Late happy birthday....to ME!

I loved the birthday card my sister in law sent me. It wraped up my birthday well.....

Your birthday should be all about you........after you've finished carpool, cleaning, laundry, school projects, soccer practice, grocery shopping and making your own cake!

LOVE IT!! That card hit home for me. I really did have a great birthday. My friends made me breakfast, mom got lunch for me and then watched my kids while I went to the temple and then we went to dinner as a family. My friend picked up carpool so I could go to the temple and not feel rushed. Perfect day. Thanks for all your calls and birthday wishes. Mia is still wondering when my party is though. She told me I should have an "Oprah" party....ok that is the only show I watch on a consistent basis. I tried to explain to Mia that when you get old you don't have parties like you do when you are young. I wish my birthday was everyday. My kids made their beds, cleaned their rooms and got themselves dressed all before I even got out of bed. What a perfect morning!

As a birthday gift to myself I decided to reminisce over the past 35 years. My mom always says your life will be different in 5 years. I thought it would be fun to look back at my life in 5 year increments. It was fun to look back at what was important at each age of my life.

Baptism Pictures

I wanted to share some fun pictures from Mckenna's Baptism. My sister-in-law Kellie did some really cool editing with them (her husband took the pictures). Thanks Trav and Kel! Here are a few....This one is my favorite!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLUE!!

This is my precious nephew Blue - cutest little boy ever. When he was here for Mckenna's baptism I totally fell in love with him - just a sweet little boy. He called me Crystal. He turns 4 today! This last week he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. Our hearts are aching for him and his family. We love you Blue!

What a Weekend!!

What an amazing weekend we had! The icing on the cake was Mckenna's baptism. It was such an amazing day. She just beamed with excitement. She looked beautiful. We were so grateful for all the support we received. It was so fun to have our families join us for this special occasion.



Travis and Sienna flew in from Colorado for the occasion - what a treat. Thanks to Travis for all these great pictures.

Willey Cousins

It is a rare occasion for all of my siblings to be together - we took advantage of the opportunity and had 3 1/2 fun filled days together! Best of all was being with each other and catching up on each other's lives. It was fun to see my nieces and nephews who are growing up.....and I mean up - look at Hayden my 15 year old nephew. He is the tall one in the back in our family picture. We had 33 people together. Here we are altogether.....

Jacobson Cousins

Catching Air at the B

Please note.....the attractive snow gear of all the cousins...whatever fits! We gave out awards to those who didn't complain. Everyone was just glad to have something warm on.

Mckenna & Sierrah

Hunter

Tate....with Mia behind him (can't imagine why she didn't want to go again)

Richard - that is some air!

Sara and Tate

Sara

Richard & Mckenna

Sierrah - What a beautiful girl!

Dave & Mckayla

Blue - Cutest Boy in the Whole World

Hyrum....the dare devil!!

Smallest ones on the hill....Eric & Mckayla

Dave & Jason

Hyrum & Hayden

TOP OF THE HILL OBSERVERS!!


Thanks to all for making this such a fun, memorable weekend!

Kaden's Birthday Celebration

LOADS OF FUN


Another celebration.....we had LOADS of fun!! We had very low key birthday since we had family coming into town the next day. This was my favorite cake yet! Just made brownies and dumped them in the back of the dump truck and drizzled it with chocolate frosting!!

Kaden got this bike for Christmas....it never got put together....so we put it together for his birthday. Mia informed us that wasn't fair to give it to him again. We tried to explain that we didn't give the bike to him, we have the putting together of the bike to him!!

Kaden's morning surprise.....Kenna helped me decorate Kaden's window. She drew all the trucks and the beep, beep, beep.

What joy this little boy brings to our family. I wish I could keep him this way for a little longer (minus the mischief he gets into jk). He is a very active little boy. At 2 he loves to get into anything and everything he is not suppose to...most common being the laundry detergent, the game closet, the pantry, mommies nightstand drawer, the toothpasate drawer, the vitamin cupboard, the kitchen window bay...and...and. Never a dull moment around here. He definately knows what he wants in life. He calls the end bar stool - his spot (my pot). If anyone sits there he pushes them out and says my pot, my pot. My favorite word of his is pot pie (aka up high). His favorite books to read are Where's Spot and Good Night, Gorilla. He loves the keys on each page. Each time we turn the page he say, OUT, as the Gorilla lets each animal out of their cage. Kaden is definately a daddy's boy! He does everything his dad does and follows him around like a little puppy. What a precious little boy. We are blessed to have him in our family!

Mckenna's Baptism

Turning 2!

We thought this would be the perfect theme for Kaden's 2nd Birthday. DUMP EVERYTHING.....sums up his life right now. That would explain why we have child proof locks on all the doors and closets (never had to buy them with our girls). Kaden's latest...while I was showering he pushed a kitchen chair into the laundry room and got inside the washing machine! Never a dull moment around here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIA

Our little Princess is 5!! What a joy she is to our family! She is so full of life and helps me loosen up and enjoy the moment. She loves to have a good time. She is always putting on lip gloss and saying "Don't I look cute Mom". Every store we go in she wants to try on shoes. She always says "Mom these are so darling." Her favorite pastimes are playing Polly Pockets and riding her bike. She loves to make up songs and dance around to music. She's all about keeping Matt & I on our toes about being "fair." She loves to snuggle and give big hugs. She loves preschool most days. She has a very difficult time sitting still (wiggle worm as we like to call it). She defiantly keep things lively around the Willey House. We are blessed to have her in our family. Here are a few highlights of her celebrations!

Birthday Wishes in the Morning

Birthday Girl

Make a Wish

Ready to Party!!

"Friend" Party at Chuck E. Cheese's

Chuck E.

The Birthday Cake!!

Thanks to Maria and Katy for helping me with this.
Mia loved it.

Mia had great fun planning her parties. She knew exactly what she wanted and didn't want. She was particularly excited to decorate her cake. When Aunt Maria came over to help us she told Abby that she wanted to help decorate her cake and not play. She said she had been waiting all day to do it. It is fun to see her excitement. She asked a million times when it was time for the party. Matt finally set the timer as a count down. We had a fun couple of days celebrating.....Now it's time to plan the next birthday party.....Kaden's turning 2!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MCKENNA

Our Precious Little One.....Turned 8!!
What a joy she is to our family. She is the sweetest girl! Always thoughtful and kind. She is so excited about turning 8 - because she will be baptized. She has been waiting for this day for a long time. Mckenna at 8 loves to have a good time. She is always full of a "good idea." She loves to play soccer, play with her friend Carter, being creative and doing crafts (however she doesn't like cleaning up the mess). She is an excellent student at school and rarely brings home anything less than 100%! Her favorite books to read are the Magic Tree House series. Her teachers say she is a joy to have in class. She loves playing in the snow especially when her Grandpa pulls her behind the fourwheeler. She could play outside forever if we let her. Oh blessed we are to have her in our family!

Mckenna chose to have a snowman thememd birthday. We used the shape of a 2 ball snowman - to represent the shape of an 8! It turned out really fun. At her friend party her Grandpa Jacobson pulled her friends behind his fourwheeler on sleds. They had a great time. Dad said it sounded like Lagoon!
She got lucky this year and got to have a family party too (thanks to Kellie, Sienna and Dawson staying in town.) We had a wonderful evening with all of the family. It's great to be 8!!

Playing Don't let it SNOW!!

Playing pin the NOSE on the Snowman

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MCKENNA
(Thanks to our talented Aunt Kellie for capturing this moment)