Happy Birthday Riley!

For Riley's 2nd Birthday, we had a few friends over for a little party in the morning. It was so much fun to see all the kiddos play and the mamas had fun hanging out too!

Lindsay, Avery, and Cricket

Hooray!

Lindsay, Kayla, Charlie, Riley, Avery, Cricket, Ransom, Zeke, Brooklyn, Trent, and Evie. Sawyer and Ethan are off somewhere else!

Opening a fun art set from Uncle Chris and Aunt Karen!

Icecream Cake...yum!

She blew out both of her candles on her own. Riley is such a precious gift and we are so thankful she is here with us. We love our little girl. Happy Birthday, Riley!
We had another celebration with Grams and Papa, but unfortunately no pics were taken. Bummer!

Have I told you how much I LOVE to sew?

I have a baby shower to go to tomorrow so I have been sewing up some items over the last few days. As I sat sewing I just kept thinking about how thankful I am that my mama taught me how to sew. I absolutely LOVE giving handmade gifts. It thrills me to know that I have created something especially for someone else. It gives me such joy. These items are for a friend of mine who is having a baby girl in a few weeks. I made the lamb, though it looks like a mouse, and appliqued the letter "L" on her belly since the baby's name is London. I am so pleased with how it turned out. I am also giving her 2 bibs, which is the item I sew the most of. Finally, I made my very first baby quilt. I could not be happier with how it turned out. I took the easy way out and did not bind it as I do not have the patience for it. I stitched together the patchwork top out of fabrics I already had and then backed it with a super soft pink minky fabric adorned with roses. I then hand stitched and knotted each spot where 4 squares meet. Does that make sense?

I am excited to pass this along to my lovely friend tomorrow.

Long hair + scissors = new haircut for Avery

Avery has been doing a lot of cutting lately at school and has been wanting to perfect her skills at home. The other day, I drew some shapes for her to cut out while I was cutting fabric and Riley was playing with blocks. A few minutes late I spotted a few pieces of hair on the carpet. I looked up and quickly realized Avery had decided to cut her own hair. I was in shock and this took her by surprise and she burst out crying. She just kept repeating, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" A friend of mine came over that evening and fixed it up into a cute bob. Avery was beaming the whole time.


She had been asking for a haircut for a while now, but it has taken so long for it to grow that we were resistant to give in, but she is so happy with it that I feel bad for letting it go this long. Oh well...she can't stop looking in the mirror and shaking her new locks. She is such a cutie!

A Princess Party

Avery's good friend Cricket celebrated her 4th birthday Princess style. The girlies all dressed up and decorated cupcakes, danced, had their faces painted, and had an overall fabulous time. Avery told me it was the greatest. My super awesome and talented friend Charlie (Cricket's mama) sure knows how to throw a party.

First Day of Preschool

Avery had been looking so forward to starting school this year. She even had her first 3 outfits picked out before the first day of school even started. Oh how she loved it!! She walked right in and found her cubby and her mat at circle time. She had a huge smile on her face and gave me a hug and kiss and we were kicked out the door. When I picked her up she said, "and I didn't even cry!" She has been having the best time at school. She is in a class of 7 which is just fabulous. She has two teachers, Teacher Julie and Teacher Nancy. They are wonderful and we have just been so grateful for the time she has with them every Mon, Wed, and Fri!

Riley did not feel the same way about school. She had a complete meltdown when we left Avery at school.

Super Sweetness

Pudding Face

Fire Fightin'

We had a little play time with my dear friend, Molly and her son Timmy. The kiddos were super cute together and spent some time putting out fires.

Walking in Daddy's shoes

Giants Game

On Sunday, we were invited to our friend Rich's surprise 30th birthday. It just happened to be a Giants Game with amazing seats...2nd row right next to the visitor dugout. It was such a fun day and so much fun to see the look on Rich's face when he realized we were all there! It was a blast and we are so thankful for our amazing friends!

Bob and Glenda

Glenda and I...finally a pic of the two of us!

Rich (birthday boy!) and Anna

Bat Man

Sleepover!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

My Grandma Hansen celebrated her 75th birthday on July 31st. The family gathered together the next day to celebrate her!! The day was filled with family chatter, Andy's BBQ, and a jumphouse for the kids. My girls loved it! It took Riley a bit to warm up to it but then we could not drag her out of it. It was perfect weather and a perfect day to love on my wonderful Grandma. The only bummer...no pic of her. :(

So far behind...

A few weeks back we ventured up to camp with our dear friends, the Hirotas. We met up at an RV park not to far from the Yosemite gate. It was VERY hot so the first day we set out to find a cool spot by the river. Despite the horrible and long hike to and back from the spot, which I still have not forgiven Matt for, we had a wonderful time enjoying the cool water hole and the gorgeous waterfall.
Day two was filled with swimming and a drive out to Yosemite Valley. Jaron had never been before!! It was really crowded, but we managed to get a view of Half Dome and a short hike to Yosemite Falls.

We are definitely looking forward to our next trip with our lovely friends!