Christmas Morning

Cookies & chocolate milk left for Santa - looks like someone decided to help themselves to some frosting.....

The finished doll house!

I was waiting for the classic Lo freak out when she first saw it. I was waiting in the kitchen with the video camera. She ran in, stopped, looked at the dollhouse, then at me and just said "CHEESE!" Hilarious.

She ran to her stocking first, and quickly emptied out everything, and wowing about everything Santa brought her.

It took her a while to really grasp what was going on and that it was hers.

Lo's "room" is on the left of the bathroom in the upstairs

And B's is on the right. They are painted like their rooms in our house, thus hindering any confusion the 3 year old might have on whether the dollhouse is "hers" or "theirs"

A little pop-up tent for the play room. B thought it was the greatest thing ever, she played in it all morning.
And did not enjoy when Lo decided it would be fun to join her.
This was my Christmas surprise from Bryan - the impossible to find boots that I've been wanting for months, but would never in a million years buy for myself. They are backordered until February. He's good.


And the family present - FINALLY getting our family pictures that were taken in August up and on the walls. There are more than just these, but I just haven't taken pictures yet. Stay tuned.

This was the first year that we decided to not go anywhere Christmas morning. Normally we go to my parent's house, but last year Lauren only got to play with her presents for about 30 minutes all day, so I decided that we needed to simplify things from now on.
So our parents all came over in the morning at different times and hung out, ate, and played with the girls for a bit. We didn't have to be anywhere until 2:30, which was perfect with B's naptime.
We went to Bryan's mom's, had more deliciousness to eat, more fun presents to open, and then to his grandma's, repeat of previous statement.
It was such a relaxing day, but it felt strange because we're used to running like crazy all day long. I very much prefer the relaxing day.
Then the day after Christmas we had my whole family over for dinner, exchanged gifts, played some Wii, and had a fabulous time.
But to be honest, I'm quite ready for Christmas to be over this year. It's been so much fun having Lauren get so excited about everything, but I'm exhausted :)

And sorry there are no more pictures - I dropped my camera and busted a piece off of the smaller lens (the 18-55), and I didn't want to mess with the frustration of trying to take a bunch of pictures with the zoom lens. I hate my clumsiness.

Weekend O'Fun

Some hilights from our weekend o'super busy fun:

Taking Bryan for his first Trax ride

Temple Square lights

Making Christmas cards for Daddy with friends in princess dresses

New biscuit recipe (mmmmm)

Getting babysitters for lunch AND dinner on the same day (do I feel guilty? NO)

Grilled salmon

Worst waiter EVER at Tepanyake in Lehi. Seriously. Worst.

Sophie in a Bumbo

Ponytail in a perfect curl
Chloe in a Bumbo
New sugar cookie recipe (double mmmmm)
Christmas carols at Grandma's house
Seeing all of my girls (though not all at the same time)
So many hilarious moments
Laughing til my stomach ached
Wish EVERY weekend was like this one

The Spirit of Giving

Ahhh, yes. It is Christmas time, the time of giving, of being selfless, of thinking of others.
I think it's a little too much for a 3 year old to grasp quite yet.
Yesterday we were at Target and I told Lo she needed to pick out a present for B.
She told me that B really wants a Snow White dress, and she walked me over to the Princess/Barbie aisle and showed me which one.
I asked her if she thought Mya really wanted that, or if Lo did.
Lauren said she'd "share it with her".
I'm sure Mya would be absolutely thrilled to have Lo give her a princess dress twice her size that she is so willing to share with her.

Also, we tried to get Lauren to sit on Santa's lap at our ward Christmas breakfast. There was much coaxing and bribing - from us and from her friends, but to no avail. Santa is officially scary.
When I was little, my mom would call Santa.
Yes, my mother has Santa's actual phone number.
And now I have it.
I told Lo that we are going to call Santa tomorrow, because how is he going to know what to get her if she doesn't tell him?
She said she doesn't want to talk to him.
"I'll tell him when he comes in our fireplace on Christmas"
Makes perfect sense to me - he's magic, he should be able to produce your desired presents right there, on the spot.
I just smiled and told her we will call Santa tomorrow.

Have I mentioned how much more exciting Christmas is this year now that she understands (mostly, of course) how it all works? And I can't wait to see her face on Christmas morning - I get all gooey just thinking about it!

