Sarah's 4th Birthday Preview

This past Saturday we celebrated Sarah's 4th birthday with a Puppy Party. 

Her first birthday party with friends, so fun!

It was so much fun. I asked my cute friend to take pictures at the party, so here is a preview of the event with some pictures I took before and after the party. 

Okay, I have been really in love with the red & teal color combo, throw a little pink in for Sarah and it was just what I wanted. So when I found these "dog bowls" on clearance at Target I was stoked! They were perfect.

We made little bags of puppy chow...

 and puppy treats to put in the bowl.

 We also found these dog shaped silly bands

 (okay, one is a bear, but it still was perfect!)

Cute little combination, don't you think?

I think the kids were excited to each get one.

Our decorations were pretty lame, but we did make this dog house for the guests to walk through when they came in, we also used it for musical dog house (a variation of musical chairs... kind of chaotic with 12 kids, but it worked). 

 Sarah loves her dog house, we have it tucked away in a corner of the house still for her to crawl in and out of. I'm glad she loves it so much. 

My sad little dog house cake... so sad. 

I thought I'd be creative and make it out of rice krispie treats. 

Well, my frosting was drippy and it just looked like a bumpy blob house...

Oh well. And the "pupcakes" were pretty funny looking too. 

 Don't they look like little bat dogs? haha... whatever. 

Abby took her nap during the party, but she had fun playing with the puppy ears afterward.

 Each kid got a set of ears, dog collar and their face painted (if they wanted). 

Oh yes, and she also had fun climbing on the table after the party (when mommy crashed on the couch for a power nap) and ate all of the faces off of the remainder pupcakes... she loved that. 

Anywho...

It was a fun party. Can't wait to get the rest of the pictures so I can show you the mass of kids we had at the party. A lot of crazy in a tight space. Fun, fun, FUN!

Hello again Zoo!

We had a little spring tease. So we took up the opportunity to go to the zoo with a few friends. It ended up being a little windy that day, but the kiddos still had lots of fun running around. 

The kids were so funny. Here we are at the zoo, with lots of interesting things to look at, and often we would turn to find them poking sticks in the left over snow... not like they can't do that at home or anything.

Measuring up to the baby elephant. 

Our zoo has been a little birthing factory, it had a baby elephant just a few months before we came, and since we've been here it has had a litter of painted dog pups, a couple of baby sea lions born, and just recently a pack of tiger cubs. Pretty cool! 

Like most zoos they have wandering peacocks. 

 Of course Sarah decided it would be fun to chase one down. She got really close to this female and she actually ended up raising and fanning out her feathers. I didn't think females did that... apparently Sarah scared her good.

Abby checking out the fish that are bigger than she is.

 Do you love her hat hair?

I love this picture of Sarah and her good buddy Josh.

Amy and Sarah we saying hello to this donkey and were thrilled when it came over to say hello. 

 Until it started to EAT HER SHOE!!!

 Psycho Donkey!

Here is one more picture of Abby.

Her face here makes me laugh.

It was a fun little trip to the zoo, can't wait until it really warms up and we can go lots and lots!!!

Bring on Spring.

Two lil' Kitties

Still crocheting...

 I go in waves with crafts... but I think this is the last thing I'm crocheting for a while.

I'm burnt out.

But aren't these little kitties cute?

I love them.

For those of you interested, I used THIS pattern to make them... with a few tweaks. 

It still February, right?

So I'm a little behind on my blogging. What can you do. But it is still February, so I'm going to post about our Valentine's.

Here are the things I love...

That Sarah was able to make her own Valentines this year...

 Look how focused she is, I love it. 

 (She traced the letters I wrote, but she did an amazing job)

 She did however glue the hearts together all by herself, I was impressed how well she lined it all up. Great job Sarah!

I love that both of my girls hair is long enough to do fun things with. 

Here are their little Valentine's Day Do's

 Do you see the little hearts in her pig-tails?

I'm often asked "how do you get her to sit still?"

Want to know my secret?

Food. 

I do it while feeding her breakfast, keeps her good and distracted while I'm tugging on her hair. 

Sarah's heart braids. 

 Kind of looks funny from the front. Oh well. 

I love making sweet treats... even if Abby climbed on the table and took a bit out of them all, thus preventing us from sharing our hard work *sigh* 

 Maybe she was helped a little by her big sister. 

We love packages. They are so fun to open.

 Abby just loves eating the treats. 

 Check out her devouring a S'mores pop!

I Love how Sarah learned how to write her name. 

Sarah had a friend over and I quickly folded some paper and cut out some hearts so they could make some valentines while I got some things done. Later that night when I was cleaning up I opened her little card to find that she had written her name in it All. By. Herself! Love it!

