Happy Birthday Alivia, Mom and Ainsley!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! We wish we could have been there today for the BIG Birthday Bash! We hope you all had a great time and a wonderful birthday. We Love You!!! Alivia and Ains....we can't wait to see you next week.

Gymnastics Awards.

Last Tuesday night was Hope's gymnastics awards. We went and watched class and then they all got medals.

Hope on the balance beam.

Getting her medal.

Awards Day!

Hope had an Awards day and picnic with all of the 2nd graders and their parents last Tuesday. She ended up being awarded the highest award. It was the All Star Student Award. There was one given to a boy and one to a girl and she got it. It was for excelling in all areas (academics and other wise) and for following all the keys of excellence. We are SO PROUD!! Way to go Hopey!

Hope with her award.

Standing in line for the picnic. It was really fun and a great way to end the year.

Jumping Rope.

Hanging out with some class mates, Mckenzie and Devin.

Happy Birthday Hope!

Hope turned eight years old this year on Mothers Day. Can you believe that my baby is eight? I can't! She was already for church and then opened a couple of her presents. She got a new skirt and shirt, a bumbles bracelet and some brown sparkly "high heel" flip flops from Mom, Dad and sisters (which she changed into...how funny!). She also recieved a pair of cute capris, and three shirts from Uncle Braydan and Aunt Misty and money from all of her grandparents. She ended up buying herself a Nintendo DS and a game with all of her birthday money. She has been wanting one for a LONG time. Thanks everyone for making her day so special and for all the phone calls as well.

Opening Presents.

Her facial expression says it all.

Her cute new skirt.

Help!!

I hate that when I change my layout I can never see the third paper. Can I change it so you can? If you can and know how.....help me PLEASE!!!

Hope's 8th Birthday Party!

We had a SPArty at our house for Hope's birthday party this year. It turned out to be really fun. I put the girls into two groups and the first group got their nails painted and nail art put on. The second group put on their own makeup and then we switched. Some of them were so funny, their moms were probably wondering what the heck happened to them. We then had cupcakes and punch while Hope opened her presents. She got ALOT of fun stuff. They finished out the party by going outside to play while they waited for their parents to come. Hope gave them a gift bag to take home with fingernail polish, nail file, lipgloss and candy. We ended up with 10 girls, 12 counting Ellie and Mya. They all had tons of fun!!

Here they are getting all pretty.

Here is the final product, don't they look beautiful!!

From Left to right: Mckenzie, Abigail, Annabel, Caroline, Nicole, Hope, Emily, Kendyl, Stephanie, and Ellie in front.

Opening Presents.

Mya getting in on the action too. That is mascara.....lovely!!

New Salad!

Last Saturday night I was putting Mya to sleep and after putting her to bed I noticed the fridge was cracked open. I opened it up and this is what I found. Ellie told me she was trying to make a salad! I was really mad but was trying not to laugh at the same time. The little stinker. The only reason I was mad was because I had just washed and sliced strawberries for strawberry shortcake for Sunday dinner dessert and she wasted ALL of them.

Sorry the picture is a little blurry but if any of you want the recipe it is..... 3 cubes of butter, left over gravy, two full things of yogurt, a pint of washed and sliced strawberries and a whole bunch of sliced lemons. Wha La! I did not try it but it looks delightful.

Mya's first piggies!

The other day I decided that I would try to put piggies in Mya's hair. They turned out soooo cute and she loves them. She thinks she is such a big girl when they are in. She is taking after Ellie in the hair department. She will be 2 in a couple of weeks and we are barely getting piggies. When Hope turned two I had double french braids in her hair...Crazy!! They are all so different in every way and I wouldn't change it for anything. You can only see the one on the left side of her head...sorry!

Here is the back view.

Our Utah Trip!

