Happy 3rd Birthday Evelyne Grace!!!

Happy Birthday sweet little girl!

Happiest of Birthday's baby girl! You are entering the girly age and you are becoming more dramatic by the day. You wanted a Princess Elsa birthday party and whenever I asked you what you wanted for your Birthday present you responded with, "I want a baby!" I couldn't get you to expound on that so I told people to buy you anything that has to do with a baby haha! I bought you this Princess Elsa dress because it has the cape that you so desperately wanted! You were so excited when I put it on you the morning of your birthday and you ran around the house saying, "Now I can fly because I have a cape! No bad guys can get me now!" :) We let you open your gift from Mom and Dad the night before your birthday because we wanted you to have ample time to play with it before you became too distracted with all the other gifts you were sure to receive. It was a little play kitchen and you loved it! You and your brother were both in heaven, fighting each other for who got to cook what....something that happens a lot these days. You are younger but nobody would know it because of your large personality and your ability to dominate the conversation or every situation.... and what's amazing is you do it with so much charm and adorableness that we don't even realize it is happening! Poor Austin :(.

Little chef's busy at work!

Everybody just dies over how gorgeous your hair is!! You've always had so much of it! It's insane!!

That smile was just what we were looking for :). Birthday present success!!

We took some family pictures the morning before your party because you looked so adorable in your princess attire :). You, however, had other plans and would only smile for these pictures if you were with your Mama..... which made for some not very cute pictures with your Daddy. I think we got one good one..... You really are a stinker when you want to be! And your love for your Mommy-aka-your "best fwend" appears to just grow stronger as the years go by (and I didn't think that was even possible!).

Little Mama's girl was scared that Mom would put you down....

We finally got you to face the camera!

Photographer Austin helped us out with getting Daddy in the picture!

There's that smile :)

We just had to tickle it out of you :).

How is it possible that this is my life?!!

LOVE.... My heart could explode it's so full!

And the sour face while we tried to get a picture with you and dad (insert eye roll here).

You finally gave him a hug when we promised to give you a lolipop! (hehe)

We let you invite your very best friend, Blakely, to your party and she dressed up as Princess Anna, Princess Elsa's sister! you two were beyond adorable!!! And her Mom, Chauntelle, being my other best friend was just another perk ;).

Elsa and Anna, BFF's forever!

You begged me to invite Blakely to your party with, "Mommy can I please have Blakely come to my party?! She's my best fwend and I love her!" How could I say no to that....

We also invited our little friend Juliette because her Mama is my best friend and we haven't seen them in a while. She also made the perfect play mate for Austin! It was the perfect group for the perfect party :). Grandma Jill and Grandpa Nathan also showed up, along with sweet Great Grandma Helm. All your other grandparents were sick and both of your Aunts were out of town :(. But we had such a great time, you didn't even notice they weren't there! You picked out your birthday cake and then helped me decorate it with the FROZEN cake topper characters I had bought. It worked out so cutely! Is that a word?? Anyway, your party was at the park so you and the other kiddos had a great time running around playing on the playground, taking breaks to eat lunch, blow out the candles/eat cake, and open presents! You kept asking to open your presents every 15 minutes and were so excited when I finally told you it was time!! Your little friends helped you rip into them but you didn't mind. You're pretty used to having nothing be "only yours" so it honestly didn't even phase you :). You got two strollers for your babies which was perfect because you and Blakely ran around the park pushing your "babies" around! You also got a cute little baby bed among other fun things. Grandma Jill and Grandpa Nathan gave you money so you could go to the store and pick out the baby of your choice. It was funny that nobody got you an actual baby because they assumed someone else would do that! So you ended up with all these baby accessories and no baby! haha! So the money from your grandparents actually ended up coming in handy!

You're a big fan of Gampa and Austin loves his Grandma :).

Mama's best friend Jura! I was so happy she and Juliette were able to make it!

Juliette also wore a priness shirt :). Everyone looked so cute!

It's rare to get a picture of Daddy so this was a good one! He's always in the background, talking or helping :).

Mom's picnic food actually turned out to be a big hit! Everyone loved the jello salad and the chicken salad croissant sandwiches were gone before we knew it!

Lovin' on Great Grandma Helm. This pic is priceless :).

And the moment you had been waiting for!! PRESENTS!!!!

Thanking Juliette for her sweet gifts!

Wow! A fuzzy pen!

All your little friends helping you out :).

Since you didn't actually get a baby, you loved on this little stuffed tiger and called it your baby :). It was so cute!

Baby tiger went with you everywhere that day :). And we got the money to buy you a real baby doll! SCORE!!

You loved us singing Happy Birthday to you and we got the cutest video of you trying to blow out your candles because the wind did it for you and you made the funniest face!! haha! So Mom had to relight the candle and you proudly got it the second time :).

Blowing out the candles! You're 3 now!!!

Yay! We finally did it! hahaha! (dang wind...)

You were so proud of yourself :).

I could just eat those cheeks!! And how excited is Austin??!! :)

My absolute favorite picture from the whole day!

Time to cut the cake!

You guys couldn't wait for your slices and started digging into it with your fingers! Oh to be three again.... hahaha!

Licking the candle is always the best part!

Taking off all the cake toppers and licking them clean :).

My cutie pies :)

The food was yummy, the cake was too good, the presents were so fun, and the conversation and friendships were the best! We really did have such a great day! We ended it by all four of us cuddling in Mom and Dad's bed, eating the left over cake and not even caring about the crumbs. It was the perfect end to the perfect day celebrating the perfect little girl :). We love you so much Evie-girl. You are the most beautiful light in our family and you make everything so much more exciting!! I hope you never lose that zest for life and that excitement over every little thing. You're the best and I love you with all my heart. Happy Birthday!

