Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays PLUS parties and presents = lots and lots of pictures!

Paige and I both had birthdays this past week...I turned 29 on the 20th and Paige turned 4 on the 21st. So between the both of us it makes for one really hectic week, but we love it. Paige started the tradition of having breakfast in bed....so for my birthday I got waffles with strawberries and whipped cream along with sausage, bacon and orange juice - YUMMY!!! Then of course that is also what she asked for on her birthday. Here are a few pictures...

On Friday night we celebrated our birthdays out at my dad's with his family...he made Paige a doll house, she loves it! {Don't mind the naked barbies}.

Saturday night we celebrated my birthday by going out to eat at Johnny Carrino's - my favorite restaurant. Sunday {my actual birth date} we went out to my mom's for a bbq to celebrate both of our birthdays with my mom and her family - here are some of those pictures...

Here we are the birthday girls!!! -She is by FAR the best birthday present I have EVER received, and what a blessing she's been!

For Paige's birthday she of course got breakfast in bed then she had a PARTY with a bunch of friends from the neighborhood and Ana from dance. We borrowed my sister in laws blow up water slide {thanks Amber, you're the best!!!} and had 18, 4 year olds over for the party. They played on the slide forever then we played drip, drip, SPLASH {a spin off of duck duck goose} then the kidlets ate popsicles while Paige opened her presents. Then it was back to playing on the water slide til parents came to pick them up. It was absolutely exhausting, but they had a blast so it was worth it, after a shower and a nap we went out to get dinner, she chose Artic Circle and then we went shopping for her new bike, it was a really fun day....hope you enjoy the pictures!

Brian decided it might be fun if Paige took Brayden down once.....
As you can see, Brayden didn't think it was such a good idea. That dang daddy! :(
Brayden eating his first french fry.....boy did he love it!

He prefers the slides to be dry...thank you very much! ;) Then on Tuesday we had Brian's side of the family over to celebrate, so once again we did the big water slide - which was another BIG hit, thanks again Amber!

Opened presents...
Paige got money from Corey and Crystal, she LOVED it...thanks! She also loved the presents from everyone else, thanks again! For her cake this year, she asked me WAY back in January if she could have Snow White on her cake this year....I thought she would forget and choose something else once it got closer -but nope, she stuck with Snow White and my talented sister in law Brooke didn't let her down. The cake looked awesome! Thanks Brooke, she loved it!!!
Here's a picture of Wade riding Paige's new birthday bike....Oops, I'll get one with her on it soon!

After presents and cake we stuck with tradition and lit off FIREWORKS!!!! Here's a picture of them watching them, this was Brayden's first time watching them....he fell asleep before he could see them on the 4th of July. He wasn't too sure what to think of em' but did pretty good.
So thanks again to every one who shared in all our birthday celebrations, it all went off with a BANG!!! We had a great time....thanks again!

Brayden @ 9 months...

My little studmuffin...isn't he the cutest little guy you've ever seen!?!?
This is Brayden doing..."superman, superman".

Yeah, Brayden....he claps and cheers.

This one is my favorite....he blows kisses.He is growing up WAY too fast...he is up to a lot of fun new things. He recently got his first tooth, he says "uh, oh" and ma ma. He pulls himself up on things, chases his sister around and is finally sleeping through the night....he started that at about 8 1/2 months -Yeah!!!

Happy Anniversary...8 years!!!

Me and the Mr. The beautiful flowers Brian got for me...my favorite!!!

Paige riding the ponies at Gardner Villiage...

Paige trying to pet the ducks...without falling into the water.

Brian trying to see if he can catch the ducks...

Wow, 8 years has flown by....it seems like it was just yesterday that Brian and I met in seminary, and since this is an anniversary post I'll tell you about how we came to be. Like I said we had the same seminary class together, I was in the class presidency and was given Brian on my list of people to call and do a spotlight on. We would chat on occasion, but I wasn't 16 so I couldn't date...so we were just friends. The summer I turned 16, Brian and I would see each other in the weight room at school quite a bit. He would be lifting for football and I would be lifting for soccer...so we would flirt a little bit. Then school started and we would see each other doing debate stuff, practice and tournaments. He had a girlfriend for a little while and I would give him a hard time about dating a sophomore{she went to a different school} and yes I was trying to get him to dump her. ;) Anyhow we were at a debate tournament at Portia Douglas where we really started flirting, we spent the whole day together and rode home on the bus together...which is where he finally got up the courage to hold my hand. He kind of did this silly poking game where I had to keep pushing his hand away and then finally he just held onto it. We dated all through the rest of my junior year and most of my senior year...breaking up just before senior ball and graduation. We met back up at his mission farewell...where once again I was just going to be friends and write to him on his mission. Well he came down to see me at college and he asked if I would write to him while he was gone...I told him that I would write to him as often as he wrote to me, he wrote the first week he was gone and EVERY week after that. {he had another girl writing to him too for a little while, but it didn't last long - poor girl}. We talked on all of the holidays, and I frantically watched the news when hurricane Mitch destroyed the country. He got home, dated a few other people....because I dated while he was gone. He was determined that he wasn't going to be ready to get married for awhile so I went back off to college, which he thought was a great idea. Huh....little did he know that it would drive him crazy, so I was gone 2 weeks and we were ring shopping - 2 weeks later we were engaged. Then married in the Salt Lake Temple June 27, 2000....now we have 2 amazing children together and couldn't be happier!

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And since it's been 8 years, here are 8 reasons why I love Brian:

1. He is so snugly...he is the best snuggler, to me and to the kids...he loves it.

2. He is such a good sport, he will go and do whatever we are wanting to do...he loves to spend time with our family.

3. He is a wonderful daddy....his kids absolutely adore him!

4. He is service oriented and would give the shirt off of his back without hesitation if someone needed it.

5. He is such a hard worker...he has an amazing work ethic, he loves to build things himself and/or do things himself {much to my dismay}.

6. He is VERY supportive and encouraging with anything and about everything I want to do.

7. He is smitten by me {I still don't know why} but he is and I love that.

8. He is a wonderful husband...he is my rock! He has been there to help me through some of the hardest times of my life and has been there to rejoice with me during the exciting times as well. He cries for me when I am hurting and laughs with me when I am rejoicing...he is my VERY best friend!!! He is my forever friend and I am grateful that he wants to spend the eternities with me. Happy anniversary babe, I love you....this much, this much and this much!!!

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This year for our anniversary, Brian bought me my favorite flowers - Gerber Daisies. Then we took the kids to Gardner Villiage to play for a little bit. Paige rode the ponies and chased the ducks....they eventually decided to fight back and tried to bite her, they didn't though but got close. Brian was crazy enough to try to pet them too...but not me, I'm smart enough to stay away and just take pictures of them being crazy! Then we went and got a treat from the candy shop....took the kids over to Grandma Coo-Coo's and headed off to dinner. We went to eat at the Cheesecake Factory, which is way yummy...Brian and I ended up liking what the other one got more so we switched meals. After dinner we headed over to Massage Envy for a couple's massage...it was wonderful. Now we can't wait for next year...maybe we will go on a cruise or something {hint, hint}! Love you babe!