Shelby's Birthday Party

Tonight Shelby celebrated her birthday with 7 of her closest friends including her cousin Alexa who she loves living close to. They arrived in their PJ's for an evening of fun and pampering!

We decorated flip flops, talk about unleashing creativity, these girls made some of the cutest flip flops.
They were also exceptionally good at posing for lots of pictures. They were over for 4 hours, we ate pizza, decorated the flip flops, worked on little scrapbooks done with envelopes (way cute!!), painted nails, ate cake and ice cream and posed for more pics. They were begging to stay later, but I have to fly out to Texas tomorrow morning for my brothers wedding and had to say no...sorry girls!

Happy Birthday Shelby! We sure do love you and couldn't imagine our family without you!

(Sorry about the haphazard arrangment of pics....I will eventually figure out this blog thing!)

Shelby's 12th Birthday

I can't believe that my first born has actually turned 12. She is in Young Women's now and is absolutely loving it!!! She has had a summer of fun going to two different Girls Camps in Arizona and was so ready to join her good friends in Young Womens.

She told me that she wanted to wake up at her actual birth time of 1:41am to wish herself a happy birthday and celebrate....little did she know that her mom had a few surprises for her.

Just to give you a little history, when we moved into our house in January, there were enough bedrooms for Shelby to be able to have her own room but do to lack of beds, she had a room but no bed to put in it. She has been asking for one for 6 months now, but beds can be expensive and it wasn't a priority other than the mere fact that she no longer wanted to sleep in the queen size bed that her 4 yr old sister would occassionally wet on :-( So for her birthday, that was all that she wanted!! I shopped and shopped looking for an incredible deal and kept coming up frustrated as I was struggling to find a mattress and boxsprings that I could afford. In almost total desperation, I said a prayer driving down State St. in Orem and say a Mattress Outlet Store within about 15 seconds. I hurried and pulled in there "looking" for an incredible deal but after looking at the floor models and the prices, I was sure they wouldn't have anything for me. As I was walking towards the door a young guy asked if he could help me, I explained that I was looking for a bed for my daughter and he told me they had one in the back that might work. It was a reaaally nice bed but he wasn't sure of the price. We checked with the sales manager and when he heard that it was for my daughter's 12th birthday, he got really excited and said, "You look like you need a good deal!" He was truly an answer to prayers and practically gave the bed to us. Thank you Chris Smith for making Shelby's day!!

I put the bed in the storage room downstairs and then stayed up after the kids went to sleep. I pulled it out and put it together, I was also able to find a complete comforter set with throw pillows and matching sheets for super cheap at Ross, they were the perfect color for her room and oh sooo tweeny! She had also requested breakfast in bed for the next morning but she just didn't realize how early in the morning she would get it. I finished assembling the bed and bedding, made breakfast and then proceeded to wake Shelby up right at 1:41am and told her she needed to hurry and go downstairs and get dressed cause I was going to take her into Provo to go to Denny's to celebrate her birthday, she looked at me like I was crazy and said, "I don't think that is what I had in mind when I said I wanted to wake up and celebrate!" I told her to quit being a party pooper and get dressed. She went down to her room and there was her bed and even her breakfast for her to eat! She was so very excited! She just went and plopped down on her bed with the biggest smile that a half asleep 12 year old could give.

Demolition Derby!!

Tonight was the event of all events....Heber's finest, their annual demolition derby! Lets get the party started cause I have finally found an activity that my whole family didn't just like but they loved it. Even Ellie was whooping and hollerin', she had her fist waving in the air! We had an absolute blast with Shelby and Collin vowing that they will be doing it as soon as they are old enough. (Collin even stopped a man to ask the qualifications....must be 16 with a parents signature!) Dallin was the least vocal but had his eyes glued to the arena with a huge grin on his face. We were met by huge, dark, monsterous clouds but they couldn't stop us, nor could the rain. We were a little worried that we might have to leave early but just when you thought we would have to call it quits, the clouds cleared and we had an enjoyable night. WE all had our FAVORITES....Ellie loved the hot pink car....Collin and Dallin loved the Bright Green....I personally loved the Yellow Astro Van but the all-time favorite especially for Shelby was the Bright Orange Energizer Station Wagon that kept going and going and going. The car was absolutely mangled! The had an incredible fireworks display that ended the night with quite a blast...they were better than the 4th of July's! I can now see how this is probably the most favored event of the Heber Valley, we have decided that this will be one of our summer traditions! Anyone want to join us next year?

Brand New

I keep hearing about how much fun blogging is and that if you try it, you will love it! Well, I decided that since we have been told lately to write down the things that we are grateful for and the importance of blogging what we believe, it is time for me to obey. I hope that this will become some form of a journal for me since I am not so good at keeping one and a way to stay connected with the people that I love. Hope you enjoy the journey with my krew!