Marley's 4th Birthday

Marley had been asking to have her birthday party at a bounce place.  So we went to Bouncin' Off The Walls (remember, bouncin' without the "g").  The party package included 25 kids so we invited everyone we could think of!!

 Jasmine with her mom Rachel. Courtland Bills attempting to climb the slide.  Kylie Hanson getting ready to slide down. Kylie Hanson with the cutest smile ever!  Cole (my friend from cross fit, Krissie's son).

 One of the slides was missing the little stepping things that allows the kids to climb up to the top in order to slide down the slide.  So Kevin, being nice, got all sweaty giving all the kids boosts up to the top so they could slide down.

 No birthday party would be complete with out some family dysfunction!

 Marley, Avery Bills, and Sadie North. Kinley North (she has the cutest smile on her face!). Grandma Orimi with Grace. Avery Bills.

 Cadance "No Fear" Miller (she is about Grace's age & wanted to do everything! I thought Grace would be the same since she was so active, but she was to scared to bounce around!!). Seth Bennett. Grandma Orimi. Janarae Hanson & her adorable baby Hadley.

 Grace loved going down this slide with me, but I got so tired because I had to carry her up the stairs every time she wanted to slide down!

 Courtland Bills. My brother Seth Ackroyd, Grandma Orimi, and Tina Ackroyd. My brother Jono slouched over, looking like he's having a great time.  Tina & Old Man Doug.

 Cute little Hadley. Kylie hugging her mom, Janarae.  Christian--the most uninhibited kid ever...he got my friend Janarae to go down the slide with him several times until she was so tired she had to tell him "no" and he had NEVER met her before!!! Mack Larsen looks like he's having a good time.  Avery Bills looks a tad lost...

 I love how the kids all crowded around the cake!  The little boy on the end, Calvin, has to be one of the cutest little boys ever! I love that kid!

 A lady I met at Marley's dance class recommend her cake lady (as the one I used for Grace had moved to San Diego) and I have to say the cake turned out adorable!!!  I also LOVED the cupcakes and they were made by my neighbors sister who owns a cupcake business.  So cute!!!

 Cadance again...she had to be the cutest little kid!!

 So we were limited on time in the party room because we had to wait so long for the pizza to come.  I thought that the kids could eat the pizza while they watched Marley opened her presents...but as soon as I had Marley start opening the presents, the kids IMMEDIATELY ditched their pizza & cupcakes to swarm upon Marley.  They all decided that they had to open up her presents.  It got a little overwhelming and the horde forced Marley into a corner. 

We asked people not to give gifts but to donate to their favorite charity, if they so choose to do so.  Last year Marley got WAY too many gifts & we had no idea what to do with them all.  I wanted to avoid that this year, so we gave her a few gifts that she had been asking for (especially the hula hoop & her little suit case).  She did get a couple gifts from some of the people who came to the party, but it was a far cry from last year (fortunately!)

San Diego

For our Christmas gift and Marley's birthday present, Jerry and Ruth took us, along with Kevin's sister's (Noelle) boys (Ryan, Seth, and Luke) to San Diego! It was such a great gift!  I love San Diego and if we ever had the chance, we'd move there in a heartbeat!!!

 Ryan, Marley, and Luke.  Marley loves to ride the "bus" (i.e. the shuttle) from the airport parking lot to the airplane terminals.

Seth, Ryan, and Luke Bennett

This pizza was INSANE!

 Luke, Grace, Ryan, Marley, and Seth

 I had Marley and Grace wear these "big sister" shirts on the plane ride over to San Diego.  It was mostly to kind of make a surprise announcement to Jerry & Ruth about Kevin and I having a baby boy in August of this year.  On the plane when Jerry saw that Grace was wearing the shirt (as he didn't notice that Marley was wearing the SAME shirt), he asked "Is that a hand-me-down? Why is Grace wearing a hand-me-down that has 'big sister' on it?"  Although slow & dangerous behind the wheel, Jerry finally pieced it together, and realized what messages we were trying to convey with the shirts!

I wanted to get pictures of Grace and Marley together wearing the shirts in San Diego so I could send out announcements of our upcoming arrival, but neither would cooperate!

