Happy Birthday Avery!

Avery turned two on Saturday, so we had a rainbow party.

I made rainbow jello cups, a rainbow layered cake, and cupcakes too... Just in case there wasn't enough of the cake to go around.
 

Avery was drooling over the cupcakes earlier that morning, so we decided it was her birthday, so she could test a cupcake if she wanted to. As you can see she didn't hesitate one bit!



  The Jello cups ended up being a lot tougher than I thought (that's a long story) The cake didn't really taste that great, but it looked awesome... and that is all that really matters right? ;)  We invited family (what little we have here in MO)and friends. We had lunch and originally had planned to do a water party in the backyard so the kids could play with the slip n slide and sprinklers. Unfortunately the forecast showed rain in the afternoon on Saturday; bummer...  The night before a really big thunderstorm came through, so it was really wet and muggy by Saturday morning, even bigger bummer...  However, it was still warm enough and wasn't raining yet, so we decided to set up outside anyway, even if we didn't play in the water.

We ate...

We played...

And then it rained, so we had to pack up and head inside...

Then we opened her gifts...

...and sang to her.

Then we ate cake!

How cool is the cake?! Pretty amazing if I do say so myself!

Avery ate her entire piece...

After the party was over we had cleaned up, Rand had fallen asleep on the couch and Avery was watching one of her cherished Dora dvd's. I was finishing up the kitchen, but for some reason (I can't remember why) I went back to our bedroom for something, I was maybe gone a minute at most. 

When I came back this is what I found...

I totally forgot that I had left a few cupcakes on the table. I think she knew exactly what she wanted, and was probably waiting for the opportunity to make her move! That thing was almost gone by the time I caught her! 

(I apologize for her lack of pants.  Rand feels it isn't necessary to put them back on after changing her diaper)

Then Grandma Brown called and Avery told her all about her birthday party.

Thanks to everybody that came and celebrated with us, we had a lot of fun even if it was partially rained out!

surprise!

My 10 year high school reunion was last weekend.  Originally I wasn't planning on going, but a good friend offered us some stand by tickets for way cheap...so of course I couldn't say no!  Thanks again Maegan!  Rand thought it would be fun to surprise his family, so we didn't tell anyone except his brother Tyler that we were coming.  It was really fun to see the look on his parents faces when we showed up at their house unannounced!  My family knew because there was no way I would get to see any of them if we didn't plan in advance.  We flew in Thursday morning and left late Sunday.  It was a really fun weekend.

My reunion was Friday night.  It was great to see many faces I haven't seen since high school.

Me and Katie

 Allison, Katie, Maegan, Tristan, Me, Gentry and Ruth

 this one makes me laugh- sorry friends I had to post it :)

 me and Allison

A few of us from Elementary days

 Gentry, Me, Maegan, Ruth, Laura, Skipper (Stephanie)

 We had a big lunch with the Griffiths family Saturday afternoon.  Avery was loving all the girls and the attention they were giving her.

 She loved this car

 me and my sis

WE had a BBQ that night for dinner at the Browns, but of course I didn't take many pictures...Grrr.  Avery and Jaxon were being so cute together.  They were giving each other hugs laying down in the deck playing. 

Avery decided that she liked our friend Kameron- a lot.  She wouldn't leave him alone. She demanded to sit on his lap when ever he was around.

   We were also able to take a quick drive up the Alpine Loop with my sister Bree and her girls.  She took a few quick pictures of us. They turned out great!  Thanks again Bree for spending the day with us and letting me use your nail polish to paint my toes!

 I miss the mountains.  I love the Aspens!

  Thanks for the fun time everyone!