Vivi's Turns Two

Today we celebrated Vivi's second birthday with our family and friends.  I can't believe that she is already two.  It seems like just yesterday we were living in Fort Worth and on our way to the hospital to meet this precious girl.  She has brought so much joy and laughter into our lives and we are so incredibly thankful that God blessed us with such an amazing gift.  We have so much fun seeing her grow and develop into a little person.  She is fascinated by animals, and has a recent obsession with turtles and frogs.  I had seen this Lilly Pulitzer inspired turtle party earlier this year and when the brainstorming started I could not get this party out of my head.  With the help of Pinterest and other party blogs I became the ultimate party planner, and had a blast doing it!

The party could not have gone any smoother.  The kids had a great time playing with each other, in the playroom or outside, working up an appetite. We all enjoyed light lunch topped off with mini vanilla cupcakes done by the talented Lindsey Levine of Batter Up Pastry Boutique in Fort Worth.  All of the sweets were delicious, and so incredibly cute!  The kids birthdays are always a highlight of my year.  I loved celebrating our sweet little girl and decorating for the bash too!

Here are a few pictures from the party.  Enjoy!

Paper and Pigtails - Party Printables

Smash Cake, Turtle Cookies & Mini Cupcakes - Batter Up Pastry Boutique

Lily Pulitzer Plates and Napkins - Lifeguard Press

Turtle and Frog Custom Crayons - Red Elm Designs

Birthday Girls Frog Bow and Bow Favors - Lili Bug Boutique

All of these vendors were such a pleasure to work with, I would highly recommend them all and will definitely use them again in the future.  Thank you!

Crested Butte Vacation {day 1}

Last year, we began the Family Vacation tradition and it seems as though we have waited all summer for our vacation to finally arrive.  It has been such a hot and grueling summer, a trip to the mountains is more than welcomed!  We have been enduring months upon months of more than 100 degree temperatures, and are in the midst of the worst drought this part of the country has seen since the dust bowl.  We picked a great year to move to Wichita Falls!  I keep telling myself that it only gets better from here.

Our trip began on Saturday, with an 8 hour drive from WF to Raton, NM, where we stayed in one of the strangest and creepiest hotels I have stayed in to date.  It's not saying much for the town that our hotel was the nicest for miles!  As we pulled into town, so did a huge thunderstorm, the kids didn't seem to mind and were excited to get out of the car and go for a swim.

Sunday morning we were up bright and early to begin on the next leg of our adventure.  Unfortunately, Trey and I had to turn around 3 times due to leaky cups, missing phones, and left behind iPads.  All things we can't live without!  Despite the hiccups we eventually set out to travel over the mountain passes and arrived in Crested Butte just in time for lunch.  CB has many delicious restaurants and we started the trip off on the right note with some pizza from The Secret Stash.  This might be the best pizza I have ever had, despite the somewhat bizarre atmosphere.

The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking and enjoying the cool temperatures.

Cades First Ranch Trip

For Father's Day Trey wanted to take a trip up to the ranch for a little family time.  We hadn't been up to visit since before Cade was born and thought this would be the perfect weekend to introduce him to a place that he is sure to spend a lot of time in the future.  We always have such a wonderful time as a family up there, making memories and spending quality time together.  While we were there we swam and splashed in the spring house pool, used our new Ergo carrier and took the kids for a walk, drove around looking at the cows, and just relaxed.  Getting out of town was a nice change of pace and tomorrow we are looking forward to celebrating Father's Day and Cade's Baptism.

Swimming

Today was our first swim of the summer!  We went over to Great Grandmama and Great Granddad's house to enjoy their pool and the warm weather.  There was a little bit of a scare, when Lizzie jumped into the water without her life jacket.  It reminded us adults how diligent we have to be about the kids wearing their life jackets and watching them closely around the water.  Thanks to Trey's heroics, Lizzie was just fine and back to her usual giggly self in no time.  Despite the brief drama, we had a great time with the family, cooling down a bit.  I am feeling thankful that Vivi still gets a little bit nervous in the water.  She definitely does not want to swim on her own.  I am hoping by the end of the summer she will be more comfortable and understand that the pool can be a fun but dangerous place without someone to swim with.  I am hoping next year we will even do swimming lessons!

Cousins Party

Sarah hosted cousins dinner night tonight and we had a great time. The kids all thoroughly enjoyed the mild night and had a great time running around the yard.  Vivi is already anxiously waiting for the next party!