And PS - pics of the finished dollhouse coming soon - turned out better than I imagined! That Santa's helper sure is one good little worker!
And we still haven't figured out what "the toy with birds on it" is that Lo keeps saying she wants. Hopefully when she sees the dollhouse she forgets all about it.

Walking!!

Before I forget, B is officially walking!!
It's strange for us, because Lo never did the thing where they take a few steps and fall down, get back up, repeat. She looked at me one day, got up, and walked. And that was that.
So I haven't really known when I could say that Mya was walking. She's been doing the few steps thing for about 2 weeks now, but the last couple of days she's kicked it up a notch or 2, and has been walking everywhere. She still holds on to the wall a lot (especially when she's on the hardwood - she really hates to fall down on it....can't say I blame her), but for the most part she tries to walk wherever she's going.
It's such a relief, and just like we thought - she's SO much happier to be walking! She's still needy, but so much better than she's been. She just wants to be a big kid!
A couple of months ago I had predicted she would be walking by 16 months, and here we are, just 3 days shy of that mark.
Yay B!!!!

Santa's Little Helper

Since we have the perfect little area for spraying set up in the unfinished portion of our basement, I guess one of Santa's helpers has decided to work on a very large, very heavy Christmas present down there instead of at the workshop in the North Pole.

I snuck a peek at the work in progress last night.

THIS is why I'm so excited for Christmas I can hardly stand it.

Santa's helper does pretty good work, eh?

And on a little side note......

I caught a glimpse of this certain helper last night as he was caulking

He's kind of hot :)

Randomness of the Littles

Just a few funny pics that don't necessarily need their own post!

What? You've never given your kid the part of a head of Romaine lettuce that you normally discard and see if she likes it? I thought every parent did that. And no, she didn't like it. But she kept going back for more. Crazy B!

This is what Mya does now when she sees the camera. She has learned this from her sister, because I have taken the advice of a few photographer friends and have NOT taught her to "cheese". I'm pretty sure I didn't teach it to Lo, either, but I'm not the only one who has taken her picture. All it takes is one cousin/aunt/grandparent/uncle, and you're done. Cheese forever.

And I love this kid more than anything, but usually her "cheese" looks more like she's growling or about ready to bite something.

Now, I don't know if any of you have ever wondered what Lo's hair looks like straight, but I have, so I thought I'd try it out one day.
Wow.
Mullet anyone?
The sad thing is that on the sides, right in front of her ears - that has NEVER been cut. My kids are definitely not blessed with an over abundance of hair.
After it was done I told her we needed to put it in ponies because I didn't like it. She kind of whined about it, so I told her to go look in the mirror.
So she ran over and looked, ran back and said "It's not very cute. I don't like it"
Me neither!

I'm just going to end this by saying how excited I am for Christmas this year! I truly feel lke a parent this year - I haven't thought about anything other than making this as magical for my kids as possible. Every day is spent making preparations and doing fun activities and trying to teach Lauren about Santa (which she finally understands this year) as well as the true meaning of Christmas. We talk about the 3 nativities we have in our house, we read books about the birth of Christ. I couldn't wait to get out all of my decorations and put up our tree - I lugged that huge thing up the stairs myself the day after Thanksgiving because I just couldn't wait for Bryan to get home. I've always loved the holiday season, but there is nothing like this time of year when you have kids old enough to enjoy it.
But secretly - I think I'm more excited than them!

The Hubby-Hubs

Yesterday was Bryan's b-day. Since it was Sunday, we celebrated on Saturday. Taking half of Shara's fabulous suggestion, we went to an indoor shooting range, where I realized that my husband is a VERY good shot. Good enough I would be totally comfortable in giving the "go ahead" nod if I was ever held at gunpoint and he thought about taking a shot at the guy's head just inches from my own. Because that's totally going to happen someday. But hopefully the roles would never be reversed, because I am a horrible, but consistant shot. In aiming for the chest I put 5 shots right to the neck. So I think if I ever needed to use my skills, if I just aim about 6 inches lower than where I really want to hit, then I'd be right on. Good strategy, right?

