What do you get when you kiss a frog?

Princesses everywhere!

Abbie's birthday was last week so we gave her and Leah new princess dresses the day of her birthday and they loved wearing them for a few days until her party on the weekend.

Abbie had six friends over and they all came dressed up as princesses. We had one knight in shining armor also! They colored castles...

Played on the hammock...

Chased bubbles...

Ate cake...

and opened presents.

Abbie has been asking me for a warm, fuzzy princess blanket for weeks so she was so happy when she opened this one

She got some great presents and loves having something new and different to play with every day during quiet time

All the kids who came to her party. Thanks for making Abbie's 5th birthday a great one!

5 years ago today...(and my 100th post!)

I was in the hospital in labor with Abbie! It was a week after my due date so I had to be induced and after 24 hours, she was finally born at 9:01 pm on Sep. 16, 2004. Abbie weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long. Here's one of the first pictures we have of her, just minutes after her birth:
First family picture:

One day old:

1st birthday:

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2nd birthday:

3rd birthday:

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4th birthday:

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And today, 5th birthday:

We'll be having a big princess party with friends for her in a few days but for today, she wanted to put a candle in her bagel for breakfast. So smart! I can't believe how fast the past 5 years have gone and how big my little girl is getting. Before I know it, she'll be having babies of her own!

First day of preschool

Abbie had her first day of preschool today and she loved it. She is at the same preschool as last year but the older classroom. Here she is in her first day outfit, isn't she cute?

Since we've been home...

It's been raining a lot! The girls were begging me to let them go play outside in the puddles with their umbrellas so I finally went and found their boots and rain jackets. They had so much fun splashing around...


The rain was so hard that it knocked over a few of our sunflowers that had just bloomed

Look at the size of this thing, it's as big as Abbie's head!

Speaking of gardening, our tomatoes and peppers are doing great, though! We got our first ripe one last week and more are starting to turn so I'm looking forward to making some yummy salsa again.

Lastly, here are some crafts that I've completed in the last few months and finally can show on here since some of them were gifts. I made family name boards for most of my siblings...

Some frames for Abbie and Leah...

I saw this cute idea at my sister-in-law's house and decided to make my own bow holder so it's easy to find the right bow or flower when doing the girls' hair.

I made a couple of these 10" hearts to hang around the house
I got the kit for this while in Utah and painted and stained the wood, nailed the metal sign on, and tied it all up with ribbon and hung it on this hook that my sister convinced me to get. Doesn't it go great with the black frames on my entryway table?

Lastly, but definitely not least, here's the clock that my sister painted for me. It's 24" wide, huge! I finally got the vinyl numbers on and the hands installed and hung it up! I love it! It looks so big on the wall compared to my old measly little clock that used to hang there.
Well, there you go, just a little about what we've been up to this past week.

On the way home...

We stopped in Nebraska again to see some of Jared's family and it was great to spend some more time with the Butler clan and break up our 3 day drive home.

Here is Leah and Jared at Independence Rock in Wyoming. We thought we'd try to climb it a little but it was pretty steep and huge and hot that day and we didn't want to spend forever trying to find a better way up. The shirt that Leah is wearing "Warning, I am Two!" was very applicable that day because she tried to run away from us going to the car after visiting the rock and almost got hit by a car in the parking lot. Crazy kid!


The main reason we stopped in Nebraska on the way home, to see our new 3 day old nephew, Connor! Abbie was so excited to hold him and didn't want to put him down. I guess that's a good sign for when our little tyke gets here in two months.

Another exciting thing was that Abbie and Leah got to take a ride in the new tractor. We tried to get Abbie to ride one a month ago on the way out to Utah but she was terrified of it and wouldn't have anything to do with it, even though she loves watching "help-lifters" and talked all about how she was going to get in one before we visited last month. Anyway, this time she got right in and was excited and not scared, like she does it every day. That's a big step for her!

Leah loved it also

There they go! Thanks Uncle Pete (I know you are reading this!) for taking them for a drive, they are still talking about it!

Utah Trip Part Two

Here's some more pictures from our trip to Utah this past month. We had so much fun with everyone and got to do so many things but the time flew by so fast and we're sad that it will be two more years before the next reunion and we can spend that much time out west again.

Here we are enjoying one more sunny day at the pool. We spent so much time there (thanks to Liesl :) that we all came home with nice tans and have gotten several comments about it!

A day at the beach at Daybreak. The girls loved this, they have never really played in sand like this and it was fun to experience the beach, even if it wasn't the ocean.

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Getting "all muddy"! Leah ended up with sand all over her face and in her mouth a few times, that was fun trying to get that out!

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Abbie playing Duck, Duck, Goose on the trampoline with a few of her cousins...

and Ring around the Rosie.

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They all fall down!

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Hanging out in Aunt Becca's backyard on a perfect sunny afternoon

Racing cars with Boston and Uncle Phil

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We painted crafts while the kids painted on paper. Liesl made me this awesome clock that I still need to finish getting the vinyl numbers on but once it's done, it's going to look amazing!

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Playing dress up...

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and trick or treating around the neighborhood. Really! (It's a long story)

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Abbie learned how to ride a bike after watching her cousins do it so much

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Here she is in action!

Trying to get Leah excited about doing it also

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Visiting Thanksgiving Point with Aunt Afton and cousin Maggie

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They thought the elephant fountain was pretty cool!

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I love this picture of Maggie opening the Secret Garden door.

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It was gorgeous inside, what a perfect place for a wedding reception or family pictures.

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The beautiful waterfalls (and Abbie listening to the baby)

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My pretty girls and I in a beautiful place. What a great day for visiting the gardens!

We loved being with family and will miss everyone a ton but it's good to finally be home and get back our regular lives. Thanks for all the family who fed us, let us sleep at your house, and put up with our desire to eat at Cafe Rio just one more time! Abbie and Leah keep talking about all their cousins and it's going to be hard to keep them entertained for the next little while since they've gotten used to having someone to play with all day long. We miss you but hope you'll come visit us out this way soon!