Love, 

Mama :)

Fair Days and Visiting Grandma and Grandpa

Having a great time at the Clark County Fair!

I was going through a low point, feeling overwhelmed with life and all of it's many responsibilities. So taking a nice long vacation to the country was just what I needed! We spent four days at my parents' house and it was fair week! Possibly the greatest week of my childhood! I was so excited to spend some time with family, unwinding and eating lots of bad food :).

YES! This is what childhood should look like!

The Clark County Fair was perfect. You couldn't ask for better weather, the kids had a blast visiting all the animals and eating lots of ice cream, I got my Texas Twister drink (and had to ask for extra cherries because the kids ate them right out of my drink!), Grandma and Grandpa were happy for the company and we had a great time together. The prices have gone up since our last fair experience So we had to limit our carnival time to one horsey ride and each of the kids got to choose a ride. Evie was ecstatic to ride the Ferris Wheel and Austin was finally brave enough to try the giant bubble experience (last time we waited in line just to have him panic when we got to the front and we had to get our money back). There were actually a lot of moments when I saw Austin rising to the occasion and doing things he would normally be scared of. It was a proud Mommy moment for me :). Evie, of course, was scared of nothing (like a true Taurus). She squealed with delight as the Ferris Wheel rode higher and higher and happily waved down at all the little ant-like people. The only thing missing from the experience was Daddy. But he had to work and chose to spend the rest of the weekend in solitude... and who can blame him? Quiet moments around the house don't come often and he needed a break just as badly as I did.

Having a blast in the kids zone!

Digging for the buried golden coins hidden in the sandbox :).

Austin was really good at the bean bag toss!

Putting on a puppet show for Grandma and Grandpa

Silly girl :)

Learning how to milk a cow :). We tried explaining to Evie that she would get kicked in the head if this were a real cow but she wasn't getting it... hahaha

Grandma showing them how it's done!

Eating Anderson Dairy ice cream while Grandpa pulled them around in style.... it's no secret that they can talk Grandma into anything ;)!

Nothing better than fresh-made strawberry ice cream on a warm sunny day :).

The moment Evie was begging for! HORSEY RIDE!!!

My shy little cowboy :)

Evie was in heaven! Her horse took off before I could get by her side and she was NOT SCARED AT ALL! She amazes me.....

So handsome.

Mom got her drink! Life is good :)

And Evie got the cherries...

Taking a break to munch on some fair food!

Gampa's girl :)

Grandma's boy :)

LOVE

Is there anything cuter than baby piglets???!!! The answer is no.

Evie visiting the cows :)

Oh hello!

Petting the bunnies.

Austin getting into the giant bubble!

It took him a minute to figure out how to stand up but he had a blast trying!

We were laughing so hard and he was loving every minute of it! :)

Evie girl on her Ferris Wheel ride!

Sometimes her dare devil side and lack of fear scares me for her teenage years.... She's way too beautiful to be that carefree...

Our view from the top!

Yelling at Grandpa, Grandma, and Austin to look at her! hahaha!

There they are! They looked so small!

We spent the rest of the week outdoors. The kids swam in the pool, played with the dogs, and ran around wild. And I sat watching them, in my own little world of happiness. I felt like this was just what we all needed; a little freedom.

They were freezing cold but wouldn't get out of the pool! Oh to be young again :).

We went on a four wheeling adventure with Grandpa Nathan and it was a blast! We were reliving my childhood and it made my heart so happy to share this beautifully wild experience with my kids. We went back behind the Mesa and let the kids play in the river. Then we explored the land, finding ancient Anasazi Indian dwellings and their pottery and arrow head shards. We even found a desert turtle which I have never experienced in my whole life of exploring the desert! I know they are everywhere but they are usually hiding deep underground. Yet another cool experience I will always remember! The kids fell asleep in the back of the jeep as we drove back home, the sun warming their bodies and the bumps of the dirt road rocking them into dreamland :). We came back to the house muddy, tired, and half naked, just the way it should be!

Taking a ride in Grampa's jeep!

Exploring the Virgin River. the kids loved feeling their feet sink into the mud and it was just shallow enough for them to walk through!

Wading across to the island in the middle

If you look close, you can see the foundation of an indian dwelling! I would have just walked right past it but Nathan is a pro at spying this stuff!

And sure enough, there was pottery shards all over the place!

Meeting our friend the turtle :)

The kids were amazed at how slow he was.

The perfect end to the perfect day!

On the next morning, Austin got to go shooting with Grandpa which was another awesome experience! He is so into guns (like every other little boy his age) but we live in the city and we don't have the luxury of taking our gun out into the middle of nowhere to fire at broken bottles and empty cans. So Austin was in heaven :). And Grandpa Nathan was so proud of how well he listened and how good he was at hitting the targets! Austin brought home all of his bullet shells as keepsakes and happily showed us the soda cans he had blown into pieces :).

Grandpa has a mini-22 rifle, just perfect for little kids! Austin was in heaven!

 

 Sometimes life feels too regimented; too restricted. Something that makes me want to run away on a big adventure. So this was just what my soul needed, and apparently the kids needed it too! None of us wanted to go home that Sunday but Austin had a birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese to attend so that helped coerce them into getting in the car. It was a trip we will always remember, and hopefully one we will be repeating again soon!

Jacob is one of Austin's best friends from preschool :). Aren't they all adorable?!

Pizza and unlimited arcade games = best day ever!!