 It was a little on the cooler side for swimming, but Marley and Grace were dying to swim, so they braved the chill.  Grace let me wrap her up in a pool towel and waddled around with it on.

 The first day of travel to San Diego meant Grace got up early and didn't nap.  At the end of a long day, she climbed up on to the hotel bed and immediately fell asleep next to Kevin!!

Oh how do I LOVE this little girl!!!

 I love Lego Land and was excited we got to go again this year.  It's so perfect for little kids as they have all sorts of ride geared for even Grace's age!  Grace loves to run the tail of her monkey binkie on her face...it's really cute!

 Marley has always had this fascination with the "Big Bad Wolf" ever since she was about two years old. I think she has a big, intense imagination, and for whatever reason, the stories about the "Big Bad Wolf" have stuck with her, and she was quick to point them out on the Lego Land story book ride.

I waited with a sleeping Grace in the car while everyone went into The Museum of Making Music.  I'm kind of bummed I missed it because apparently they had all sorts of interactive displays!

Marley and Grace really seemed to love Sea World.  I feel that Sea World is kind of a pain.  They have the animal shows at certain times, and if you can't make it early, there isn't any space left and you have to wait several hours before the next show.

 Grace is attempting to pack...

 ...and starts crying out of frustration when she is unable to put the hotel towel into Marley's backpack/suitcase.

San Diego Wildlife Preserve

So these aren't the best pictures of Marley's beloved teddy bear.  It has valentine hearts all over it and is kind of a tan-ish color.  We made a HUGE mistake!  When we got home from San Diego, and the first night back, Marley asked for her bear because she sleeps with it every night.  We looked EVERYWHERE for it and could not find it. We called Jerry and Ruth, asked Noelle if her boys had seen it, called the hotel we stayed in, the airline we traveled with, the car rental company and no one had seen the bear.  I have no clue where it went and Marley was absolutely devastated at it's loss!! Kevin managed to find the exact same bear on e-bay, but white in color.  Marley was sort of happy about the replacement, but still missed the original bear.  It made me so sad for her!

Four Year Old Birthday Dinner

We let Marley choose where we would eat for dinner on her birthday.  She choose Kyoto, a Japanese restaurant,  because she wanted "shrimp tempura & miso soup".  Sadly, the only pictures of the dinner I got were of Marley enjoying her birthday dessert. But isn't that the most important part? 

Before we went to dinner, we had to stop at Nordstrom & Kevin snapped this awesome picture of Marley wearing glasses!

Powerwheel Walk

We were on a little walk because the weather has been so nice lately!  Marley loves to drive this around but sometimes has a hard time because she looks at everything else except for where she should be driving.  She often ends up driving into the curb or almost hitting other parked cars so we have to really watch her.  Luckily, the four-wheeler drives pretty slow!

Aye, Aye Captain! ARGH!

Grace found this pirate eye patch & put it on.  I can't believe that she kept it on for as long as she did before she pulled it off!

Fairy Tea Party

Miranda North was extremely thoughtful in inviting Marley (who was also able to bring her friend Lydia Star, but Grace was too little so she went to her Aunt Trina's) to a Fairy Tea Party in the Provo Library with her daughters, Sadie & Kinley & some of Sadie's friends.  Marley picked out her fair dress & insisted on putting on make-up from her Barbie make-up kit she got from her friend Charlie Cooper.

Mandi did some last minute "touch-ups" while we were waiting for the fairies to come out.

The fairy princess came out & showed everyone how to curtsy & Marley tried really hard to curtsy

They got to watch the fairy king make an announcement & some ballerinas dance...

Then they got a chance to do the promenade & practice their dancing.

Then they got some fun little hors d'oeuvres to eat!

Inked Up

There was an ink pad that I was using to make prints of Marley's & Grace's hands & feet.  I foolishly left the ink on the table & went downstairs to get something.  When I came back up, this is what I found...

 Grace got ink all over herself! I don't know why I always do these types of things!  I think I'm so used to Marley, who NEVER got into this kind of stuff.  I rarely had to lock cabinets & put things up because Marley just never messed around with anything.  Grace, however, is a different story, but one I can't seem to learn from!!