The cutest part is that she wrote it first in pencil (just like I had done for the grandparent's cards), and then traced it in marker. 

 I love the sunshine that comes through our dinning room windows in the morning.

 And who doesn't love Hershey's chocolate milk?

Speaking of Chocoalate...

I love these chocolatey brown eyes that I get to look at all day long.   

 All silliness included.

I love our cute new matching coats. Perfect combo of cuddly and warm. 

I love valentines. Such a great excuse to say an extra 'I love you' and eat lots and lots of chocolate. 

Life couldn't be better. 

Love

Wow. I've had a lot of love in my life lately.
The latest form coming in a bright pink package on my front doorstep. 

Yes. It was labeled "Don't open until Valentine's Day"... but I couldn't wait (sorry ladies). 

I'm so glad I didn't because I needed some love today. 

My amazing cute friends sent me and the girls a little Valentine's package in the mail.

I don't know why they thought I could wait until Valentine's to open a package... hello! A week is a really long time. They got together in Utah to decorate cookies and exchange valentine's. I'll be honest, I was on the message thread and got a little sad that I couldn't attend and join in on the cuteness and fun.
I don't think they'll know how much this meant to me.

All I can say is I have THE most AMAZING friends. EVER!

Here are the cute cards they made up close.

Aren't they adorable?
I don't really have any Valentine's Decorations... and these are perfect!

Yes, it's okay. You can be jealous.

(You are the best! Thank you Ash, Deb, Kara, Melissa, Val & Wendy)


On a totally different note.

I have a personal/spiritual thought to share.
(you don't have to read it, but I felt I needed to share)

Maybe I need to just get the on my blog so that I can stumble upon it again and be reminded,
but here is a recent experience I had.
Back in August Ryan and I made one last temple trip before his second year of med school began.
Since it was just out little family going, Ryan and I had to take turns going into the temple.
Since I knew I'd have time to myself, I decided that I would take some time to ponder and reflect on somethings on my life in hopes to receive some revelation.
After I had attended a session I was sitting and thinking to myself.
I'll be honest. I was feeling a little down, overwhelmed and that I just wasn't being my best self.
I began to say a silent prayer to ask what I could do or change in my life.
Before I could begin to think of all of my various weaknesses and inadequacies,
or about the huge list of things I need to start doing.
I had an immense feeling of love wash over me.
Love.
That was my answer.
My father in heaven loves me. 
He knows me.
 He cares about me and wants me to be happy.
I cannot express how much this simple feeling meant to me.
I can say that I know it is true.
We do have a Father in Heaven. We are His children and He does love us and wants us to be happy.
I hope we can all remember this.
(and that I can do my part to share that love with others)

I still have many weaknesses, and a long laundry lists of improvements to make in my life.
But somehow, feeling of God's love makes it a little easier to handle.

Loving Boxes

Is it odd that we love boxes so much around here?

I can't tell you how many boxes we have scattered throughout our house. Where I am sitting right now I can see one, two three, four... five boxes around me... (Wow, more than I thought). We use boxes for just about everything. To carry crafting supplies for a project (the box sitting out was from, mmm, maybe a week ago...i'm bad). Sarah loves to carry various toys in boxes, or turn them into space ships/homes/prisons (don't know where she got that from). We keep old shoe boxes, post boxes, packaging... really. I swear we're not pack rats. 

Although, after going down into our basement repeatedly today, 

and nearly breaking my neck twice trying to reach things, 

I'm starting to wonder if I need an intervention. 

Maybe we get so attached to them because they are so fun to play in. 

Or maybe its because we love to turn them into things. 

Meet Bob, the Robot.

I'd like to think that we are Earth-friendly and try to reuse and recycle. 

But maybe the real reason we enjoy boxes so much is because they usually bring us sugary goodness. 

Cute clothes. 

And very fun toys. 

Whatever the reason.... we love boxes. 

(Thanks G'ma Newey, I'll post pictures of them in their outfits soon)

Lizzie{winks}

So. What do you think of the name? 

Lizzie{winks}

I think it is kind of cute. (Is it too cutesy?)

I'm still learning the world of Wordpress, so if you know any tips or tricks--do share, and if you'd like to follow my photo blog I'd love the company. 

I posted more pictures that I edited from my first little newborn shoot. It was so much fun. 

I'm also going to try and jump in on a 52 week photo challenge. That should be fun. I really want to learn how to take good raw image photos that don't really need much or any editing.

I also want to learn how to use photoshop a little better (to fix my less than perfect images)

So click on the link above and let me know what you think.

Also, if any of you good with logos? Just so I have something to put on my images (not that anyone would steal them, but you never know). If you are feeling creative and want to design one for me I'd love it!

Any takers? ;)