Happy 5th birthday Zhara

Friday, Sept 11, was Zhara's 5th birthday. I can not believe she is 5 years old. How did time go by so fast? She woke up to her place at the table decorated with flowers & streamers by her Daddy. David is so great & gave Alyssa a flower too. They were so excited. Alyssa said "Oh I looooove my daddy". David is always so good at making his girls feel special. Alyssa & I went to school during lunch & Alyssa got to eat lunch with Zhara. On the way into the school Alyssa saw someone & she was telling her all about her lunch in her Cinderella lunchbox & that she was going to eat lunch with her sissy because it was her birthday. We had mini cupcakes for all 40 kindergartners (2 classes) & then got to stay for story time. That night my mom & dad came down & we went to Glenn & Aimee's to celebrate Zhara & my dad's birthday. We ate pizza, opened presents & played rock band. We had my mom singing & my dad playing the guitar. It was allot of fun. It's great being able to live so close! Happy birthday Zhara. I love you. We are so proud of the girl that you are growing to be. Eating cupcakes at school

Mrs. Spitzke reading Biscuite goes to school

Happy birthday Dad!

Zhara loves her Uncle Glenn

She got some great gifts...her very own jewelry box that plays music, princess walkie talkies, an art set....
Alyssa loved the Little Mermaid card that sings. She told grandma that it "makes her heart happy"

Zhara loved her bottle & diapers from Alyssa

Grandma singing in Rock BandAimee giving Grandpa instructions on how to play bass.

Zhara's party

Saturday was Zhara's birthday party. The morning started out with us giving Zhara a bike for her birthday. It is a pink barbie bike & she spent some time with Daddy learning how to ride it & then spent the next hour with Grandpa. She took him all the way to the park which is about a mile round trip. We had a pool party for her with a BBQ & some swimming. She had 6 girls come to her "all girl" party. She loved her Little Mermaid cake that Alyssa picked out for her & enjoyed all the great presents that her friends gave her. Later that night we went to a birthday party for one of the girls that came to our party (their birthdays are 3 days apart). It was a fun, but really long day.
Alyssa kept the secret of Zhara's bike & was so excited for her to finally have it

Zhara taking the first few pedals

This was a fun moment of being a parent, watching David teach Zhara to ride
Grandma was the "pool watcher" we didn't want any drownings at our party!

David was the cook...the cook always has to taste the food first!

The girls

David is always a good sport & was pulling 6 girls on the noodle, the only one not joining in the fun....Zhara

This is a cute picture right before Zhara pushes her sister off the bench

My beautiful 5 year old

Time for presents. I love how excited kids are to see "their" present opened :)This is not only a dress up skirt....it plays musicZhara doing the hula

Labor Day Weekend

We spent Labor Day weekend at my parents house. We enjoyed having a few days to just relax & not HAVE to do anything. Here are some pictures from our weekend.
Alyssa picking grapesZhara eating the grapes, Alyssa kept saying "We can eat the skin right Gandpa?" David helped my dad finish the landscape in the backyard..here are their helpersThey also helped Grandma stain some outdoor furnitureZhara doing a puzzle with DaddyDrawing with Uncle GlennWe played our first family game...Trivial PursuitSunday we took the hike to Horseshoe Bend. It was warm but well worth the view

The girls helped David with his Fantasy Football draft picks....to be fair he had them draw the names

Hawaii: Last Day

Tuesday was our last day in Hawaii. It was nice because we didn't leave until 10 at night so we had the whole day. So after we checked out of our room we put our stuff in Aimee & Glenn's room because they had another day & we played in the sand & walked around the hotel. Our adventure started at the airport. Our bag weighed more like 56 lbs so we had to start pulling stuff out & putting it in our carry on. Then we literally walked a mile to our gate...no shuttles or trains, just outside muggy walking. The girls were so tired because it was late & they had played all day with no nap & they were dragging their carry on's for almost a mile. We sat for an hour & then we got them all ready (gave them their bendryl) & moved them over from our seats to get ready to board. The pilot came walking up as we were supposed to be boarding, so of course we were not surprised when they announced that we would be delayed. First by 15 min until finally it was an hour later that we were boarding. The girls passed out right when our plane should have been taking off, but they slept the whole flight. We had the most amazing time in Hawaii & are so grateful for the chance that we had to go. I think the best part was to see the excitement in the girls faces. We will forever look back on this trip with smiles & wonderful memories.
The girls wanted to be mermaids, so we covered up with sandHanging with Uncle Glenn The view from Aimee & Glenn's room from like the 32nd floor

Hawaii: Day without the kids

Sunday my parents took the girls & David & I got to spend some alone time in Hawaii. We started the night out by shopping for souvenirs, eating ice cream & ended it with a moonlight walk on the beach. Well, we actually started out our night by having security search our room because we were missing out underwater camera's (which suddenly appeared before we left Hawaii). It was kind of funny because we had met a couple at church, that had a rental car & said they were going to the Polynesian Culture Center & we could tag along if we wanted, but we didn't want to spend all that money & the whole day at one place, but when the security guy came he told us that we HAD to go. So we decided to go spend our day with people we barely knew. Monday we woke up & took a walk on the beach & met a crazy Hawaiian lady who was doing a moon dance in the ocean, but we got a cool picture. We met up with our new found friends & took the most beautiful drive to the other side of the island. We got to take pictures of the LDS Hawaiian temple (it is under renovation so we could not attend) & headed to the PCC. We spent the first 45 minutes trying to fix our friend's camera that we had borrowed for the trip & after losing a screw we gave up. We watched a canoe show where each island did their dances for us & then we walked around & checked out each island culture. We couldn't afford to buy the luau for dinner so we ate the buffet, which was the worst buffet EVER (when the seafood casserole is the best thing on the table.....) but the night show was amazing. They had fire dancers, fire throwers & it was a wonderful story about life & showed us the different cultures of the Polynesian islands. We had a great time & I'm so glad that we spent the money & the day to go.


Hawaiian lady doing the moon dance
Me & the crazy Hawaiian ladyOn our drive the ocean was literally right next to the roadIt was so green when we got away from WaikikiThe Laie Hawaiian TempleThe canoe show
Our underwater dive in the IMAX theater

The PCC had beautiful waterfalls

The Queen's room
The Tahiti dancers...apparently I didn't hear "hang loose"