Happy Birthday! Evelyn's 5!

 Our sweet little girl turned 5 This weekend! Every other year we do a big party for the kids with friends and family. We had her birthday on saturday, with her cousins Anica and Linnea, aunt Olivia, Uncle Machi, and her friends from School Molina and Marcus.  Plus grown ups like Aunts, Uncles, and Grandmas :)

I made a castle cake for her. Picture really didn't capture her excitement. Lots of things happened that day.

 Little wrapped hot dogs, her favorite chips and juice. Neapolitan Ice Cream, cake, Streamers balloons.

 Hats and Friends.

 Pin the tale on the pony. Evelyn and I colored this a few nights before the party, we hung it up and when ever she passes it, she pets the pony softly with her hand and says "pretty pony" sweet silly girl!

She'd been asking for a barbie on a bike for what felt like forever, and on a date a few weeks before her birthday Aaron and I spotted one on clearance at Target! Love a good buy. And she loves her barbie bike too! She got a lot of ponies and fun toys from her friends and family. That head band she's wearing that she proudly put on her head herself, was made for her by her Aunt Lacey :)

Our Evelyn is such a silly fun girl. Her beautiful smile brightens the room. Her sweetness and kindness melts our hearts. I can't believe she's already 5! We are so blessed to have this wonderful girl apart of our forever family! Happy Birthday sweet Evelyn!

Evelyn's Birthday Cake

I took on a huge challenge. Evelyn has been asking for a Castle Birthday Cake for a few years now and I decided that I'd use a coupon I had for the wilton castle cake set and do my best to make up her castle cake.
I did my research and asked a lot of questions but it was about a week long process from start to finish.

I started by setting up the pieces and labeling them were I wanted them. I made fondant with a recipe I found online with marshmallows and powdered sugar, let it cool and harden in the fridge over night. The following night I shapped flowers and vines for the turretts. Fondant is like an editable play dough.I let the flowers and vines sit and harden more over night. The next day I added pedal dust to all the fondant so it would sparkle. I melted candy to attach the dowels to the turrets so they would stay upright on the cake. Made the "sprinkle" cake itself from a mix (wasn't going to do more work than necessary :) Once they cooled I made butter cream frosting and put the cakes together with a crumb coat. The cake was then put in the the refrigerator over night to solidify the crumb coat. The morning of the party I put on another coat of frosting, added vines, and put on all the turrets and extra flowers. Evelyn was very pleased. Within a few hours I was pulling it apart and slicing it up. So much build up.. but it was worth it to see Evelyn's happy pleased face. And it tasted good too!

Mother's Day 2011

Mother's Day 2011 Was Stressful and Wonderful all at once.

Aaron and I were asked just a few days before Sunday if we could give talks in Sacrament meeting for Mother's day. The chapel was full of people, I heard the clerk in the hall say it was 385! I had prepared about a 20 minute talk not knowing what to expect.. and only having about 5 minutes of time, I went over... way over. oops. Aaron was left with negative 5 minutes... poor guy. His talk was amazing. I am so lucky to be married to such a great man. but we'll get back to that.

My talk was centered around a poem that my Grandma Rose wrote. Titled:

Crown of Motherhood

What kind of Mother will I be?

Will I be the kind that Mother’s been to me?

Will I teach and Mold each precious one

As Heavenly Father wishes it done?

Will I love and cherish each as I should

As I wear my Crown of Motherhood?

Precious gems this crown must bear-

Loyalty, Trust and Patience so rare.

Understanding and tolerance shimmer with light

Radiant jewels of Laughter sparkle bright.                  

Pearls of Wisdom , Lord I request,

But let gems of Love outshine the rest.

This weighty diadem – thou bestowest upon me

Untarnished, polished by love and empathy

Not my burden alone, for thou art near

To hear my pleas and calm my fear

I’ll cherish this trust, most precious and good,

This honored crown of Motherhood.

I was also able to quote my Wonderful Mommy, my Gramamom, and My Grandma Hill along with quotes from Jeffrey R Holland's Talk "Because she is a Mother. I am so honored to be a mother and so happy that I've had such wonderful examples of motherhood in my life.

Aaron Couldn't find tape.. except the electrical kind... Here is my mother's day present and card :)

Good Job Bob. Love You!

 I got a really soft sleeping mask with ear plugs... Which is so perfect! Here I am on Mother's day taking my 2 hour nap.. sneaky man took my picture! Woop! I also got a gift card to get myself some Shoes! Oh yeah!

Egan's pillow pet is so soft! LOL...

Random Greatness

Egan Playing with the Camera.. nice...

 My big sister Harmony was sealed to her husband and baby on May 3rd. It was a beautiful day. Baby Luminous was so happy to see everyone in the sealing room. She smiled at all and said "Hi" to everyone! Wonderful Day! So after the ceremony everyone went into the Portland Temple Solarium to take pictures. My camera died after taking one picture! This is what I got. Lulu on the lap of her Grandmother. Beautiful Girl.

Chuckie Cheese Birthday Fun

Egan and Evelyn were both invited to their Cousin's Jeremiah's Birthday party at Chuckie Cheese's. Boy did they have fun. Now they both want their birthday party's there.. oh boy!

 Evelyn Loved all the rides!

  Egan was actually really good at this one.. Got a ton of tickets!

 Basketball....

 Pretty Pink Princess....

Haven't planned their party's yet this year... guess I should get on that :)

Oregon Zoo May 2011

We got some free tickets again for the Zoo this year. It was a little rainy and wet, but still a very fun day!

Here are the kids waiting in line, so happy to get to ride on the train...

 Daddy and Evelyn on the Train

 Silly Girl.  We didn't see any animals on the 35 minute ride.. not quite worth the $5 a person ticket.. except for the fact that the kids loved it. :)

 Best picture taken of the day in my opinion... can't really see the penguin in the background.. but the kid is so dang cute!

 Elephants...

 They're looking at lions.

 Ok, so I'd never seen these before, or perhaps never noticed.. but I thought they were awesome! African Wild dogs. Neat!

 Hippos....

 Evelyn's Favorite... ZEBRA!

 My Favorite... GIRAFFE!

 Aaron's Favorite...... GOAT! ? ... you'll have to ask him. :)

 And Egan's favorite... TRAIN! Obviously.

Easter!

For Easer the Kids Got Pillow Pets in their Easter Baskets! They'd been begging me for them, so I let the easter bunny know what they wanted. :) Big Success!

Both of the kids sleep with their pillow pets and have named them Frogger and Tiwana.

We were playing around one day....

Aaron figured out how to wrap the pillow pet around the kid's head...

So funny! We couldn't help but take pictures! LOL

Giggles all around!

Even Evelyn with her hair could get hers on her head!

Smushy Face. :)

 Makes ya smile doesn't it? :)