Two weeks ago we went to Thanksgiving Point with Grandma Alvey for the tulip festival. We saw A LOT of flowers and had a lot of fun. We also fed some coy fish, saw baby goslings, and waterfalls. We had a fun time.
Ashley, of course, wanted to go wherever she wanted. Most of the time she was way ahead of us. When we got to the big hill at the end, Katie started rolling down...but Ashley took off running down it. When she got to the bottom and I called for her to come back, she started down the next hill and was out of sight. By the time I got down it, running after her, I saw the back of her way down a trail, just going around a bend. She isn't scared of getting lost unfortunately.
Katie's 4th Birthday was this past Saterday (May 9th). She wanted a Princess Birthday with her friends, so to get ready she helped decorate her own pinata. She LOVES art.
And Ashley loves to pretend her fingers are spiders...
So on Friday (the 8th) Katie was really excited for her birthday party. She was up at 6:30 (no earlier than usual) but got ready really quickly and then at 7:30 asked where her friends were. The party didn't start until 10. She started crying saying that no one was coming and they were just having parties at their houses but needed to come to hers. I got her calmed down, but she remained moody until the first friend showed up. Then she was VERY happy.
Everyone came dressed in their best princess (or prince) outfit. We played princess freeze dance, kiss the frog prince, "Don't Eat the Princess!" (like Don't Eat Pete), and hit the pinata Katie had decorated. Phew! Luckily Grandma Alvey, Jeramy, and Rachael Hansen were there to help.
They also decorated their own cupcakes. Her friends that came were: Ashley (sister, of course), Payton, Lily, Abby, Hayden, Kimberly (Hayden's little sister), and Brayke. After that we opened presents and the kids went downstairs and played with all the toys. It was a lot of work, but exactly what Katie had wanted. She had a fun party.
The next day was her real birthday, and she woke up very sick. She slept almost all day, occasionally sitting up and asking, "Is it my birthday? ...I'm just so sick!" Daddy tried to help by getting her Tic Tacs, Gatorade, and renting the new Barbie Thumbelina movie. Then Grandpa Keil came over to see her and gave her some fun learning games, and everyone else some chicken. Even though she did not feel well, Katie still played her games a few times, before falling back asleep.
That night Ryan gave me my mother's day presents early (Ben and Jerry's and lots of Lindt's chocolate) while we watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. (Oh, my other mother's day's gift I got last week...5 big Little Tikes climbing toys for the back yard! I found them for really cheap, so Ryan went and picked them up and put them together for us in the pouring rain! He loves me!)
Sunday was Mother's Day and we went to my mom's house. We celebrated Mother's Day, and Katie and Crystal's birthday. It was a lot of fun. Katie (who was feeling a little better) got new paints from her aunts and uncles, and a big princess art kit from Grandma and Grandpa McMillan. She opened it right away and is still using it...
(She is wearing one of the cute outfits Grandma Alvey gave her for her birthday!)
And Crystal and Travis gave her a cute bug catcher with gummy worms in it. She was really excited to try and catch potato bugs, and she shared the gummies with her sisters.
Here is a picture of my mother's day presents. I was so excited! The kids love them and it keeps them playing outside longer.
This year I have been working on the Relief Society's Pursuit of Excellence program. For one of my goals I decided to try to learn how to paint. I've always loved to draw, but haven't tried painting before. I've only done 3 paintings now so far, but here are 2 of them. The other one I gave to my mom for mother's day.
All the kids and Ryan have been sick, but Erica got it the worst. She has some sort of virus, and an ear infection, and bronchitis. Poor baby.
Then a few days ago Katie decided to give her dad a makeover, and he was very nice about it. He let her put on face glitter, lip gloss, lip stick, a barrette in his hair, and paint his finger and toe nails! She actually did a really good job!
Thursday I went with the Alvey's to the Draper temple where Chirstopher got his endowments out. It was a neat experiece. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from that day.
Then this past weekend we did a date with my family. We all went on a hike to the first waterfall at Adam's Canyon and then across the Bonneville shoreline trail...for quite a ways. We had a picnic at the end where my parents had parked a vehicle to drive us all back. Then we went back to their house and played couple charades. It was a really fun night! Everyone was there with a date, except Kristina who had just got back from the hospital with 2 ovarian cysts and almost had to get her appendix removed.
On Saturday we took the girls to the park and had a picnic. I just thought this was a cute picture of Ashley.
