Sibling Date Night-January

I really can't say enough how fun it is to have my sisters close and on top of that they even like to hang out with us...double bonus. Once everyone moved up here we decided we wanted to try to do a date night and a family dinner at least once a month. Luckily Kimber keeps us all on track and is persistent with planning them. Our plan was to eat at Cheesecake Factory and then do some shopping at City Creek. But when we got to Cheesecake Factory the wait was 15 minutes to even put our names on the list....we quickly agreed it was so NOT worth that. The boys went to get the car while we tried to think of a plan B. We headed over to gateway and found pretty much the same wait time by this point we were all starving and voted for Rumbi Grill and we weren't disappointed  Something crazy happened while we were eating though someone had left a tip on the table for the buser and just as they left what appeared to be a homeless made quickly opened the door grabbed the money and ran away. It all happened so quickly none of us knew what to think. And momentarily questioned if we were on some prank tv show. I guess some people are just that desperate. But our food was delicious and with no waitress to push us out of our table we visited for a couple hours before wandering through gateway and eventually heading home.

 Funny thought to remember as Hallie was looking through the pictures on my phone she pointed out Kim, Nikki, Matt, and I then I asked her who the other 2 guys in the picture with daddy were. She responded that's Nikki's Kyle and that's Kimi's Ezra. I had to laugh I guess she at least know who goes with who.

 While wondering through one of the stores Matt found a manneqine hand on the floor and decided to play a trick on Kimber so he put it up his sleeve and when she came over he started talking with his hands after a minutes she noticed and the rest of us busted out laughing.  My silly husband always keep life interesting. Already looking forward to next months date

Happy 29 to ME!

 Im not quite sure I can wrap my head around the fact that I only have 1 more year in my 20s but really turning 30 isn't a big deal its just a number to me and some days I feel younger and others older. Anyways Matt was determined to make my birthday extra special since he is always good like that. So no surprise when I woke up to a sweet letter next to the bed with clues where to find the remainder of them. As I went throughout the rest of my day finding sweet notes about why he loved me in places that I came across doing my usual daily stuff. It made the whole day like a treasure hunt. Hallie and I decided to line them up on the microwave so we could make sure we got all of them.

 My birthday goodies.

After Matt got home from work we opened gifts and headed off to dinner because who really wants to cook on their birthday?!? Hallie was so excited to have a picture with me and Matt was happy to help he accomplish that. I love my sweet girls

 Gracie mostly people watched and threw food on the floor but she liked all the attention she got from the waitresses.

Once we got home we had cheesecake with gluten free graham crackers Hallie and I had made earlier in the day it was delicious but sadly we were pretty full from dinner so we all had a bite or two and got ready for bed.

It was a great day filled with my favorite people both physically here and also some great phone calls. Here's to another great year in my 20's

Uh Oh

Times like these I have to take a deep breath and realize that accidents happen..luckily I am getting much better at that. The longer I am a mom I realize it is my one and only true calling in life everything I have done in my life to this point was leading me to this. So at moments like this I try to remember that. Poor Hallie was so sad she wouldn't even look at me for the picture but luckily after some vacuuming all was well again.

Cake Time

The remainder of Gracie's birthday pictures are with what I would assume was her favorite part...the cake.

 I just want to be done...time for a break

 Or cake

She was actually quite hilarious to watch eat her cake. She initially looked at it and looked at us we were unsure if she was wondering if it was ok it grab it or if she thought we were crazy for wanting her to touch it. She poked at it mostly scrapping the frosting off.

After a couple minutes of just poking and licking the frosting off I "helped" her by sticking her hand in the cake...she was a little unsure but went with it

And then she went back to just eating the frosting but seemed to enjoy it very much...which is really all that matters

And then she decided she was done not more cake or frosting so off to the tub we went. Hallie thought it was so cool that the pink and black turned into purple on her face just for memory sake.

Gracie 1 Year Pictures

These are Gracie's official 1 year pictures since my original 1 year post I have been surprised at how quickly our Gracie has grown into a toddler and not my baby. She wants to be with the "big kids" playing like everyone else. She has started to care if you take something or if you are bugging her. She and Hallie usually play so cute together and Gracie has started talking to her in their own little language. She has also become quite the dancer in the last couple weeks. She likes sit spin in a circle and "get low" til she falls on her bum it is one of the cutest things I have ever seen. She has started walking with her arms behind her almost like she is trying to take off when she is excited or trying to get somewhere quickly.

 And then there was the "I want to be done" pouting which to this point had never happened

 And then she got tired and I could resist these sweet pictures

 And then she was done for real

 The end of my beautiful little girls 1st birthday shoot