Bring on 27!

Maybe I am not suppose to... but I LOVE to turn a new age each year and get older... for now at least. It does not bother me in the slightest. I know that I am still young, but we all know that getting old happens to everyone. It is no surprise that one day... I will be 30, 40 and 50.

And I really try to enjoy each stage! That is something that Alma and I have really tried to focus on. I LOVED my childhood and those high school and college days, and sadly they are gone.
But one day these precious days will be only a faded memory too, and I know I will fondly look back to where I am now, and think, Whoa, Life was good and look how YOUNG I looked!!!

Now it is time to love and live in the moment: the-baby-and-young-toddler-mom-just-starting-out-real-life stage.

I love each age or the different stages of life and all they bring. Those of you reading who are older might be thinking, just wait, one day you will be coming up on 40 and you will feel different about getting older. Probably will, but I hope I don't dwell on it too much. I hope that I feel like I live each year to the fullest and that I enjoy each age that I become.
I do still feel 20 at heart though, and I doubt that will ever change. (maybe because I still look the same as when I was 20)
but I hope I find that each year can be just as exciting as the last.

Anyway, the big 2-7. I don't feel 27, but here we are. Hope that 27 is just as great as 26 was to me.

I was spoiled for my birthday. Alma and Anna and Shannon put together a SuRpRiSe PaRtY for me. Who gets LuCkY enough to still celebrate your birthday at 27 with all your close friends and family?

I do.

They were so sweet and did such a good job keeping it quiet.

It was such a surprise to come home and see a lot of my closest friends here.

Thanks to everyone that came and partied with us. I got to celebrate it twice!
Those are the pictures above.

Once with my parents the week before (pics below) and once on my B-day. Kaitlyn was a little confused about why I got 2 birthdays. But who cares when you get to eat two cakes, Right?

My Mom and Whitney at their house.

Un-birthday Party

Earlier this month, Anna and I were talking about how my Birthday was coming to the kids that she takes care of. Kaitlyn loves birthdays so we decided to have an UN-Birthday Party for everyone.
We decorated, made cake, everyone got a present and ate pizza. Kaitlyn even got to borrow a Princess dress.

It was super fun!

I got each of the kids a crazy cup for their unbirthday present.

Playing Basketball

One of my favorite memories growing up was playing Basketball.

I wasn't great at it, but I loved it. My parents got my a Basketball hoop when I was about 14-15 years old for Christmas. They have been hanging on to it for the last 10 years since I moved away. Now that I have my own home, I got to bring it to my house and set it up.

Here is Kaitlyn and her Daddy playing hoops.

Some of my favorite memories are playing with my Dad and my family.

(we got a letter from HOA saying we couldn't have it in the street so we put it on our driveway for now... don't really want to put it away but you gotta follow the rules)

FREEDOM is spelled O-D-Y-S-S-E-Y

I am Free!!

For the last 4 years we have been sharing my Hyundai Accent. Little cute silver car. It has been great, and actually not too hard to share. Now that Alma goes to work full time, it is getting harder.

So we decided it was time. So we shopped around, and looked at lots of stuff, and we decided on a used 2002 Honda Odyssey.

I LOVE THIS CAR!

I know that there are lots of people out there that hate mini vans but can I just tell you how wonderful it is! Doors open themselves, lots of space for the girls with AC vents right above their chairs. I used to get them out of the car and they would be sweating so bad. We could not get cold air back to them when we were in the Accent. But now they are keeping cool in this heat.

Whitneys car seat is not squished and her head isn't toppling over bc there is no room. It is so wonderful!

I LOVE THIS CAR!!

It has been so much fun to drive. It has a DVD player too which has been fun to play with. We put in Tangled while we drove and Kaitlyn stays happy in the car, instead of whining. It is so much fun!

I LOVE THIS CAR/ or VAN

I LOVE THIS VAN!!!!

So here are some pictures of it.

I am free to go and get a gallon of milk when I want, do visiting teaching when I need to, go to the store or parks or the mall when I want, meet up with friends for play dates or take the girls swimming when I want, go visit my parents... the world has endless possibilities.

Our weekends will not consist of running errands all day Saturday. I can get them all done in the week and we can play on Saturdays! YEA!

Do you like how in the picture below... my seat is a lot farther up so I can reach the pedals. :)

Our DVD Player

and the wireless headsets.

It was in such great condition with low miles. And I can't tell you how happy and how free I feel. Hip Hip Horray!

It was worth the 4 year wait!

Fort Making Fun

I love when we get creative at home.

What things do you do to entertain at home?

Me and my girls

I am never in the pictures because I am behind the camera. Kaitlyn is getting good at taking some pictures, which is great. Just hope she doesn't drop the camera. Anyway, here are some pictures of me and my gals.

Our 4 Year Mark

Today, August 3rd, is our 4 year Anniversary.

I am so grateful for Alma. He is a fantastic husband, father and friend. I love him more than anything and I am so grateful for him in my life.

The picture above was taken in April 2007 at our friends wedding. We had been dating about 1 week.

The picture below is a picture of us in the end of March 2007. This is the first picture taken of us and it was taken by my Dad. He is awesome at capturing the moment. I am so glad he took this even though Alma and I were not too serious at that moment. We had been dating about 4 days at this point... and in about 3-4 weeks we decided to get married. What an awesome guy I have. I love him so much and I am so glad I made the decision to make him my eternal companion.

And here are some wedding photos of that beautiful summer August day that we were able to be sealed in the Temple.

And here is the most recent picture I have of Alma and I. Not the best quality, but it will do. This was taken this last Sunday.

Ps. I love my family of 4!

4 years later and we have....

Lived in 3 different States

Lived in 5 different places we call home

had 2 beautiful daughters

had 6 or so different jobs (between the 2 of us)

had 1 car (still sharing it)

gone on numerous travels to see family

gone to DisneyLand

Lived, Laughed and Loved

I am looking forward to the many more years and memories and our eternity.

Love you Alma.

Thumb Sucker

Whitney is a Thumb-sucker.

I have decided that for now, I LOVE it.
She always has it with her and she has always slept so well. I love that I don't have to worry about playing the "Binki Game"
(when it falls out having to put it back in)
I love that in the night if she wakes and then just finds her thumb and soothes herself back to sleep.
She is such a sweet baby and has been sleeping through the night,
6:45pm-7:15am
Not waking once
She has been doing this since about 2 months old. So it has been so easy. A lot easier than with Kaitlyn.
Every now and again she wakes around 5am and eats, and sleeps in till 9. I don't mind those days either.
So one day, I will have to break that habit of sucking her thumb, but we will cross that bridge when we get there. As for now, I love it!

The Many faces of Kaitlyn

My silly 2 1/2 year old....
and some of her many faces...

She cracks me up daily. I love her! She is always trying to make us all laugh and I feel like she is getting so much older! She loves to watch Americas Funniest Home videos on Youtube and she just cracks up at all the stuff that people are doing, sometimes she sounds like a 12 year old girl as she watches... "oh man! thats gotta hurt!" It is too cute! She is such a great girl, and I am looking forward to us being best friends through life. I love you Kate!