Mom watching the girls, Ben and I were able to get away for his birthday weekend. It was a nice break from life! We went up to Park City and stayed at the Chateau.

We ate a 5-star hotel for brunch and they had some great tasting food! It was a once in a lifetime experience and just fun to get out and see how the rich live!!

Each time we left our seats to go get more food, our waiter would refold our napkins into these nice little triangles...

Ben was daring and tried all the seafood and raw fish things, yucky! Here he is showing off his crab legs? I think that is what they were.

They had a massive dessert bar, we had to try at least a bite of everything!