Happy 9th M!!!

Our little Miss M is not so little any more. She just turned 9.... Deep sigh.....I can't believe she is getting so big. She is still my baby! (Maybe she always will be!) We had fun celebrating her birthday this year. She wanted to have a horse birthday. She loves horses, I mean r...e...a...l...l...y loves horses. She is always begging for us to get one. I have NO idea where we would keep it!!!

For a fun surprise, DH talked to a guy at his work that had horses to see if we could bring M out to ride one. She said to me the day before, "I wish that I could ride a horse." She had no idea that the next day her dream would come true. She got to ride Duchess, a really old, blind in one eye, sweet little horse. She was perfect for M to ride for the first time. All the girls got to ride her, but M definately had the most fun. I didn't have fun at all. Come to find out, I am allergic to horses. By the time we left my eyes were red and my throat was swelling. I didn't even touch the horse! That was just from standing by it. I guess we are definately not getting a horse...ever!

In keeping up with the horse theme, we made a horse cake. I don't know about that pretzel fence. Ideas are always better in my head! We got the little horses at the dollar store. They have been well loved ever since.

She got lots of fun presents too. Most of her ones from us were not a surprise this year. I did surprise her with a Checkers game. I could not possibly count the number of games of checkers that have been played at our house since her birthday.

Her big present this year was a pair of roller blades. She has been wearing mine around for months. She is really good on them too, which is pretty surprising since they are 5 sizes too big for her! We figured she should have some of her own. Now we go roller blading together. It is a fun mommy daughter bonding time.

Happy Birthday M!!!

Vacation lifesaver...

I made these for a recent vacation we took to Lake Tahoe. They were a life saver! I made one for each of my girls with their initial on it. I made the bags from some fabric my mom gave me ages ago. The white flowery fabric use to be some curtains that were in one of the houses we bought. I love using what I have to make something fun. I filled the bags with lots of goodies....coloring books, candy bracelets, travel games, toys, and other various activity items. One of the funnest things I put in the bag was a map of our country. As we were driving whenever we spotted a license plate the girls would color in the state that it was from. I made a copy for the way there and one for the way back. It was great to break up the monotony of the trip. I made the handles on the bags long enough that they could hang over the head rest of the seat in front of them. They could still reach them and get into them, but we didn't have any toys getting lost and the bags were not in the way. They worked out perfectly. I don't know why I didn't do this YEARS ago!

Trippin' to Tahoe....

We got to go to Lake Tahoe with my brother and his family the last week of September. It was so much fun. It was even worth the 20 hours of torturous driving to get there and back with all the little kids. We had so much fun. One highlight was that the kids got to go to Kid's Club everyday. It was nice to only have 1 child for a little while! They had so much fun making crafts and doing fun things there. We also played LOTS of games with my brother and sister-in-law. They have some fun games and we had lots of fun staying up late playing.

It was a little chilly, so we didn't spend too much time at the beach. The kids (D too!) had fun playing in the sand. We don't get to the beach very often, but D builds a sand castle every time we do.

One day we went for a little hike (not so little for the kids though!) We hiked down to the Vikingsholm "Castle". I wouldn't call it a castle, but it was definately a cool building. The architecture in it was amazing.

We also went to a river to see the Salmon spawning. They had a place that you could go down below the river so you could see inside and watch the fish. It was pretty neat.

We also went on an aerial tram ride up to the top of the mountain. The view from the top was amazing. We did a little hiking as well.

It was such a fun trip. Thanks for letting us come with you big bro.!

Hurry and wash your sheets...

or someone might turn them into a fort for their stuffed animals....

Hair Bows...

I saw a little girl once that had these cute little hair bows in her hair. Little H's hair was finally long enough to make them.

Slightly disappointed....

I have wanted to go to a hot air balloon festival for a long time. Usually they have been too far away (especially since you have to be there at sunrise). We finally found one that was a little closer to home. So bright and early (okay, it was really even light yet, but it definately was early) we headed out to see the balloons.

They got off to a late start, but they were getting everything ready. It was fun to watch the balloons grow before our eyes.
There were several different sizes and colors.

Unfortunately, they never got off the ground. They had to call everything off because the wind conditions were too unpredictable. We were all disappointed! So all we had to do was sit around in the sticks.

We didn't get to see the balloons go up, but we got to see 3 sky divers and a lot of buffalo, so I guess the whole trip wasn't wasted!

Hopefully we will be able to catch the balloons again next year.

Ward Campout...

I have gotten a little behind in my postings lately. I wanted to go back and do a post about our ward camp out. They did a cute little Goldilocks and the Three Bears skit. D was Goldilocks in a super curly in your face blonde wig. As you can see in the pictures, the husband's hands were used as the feet, and the wife's hands were used as their hands. We had to feet them pudding at different prompts in the skit. It got a little messy! It was so funny though. I only wish that I could have seen it!

We enjoyed visiting with our ward members, and roasting marshmellows. This was the first time we have camped out (in a tent) for two years. It was hard getting the girls to sleep at first, but they slept pretty good once they did. I wish I did! Our air mattress had a slow leak, so by the time daylight hit I was squashed between my hubby and the baby on a half full mattress. It was a great adventure though!