Happy Birthday Audrey Munch!

We celebrated Audrey's third birthday in Texas this year. When we originally planned our trip we thought Matt would be coming with us. But then he changed jobs and had to stay in Washington. So while it was sad that Matt missed her birthday, we were still excited to get to spend the day celebrating with Grandma and Grandpa and everyone else in Texas.

I've been wanting to make these cake pops for a couple of years now. I finally got up the courage to try and they really weren't too hard. And they were pretty tasty too.

So we had red velvet cake pops.

I baked cupcakes the night before and was surprised to see one missing in the morning.

When I found Audrey I found the missing cupcake. So she had a pretty healthy birthday breakfast.

Audrey spent some time talking to Pops on the phone.

Later that afternoon we got ready for the party. When I decided to have Audrey's birthday party in my parents' backyard in June in Texas I was in Washington. That probably explains it.

At least the kids got to cool off on the Slip-N-Slide and little pool. Almost my entire family came for the party. In addition, Audrey's friend Elizabeth and her dad, Logan, came too. And my friend Alisa and her kids David and Mary also attended (more on that later). We had barbecue chicken, hot dogs, baked beans, chips, and watermelon. Then we had dessert.

We had strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese, chocolate chip filling and chocolate frosting.

Red velvet cake pops.

Sprite cake with pink buttercream frosting and homemade ice cream--vanilla and strawberry.

Audrey did a great job blowing out her candles this year.

This is cute Mary, Alisa's little girl.

And cute David.

And cute Elizabeth. I've been friends with her mom, Diana, since high school.

Audrey had a great time opening all of her gifts. Everyone was so nice and thoughful and she loves all of the presents.

It turned out to be a pretty great party. Thanks to my mom and dad for all of the work and help getting things ready. They really did most of it and I truly appreciate everything. And thanks to my family and friends for coming. I hope you all had a great time!

*A note about my friend Alisa*
One of the greatest blessings of going to BYU is that you meet and become friends with some of the most amazing people from all over the country and world. One of the greatest curses of going to BYU is that you graduate and everyone moves all over the country and world and you don't get to see said friends as often as you would like.

I met Alisa during my first year of teaching and when she was an intern at the middle school in Utah. We taught together for a year and bonded over the hilarity and frustrations of teaching seventh graders and a slight irriation at being expected to change your last name just because you get married (something I think we're both okay with now). The last time I saw her, eight years ago, she was a newlywed and was about to move across the country. I had a crush on a boy in my ward and would be staying in Utah for another year. I later married that boy, had two kids, and lived in two more states. Alisa lived in a couple of places around the country and overseas and had two kids. We kept in touch through emails, Christmas cards, and later our blogs (I love her blog!). I still remember when she told me her parents were moving to Texas. That was great news for me because it meant I'd get to see her occasionally.

Our paths finally crossed on this trip. It was so great to see her! Another of the greatest blessings of going to BYU is that even when you haven't seen your friends in years you can pick up right where you left off. We talked about our future plans for our families and teaching and what to do with our boxes of teaching materials. I could have spent a few more hours with her catching up but we have families to tend to now. So Alisa, I hope I get to see you again before another eight years have passed! Good luck with all of your new adventures! And thanks again for coming.

When we got back to Washington Audrey got a few more birthday surprises. Her first day back at preschool they celebrated her birthday. Audrey picked this cupcake cake.

They sang to her and she got to blow out another set of candles.

For months Audrey has been talking about the pink crown with a "3" on it that she would have on her birthday. She finally got it and wore it proudly!

Here is a picture of Audrey and her friend Lucy. Lucy was very good about posing for the camera but this was the best shot of Audrey I could get.

That night we celebrated with Matt. Our little family went to Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner. Well, we ate dinner and Audrey picked at her food and then raced back to play.

Little T relaxed with his foot up and enjoyed the evening with his whole family together again.

Happy birthday little Munch! We love you!

Truman's Three and Six Month Pictures

These are late but I wanted to get them posted. Way back in February we had Truman's three month pictures taken. In May we had his six month pictures done. Here they are.

THREE MONTHS

T is on one of the blankets my mom made for him.

Isn't that little dog cute? A friend of mine at church made it for him. She makes some of the cutest things. For Audrey's second birthday she made her a skirt with an "A" on it.

SIX MONTHS

Our super smiley Little Man was not loving the camera. He cried at first and we had a really hard time trying to coax a smile. The photographer was kind of annoying too so we only got one picture of him alone.

But at least we got a couple of cute ones with T and his big sister.

The Beginning of "Summer"

For the next week or so I'll be playing catch-up and trying to get pictures from the last month uploaded to the blog. So bear with me. Especially when I get to the Texas pictures. In case you didn't know, the kids and I were in Texas for two and a half weeks enjoying the sunshine and visiting family and friends. But we've been home for a little over a week now and I'm still struggling to get caught up. I've been busy trying to sort the 700 (yes, 700!) pictures on my camera. I had to buy a new SD card while I was there because I filled up the 1 GB card I had. So now I have a brand new 4 GB card and if I fill that up, then I'm really in trouble.

According to the calendar it is officially summer here. However, the beautiful Pacific Northwest hasn't seemed to have gotten the memo. We've had a couple of nice days but we've mostly had high's in the 60's with rain and lots of clouds. Before we left on our trip to where it is actually summer we had a few little events that always signify the beginning of summer to me--even if the weather isn't cooperating.

#1 SHORTS--Audrey was so excited to wear her new summer clothes, especially her shorts, that she insisted on wearing them even when it was cold. I didn't have the heart to tell her no and let her wear them whenever we stayed home. When we had to go out I did make her wear warmer clothes.

#2 PACKING UP THE OLD CLOTHES--Audrey and Trumey both outgrew their winter clothes at about the same time so we cleaned out drawers and put the new, bigger summer clothes in them. Truman decided to help and rolled over to destroy a few piles of neatly folded 3-6 month clothes when I wasn't looking.

#3 THE LAST DAY OF PRESCHOOL--Audrey ended her first year of preschool with a bang. They met at the park the last day and the kids had a wonderful time playing, going on a walk, and having snacks. I'll miss these kids next year and I know Audrey will too. A lot of them will be in a different class in the fall. Maybe they'll meet up again in Pre-K. Even though it was a little sad that it was over, we were glad that summer session started a week later (three weeks for us because of vacation). So Audrey will get to see more of her classmates then and will also get to make new friends. This is a picture of Audrey and her friend Evan.

It was cold at the end of May.

Audrey with Evan, Ms. Campbell, and Abby.

Getting ready for snack time. I am still amazed at how Ms. C can hold the attention of a bunch of two and three year old kids.

#4 OUR ANNIVERSARY--When Matt and I got married our friends Stephanie and Aaron had been married for almost three years. I remember us talking about that and not being able to imagine being married that long. This year marked seven years for us, and while this is the only picture I have from our anniversary, we did have a good time. Matt and I spent the weekend in Seattle. We slept, shopped, and ate delicious meals at restaurants without having to worry about someone crying or throwing a tantrum. It was a nice, close to home escape and was the first trip we've taken alone together since having kids. It was the first time I left Truman, which was tricky since I was still nursing. It was also the first time I left Audrey with anyone other than Matt--last September I went to Vegas with some friends for two nights. But it was worth it.

Happy Anniversary!