a 40th luau birthday



Kyle and I thoroughly enjoying a night out together.  I took a lot of pictures on my phone so the quality is terrible, but I didn't want to pass up the chance to document our fun night!

My sweet friend, Sheri.  We enjoyed several lava flows ~ a festive, yummy drink!  I had a prime spot on the comfy family room couch and was able to sit and chat with lots of folks.  It's so rare that we have a fun night out with friends, and I treasured every moment of it. 

Kathy put together this fun montage on the dining room wall.  I helped her start it one afternoon, and it was so fun to look at lots of old photos of Dan.  A super cute idea and a fun conversation piece for the party.

Oh Shannon...we had so much fun!  I don't think it's often that Shannon really lets loose and it was a blast getting to kick off our heels and party!  She did a wonderful job as bartender for the evening, she kept the lava flows coming...and I think measuring might have gotten a little subjective as the night went on.  I had so much fun with you, friend!



Kyle and Zack with the birthday boy himself!
Happy Birthday Old Man!

Rachel and I ~ love you sweet friend!

There are so many things that I love about this picture!  Kathy and Shannon look blissful, Kyle is just being weird and then Rachel is jumping for joy in the background.  I think this was getting towards the end of the evening and everyone was feeling very happy!

Nothing like partying with your pastor...I love Fitz and his wife, Laurel, and it was great to have an opportunity to socialize with them.  I think I asked for a silly picture and this is what they came up with!

the ladies
me, Kathy, Shannon, Sheri, Amy and Jina

It really was a super fun evening, getting to celebrate a great guy!
Happy 4oth Dan!!!

35.

Yes, my birthday was two months ago and I am just now getting around to posting about it.  Time has a way of zooming past!

35 was a great birthday and I pray that this year will be a good one, too.  I can honestly admit that I feel a little older...night shifts seem a little harder, I've found a few grey hairs (and I keep finding more!), and I don't bounce back or recover quite as quickly as I used to.  But those are just minor inconveniences and they are certainly over shadowed by the positive things that come with a little age.  I am so fortunate to feel comfortable in my own skin.  I don't worry nearly as much about what other people think (something that I've always struggled with), and I know in my heart that I am living my life the best way that I know how.   That's not to say that there isn't room for improvement ~ there are always lots of things that I'd love to do better, but I am content.  My list of blessings certainly outnumber any list of complaints.  And for that I am grateful!

I celebrated my birthday over the weekend and had a lot of fun.  My sister in law, Stacy, was in town for the weekend, so we had the pleasure of her company, along with my mom and in-laws, for a birthday dinner celebration, which was a ton of fun.

Kennedy and Auntie Stace, posing with Caroline, of course.

 

a beautiful evening to enjoy drinks and appetizers outside

a delicious ice cream cake from Baskin & Robbins, my very favorite!

It's always so great to have my mom here for my birthday, because she makes such an effort to make me feel special.  The kids were pretty excited too!

My actual birthday feel on a Sunday, so after church we came home and opened presents.  I was spoiled this year, for sure!

 

my most precious gifts!

 

all tied up!

 

Later that afternoon, Kyle and I headed out to Maryhill Winery in the gorge with our friends, Heather and Patrick, for a Counting Crows concert.  It was sunny and hot and we had SO MUCH FUN!

The venue was gorgeous, we enjoyed yummy wine and got our groove on.

all loaded up ~ chairs, food, coolers, etc.

We were set for the night!

Heather and me

 

the scenery was gorgeous!

We have so much fun with Heather and Patrick and this night was no different.  They were so sweet to help us celebrate my birthday and even brought special bday treats.

Oh, Counting Crows...how I love you!  It really was such a special and perfect way to celebrate my birthday.  Not only did Kyle and I get to spend some quality time together, but we had a blast with great friends AND got to enjoy good music at an amazing outdoor venue.  I could not have asked for more...

Heather and I danced the night away!!!

 

birthdays, birthdays and more birthdays

Summer is a super busy birthday season for us...besides Kennedy's and mine, the kids have a lot of friends who also celebrate summer birthdays.  In the span of two weeks, we attended five different parties, plus a few more throughout the summer.  I wasn't able to get pictures every time, but these fun parties are definitely worth remembering!

 

Brevin shares a birthday with Kennedy, so Shannon and I always make sure that we plan different days for the celebrations.  Brevin's was a Star Wars themed bash held at Blue Lake Park ~ and it was so much fun!  The boys had a blast.  Unfortunately, we were headed up to Seattle that afternoon, so we weren't able to stay at play for as long as we would have liked.

 

All the Jedis ready for their training missions...they made their own light sabers and Shannon's mom made them all robes.  It was so cute to watch them all have so much fun!

Attacking the Dark Star pinata!

Emery and Kennedy enjoyed a little girl time together!

