Cambrie's Birthday in SoJo

Cambrie has had a month full of birthday fun.  But parties never get old so we celebrated again down in South Jordan. 

Her presents from Nana and Papa was so big that she wasn't sure how to get the wrapping paper off the box. 

It turned out to be a doll house.  A very deluxe dollhouse that McKenzie loves playing with as much as her older sister.  

All sort of people live at her dollhouse now; the Little Mermaid, Jasmine, Jessie from Toy Story, a little shark, and the loving family that came with the house. 

When it came time to pose for the camera with her gifts, she was grumpy...

but then she gave us her Chuck E Cheese smile and totally cheesed it up. 

Cambrie had requested nachos for breakfast, but I'm kind of a stickler than nachos aren't a breakfast food and we made waffles instead.  But she still got her birthday meal for a snack later that day.  Cheese my little three-year-old! 

Chuck E Cheese PARTY!

What three-year-old (or 23-year-old) birthday bash wouldn't be complete without a party at Chuch E Cheese?  So we gathered our cousins together for a little shin-dig. Even though Cambrie and Chalyn are 20 years apart, we can still have a party! 

First all of the guests put on their party crowns to get ready to party!  Princess was definitely the theme here.

We ate some pizza then took off for the games.  I love Skee-ball, and insisted Cambrie play with me. Cambrie doesn't quite have the underhand motion down yet, and instead chooses to throw her balls up the ramp.  It is only somewhat successful, but really cute to watch. 

For this one she had to catch the popcorn which is harder than it looks ;) 

Her favorite thing to do was ride the carousel.  Surprised?  Every token gives you about 20 times around.  I got dizzy just watching her and I think she rode it four or five times.  She didn't want her picture taken proving she liked it so much....

but then surprised us with a very sweet smile the next time around. 

Parker is a little guy, but he makes up for it in determination and creativity.  The jungle gym tubes and slides are still a little big for the two of them, but Parker taught Cambrie how to get up there.  This is actually a big deal because she got stuck at Burger King once and cries every time she sees one of these things.  When she got to the bottom she raised her hands in the air and said, "I did it all by myself!"  She was so proud! 

While we were playing we even got a picture with Chuck E Cheese himself. 

After the games we ate some princess cupcakes. 

The frosting was a huge success and frosting lips were the latest fashion craze. 

Chalyn's frosting actually looks like it was put there on purpose. 

Cambrie couldn't wait to open the presents.  Her cousins were sweet and smacked her on the head with them ;) 

The presents were fun and Cambrie loves her new Toy Story Legos, Little Mermaid bath toy, and Color Wonder coloring book. 

Then it was time to redeem the tickets.  Hmm...what to choose, what to choose.  She settled on an inflatable hammer, little lady bugs, and a tootsie roll. 

What a great way to spend a hot, hot, summer birthday.  Thanks everyone for coming!

Hogle Zoo

Parker and Kora live in Cedar City so when they make it up to Salt Lake we do everything we can to play with them.  First on the agenda was a trip to the zoo.  We slathered up with sunscreen, loaded everyone up for the sunglasses parade, and we were off. 

I've been looking over some family pictures and realize that these kids go to the zoo a lot, but it's so much fun that we love it.  I think the kids are just as entertaining as the animals because they do some silly things.  After the bird show we told them they could go ride on the carousel.  Look how excited they are!  What you can't see is that they are hugging each other and jumping up and down at the same time.  Classic! 

They were just as happy once they were on the merry-go-round.  Smile everyone :) 

There are plenty of things to climb on at the zoo-just like little monkeys.  Trees...

elephant tusks...

and rhino statues.

  It's a long day at the zoo and the kiddies needed to use the bathroom. Cambrie prefers drying her hands on paper towels, but Parker taught her how to use karate-chop-action with the blow-dryer and now she thinks it's the coolest thing ever. Aren't kids funny? 

Cambrie is Three!

Happy Birthday Cambrie! Cambrie has been waiting for this day for a long time. She kept asking me when it would be her birthday, and today I was finally able to say it was today! Her special birthday breakfast was blue blueberry Mickey Mouse pancakes. Yummy! As soon as she finished her last bite of Mickey Mouse, she immediately wanted her party to begin. We held her off until 11:30 then we let loose. It was an exciting party full of stars and balloons. Apparently my brother and his wife have been hiding their balloon animal skills from me. But they were very nice about making things for Cambrie and McKenzie.

Then it was time for presents!

She had a fantastic birthday this year. She has been in desperate need for new pajamas and got a new Tinkerbell jammie dress with slippers. Grandma Stratford gave her a new storybook. Grandma Great Johnson gave her a shovel and bucket for our upcoming Bear Lake reunion. Alan and Hannah gave her a cute hooded butterfly bath towel. Here is a picture of her aunt and uncles helping her use her new silling string and sidewalk chalk on my dad's shining new patio....ah...thanks dad!

She got a kids' camera from Jeremy. And a darling pair of cowgirl boots from her Grandma and Grandpa, which I think she will wear to bed if she has her say.Here is Cambrie with all of her spoils. Her goofy grin just says it all.

And what birthday wouldn't be complete without cake and ice-cream. Hannah made her some pink sprinkle ice-cream which was delicious-she is quite the ice-cream creator. Cambrie had requested a rainbow star cake this year, so I did what I could with that. She even chose super cute princess star wand candles to top it off. Our family was great to celebrate with this year and Cambrie said it was a great celebration. Happy birthday sweetheart!

Tea party

Yesterday Cambrie and I joined Bethany's little playgroup for a tea party at the American West Heritage Center. All the girls came in their prettiest dresses and were given hats to wear during the party. I loved seeing them all dressed up!Cambrie loved her hat! She chose the biggest and most decorated one available. She looked so adorable wearing it.The girls played some introductory tea party games, were instructed on proper tea party manners, learned how to set the table, and were expected to behave like little ladies. All the girls did a great job behaving so properly. Our hostesses served us lemonade, cookies, tea cakes, cinnamon rolls, and carrots. Cambrie refused to use her fork and insisted on her fingers instead. Shhh..don't tell.The goodies were delicious and the setting was really nice. There's just something neat about having a tea party in the garden under the shade of the trees with a cool breeze blowing.After the tea party the girls colored paper dolls then we were off exploring. We found some goats first then we found the ponies. The girls couldn't wait to ride them. We decided that they were little rodeo princesses in training; their parade waves were perfect. We found some pioneer games. All of them involved flailing sticks and I'm surprised no one was injured. The girls loved playing "house" in a little dugout home. They took turns being the mommy and using the broom to sweep the dirt floor. They would have stayed their all day trying to get that floor clean if we hadn't ushered them out.And on our way out they ran through the sprinklers in true 21st century style. It was so much fun playing pioneer princess for the day.