For Dan and Emily

The Princess is 4!

Yesterday Kallie turned 4! She was so excited that everyday the week prior she would ask if today was her birthday. When it finally rolled around she was so excited! This is the set up..(Ben woke up at 6:20AM to help me set up. It was really cute that he felt he was big enough to get involved in the set up process)
Kallie asked that we wake her up by singing Happy Birthday. Christopher, Ben, and I went in and woke her up with our amazing singing. She got a huge grin on her face and was so excited.

She didn't know what to do first....Open presents, eat doughnuts, or breakfast!

She finally decided on blue pancakes...in shapes. She requested a heart..Ben had a mickey mouse...and Andrew had all the mess ups!

All Kallie wanted this year was a clock! Little did she know I had found this clock at Bed Bath and Beyond a few months ago. She was so excited. Chris and I are trying to figure out why she wanted a clock. She can't tell time yet!

Andrew loved Kallie's birthday morning. All he did was go from one balloon to the next.

Doing doughnuts....

Ben's turn....

Kallie is really into Taylor Swift. So she got a Taylor Swift t-shirt and her cd. This is her modeling her new outfit...

Kallie's birthday cake. (FYI - I moved the yellow ones up so they didn't look so funny)

Chris's mom is amazing and every year for the kids birthday she takes them on a date. This year she took Kallie up to her house and they made this amazing castle cake. Kallie is very proud!

Kallie wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese as part of her birthday. We went with the family, had pizza, and played games. As part of her birthday gift everyone gave her all their tickets. She was so happy! She was a sweet heart and shared her tickets with Tommy and Ben. Andrew even got a little something!

The kids with their loot!

All in all Kallie had an amazing birthday! Thank you everyone for calling her and wishing her a very happy birthday! She loves to talk on the phone and would light up when we said it was for her :)

This morning I was trying to get the kids up and out the door to go up to Thanksgiving Point. Kallie came up to me and said "Mom, do you think I could lay down for a little minute? I'm pretty tired." It is noon and Kallie is still in her jammies, laying down. Yes, this girl had a great birthday!

What we've been doin'....

Sorry we have been MIA in the blog world! We've been going and doing...and it doesn't help much our main computer broke while we were in New Mexico! So, for the past month or so Chris has been searching for new computers and ways to make it faster (my blog books take up so much RAM!) So finally we got a new computer and Christopher has been spending every night up till midnight trying to get all my files organized for me. He has at last given up, so I guess I just get to file them any old way! We have been trying to stretch every last second out of summer before Ben starts Kindergarten! Here is a SHORT list of what we have been up too....

So we got a call two days before we were set to leave New Mexico telling us my cousin Krista was going thru the temple. After talking about it for about a second we decided that was too big of thing to miss so we packed up our apartment in a hurry and high tailed it back to Utah! We were lucky enough not only to make it to the temple, but we also got to play with Ahma, Joy, Nini, Brinkley and Bailey! All in all a very good reason to rush out of New Mexico a day early!

K, isn't this the cutest picture! Mom you look FABULOUS!

Most of our days end with the kids looking like this in their carseat. This is heaven for a mom's eyes!
We've discovered little Ava is half fish! She loves the water and loves this little life jacket that she can just float and catch a little bit of sun in!

Kallie is such a big swimmer now and can even venture into the deep end! She is also not afraid of getting her face wet! Hooray!

We have been playing with cousins and loving it!

Andrew has discovered it is funner to get into things with a partner. Caden is always very willing to oblige....

We have been playing dress-up! We have also discovered with the help of a blow dryer and a round brush Kallie can have "Rapunzel" hair! She loves it and it makes her day when anyone tells her how pretty it is! Just be prepared for a long speech about how she gets her "Rapunzel" hair and a modeling show to go with it.

We had a Princess Pool Party for two cute girls who are turning 4 this year! Adorable Princess cupcakes (thanks Aunt Emily!), dress up, gifts, pizza, swimming, pinata, and family....what more could you ask for!

I discovered I had married a mountain man....

We helped to move this shed from the bottom of the Cabin property, up to the very top by the cabin. What a job that was! To be honest I'm still alittle surprised it made it up there all in one piece! Now it is painted green, has a new roof, new floor, and full of wood. Mama Erickson is also very happy!

Hung out with these fun gals and those cute kiddos....

Got a yummy fruit basket!

Had a fun Gillen Family Reunion and got of swim and play with cousins!

So this is as much as I've downloaded from my camera. As soon as I figure out how to download the rest I will update again!

When all else fails...

look under the bed!


On Sunday after church Kallie was supposed to be changing out of her church dress and into play clothes. A while goes by and I realize I haven't seen Kallie in a while, so I start to look around for her. I can't find her ANYWHERE! I start to mildly panic and get Chris to come and help me search. We searched the whole house top to bottom, backyard, and double checked the front door to make sure it was locked. We were both getting pretty scared. I start thinking how could I lose my own child in my own house, what will the 911 operator think, what am I going to do?!?! Just then Chris asks if I had looked under her bed. At first I thought that was kinda a dumb idea because why would she hide under her bed? But I did it anyway and found this:
Apparently she had had too much fun at church and had to take a little nap before she put on her play clothes. I didn't mind! I got a tap too!

The Last Day

Unfortunately, our time in Virginia came to an end. We'd had so much fun that nobody wanted to leave! Thanks to Uncle Chris, Aunt Ligaya, Ethan, Joshie, and Max for the BEST TRIP EVER!