Naomi's 30th Birthday

On November 13th, I turned the ripe old age of 30! Oddly enough, this is the ONLY picture I got of a week long celebration... but it was such a fun week that I decided to post about it anyway :)

The celebrations started on November 9th when Kevin got home from work, packed up some bags, grabbed the girls, and left the house! He took the girls over to our friends, Rob and Tiff's house, where he and Robert had a manly sleep over whilst watching 4 little girls under the age of 4!

A few minutes after Kevin left the house, Tiffany showed up at our house! Her birthday is 2 days before mine so we decided to celebrate them together with 24 hours of ZERO responsibility! Once she arrived we quickly hopped in the car and headed over to Chipotle to pick up our dinner. Then it was home to watch ALL of the Twilight Saga DVD's! We were up until 2 am, talking, watching, laughing, and eating!

The next morning we slept in until 7am! (we couldn't help it...we are still moms!) Then we made baked french toast, got dressed, and went SHOPPING! We shopped all day, making pit stops to get hot cocoa and eat sushi for lunch. Thanks to Tiffany's AMAZING shopping skills, I managed to come home with some really cute jewelry, a new sweater, a cardigan, new lotions, and a pair of jeans all under budget :)

Around 4:30pm on Saturday we headed back home to pick up our husbands and turn the kids over to some new babysitters. Then we drove on over to Outback and had some steak and a few good laughs before heading to Dairy Queen for some ice cream! Tiffany and I had SOOOOO much fun together and I definitely think we should make this an annual tradition!

The next day (November 11th) just happened to be my sister Becca's birthday, and since she lives close by now, we drove to Geneva to celebrate it with her! We had the BEST ham dinner, played some games, and ate lots of cake before heading back home to start my ACTUAL birthday week.

The next day consisted of much spoiling and hardly any work! Then on my REAL birthday, Kevin surprised me by coming home from work during his lunch break and making me creamed eggs on toast! That night he made me dinner, followed by caramel apples and Reese's peanut butter bars. YUMMMM!

Before going to bed Kevin gave me a gift card to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (does this man know me or what!?) and a Bodia Media arm band. The irony? He gave me a gift card to eat loads of chocolate and then he gave me something to help me lose the weight. (Truly, he's got me pegged!)

But the fun did not stop there! When Friday rolled back around again, Kevin took the girls and sent me out to the movie theater with a ton of my friends to watch Breaking Dawn part 2! We had so much fun hanging out at the movies with all the crazy teenagers... and at the end of it all, I decided that I am super glad to have lived these passed 30 years with so many incredible people in my life. Thank you to all of you, for EVERYTHING!

Brooklyn's First Haircut!

After seeing the movie Tangled, Brooklyn swore that she would NEVER get her hair cut short. But many tangles of her own and a lot of tears later, she finally agreed to get her hair cut after Halloween. (That way she could still wear her hair in Princess Leia buns for her costume before her hair was too short.)

So, on November 5th, Kevin and I took her to the mall to get her first haircut! Well...kind of her first. She did cut her pigtails off a few months ago, resulting in a 6 inch loss. And she cut her own bangs at least twice this year! But it was her first professional haircut.

Brooklyn also decided that she wanted to donate her hair to Locks of Love. That meant she had to cut a minimum of 10 inches. I never thought I would be the kind of mom who cried when her daughter cut her hair, but it was pretty hard to hold back the tears when all those pretty waves came off!

Although she was very excited to get her hair cut, Brooklyn was also very nervous. So nervous, in fact, that she NEVER moved while she was in the chair. She was PERFECTLY still!

A few big snips and some styling was all it took and then my little Brooklyn looked so grown up!

All the ladies at the salon just loved her and couldn't believe that a 4 year old would want to donate her hair... or that a 4 year old even had enough hair to donate! Here is a video of them cutting off the inches!

And that was that! Now our sweet little girl has a cute short hairdo and we both LOVE it! It has taken tons of time off our morning routine. She doesn't cry whey I brush her hair and bath time is cut in half. The one sad thing is, her curls all but disappeared. She still gets some crazy waves now and then, but her hair is mostly straight. (She is actually pretty happy about that though, it just makes me sad!)

Anyway, here she is in all her cute glory! Isn't she a doll! 

Kevin's 30th Birthday/Halloween BASH!: The Games

Sometimes a picture is worth a THOUSAND words... and a video is even BETTER!



We all OBVIOUSLY had a fabulous time together and are SOOOO glad that Kevin was born! I love my 30 year old man! Happy Birthday Kevin! Can't wait to celebrate many, many more :)

Kevin's 30th Birthday/Halloween BASH!: The Costumes

On October 27th, we put all our decorations and costumes to work and threw Kevin a great big 30th Birthday/Halloween Costume PARTY! After a long day of preparation, Kevin dropped the girls off at the babysitters and then we dressed up as Mother Earth and Father time!

Jacob and Scarlet were still in town and they looked super awesome in their Cleopatra and Mark Anthony costumes. So awesome, in fact, that they tied for 3rd place in the costume contest!

Randomly enough, the other half of the tie went to my sister Becca and her Husband Taber, who came as Jasmine and Aladdin! (And who also provided all the awesome games that will be showcased in a later post.)

2nd place went to our friends Dan and Bonnie, who put MANY hours into building their Amazing Mr. and Mrs. Lego costumes.

1st place went to the adorable Booths, who totally ROCKED their Mary Poppins and Bert costumes. I mean seriously, they looked perfect!

One of the most clever costumes of the night came in the form of a bowling ball and bowling pin, sported by, none other than... the Bowlers!

Arielle and Kyle came ready to party the night away in their mysterious masquerade costumes. They even kept their masks on all night!

Dave made his grand entrance as a "person of interest" before quickly getting busted by Sheriff Rachel!

Once everyone arrived and got their pictures taken, we sat down and enjoyed some goodies and a few laughs before busting out the games! But you will have to wait to see how that turned out!

To be continued...

Tio Jake & Auntie Scar: Johansen's Farm

On October 26th, we decided to take a break from party preparation and headed over to Johansen's Farm to check out their giant petting zoo!

 Lily was a bit rough on the little chicks at first...

But after her daddy showed her how to hold them without squeezing, she did fine!

 Both Lily and Brooklyn were very tender with the baby chicks.

 Lily, especially, took a liking to all things furry!

 And feathered!

Auntie Scarlet took a little extra time to show the girls how to properly feed a goat...without getting their fingers nipped!

 We all had fun feeding the different animals that the farm had on display...

 But I think the baby cow was every one's favorite!

 Although, Brooklyn really loved petting the mommy goat and her tiny babies.

Soon we were done checking out all the animals...because we ran out of quarters for their feed.

So we headed over to the giant blow up slides and bounce houses to let the girls get some wiggles out before we had to go back home.

 On the way out we stopped by the bakery to grab an apple pie and some apple cider doughnuts before hopping back in the car. (Actually, everyone but Kevin got back in the car. He had to ride his bike and hour both ways so that we could all have seat belts!)

Later that night Jake and Scar got a little rest while Kevin and I took the girls over to our ward trunk-or-treat. It was a lot of fun seeing all the different costumes and it was a great way to end the day!