Freedom Festival Baby Contest

I decided yesterday to enter Vanessa in this year's Freedom Festival Baby Contest. My sweet mom bought her a super cute outfit!! I really didn't know what to expect having never done anything like this before and can I say it was really quite interesting!! Jim was sweet and kept Ally and Andrew home and Kelly came with me and Vanessa. Some people went all out with costumes and everything!! I was disappointed in the judges 'cause they just said 'hi Vanessa' and then gave her a little puppy dog which she just sat and played with. Maybe I am wrong but I thought they would be a little more interactive with the kids. The good thing is that I entered her just for the fun of it and didn't care if she won or lost. She had a ton of fun playing with all the other babies her age and made a lot of new friends.






No she didn't win but it doesn't matter 'cause to me she is the cutest baby!! And, all in all it was a fun day.

Vanessa Loves Fruit!!!

Vanessa loves to eat fruit! Any kind of fruit! It's great! The only problem is the way she eats it and what it does to her skin and clothes. She is independent and has to feed herself which means by the time she is done she is a messy, sticky mess. But she sure is happy with herself. It really makes me happy that she eats so well.

So Many Books, So Little Time

One of Vanessa's favorite things to do is pull things out of their place. She loves to tear all the baggies out of the drawer, her clothes out of the drawers, dishes out of the cupboards, the list goes on and on. The other night she pulled out all of the books in our front room. She and Ally then sat in the middle of them and 'read.'



It's so fun to see them interact when Ally is playing with her instead of mauling her. Ally loves her so much and tries so hard to be a good big sister, sometimes she tries a little too hard and drives Vanessa to tears but her heart is in the right place. Every once in a while, like the other day, she gets it right. They had a lot of fun together.

Ally's Cute Hat

Ally went through the bag of clothes that no longer fit Vanessa and found a hat that a girl I worked with made for me when I had Ally. She put it on and looked so cute she of course had to get a picture taken.



Then she had to get her 'cute' hat out and have another picture.



I love her and I love her personality and how she loves having her picture taken. She is too cute!!

My Birthday

This year during my birthday Jim got the chance to go on a survival trip with the senior boys in our ward. Since I am now 34 I told him he could go as long as we did something to celebrate during the weekend. The night before my birthday Andrew showed me my first gift, he made me a picture on his Lite Brite



Luckily Vanessa decided to give me a great gift and let me sleep in. I woke up to Andrew in my face saying 'Happy Birthday Mom.' He had a very special pop-up card that he made all by himself. It was a really good way to wake up. A little later he came back into my room with a few boxes of Crystal Light and asked me which kind I wanted. I told him I was okay right then so he asked me if I'd like orange juice or water. The light finally went on, he was making me breakfast. It made me so happy that my sweet little boy came up with this idea all by himself. I almost started to cry. I waited in bed 'cause I didn't know if he was bringing me breakfast in bed or if he was just making it for me. I waited and waited and waited. Vanessa woke up so I went to get her up. I walked into the kitchen and found not just cinnamon toast and orange juice, but the toast was shaped as hearts.



I seriously started to cry! It was the sweetest thing! The toast had a TON of cinnamon on it but it was delicious especially since it was made by Andrew.

I got to have a yummy lunch at Carrabba's with my great friend Camilla. We had dinner with my parents at their house and then had cupcakes. The next day I got to have another yummy lunch at Olive Garden with another great friend Connie. That weekend we went out with our friends Chris and Stacie. It was a fun night with Mexican food and the movie The Killers, which by the way was a really funny movie. I love Ashton, he is hilarious!!! It was another great birthday! I have so many blessings that I am truly grateful for!!

Andrew's Day of Celebration

Andrew's birthday started with blueberry muffins (his favorite) for breakfast. He enjoyed helping me by putting the cupcake liners in the pan while singing 'yummy, yummy muffins. I love muffins.'





Yep, I am a terrible mom, it's usually cold cereal at our house. We then opened his presents from me and Jim and Ally and Vanessa.





