Alexis's Friend Birthday Party

Since it was Alexis's big 8 birthday, she also got to have a friends party. We asked her to make a list of who she would like to invite and she came back with a list of 20 kids. We told her, "That's a lot of kids! You are going to have to cut the list in half." She had a hard time narrowing it down but we were able to get it down to just 10 girls. We made little Marti Gras masks with buttons and a toothpick as the little handle and put them in her backpack to give out at school. I got a call just before school started with Lexie crying on the other end. She had taken the invitations out on the bus and then accidentally left them there. Ugh! There was no way we were going to get those back. We spent so much time cutting and gluing and now they were gone. She begged me, "Please, please, please can you make some more and bring them to me today?"  I grudgingly agreed.  I didn't make new masks though, I just printed out some generic one on some pretty paper and brought those to her school. She was so relieved and so happy, so it turned out. 

5 girls were able to come besides my own kids.

Mackenzie, Maylee Murdoch, Tinlee Staples, My Lexie, Mabel Kniffin, Tyanna Lott, and Sam Hess

 I cut out fun Marti Gras masks from fun card stock, glued some Popsicle sticks on them and then let the girls have fun decorating them however they wanted.

 For dessert, Lexie chose a peppermint pie and a chocolate mousse pie. I really liked these pies because they acted as cake and ice cream at the same time.

With 4 candles on each pie, she was set to make a wish and blow out her candles.

 Presents are always an exciting part of the party. 

 We then played a candy bar relay race game and then the parents very promptly picked up their kids. It was a fun party, Lexie enjoyed herself, and felt like a special girl.

I'm really bummed that I didn't get a picture of the girls with their masks on, they were drying for a while and then suddenly, within 5 minutes time, all the parents showed up and took their girls, no thought was even put into grabbing a picture....dang it!

Ice Skating

Life has been so busy the past couple of months with Jared coaching the girls 8th grade basketball team and then the boys 8th grade basketball team that we have not seen each other. We finally had a free weekend and our friends Kory and Annie invited us to go out with them so we happily accepted. 

We met up at Sizzler which was super yummy and then we went ice skating in an out door rink in Rigby. 

Needless to say, it was harder than I remember. The last time both Jared and I skated was in Jr. High.

Jared quickly got the hang of it but I struggled the whole time.

Kory and Annie picked it up pretty quickly too.

Since Kory and Annie knew that we were going to go skating, they planned ahead and brought these sweet shiny shirts. They challenged us to a skate dance off and half way through their performance, they whipped out these awesome shirts and put them on. It was very funny to watch them strut their stuff on ice. 

Afterwards, we headed back to their house and had hot chocolate and warmed up. It was such a fun date! A very much needed date, and we would also like to think Jared's brother Dusty for babysitting so that we could stay out late into the night. We didn't get home till one that night and I realized....I am too old to stay up late. It was a great night filled with laughter and enlightenment! Thanks for the date!

Alexis's Birthday

My firecracker Lexie just turned the big 8! That is a very special age for her because she can be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She will be able to make special covenants with her Heavenly Father to try always to keep the commandments, and always remember Jesus, thus trying to live like Him. 

She is so caring and tries really hard to be happy and share and give. She is very curious which I love because she seeks learning and asks me questions that I may not be ready to talk to her about but I share portions of knowledge so that she knows she can always count on me to teach her. 

Lexie wanted a doughnut cake this year so I bought a dozen doughnuts at the store and stacked them up. She was very excited to have her cake with the family!

 She loves crafts and dressing up and so she was super excited to open her presents and see what new stuff she would be able to create. 

Because this is Lexie's big year she will get to have a huge friends party and then a bunch of family will be coming to her baptism. We are very excited for her special day in March. She is such a good girl!

Mackenzie's Birthday

In January my not-so-little Kenzie turned 9. She is such a sweet girl. She loves to do art of any kind and I am amazed at some of the things that she creates. She is very talented! She draws fairies and mermaids and landscapes and recently learned how to do human faces. She plays basketball, goes to achievement days, and plays pet shops and barbies.

The kids love to help me make their special birthday cakes and so here is Kenzie and I in our stylish aprons that Grandma Betty sewed for us making her strawberry cake.

 The birthday girl about to blow out her candles.

 And opening her presents. 

It was a quiet birthday party with just our family, simple and nice. She chose muffins for breakfast, and manicotti for dinner.