Anyway, then we went down to the Orem PF Chang's for dinner, one of Bryan's favorite places that we never go any more. Chose Orem because Bryan hates valet parking downtown in the truck. Realized that might not have been the best decision because of the BYU/Utah game (go blue, BTW). But it turned out to be a fabulous decision, because we got our meal for absolutely free. When you make an online reservation there, there's a spot to click if it's a special occasion - anniversary, b-day, etc. So when we got there the waitress asked who's birthday it was, I nodded to Bryan, who gave me the look of death. She informed us that there would be nothing embarrassing, to his great relief. So we ordered, and about halfway through eating the waitress came back and told us that we'd better be saving room for dessert because out entire meal was on them. We just sat there kind of shocked, and she said that their managers let them do that every once in a while. And sure enough, when the check came, total was $0. Of course we left her a big fat tip. So thanks PF Chang's - what an awesome unexpected surprise!

So I know you won't read this, love of my life, but Happy 30th! I want nothing more than to spend many, many more birthdays stressing over what to get you and where to take you on our date. I love you so much!

Lo's First Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I want the toy with the birds on it
A white doggy and a white dog house
Just a doll house for my Barbies
New Playdough
Barbie 3 Musketeers
The other Barbie 3 Musketeers, pink one and a purple one
Pink ice cream
Tinkerbell thing with a green box
Sparkly shoes

From Lauren

For the record, I have no idea what the toy with the birds on it is, but that's all she talks about. I'm sure Santa knows what she's talking about!

I'm Gonna Get Married

The other day, Lauren & I were enjoying a little snuggle on the couch while watching "Say Yes to the Dress". One of our very favorite shows to watch together.
This was our conversation

Lo: "I'm gonna get married, huh Mom?"
Me: "Yes, someday"
Lo: "I'm gonna wear a white dress, and a white thing on my head that's like a headband but not cuz it's upside up, and flowers in my hair."
Me: "OK"
Lo: "And I'm gonna carry flowers in my hands, huh"
Me: "Yep"
Lo: "And my daddy's gonna hold my hands"
Me: "Yes"
Lo: "And we're gonna dance"
Me: "Yes, you are"

I didn't realize that wedding planning started at 3.
To date, one of my absolute favorite conversations with my daughter.

30, Flirty, & Thriving!

In celebration of Bryan & all of his boyfriends turning 30 this year, the wives all got together and threw a little bash. Thanks again, Jennie, for doing so much work & having it at your gorgeous house!

The cake, courtesy of my awesome sister - I wish I would've gotten a better picture of it!

It's of all of them at some dance their senior year - hilarious. Bryan is wearing a sweater vest and him & Hyrum both have pipes. Why? Who knows.

But it's pretty amazing to think that after so many years they all (mostly) still hang out & keep in touch with eachother.

We tried our best to let each of the boys eat their own face. As you can tell by Bryan's expression, he thought it was super awesome I was making him do this. And pose for a picture of it.

Lamest "blowing out of birthday candles" ever. They all just stood around and looked at eachother for I think a full 90 seconds before anyone made somewhat of an effort.

The night ended with a slide show (or wedding video, as we like to call it) that Jennie (with the help of some of my pictures) put together with a bunch of pictures we found from way back in the day. Too many butt cracks, among other things.

And I know they didn't enjoy it nearly as much as us girls did, but oh well. We had fun planning it, and I thought everything turned out really well!

Oh, and you can't see it, but I did have my sister put "30, FLIRTY, & THRIVING" on the cake.

Sadly enough, the majority of the boys have no clue where that comes from :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOYS!

Going Once, Going Twice

The people you may find at a storage unit auction:
One ensemble included a fanny pack, leather coat (2 sizes too small), sunglasses, beanie, sweat pants and dress shoes
A David Crosby lookalike (with a massive camouflage flashlight - and he knew how to use it)
Strange woman with a Luis Vuitton coat on, Versace sunglasses, matching Polo beanie/scarf, listening to he ipod the majority of the time
Man who enjoys stopping on random street corners to sell the contents of his car until he gets kicked out by someone
Man with very long receding hair line mullet, only a handful of teeth, but you can tell he thinks he is LL Cool J
Genuine auctioneer - fast talk & everything

Things you may find in storage units that are being auctioned off:
Junk
Rain gutters
Broken TV's
More junk
Washing machine parts
Very odd & ugly contemporary artwork
Beat up couches
Still, more junk

Happy date day, Bryan, we bought nothing (thank goodness for that), but laughed a lot.
I love our little adventures!

7 Habits

Here in our ward, we have some amazing talent. Included in that is a great woman who is licensed to teach Dr. Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

She offered to teach a condensed version to our ward for FREE - she had some left over materials and asked Franklin Covey if it would be OK for her to use them teaching the community, and they approved it.

