Where Has the Summer Gone

I always have good intentions on regularly updating my blog. And then, without warning, 2 months have gone by. C'est la vie. I can't believe the summer is almost over, and little Miss Paige will be starting kindergarten in less than 20 days.

The summer has gone quickly. We've spent MANY days at the American Fork Pool keeping cool. Paige mastered they big water slide all by her self. We've had friends and family down visiting. We love visitors. And my little socialite has friends over nearly everyday. Which I love because I've been able to start and finish several projects.

Here are a few of the things I have pictures of. (surprisingly I feel like I have very few pictures from this summer.)

Paige is taking horse lessons. She loves it.

Her Fourth of July pictures.
We went camping up in Idaho for 5 days. I LOVE camping. I wish I were brave enough to just take P and head up into the mountains. But I'm not quite there. We went with my parents, my bro and his fam, and my niece (my sis doesn't come due to allergies...or so she says.) Paige was not that impressed with camping. I think the exact quote was "You said this would be fun, but it is horrible."

She did enjoy playing in the water when the afternoons got hot.
She did enjoy the campfires and the campfire treats.
And as always, she LOVED being with her cousins.
Her favorite part.... sitting in the hot springs. She is a spa girl at heart.
The last night we had a bear wander into camp while we were sleeping. He managed to get into the cooler before my dad scared him off. I'm glad the bear decided to run away when my dad start chasing him, rather than turn on him. Dad stayed up the rest of the night and kept the campfire going, to protect us girls. Love him!

Lambert Park

I love the poppy field of Lambert Park in Alpine Utah. It had been a while since I took Paige up there for pictures, so we decided to venture. Paige would pray every night that the poppies would be in bloom when we went up there. Her prayers were answered. The dress is a Cheri Rodas original. I've been trying to use up the craft supplies that I have in my closet. I had all these different fabrics, and thought, "I should patch them together and make a dress." So I did. It was fun and made me feel good that I could make something out of a bunch of scraps. We decided it is kind of a pioneer dress.

As we were leaving the area, I saw this little foot bridge over a stream. It was perfect for pictures.
Paige wanted to take pictures in her pjs. So the deal was, if she cooperate with the pictures I wanted to do, I would let her switch into her jammies and she could be in charge of the poses. Here are a couple of the ones she thought up. I don't know about this girl.

Itty Bitty Ball

In May Paige tried out "Itty Bitty Ball." It is offered at the rec center, and they just do a couple of classes with several different sports. Paige's session did football, soccer, and basketball. It was so fun to watch. Paige was the only girl in her class. She looked like a little pixie when she ran. She kind of runs and leaps at the same time. I was curious as to how she would do with group sports. She handled it pretty well. Maybe I'll sign her up for some more sports in the future...You know, between all the other activities she is involved in.

Her she is trying out her mad football skills.

Touchdown!!!!

Here she is trying basketball for the first time. I love that she sticks out her tongue while dribbling the ball.

Butterflies

For Paige's birthday she got a butterfly garden kit. It was fun. We got 5 caterpillars which we watched until they got huge and went into their cocoons.

After a week the butterflies started to emerge.
We feed them orange slices.
And then after a week or so, we had to let them go. This one didn't want to fly away. It hung out on Paige's finger for a while before taking off.
Paige loved the experience. She is already asking me to order more caterpillars. I would highly recommend this activity for anyone with small kids. They also have ladybug kits, ant farms, and praying mantis. I think ladybugs my be fun to try next.

My Baby Girl is 5

This week we celebrated my baby girl's 5th birthday. At this stage, it seems that birthday parties define social standings. She has been talking for months about who she would and would not invite, what we should do, and everything. I was feeling the pressure to get this production right. I'm proud to say it all turned out to her approval. We went with a butterfly theme.

We had butterfly decorations, all the girls got butterfly wings, and we played butterfly games.
The girls gathered butterflies from the backyard (taffy that had butterfly cut-outs glued on them)
The butterfly cake...
Grape caterpillars and butterfly shaped ice-cream.
Paige enjoyed her party, all her presents and cards. I can't believe she is 5 all ready. We have a lot coming up this month, so I hopefully I will be on the ball and blog a lot.

Happy Valentine's Day

We ventured down to BYU to do a Valentine's Day photo shoot. My friend, and former co-worker, Officer Jensen gave us a VIP escort to some great areas. I'm amazed at how many areas I was unfamiliar with. I've only been away from campus for 3 years. It changes so quickly. This first one is my new all-time favorite picture of Paige. I love it!!!! Thanks Jenn for your help.

This is actually her Christmas dress from this last season.

I thought it worked well for Valentine's Day too.

The first of hopefully many study sessions at BYU.

Twirling in the ballroom.

Her heart braids. I got the idea here.

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Paige and the Police

Paige had fun hanging out with Officer Jensen of BYUPD on Sunday. She thought it was so cool to ride in the back of the police car (in the cage.) But she was a little nervous until we reassured her that there wasn't a kiddie jail.

Let me out....

Fancy Nancy Party

This weekend I took P to a Fancy Nancy Party at the Library. Fancy Nancy is a series of books about a little girl who loves being fancy, but lives in a very plain family. She uses fancy words and uses everything available to make her fancy. They are really cute books. Paige enjoys them. So Paige got fancy for her party. She even slept in rollers to have curly hair.

She was a little nervous being at a table with girls she didn't know. But the girl next to her was very friendly and she quickly warmed up.
I thought this was cute of all the fancy girls.
They had cupcakes-with sprinkles, pink soda and candies...on fancy dishes.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Last week we had the opportunity to go to DisneyWorld with my friend Wendy and her daughters E and A. It was an awesome trip. Here is our group with Mickey.

We stayed at the All-Star Music resort. We had 2 connecting rooms which was great. We put the girls to sleep in one room and were able to have time to unwind and regroup in the other room. I thought it was funny that Paige's dress matched the color of the walls of the hotel.

Here is Paige meeting some of her favorite characters. Marie from the Aristocats.
Minnie Mouse...
Daisy Duck... (in all our Disney travels, this is the first time we were able to meet Daisy.)
Here is Paige and E on the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground.
Me and Paige soaking wet after riding the "Kali River Rapids" a couple of times. P ended up riding it about 5 times. She was drenched clear through in the end.
Playing the drums in "Africa."
We ate lunch in Cinderella's Castle. The girls had the opportunity to meet Cinderella, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine and Belle. This is the ice cream P had for dessert.
Riding Dumb. Always a favorite.
Paige in Epcot.
The girls taking a break on our trip through all the countries in Epcot. They were playing Duck, Duck, Goose in Japan.
This is Expedition Everest. Paige barely met the height limit. She rode it 5 times. The roller-coaster scared me, but Paige was brave.
Paige eating a "princess cupcake." She only made it half way through the frosting.
We were in the parks from opening to closing most days. Then we would go back to the hotel and swim for a little while. When our heads hit our pillows we were asleep. It was a great trip. Thank you Wendy (and Mike) for making this happen.