Birthday Fun!

We had multiple fun celebrations this year for Annika's and Aly's birthdays. On the day of Aly's birthday we celebrated by going to one of her very favorite places, Kangaroo Zoo. The girls could not get enough of sliding down all the slides, and yes, Aly slides down the biggest slide all by herself--this girl has no fear. After Kangaroo Zoo we headed up to Ben and Tasha's for some dinner and birthday cake. Aly enjoyed eating her snow bear cake. After cake Tasha, Ben, and the girls played hide-and-seek. It was the cutest thing to see Aly count with Tasha!

About two weeks later Tony arrived home from Texas for good!! Yea!! Three days after he arrived home we had a huge birthday bash for both the girls. They invited all the friends they could think of and we ended up with a big, fun group of kids. The theme of the party was Art in the Park. The kids painted, created pictures, and make popcorn necklaces. It was a blast. I enjoyed making all the preparations, especially the cakes. They were inside out icecream cakes, with icecream instead of frosting around the cakes and a fresh strawberry puree in the middle. Many of our neighbors stayed and helped us with the party--thank goodness! We all had a great time and Tony enjoyed feeling like he didn't completely miss out on Aly's birthday. :)

A few weeks after that we traveled to Boise for my brother's missionary farewell celebration. It was such a great experience to see how he has prepared himself to serve a mission. He is serving in the Salt Lake City South mission and is currently in the MTC. Annika's birthday happened to fall on one of the days we were in Boise so we had yummy cake and icecream with some fun balloons to celebrate her special day. She specifically asked me for a green and pink cake. She is so excited to be 4, and keeps asking me if she is 4 1/2 yet.