I just have to tell you, if you ever have the chance to take this class, do it!

We had 24 hours of material smashed into about 5.5 hours, but it was so worth it, and I learned so much.

I'm hoping to become more organized, less stressed, and of course, MORE EFFECTIVE!

You just wait, next time you see me you'll think to yourself "Hey, Kiersti is SO much more effective".

So true.

Private? Hmmm....

Have recently thought about making our blog private....
Any thoughts?
I've always been of the opinion that I don't care who looks at this, but recently I'm rethinking that.
I can't decide.
Let me know what you think.

Halloween - Finally Over!

Halloween was a bit weird for us this year. Bryan was busy doing some side work for his mom's boss, and I had the joys of having to work overtime. So it was kind of hard to stay in a "festive" mood when we had so many other things going on.

And I swear, Halloween lasted for over a week. We had our ward Trunk or Treat last Friday (no pictures, I know, lame), and the celebrating just continued on from there.

Here's Lo with some kids in her class for their little Halloween party. LOVE Miss Elissa's costume -hilarious.

Lo & Sage (Glenda the Good Witch)

(Lo was supposed to look like Tinkerbell, but ended being some strange ballerina/fairy princess/Tinkerbell combination. Whatever - she loved it.)

Originally Mya's costume was a bumblebee. I made a yellow & black tutu, she had wings & antennae, adorable. But she broke her tutu at the Trunk or Treat, and I didn't want to fix it, so she got to wear Lauren's elephant costume from last year. Which was actually cuter, and really warm, so it all worked out.

And Lauren was so cute - I thought I'd have to take her up to every door & stand there with her, but she marched her little fairy self right up to the door, knocked, shouted "Trick or Treat" and then an appropriate "Thank you!" when candy was dropped into her bucket. But she did get very distracted, and a little freaked out, if people had too many scary decoration on their house.
Mya just sat happily and quietly in the wagon and talked to everyone walking by.

I opened the door to my favorite dressed up trick-or-treaters. I hope you can make the picture bigger to see the detail on Jess's awesome jacket! And yes, it did smell faintly of smoke, which made it even more awesome. And again, yes, Greg is definitely wearing guy liner.

Ty, Jennie, Makayla, Annie, Greg, & Jess all came over for some soup, cookie decorating, and pumpkin cheesecake. Mmmmm. And I have no idea why I didn't take any pictures of everyone! I'm telling you, I wasn't myself that night. But thanks guys, for making my night much more enjoyable! Lo & Makayla got to do a little more trick-or-treating with eachother - those 2 thoroughly enjoy eachother. It's so cute!
I know it's sad, but I'm quite happy to have Halloween over and done with this year. I just couldn't get into it! Let's just move on to Thanksgiving, shall we?

And here - thought I'd share this with you all. I'm probably about 7 in this picture and I have NO idea what I'm supposed to be. Little Miss Muffet maybe? Anyway, my aunt posted it on her blog, and I very much enjoyed it.

Called to Serve

TREVOR

Rover, Roark, Roadkill, Roro, Trev, Ears...and I'm sure there are countless other nicknames for my baby bro that I don't even know of.

Today the girls and I ran down to see him one last time before he left to the MTC.

I'm gonna miss this lurpy kid - always smiling, always joking around, always laughing at himself.

It's amazing how it really, truly feels like yesterday he was 5.

Sometimes I feel a little cheated - being so much older than him, Scott, & McKell. I've missed out on so much of their teenage lives.

But over the last year or so, we've all become closer as adults.

We enjoy eachothers' company so much, and we always have so much fun when we're all together.

I can't wait to see how his mission helps him grow.

After he was set apart last night, I couldn't help but see him as a young man now, instead of this little kid. (I use the term "little loosely - the kid is 6' 5")

We're all so proud of him, and I can't wait to hear every detail of his mission and the amazing experiences I know he's going to have.

LOVE YOU TREVOR!!!

Karma

This just goes to show you that sometimes when you give a gift that you actually want for yourself, the hubs just might come home with a pepto bismol pink one for you!

