Birthday Party Celebration at the Banks House!

I forgot to post Ella in her new birthday clothes so I am doing it right now. Here she is in her new clothes.We went to Grandma and Grandpa Banks' after house after dinner at the Musil's. She opened presents. She got How to Train you Dragon from them. Then we hung out for a while. (side note. See the picture in the background of the three kids. The one sitting on the chair is me. I am about 2 years old in the picture)The on Friday we had a party over at my parents house. She helped cook and decorate her birthday cake. She made it pink with sprinkles on it. She did a great job. She picked a white cake with a lemon frosting. Delicious.

The Neighbor girls named Tiana and Retta came over to eat cake with her. She hung out with these two for all summer long.

“All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.” - George Harrison

This year we were in Utah for Ella's birthday. It is the first time we have been to Utah for it. We had two different parties for her. The first one was at the Musil's house. She woke up bright and Early and begged for her presents. So right away we opened presents.She got a webkinz, some squinkies, and a Zhu Zhu pet.She got a card with 5 dollars in it from Grandpa and Grandma Swenson. Nate was later teasing her and wrote his name on her card and told her it was his because his name was on it. So she wrote on the top Ella Kidley (Kimberly) Musil yea Ella not willy (really) for dad.Tyler spent his tooth fairy money on a diet dr. pepper for Ella. What a sweet kid.After she opened presents she went with Pam and me to walmart and picked out a present for herself.She also picked out a cake to bring home. Grandma and Ella had such a great time decorating the cake.Grandpa and Grandma Swenson came over that evening for pizza and cake and ice cream. She got herself into trouble by hitting her sister so she had to go to the corner. Grandpa Swenson felt bad for her so he got himself in trouble so he could go to the corner too. Ella got a card and 5 dollars from Grandma and Grandpa Swenson.And she got a Zhu Zhu pet hair shop from Grandpa and Grandma Musil.She also got to cut her own cake.And she did a very good job at it. Ella's favorite present was all of them! She had a great day and we have been so blessed to have this little princess in our lives. I love you Ella!

ready. aim. fire.

One of the other fun things we did in Utah was going shooting. We shot at targets and garden vegetables. I shot a 30-30 rifle, a shotgun, and a hand gun. They all had a good kick to them. And I felt like I was bruised when I was done but nope just sore. Natalie shot the rifle. When it kicked back at her she dropped the rifle and jumped off the ground. The bullet only landed about 10 feet away. It scared her too bad. Nichole wouldn't shoot the gun but she did hold it.

Fun Times with the Banks family!!!

Being able to go to Utah and say good-bye to my family made it so much harder to say goodbye. I am going to miss seeing them so much and am so thankful for the summer months that I had with them. I even got to see my brother Pete, who now lives in Utah. I haven't seen him for almost a year.I went to lunch with my mom, dad, and Pete one day and he had to drop me off at Nate's grandparents house when we were done so I convinced him into staying there and having a scone and going four wheeling afterwards. It was Pete's first time ever on a four wheeler. He took it by himself in the backyard. He only went around once and then brought it back. I told him that he had to go out and try it again but this time he went out with Nichole driving him. He saw how to do it a lot better and after that we couldn't get him off of the four wheeler. All of the kids wanted to go with him and he took them over and over again. He even kicked them off of the four wheeler so that he could drive it again.My Dad, Ella, and Natalie made some huge chocolate chip pumpkin cookies and they were oh so tasty!Rocky and Meagan came over and Rocky went outside to play with the kids. They had a leaf war and kept throwing leaves all over the place.

Rocky and his new mohawky. By the time I saw him again it was gone.

What did you do with Halloween Candy as a Child? Were you a saver, horder, or trader?

My parents pretty much gave me free reign with my Halloween candy. I can only remember a few times when my parents actually took my Halloween candy away from me. My candy experience went something like this...

First when I got home I would dump my candy out in front of my parents and they would ask for certain pieces of it. They would want to see what I had gotten and how much of it I got.

Then I would separate my candy into different categories (yep I was weird). There was the candy bars, smarties, suckers, gum, tootsie rolls, and all of the others.

I would then count how many of what I got. After that would come the trading. I always liked the suckers. They seemed to last longer. Tootsie Pops were my favorite. I also like most kids really didn't like to trade my candy bars. The trading would last many days. As I ate through my candies I would want to trade up for bigger and better. One year I was able to get my little brother to trade almost anything for tootsie rolls of course he unwrapped them all and made it into a giant tootsie roll ball. Yep gross.

Within a couple of weeks I was down to my smarties and ate them very slowly if I decided to eat them at all.

List 25 things that are good for the soul.

1. service
2. smiles
3. hugs
4. kisses
5. friends
6. chocolate
7. thank yous
8. reading
9. flowers
10. kids
11. baths
12. massages
13. cupcakes
14. love notes
15. husbands
16. comfy beds
17. holidays
18. books
19. nature
20. winks
21. cuddling
22. slippers
23. butterfly kisses
24. hot chocolate
25. bedtime