Rain or shine it's luau time!

We celebrated Rylie's 3rd birthday with a fun Hawaiian Luau. Perfect theme for an August birthday, right? We woke up to BLACK skies and it poured all morning long. It cleared up just in time for the party.(after about 10 prayers throughout the day) It sprinkled a bit during the party which is pretty typical for Hawaii, so I say it was perfect. A cool tropical storm didn't slow us down. Thank you to our awesome families for coming dressed up and being such great sports!

All the details...

My super cool sis-in-law did it once again. She sent Rylie these incredible cookies! Her talent still amazes me. Thank you Kris! They tasted as good as they looked!

The birthday girl with her dad.

Click on the pic to get a close up of all the great detail!

This picture still does not do them justice.

The guessing jar had tropical starburst. Daniel won!

A quick family shot before the guest arrived.

(little O was still asleep)

Ryan setting up the tiki torches.

Rylie greeting each guest with a lei.

Dinner: Hawaiian haystacks, fruit kabobs (thanks mom) and Hawaiian punch.

I love this picture!

(Kris, this is the outfit you guys gave him. So cute!)

My cute mom and dad.

Fun cousins.

The limbo!

This was hilarious to watch!

Even Uncle Alex gave it a try.

The pinata!

This was also hilarious to watch!

Check out those dark skies.

All the kids gave it a good whack but Dru was the hero and blasted the tiki man open.

The loot.

Gma Taunya made this super yummy chocolate cake.

We made it into a volcano. (sort of)

Red=hot lava

The hot lava tasted just like raspberries! :)

Gpa Martin special ordered this great Hawaiian shirt straight from Hawaii!

Awesome Uncle Alex and Aunt Elisabeth.

Present time! Rylie loved all the generous gifts that were given.

Thank you!

Bubba explaining his gift. It was a complicated farm animal book. LOL.

Cute Peanut and Shirley.

Sewing 101

While the sewing machine was out for a little project I was working on, Dru taught Liv some sewing basics. How cool is that? Teaching and nurturing are some of Dru's greatest strengths. Lucky for me! Liv caught on right away and they each made a cute pillow for there dolls.

I am really looking forward to some major sewing projects with the girls when they get a bit older.

{this is the little project i was working on for my cute nephew HENRY.

my sister MEGAN had a darling Owl party for him.}

Park City Park

Our plan was to take a trip to the lake for an evening of boating. We ended up having bad weather so we headed up to Park City for a yummy dinner at Baha Cantina and spent a cool night at the park. Thank you Gma and Gpa Martin!

Ry trying to give Dru an underdog.

First day of school

Dru is now in the second grade. I am not sure how I feel about that. Neither does Dru. She came in our room last night around 10:30 saying that she couldn't sleep. I let her sleep with us for a bit and then sent her to bed. She was so nervous and excited for the big day. Ryan gave her an father's blessing last night which I know will help her today.

She woke up at 6:45 this morning and was ready to go. She is such a morning person and wakes up happy. We ate, read, prayed and took these cute pics. We walked to the corner holding hands with butterflies in our stomaches. (I will be sad when she gets to0 old to hold my hand.)

We are ALL going to miss her like crazy.

She has been the BIGGEST help with Owen and her sisters.

Dru is growing up and there is nothing I can do about it.

I am so happy for her and LOVE being her mom.

Jen plus 10 minus 1

Friday was play date heaven for my girls and little O.