After presents and small chores (it was his birthday so I decided to not work him to death for one day) it was off to the Distribution Center for his first set of scriptures. He got to pick the scriptures, the embossing font, and a case to put them in. He was soooo excited. He then got to choose where we went to lunch which was Wendy's. We went through the drive thru and brought it home. He spent the afternoon in the middle of Legos putting together the sets he got from us.



Then his great friends the Cabreros' came over to play for a while. He had a ton of fun playing with his friends and sharing his new toys. Grandpa and Grandma Davis and Aunt Kelly and her kids came over for dinner, presents







and cake and ice cream.



It was, to quote Andrew, 'the best day'. I'm glad he had a fabulous day and we were able to spend it together as a family. It was a lot of fun!

Ally was feeling left out with Andrew getting so many presents and pictures so she and Elle posed for a pic together...



Vanessa really enjoyed the cake too. I think I took more pictures of her eating the cake then I did of anything else that day. Oops, whose birthday is it??







She enjoyed her cake so much she needed a bath and was so lucky and got one in the kitchen sink. She loved it!!



And here is Andrew with all of his creations which took him about two hours to put all of them together!



I'm so glad he had such a great day! He really is a great kid and deserves only the best!

I have quite a few blog posts that I still need to update, our recent trip to New York, Andrew's birthday celebration, my birthday, the list goes on and on but I wanted to post these cute pics of Vanessa first. Here are some of the things she has been up to...



Yep, she still loves being naked.



Now that she can stand at things she loves to stand everywhere. This cracked me up because she was so happy to be under the table and all I could see was her huge smile and legs.



Last night I decided to 'style' her hair for the first time. She hated it while I was doing it (takes after her sister) and just screamed and cried. It looked so cute done though! I have a feeling we will be having this fight for a while.

Ally's Dance Recital

Wednesday night was Ally's first dance recital. She did amazing!!! She wasn't even nervous in front of the audience, which was quite large. She remembered both her dances and performed them beautifully. And, most important, she had a TON of fun. I have to admit that I had a ton of fun watching her too. I am so proud of her and how hard she worked this past year. She is done with dance for the summer but is looking forward to the princess camp her dance studio hosts in the summer. I'm excited for next year and I really hope she enjoys her dance class as much as she did this last year.

Andrew's Eight!!!

Wow! Has it really been eight years since I held my first little baby in my arms feeling overwhelmed by this sweet spirit and feeling a love I didn't know was even possible? Even if I wanted to try and ignore the fact that my little buddy is growing up, Andrew won't let me. He has been counting down since there was about 17 days to his birthday. Andrew has always been an amazing kid but the older he gets the more patient and kind he becomes. He is truly a sweetheart!! I love to sit back and watch him with Vanessa. He is the best older brother! He is usually very willing to help me out anytime I need help with the girls and even with stuff around the house. Andrew loves to read!!! He is doing the Spanish Fork summer reading program and in five days read his first 240 minutes and has started on his next. He loves to play all sports and really enjoys being outside with his friends. He is very inquisitive and loves to build Legos. He says when he grows up he's going to be a professional Lego builder. He has such a huge heart and is kind to everyone around him. I'm so grateful our family has been blessed to have this sweet little boy in it!! Happy birthday buddy!! We love you!!

Dance Dress Rehearsal

Today was dress rehearsal for Ally's dance performance, which is tomorrow. She loves her dance outfit! Something about putting it on makes her turn into a little diva ;). She had to get her picture taken before we left for the practice.



She did a great job and knew every dance step. I can't wait to see her tomorrow night in the real performance! Hopefully she will still be willing to get on stage even though there will be a lot of people in the theater.

Some New Milestones

Vanessa hit a few new milestones in the last couple of days. She has learned to stand while she is holding onto something. She likes to stand at one of our back windows to watch the kids, dog, etc.



The other milestone I'm not liking too much. She has learned to take her off her own diaper. This morning I changed her diaper and left her in just a diaper while I ran to hurry and finish getting ready. Andrew came running into my bathroom to inform me she had taken off her diaper. I hurried to get her in a new one. She must have known what I was going to do 'cause she took off down the hall at full speed. It was quite funny. Luckily I got her diaper back on before any accidents happened. This time I quickly put her clothes on so she couldn't get the diaper off again.





Yes, she was very happy and very proud of herself!!