Brinley's Barnyard Birthday Bash

Little Brinley Grace turned 3 last week.

For the past 6 months (not kidding you) she has been asking for a horsey party. 

 I ended up leaning more towards barnyard animals with a pony in the mix and a some cowgirl flair thrown in there as well.

It was a huge success and the birthday girl was all smiles on her special day. My friend Brandon was kind enough to take pics of the party for me since I was busy with my hosting duties. They came out awesome so I decided to post a bazillion of them on here because I want them all in my blog book.

Anyway, prepare yourself for picture overload : )

Highlight of the horsey party was the horsey (naturally) but before we get to that here are some of the decorations.

 When I walked in the door with the farm animal balloons Brinley's eyes popped out of her head and she said, "THANK YOU MAMA! THANK YOU FOR MY HORSEY BALLOON!" So sweet how the simple things make kids so happy.

 Nothing like crepe paper and balloons to give the room a festive feel.

 Outside we had a little petting farm with chickens, ducks, rabbits and a baby goat.

 The kids got to go inside the pens and feed the animals, pet them and play with them. This is one of my favorite pics of Brinley with the baby goat. She just looks too precious.

 Happy Girl with her friend Hazel and little goaty

 Besides the animals in the pens, the farmer also brought some baby bunnies and ducklings for the kids to hold. She LOVED that little bunny.

The ducklings were also a big hit

 She was pretty excited that the ducky was sitting right in her lap.

 Koa wanted to eat the ducky. He pretty much wants to eat everything.

 When they brought out Pearl the Pony that's when things really got exciting.

 Brinley had the honor of taking the first ride.

 She looked like such a cutie cowgirl on that pony.

 Also I'm in love with her boots. Totally worth the hunt online to find them. Every cowgirl needs her boots : )

 Teya taking a ride on Pearl

Chub chub and his sissy's on the pony. Look at those squishy knees! Chub-a-licious!

 Another ride for the birthday girl. She was loving it.

Taber and I workin' the party with our cowboy hats. (yeah we're kind of nerdy cool like that ; )

 After Farmer McDonny left the kids ate hotdogs, watermelon, strawberries, blueberries and potato chips while the grown ups had pulled pork sandwiches.

The kids chowed down on their food.

 And Koa bear chowed down on his buddy Desmond's toes. I told you he'll eat anything.

My friend Darby, who made Teya's  Fairy cake, also made Brinley's barnyard cake. All the animals are made from fondant. She is amazing.

Blowing out the candles.

We did a barnyard craft, the kids got cowboy hats and handkerchiefs, then it was time to gather their goody bags and head home.

The birthday girl loved her party and seeing her reaction made all the work of putting it together worth it.

Happy Birthday Brinley Grace! We love you!

While Mom was away....

While I was in Virginia, Taber had work off, so the girls got to play with their Daddy nonstop for 2 days.

Apparently he took them to Chuck E Cheese, twice.

2 Chuck E Cheese visits in 2 days earned him major awesome Dad points.

 He also took them down to the Boston Children's Museum.

 They were there for FIVE hours and finally left when the place was closing down!

 After it closed they had hot dogs on the pier

 And enjoyed the waterfront in Boston.

Taber texted me some of these pictures while I was gone and the first thing I thought was, "Wow! he did Brinley's hair in pigtails!" Serious Dad skills right there.

No Daddy daughter day trip is complete without blue slushies. 

Taber is pretty much the coolest dad ever.  When he's in charge the the top priority is having fun, and there was no shortage of that while mommy was away.

Teya and Brinley are two very lucky little girls : )

Saying Goodbye to Grandma Pratt

On Sunday July 3rd my beautiful Grandma, Elizabeth Lane Pratt, passed away unexpectedly due to complications from diabetes.

This is me with her and my Grandpa when I was Teya's age.

My Grandma moved from Virginia out to Utah when I was 4 or 5 and lived less than 10 minutes from us all growing up.  We would go to visit her almost every Sunday and spent just about every Christmas eve, Thanksgiving, Easter and 4th of July I can remember at her house. She was my grandma and the embodiment of everything that makes the word grandma dear and special.

