A day full of hiking

Today we decided to head up to Indian Canyon and do some hiking. Neither of us has ever been there before and have always heard great things about it, so we decided to check it out. We packed Ed's ACU backpack full of water, sunscreen, snacks, toys, and hamburgers and headed out. We had such a great time and it was so beautiful, it almost didn't even seem like we were still in the desert. We saw tons of lizards running around everywhere but Layla's favorite part was collecting rocks. Every two inches she would find another rock that she wanted so she would put it in daddy's pocket. His pockets were bulging full of rocks! As soon as we got to a creek, they emptied out his pockets and threw all the rocks in. Then it was time to collect more. This went on the entire time we were hiking but we had such a great time and Layla did so good walking the whole thing by herself. Daddy and Layla even picked me some flowers, they're so sweet. After we finished hiking, we found a shady area to have our hamburger picnic on. What a fun day!

Layla's 4th Birthday Party

Hold on to your seats, this is going to be one long post! :) Layla's birthday party turned out so great. For the past couple of weeks I have been stressing about it so much that I was even having dreams that it was a wreck. I kept thinking that something was going to go wrong or not get done in time but it all came together and was perfect, just like I had hoped it would be. Friday I woke up bright and early and started baking cupcakes. I made 3 different boxes, 1 vanilla, 1 chocolate, and 1 strawberry so there would be a variety of flavors. It ended up making about 55 cupcakes and after they were all cooled off, it was time to decorate them. Ed's aunt Jane helped out so much, without her I would still be decorating! Ed's mom had baked the ice cream cupcakes for me and they were super easy to decorate. Just lots of frosting, sprinkles, and a cherry on top. The popcorn cupcakes on the other hand were so time consuming. Every single marshmallow that ended up on those cupcakes had to have an x cut on the top. After placing all the marshmallows and popcorn wrapper I sprayed them with yellow food coloring mist. That stuff is magical! The cupcakes were a hit and all the time it took to make them was totally worth it. That night, to take my mind off the party, Ed took me out to LG's Prime Steakhouse for a date. It was so nice getting to spend time together and eat such yummy food! It really did help me relax a little and the next morning I was ready to go! We set the alarm to wake up at 7am but I was wide awake by 6:30am and started to get ready. We were out of the house and at Walmart by 8:00am to pick up some last minute things. As soon as we got to Ed's parent's house, it was time to blow up balloons. Thank God for the helium tank my uncle let us borrow! It took about an hour and a half to fill up all the balloons, tie them, and add string. I was so happy when those were finally done. Ed and his dad hung up all the carnival signs, banners, and decorations while I set up the Sweet Bar and tables. The Sweet Bar had about 16 different jars full of candy and goody bags for the kids to fill up. We even had clown noses to take! The tables each had two plastic popcorn containers, 1 filled with cotton candy bags and 1 filled with chip bags, 2 pictures of Layla, and a balloon bouquet. On the side of the house were the drinks, popcorn machine (seriously some of the best popcorn I have ever had. It was so yummy and made the air smell so good!), snow cone machine, and the pickles. The front yard was set up so cute, Ed and his dad did such a good job decorating. I was so proud of them. The house had flag/fringe banners everywhere and a big welcome sign but my favorite part out of the whole party was this photo face cut out that Ed's dad made. I bought the photo banner from Oriental Trading and then his dad made the frame for it, we used spray glue and glued it onto the frame a few days before the party. It was so dang cute! After all the decorations were finished at around 12:00pm, the real fun started showing up! The bounce house was delivered and then the hot dog cart came to set up. The hot dog cart was seriously one of the best ideas! Ed found it online while he was in Afghanistan (such a good Daddy looking into these things!) and it didn't disappoint. The hot dogs were amazing! They served adult hot dogs, children hot dogs, churros, and buffalo wings. Mmmm! No one went hungry at this party, let me tell you. At 12:30pm the petting zoo arrived. It was so much fun when the van pulled up and the animals started pouring out. The first animals out were the 4 goats, all on leashes. The kids that were already at the party got to walk the goats around until the petting zoo was all set up. We had 4 goats, 3 chickens, 2 ducks, 1 baby turkey, 2 hamsters, a turtle, and even a pony! When the goats were put in the fenced in area with the rest of the animals, they started tearing apart the palm tree. All 4 of them were stripping the bark from it and the tree was shaking. It was hilarious but the goats had to be moved and ended up being tied to the front gate. 1 of the chickens even laid an egg while there! It was so awesome and the kids loved it. They were even allowed to feed the animals popcorn! Layla loved the petting zoo and had the biggest smile on her face the entire time. She tried walking one of the goats but it pulled her too hard and she let go of it. We had a runaway goat and I had to run and catch it before it started eating all of the plants. Then at 1:00pm the "sweet clown" arrived to face paint and make balloon animals for all the kids. When she got there she gave Layla a huge hug and sat all the kids in a corner. She pulled out a huge birthday card and had all the kids decorate it and write their name on it to give to Layla while they were waiting their turn in line. Layla wanted to have her face painted like Ariel (no surprise there) so that is what she got. And as for Layla's balloon animal, she got a pink wand! At 2:30pm the hot dog vendor, petting zoo, and clown all left which meant it was time to open presents. Layla had so many gifts, she is such a lucky girl, so many people love her. She got lots of toys, clothes, money and gift cards. She even got a gift card to the nail salon for a mani/pedi. How cute is that?! But after all of her playing all morning and eating nothing but junk food and candy, she was getting so tired. She could barely finish opening all her gifts. Let's not even talk about singing happy birthday! She had a total melt down! Screaming and kicking and crying. She wouldn't even blow out her candles! The party was a huge success and we were so lucky to have so many friends and family join us to celebrate Layla's 4th birthday. We don't know when we'll be around for another one of Layla's birthdays so it was nice to go all out for her 4th. The absolute best thing about this birthday, however, was having Daddy home with us. He made the party! Layla is so lucky to have such an amazing Daddy and I couldn't ask for a better husband. He is the best and we couldn't ask for anything more!