I know, I know!!! I have been a terrible blog slacker. I am just getting around to posting our Utah trip, which was almost a month ago. Better late than never right? Where do I start?? Hmmm, I guess from the first. We arrived in Utah on Monday, April 6th. My parents and Brittnie and Charli (her baby) picked us up from the airport. I was so excited because I had not seen Charli yet and to say the least she is quite a cutie. They took us to Tweebs parents home because that is where we stayed until Wednesday. That night we had a family dinner with Brooke and Eric and their family, Cammy and Casey and their family and Craig and Karen. The cousins were so excited to see and play with each other. Here is an attempt at getting a picture with all the cousins with Grandma and Grandpa. I am loving Ellie's big cheesy grin. The next day I was able to go see my friend Jami and get my hair done. I put blonde in it and LOVE it. Thanks Jami!! After getting my hair done Misty, Karen, Brooke, Cammy, the kids and I went to lunch at Maglebees.On Wednesday we headed down to Salina (thanks to Misty who let us borrow her car for the entire trip and had dropped it off at Craig and Karen's a couple of days earlier.....what a sweetheart huh!). It took us FOREVER to get there. We had to stop at a couple places to get some last minute shopping done. We arrived around 5:00 and I had to be to our annual Favorite Things party (that's another post) at 6:00 and had to still make a salad. I made it and it all worked out. Ainsley was so funny when we arrived, she ran out the front door with her arms in the air...screaming....it's about time and then proceeded to give me a BIG bear hug!! Hope was able to meet up and have a couple sleepovers with her Best Friend, Maddi Foote. She talked about seeing her a good month before we came out. I was not able to see them re-unite but Tweeb said they were soooo cute. Oh how we miss that little girl. We have just not found anyone out here quite like our Maddi!!
Here are Addison and Ellie playing dress up. They did this the WHOLE time they were together. All the girls were so cute with each other. Ellie stills tells me....um, mom I just want to go to Ainsley's house today. If it were only that easy sometimes huh. Good thing they are coming to visit in about a month for Hope's baptism.On Thursday day, we were able to hang out all day with Trent, Tanya, K'leigh, Mckay and Hannah Halliday (this is my best friend and her family) and we also got to hang out with our really good friends Travis, Cristan, Mallory, Mason and Madilyn Story. I did not get to see them when I came out for Britt's baby shower....so that was a lot of fun to see them. The boys went golfing and the girls just hung out. Why I don't have a picture, I will never know! We then went to dinner with just my family (us, the Shaw's, the Memmott's, Mom, Dad and G&G Buchanan) at El Mexicano that night. This was our favorite restaurant when we lived in Salina and it did not disappoint, it is as good as ever...oh yum! Here is a picture of my sweet grandparents.
On Friday morning, we headed back to Murray to spend Friday night and Saturday day with Craig and Karen. We went through Ephraim and had lunch with Tweebs best friend Ryan and his wife Brooke and their new baby Cooper. Oh, he is precious. I was not able to hold him because the day we arrived I got pink eye in both eyes and then broke out with 3 cold sores....UGHHHH!! Those darn airplane germs!! (Don't worry I gave it to Ericson, who in turn gave it to Karen and Misty's family all got it after we left....sweet....they are going to want us to come again!) Anyways, we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant which was pretty good and Tweeb was very happy that we were able to hook up with them.Okay this picture is just funny. It is actually quite priceless because this is how she acted the WHOLE time we were in Utah. She was sooooo shy and it took her forever to warm up to people.
After having lunch with Ryan and Brooke, we went to Cammy and Casey's house. They are putting an addition on to the top of their house. It is a girls dream come true up there. It looks so amazing and they are now in the finishing stages. We are so excited for them. I of course do not have a picture...sorry! After Cammy and Casey's we went to Brooke and Eric's. They have re-done a lot of stuff in their house too since the last time we saw it. It looks really cute!!
When we left Brooke and Eric's we headed to Tweeb's parents again. They took us to dinner at the Olive Garden. I was quite excited because the closest Olive Garden to us here in Nashville is over and hour away. It was SOOO yummy and worth all the calories.
The next day Cammy and Brooke's families came up and we all had a yummy lunch, colored Easter eggs and just hung out. It was a lot of fun. Here is Ellie getting in on the action. She really got into it this year. She colored lots and lots of eggs.
Here is the gang outside coloring eggs. I must say that grandma was smart by having them do them outside. All the kids have gotten so big. We get to see Craig and Karen and Brooke and Eric's family in June too for Hope's baptism but the next time we see Cammy's family, they are going to be even bigger.
Here is Hope smiling for the camera.

I had to wake Mya up from a nap so she could participate but she really had no interest in coloring the eggs. However, once they were dry she liked putting the stickers on. Hey, less mess for Mom right. Look at those cute tired eyes.
This cracked me up. This is a comparison of Hope and Ellies hands. Who is older??? Oh well, at least it was fun!
Once we were done it was time to pack up and head back to Salina. We celebrated Easter morning at Misty's and then we had to hurry and get ready to go to Charli's blessing. Which by the way I must let all of you know that both the Shaw's and the Gladwell's were ready, out the door and to church 10 min. early. How we did it I will never know. You might want to write that down because we are both terrible at being on time. We got 6 girls and four adults out the door in record time. Here is Hope checking out what the Easter Bunny brought her. They each got a new dress, hair bow to go with it, swimming suit, shoes and basket goodies.
Ellie was still trying to wake up but was eager to try on her new "high heels" as she would call them.

Here is Mya with her cute new bow on, checking out her bubbles.

Here is Miss Charli at her Blessing lucheon. I did not get a picture of her at the church with her blessing dress on, but she looked adorable. This is her cute new dress that the Easter Bunny brought her. I told you she was cute. I am LOVING the double chin!!

Our friend Tiffany Quarnberg came over to my Grandparents and took family pictures for us, which turned out very cute...thanks Tiff. Mya would NOT smile for any of the pictures. As soon as Tiff left I figured I should get a picture of the girls in their Easter dresses so told the girls I wanted a picture of them and Mya sad down and starting cheesing it. The little stinker!!

After the luncheon we stopped to tell the Halliday's bye and then went to Misty's to pack up. My Mom drove us to Murray and dropped us off at Craig and Karens. She was telling the girls bye and Ellie was throwing a HUGE fit because she didn't want her to leave. PRICELESS!!!

Monday morning I met up with my best friend from High School/College, Stephanie. We met up and had a yummy breakfast and then decided to go to the Aquarium. The kids were being cute together and we had a good time. They all squeezed in for a picture before we left. Some of their faces are killing me. From left to right is Baylee, Hope, Ellie, Mya and Aidan. Thanks Steph, it was so good to see you!

After the Aquarium I went back to the house and packed everything up. When Tweeb got back from golfing with his Dad (by the way, he was able to golf 3 times while we were in Utah) we had Cafe Rio and then loaded up and went to the airport. We had a great time. Thanks EVERYONE!!!