It's GREAT to be EIGHT!

Happy Birthday little miss Ali!!!!!! My big helper turned 8 yesterday. We always celebrate with donuts and candles.

she wanted this so bad

We recently changed bedrooms for all the kids and Ali now has her own room. We thought she was big enough to have some tunes in her room.

Little miss Livy took over everyone's leftovers

Look how big she is getting!!!!!!

Ali really wanted to go to Idaho Ice world for her birthday.

Everyone started out really slow at the beginning.....

but slowly got better.

She has her ballerina arms out.

Charlie had so much fun

We had such a fun time skating. Good choice Ali. Charlie wants to go there for his birthday too.

We have a tradition on Ali's birthday to make her a "snow cake". Then we let her decorate it with colored water.

It wouldn't be complete without stick candles.

Then Ali digs in and eats her cake

The day wouldn't be complete without our mugshot.

Ali, I am so thankful you are my daughter. You were my best Christmas present ever. Thank you for all you do and for the joy you bring into our family. I am so excited for your baptism just like I know you are. Happy Birthday sweet girl!

so, we went to the doctor today and.......

and everything looks great!!!!!!

Livy is 2!!!!!!!! and the girly party!

On December 17, 2010 my little girl turned 2 years old!

Livy was so happy that morning to get presents.

Most of the other kids were happy too. Daddy was making chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast (yum)

our tradition.....

Oscar wanted his picture taken too. Ryan wanted to point out that technically this picture is true, he really is 2 years old on December 17.

On saturday we had the girls' birthday party.

Ali picked ice cream cupcakes. I had never done them before. I think they turned out cute, but if I ever had to do them again I would fix a few things. We had ice cream with her cake to go along with the theme.

Livy didn't really get to choose, I just thought this was cute.... a little purple worm.

Livy got a new bike from g&g Head

We wanted pictures with all the grandmas & grandpas with the kids.

Here is GREAT grandma johnson with her GREAT grandchildren.

g&g Johnson came down for the party, thanks for making the trip, it was so great to see you guys again.

g&g Head get their turn.

by this time the little ones were getting a little "pictured out". Here is g&g Lines

Ali was so excited for this present.

she wore it ALL day

grandma johnson from Twin Falls made Ali & Livy matching bedspreads. They are so beautiful!!!!! The girls loved them. Good job grandma, you did such a wonderful job on them. Thank you!!!!!

Livy has just discover Mickey Mouse. Along with lots of other Micky-related present she got new slippers and a puzzle.

GREAT grandma johnson got Ali a baptism dress. It is gorgeous.

Time for cake!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Ali!

Messy girl!!!!!

I wanted a picture with my birthday girls.

these girls have daddy wrapped around their finger.

It was such a great party with such great company. Happy Birthday to my 2 sweet girls!!!!

p.s. we find out on monday what we are having.....stay tuned!

a christmas tree trip to remember

this morning was our ward christmas party. we got to see santa. some were less excited as others.

charlie was very happy to tell santa that he wanted a white puppy. good luck kid!

ali claims she can't even remembered what she told santa she wanted and when she heard what charlie asked for she decided that that was what she also asked for.

we started a new tradition this year. i'll let you know if it sticks around for years to come, but man was it ever fun.....for me!

i talked ryan into letting us walk across the street from our neighborhood to this tree lot. it wasn't far, it only took about 5 minutes to walk to. we wanted to get our tree from there and it seemed silly to drive, we live so close.

I know, let's take the wagon!!!!!

there is a wagon under there, i promise.

the guys started laughing so hard when we told them what we wanted to do. then they asked if we would wait a minute so they could get their camera and take a picture of our family.

here we go.

charlie was our line leader with a flag in hand to direct traffic if necessary. ryan was the hard labor and ali was bringing up the rear. me, oscar and liv just laughed from behind.

here is our fearless leader

and now ryan is on double duty because livy wanted him to hold her.

the best part. when we got home, we found a coupon in our newspaper box from the place we just bought our tree from.

dang!!!!!! so much for the title of "coupon queen". where was i on that one?

we had a few casualties, but not too bad.

yep, it's in the garage, where do you put your christmas tree???

ok, it just needs to stay there over-night because it was full of snow and I didn't want a yucky mixture of pine needles and snow on my carpet in the morning.

Livy has been very loving to her big sister lately

we ended it with a snowball fight in the front yard.

we had a really great day today filled with fun memories that will go down in Head family history. Thanks for letting us do the tree my way Ryan, it was great watching you. I know I will never forget this christmas tree.

and i'm pretty sure you won't forget it either!!!!!