 

 

Next up was Ainsley's Rapunzel party

The girls donned princess dresses and had so much fun playing in the back yard.  It was a perfect day for an outdoor party and Heather had lots of cute stuff for the girls to do and fun games to play.

They started by painting a canvas with their initial on it

lots of time to play...

A super fun game where partners wrapped each other up with streamers...

Lauren and Kenned did great ~ it was hilarious to watch! 

The whole party

and the birthday girl.

Happy 5th birthday, Ainsley!

 

The following day was Emery's princess party at the park

Kennedy was thrilled to start off by crafting crowns and wands

There was a princess castle bounce house and a fun pinata.

Emery is such a sweet girl and we love her very much!

Happy 4th birthday, Em!

 

Unfortunately we were out of town and missed Andrew's 8th birthday celebration. I felt terrible about missing his party and wanted to do something special just for him.  Carter suggested Chuck E Cheese, and I knew Andrew really liked going there, so we had a fun afternoon together celebrating Andrew!

 

on our way

 

buddies

Andrew is one of the sweetest boys I know ~ he has a heart of gold and is such a dear.  I love him to pieces.  A cute story from the day - Kathy had given Andrew a little money to buy tokens.  I insisted he didn't need it, and that he could bring it back home,  I was happy to buy him as many tokens as they needed.  I could tell he was conflicted ~ his mama told him to use it, and I was telling him to save it!  Bless his heart, he snuck over to the token machine instead of asking me for more.  AND he shared with Carter and Kennedy.  Such a good and thoughtful friend! 

The boys had fun playing a ton of games and collecting an insane amount of tickets (which still only afforded them penny items from the prize case!).

 

Dancing with Chuck E for tickets ~ it's serious business!

 

Kennedy's friend from preschool, Cohen, celebrated his fifth birthday, along with his brother Henry, at the Firstenburg pool.  It was such a fun party and a great way to spend the afternoon.  The Butlers were sweet enough to include families, so Carter got to come too!

Kennedy was thrilled to be swimming with her friends from preschool!

Carter had a blast, too!

 

a mermaid party ~ Kennedy's 5!

Kennedy requested a mermaid swim party this year and I was happy to oblige.  Having the party at a location other than our house sure makes things easier!!!  Of course, I had a ton of fun searching for ideas on Pinterest and putting together cute little details.  I love this kind of thing and really get so much enjoyment from putting on a cute party.  I hope my kids look back and know that I did my best to make their birthdays special.

I loved this theme...loved the colors and the simple ways that I was able to make it fun.

I also loved that it incorporated one of Kennedy's most favorite things ~ swimming!!!

The cake!

My friends, Kathy and Shannon, had both made ruffle cakes like this before and then my other friend, Trisha offered to help me make one too.  With tips and tricks from Kathy and Shannon and the talent of Trisha, we were able to create such an amazing cake.  I LOVED it!  It came together more easily than we had thought...it was time consuming but not overly difficult.  The hardest part was getting the fondant dyed the right shade...it took a lot of kneading and squishing and arm strength!  And bless Trisha's heart, she came down with the flu two days before the party...we ended up working on it Sunday morning and finished it in about three hours.  Again, so grateful for truly talented and generous friends.  I could not have been happier with the end result.

I made some white chocolate shells in candy molds and used those and a starfish to top off the cake.  The inside was gorgeous too...it was six layers of tourquise ombre' cake.  

(Kathy took lots of pictures at the party, so hopefully we got one of the inside too)

another simple craft that I had a lot of fun putting together

the dessert table

There is only so much you can do to make a room at the community center look party worthy.  But in less than 30 minutes I thought it had it looking pretty cute.

Sugar cookies 

Again, my uber talented and generous friend, Kathy, helped me frost these four dozen cookies!  I attempted a few and actually baked the cookies, but they wouldn't look at all special if it weren't for Kathy's decorating skills.  I couldn't be more grateful that she always gives of her time and talents to help!  Thank you, friend! 

sweet friends

Gracie, Katie, Kennedy and Delaynee

The whole crew

Such a very sweet group of girls!

Grace, Delaynee, Lyla, Kaitlin, Gracie, Kennedy, Estella, Lauren, Keela, Audrey, Ainsley and Emery

Getting ready for cake...

love you, sweet girl

happy birthday to you...

happy birthday dear Kennedy....

happy birthday to you!

I hope all of your wishes come true!!!

And then our little mermaid was ready to swim!!!

She had so much fun swimming and sliding, splashing and playing with her friends.

Such a fun way to celebrate our special girl.

Thank you to everyone who pitched in to help pull this off...my mom is always an invaluable assistant, crafting away into the wee hours of the night, cutting fruit and preparing food ~ couldn't do it without her!  And as usual, Kyle helps and puts up with all the craziness.  My dear in-laws helped in the mad rush of setting up the party space and my sweet friends, Kathy, Shannon and Trisha helped so much in the planning and execution.  I certainly couldn't do it alone!!!