#1 Birthday Bash in St. George!

Lola turned the big #1 on March 11th.  Since we weren't able to celebrate with all of our family in March, we decided to have another birthday celebration in April.  You only turn one once, right?! :)  It was a really good reason to have everyone get together to visit and have a good time and of course eat some good grub.  

Here was Lola's b-day invite, I have always had a thing for owls and since Lola didn't care, that is what we went with (although she didn't like her owl cake). :)

Great Grandpa Hunter is the best when it comes to walking the little ones around.  At this stage Lola still was needing someone to help keep her steady on her feet, and Grandpa was more then willing! She loved it! He told me that he used to take dish towels and wrap them around the kids and then hold on to the ends to support them so that you didn't have to bend over as much.  Good idea Gramps! :)  We should have implemented that during the party...

I love this picture-it has two (three if you count my dad) of my favorite people in it! :)

Cousin Brandon, Lola loved his cowboy hat and of course him too! :)

My pretty little niece Whitney...she is so sweet and also very helpful!  She volunteered to take a turn walking Lola's around a few times too.  :)  She is going to be one good babysitter!

Couldn't have a party without a pinata!  The kids' favorite part of course!

Lola with her twin cousins Sadie and Stockton.  Bubbles were a hit!  Their birthdays are only 4 days apart!  They are going to be good buds and I'm sure going to get into lots of mischief along the way too! :)

The party was a success!  Lots of good conversation and playing was had by all!  Family gatherings don't happen much for us at this point in time since we live so far away, but when we do get the chance to be with family we take every advantage we can get!  Lola is a special little gal with a strong spirit and we love our little red head-she is one very good reason to have a party! :)

Playing catch-up...

Alli had her very first swim lessons this past April.  Her swimming skills were about in the middle of the pack.  Not yet confident to swim without the floatie, but able to do most everything with it on.  Alli was always excited to go to swimming lessons, and loved learning everything from her swim instructors.  The lessons were 5 weeks long, once a week.  At the beginning of the swim lessons she was ranked at about a 3 on a scale of 1-10 and by the end she was a 7.  She learned to be more confident and how to use her arms and legs to keep herself afloat.  Yeah!!

On the very first day before the lessons started I let her get in the water without a floatie because there was a bench that she could sit/stand on and I was right beside her.  Little did I know, or her for that matter, that she would slip right off that bench and into the deeper section of the water, right off to the side of where she could reach, but too far for me.  Scared me and her! Luckily there was an older gentlemen in the water very near her and he helped snatch her up and help her back on the bench, otherwise it would have been me getting in the pool fully dressed! :)  Now that she has learned some skills, if that were to happen again today, she would have no problem swimming and getting to the side! She has grown a lot this summer!

More pictures of Alli's progress throughout the summer to come in future posts!