**sigh of happiness**

Teething = My Enemy

Why does getting a couple of molars spark this demon within my baby??
Wednesday night - had to be held ALL NIGHT LONG in order to sleep. Slept in bed a total of 2.5 hours.
Thursday night - actually slept in bed from 10 until 5:30
Friday night - once again had to be held to sleep. Total time sleeping in bed? 45 minutes!!!!
Left cheek is BRIGHT red.
Drool amount is incredible.
You may be thinking "Hey Kiersti, maybe it's not her teeth?" Yeah, I thought that too, and Bryan took her in to the Dr. Thursday night.
Ears? Clear
Throat? Clear
Everything clear
But funny story came from the on-call doc. He asked Bryan if we had ever talked about our kids and organ donation. Weird, right? Then he said "Because if there was ever a need for cheek donations, your kid could donate for at least 5 others." Classic.
Anyway, so it's the teeth.
I don't know how much more of this I can take.
I'm chronically sleep-deprived anyway because of our schedules, but this is ridiculous.
No one can sleep comfortably on a couch for any period of time with a 20 lb. baby on their chest.
And now I have a sneaking feeling that this whole "hold me while I sleep, my teeth hurt" is going to turn into "hold me while I sleep, because I decided that I really like it, so now I'm going to scream until you do".
And I won't.
This could be a REALLY long next week or so.....
Wish me luck.

Back from the 619

This is a little taste of the pictures my awesome cousin Suz took of our family a few weeks ago - and I can't wait to see the rest! I also think it's a great representation of me & my cheesy siblings. If we are asked to pose for pictures, this is what you get.

I have NO pictures from the actual trip.

That's what happens when your husband takes the bags out of the car at the airport.

Anyway. here are some things I learned while down in mostly-sunny So Cal:
You can fit a Ford Focus basically anywhere
I offiicially HATE football talk
I officially HATE football on TV
But I very much enjoy a live BYU game
The late 80's, early 90's was not a good time in interior design history
9 people can stay in the same house and still be laughing when they leave
Boys stink
My hubby gets the shopping bug on vacation just like I do
Airports are very flexible on what they consider to be a "carry-on"
I wish there was a fro yo joint on every corner here
My hair does hilarious things in the morning fog
Window coverings are a necessity
When you think everyone will forget your b-day, you log on to find over 50 Facebook "happy b-day" wall posts
The San Diego temple really does look like a princess castle
I think 75 is the optimum temperature
You can fit 7 people in a Ford Edge, you just have to be creative
Mya has the craziest "I've missed you!" freak out I've ever seen
You can eventually tune out anyone
Lauren actually prefers that we leave - which I guess is better than crying and screaming
Holly packs a great little b-day package "from Davis" - thanks Holly!
Pidgeons can still walk with broken feet
Beaches can be really creepy at night
Satellite radio is.....interesting
I will take a paper map over a GPS any day
My baby looks a whole lot bigger then when I left
Carlsbad has a killer Outlet Mall
And a killer fish/steak restaurant
I don't know how I feel about 29
We're so blessed to have such great family we can trust our girls with, and who are so willing to take them so we can run off & have fun
My family is hilarious, and I love them so much
I still can't figure out why when the question "should we eat here" is posed, 8 faces automatically all turn in my direction
An unexpected birthday card & gift from a friend is a great pick-me-up
San Diego is apparently a hot spot for childhood friends to vacation the same weekend
4 days is almost too long to not see my girls
And not quite long enough to spend alone with Bryan

Good to be home

The Zoo in the Fall

Monday I decided that I wanted to take the girls to the zoo one last time before it got too cold. And we all know, living in Utah, that could be at any minute. So we packed up the new wagon and headed up first thing in the morning. It was jacket weather, and it was fabulous! No crowds, and all the aminals were out.

One of the tiger cubs

The new baby elephant
Lo got really mad after I took this picture, because I was supposed to be taking pictures of the animals. Not her.
I'm so glad we went, we had a blasty blast and I was glad we were finally able to go when it wasn't raining or we had somewhere else we had to be. We just took our time and really enjoyed ourselves. Can't wait to go again in the spring!

Punk'n Patch

Lo's class went to a pumpkin patch on Thursday for school. It was fun - all of the kids got to pick a ltttle pumpkin to take home, and they got to go through a corn maze.

Here's Lauren's cute little class. I don't know any names except for Sage, because Lauren doesn't talk about anyone else but Sage. I think there's a McKenzie, a Tyler, and a Sawyer. Don't ask me to point them out.
Lauren & Sage - and no, Kalisa & I did not plan the beanie/flower combo. But yes, it's the same beanie & flower, just different colors. Too funny.

Me & the girls. B was not happy to be there. Whatsoever. In any way, shape, or form. At all.
They had about 7 tractors for the kids to climb on. They were filthy, but cute!

Sophie & Chloe

2 of our closest BFF's had their twin baby girls yesterday morning. Amina carried those babies for over 37 weeks in her tiny size-2-at-the-most body with ZERO complications!
They came out perfectly at 5 lbs 4 oz and 5 lbs 6 oz.
And they look JUST like Amina, and have a whole mess of black hair (I'm so jealous!)
They look pretty much EXACTLY alike (still not sure if they are technically identical or not).
For some reason I have not been this excited for babies to come since my own and couldn't WAIT to get to the hospital and love on them!
Somehow, when I got there yesterday afternoon, I was the only visitor for an hour and a half until Bryan got there. And I snuggled, unwrapped, de-beanied, smelled, and just loved on those little sweet hearts all by myself! Each one opened her big eyes for me and just stared around and made little baby squeaks & grunts. Aaaah, what is better than that? And when one is being nursed or checked by the nurses, there's one more for me to hold. It was the best.
And I have a few pictures, mostly of Hyrum's first poopy diaper changing experience (which was pretty hilarious, by the way), but I left our camera at the hospital. Looks like I'll have to go back sometime in the next 3 days to pick it up. Oh darn, that's a shame :)
And Hyrum & Amina are the 2 cutest, proud parents ever. Hyrum calls them his little "buckaroos" - precious! After I'd been there about an hour I asked Hyrum if he'd stopped smiling yet. He just grinned and said "nope". Perfect new daddy.
I'm just so happy for them, and being in that hospital brought back floods of memories for me & Bryan of having our own little bb's.
I will hopefully post pictures in the next few days (with their parents' permission of course)
I'm still smiling.

Happy Birthday Baby

It's hard to believe that in 3 years my little 5 lb 2 oz, 19 inch baby has become a 30+ lb, 38 inch tall gorgeous, fun, wonderful ball of sass.

It's amazing how fast time goes by, and how much happens in that 3 years.

Just wanted to throw in a few more pictures of when she was teeny tiny, because I don't think I ever put them up here.

It's crazy to think that this beautiful little girl somehow came from me. She is a lot of work sometimes, but she is still one of the greatest things to ever come into my life. She's incredibly smart, funny, has an amazing imagination, and the greatest laugh ever. I love this kid more than I ever thought possible, and every day with her is a blessing.

Here are a few shots of what we did on her b-day. We took a little jaunt over to Gardner Village for the Wee Witches Weekend. Turns out Lauren is scared of the clown making her a balloon dog.

Also turns out she's scared of big, fake witches

Opening some of her presents from us. Nothing lights up a 3 year old girl's face like a Barbie Sleeping Beauty.

And a little big wheel type trike, which she for some reason calls her "scooter". And no, she can't figure out how to ride it.

Happy Birthday, Lo! You're my biggest girl, and I love you thiiiiiis much!

Here are a few of her favorite things (at this moment):

Sleeping Beauty

Jelly Man sandwiches

Mac & Cheese

Squirt

Preschool

Skirts

Giselle (Enchanted)

Wearing crowns all day long

Doing "curlies with a headband and a flower"

The slide

Snuggling Daddy

Playing with Mommy's hair

Hanging out with Mya in her room

Being the funnest thing ever

Princess Party Necessities

When having a Princess Birthday Party there are some things that are necessary

Brand new Princess dress, including matching crown

Crowns for all of your guests, with matching "bling" rings

Other princesses: Sage, Lauren, Adylin, Lexi, Emma, and Makayla

Handmade sugar wafer castles, including blue moat, and a ton of candy to decorate them with while discussing your favorite princess

Just an FYI - if you would like to make these castles for your own party someday, I'm pretty much an expert by now. It's all about the disgusting Royal Icing that I never want to make again. They can also double as replicas of the Jordan River Temple if you know what you're doing :)

Dancing

More dancing

Presents
And more presents
And even more presents

Some more dancing

And, of course, a beautiful princess birthday cake

With 3 candles and a crown on top

Lauren had so much fun at her party! Things were absolute chaos, and had it not been for Jennie, I don't know what we would've done! Thanks so much for staying to help control the mayhem!

Lauren got some awesome presents and had so much fun being a princess for the day. She loved everything she got, and I hope all the other girls had as much fun as she did!