I loved her house, I loved her cooking. I loved her hugs, they were full bodied and completely enveloped me. I loved sleeping over at her house and seeing her in her pretty night gowns. I loved that she shared my affection for fudge and Breyer's ice cream. I loved how she made everything so beautiful. 

She moved back to Virginia a few years after Taber and I got married and the last time I saw her was about 5 or 6 years ago at my sister's wedding. Still, even at 71 she was active on Facebook and faithfully read my blog, leaving comments and always making me feel loved and cared about.

 This is a picture of her and my Grandpa taken about 10 months ago. He is 20 years older than her and never imagined she'd leave this earth before he did. He is heartbroken without her but I know that this time apart will make their reunion that much sweeter when they are together again in heaven.

 I was able to fly out for the funeral and I'm so glad I could be there with my mom and so many of our family to say goodbye.

My mom and her siblings did an amazing job putting together the funeral and everything went perfectly.

 Two of my sisters were also able to fly out from Utah and the three of us sang together at the funeral. This is us with my cousin Ricky that I haven't seen in 17 years. It was so nice to see all of our Virginia relatives.

 And this is us with Ricky and Mckenna, my aunt's gorgeous little daughter she adopted 2 years ago. It was my first time meeting her and she is such a sweet and darling little lady.

 Also got to see my cousin Jackie who lived with us in Utah for a a couple years when I was 12. I haven't seen or talked to her in 17 years as well so it was a sweet and tear filled reunion.

I was only there for 2 days but I'm so glad I got to see everyone and give my grandpa loves and hugs.

 Also glad my aunts and uncles and mom and sisters got to see this little guy. He was a ray of sunshine during a difficult time and everybody enjoyed his cheesy smiles and squishy chubs. 

getting held by Aunite Sarah

Loves from my mom and Aunt Cathy

I'm so so glad I got to be there to say goodbye and soak in the warmth and love from my amazing family in Virginia. I'll miss you Grandma. I'm glad I know I'll see you again. Until then, all my love.

Harvard Pilgrim 10K: Running with the Fam

On the 4th of July Taber and I signed up to run the Harvard Pilgrim 10K at Patriot place in Foxboro Massachusetts. It's about 1 hour and 20 minutes away from us and since the race started at 9am and we had to be there at 8am with all three children, we decided to stay at a hotel in Foxboro to avoid unnecessary stress on race day.

The kids weren't complaining. They LOVE hotels because that means pool time! 

 My two handsome boys.

As we were getting out of the pool I got a text message that my Grandmother on my mom's side had passed away. It was very unexpected and I was up till after midnight talking with my family on the phone and trying to make travel plans to attend the funeral in Virginia. 

Didn't get much sleep that night between the news about my grandma and babies waking each other up, but we still managed to get the troops dressed, fed, and to the starting line on time the next morning.

I didn't have high expectations for the race considering I was going on very little sleep, under some emotional stress, pushing a stroller with a hefty baby in it and running on a hot and humid day. I was glad we were all together though and figured it would be a fun little outing for the family.

Once we had our bibs pinned up we lined up with the masses at the port-a-John's. Amazing how pre-race nerves can empty out your system with a vengeance.

Taber looking good, ready to get his run on.

Me and little Koa bear excited for our first 10K ever.

The girls were happily plugged into their iPods, freshly loaded with all their favorite cartoons. I guess Brinley fell asleep during the race but Teya watched hers the entire time! 

There were over 3,000 runners lined up at the starting line. We were in the very back with a small handful of brave souls running with strollers.  We hung back and let everyone cross and then we took off.

We ran together for maybe a quarter mile but I could tell Taber was itching to go so I told him to take off and run his little heart out. It was super crowded but he managed to weave his way through the runners till I couldn't see him anymore.

I trotted along at a nice easy 10 minute pace and took in the pulse of the race around me. I didn't have earphones because I wanted to hear Koa if he cried. It was actually nice to run without music.  Since I started at the very back I was with a lot of the walkers and slower joggers. Passing was tricky with a stroller but we weaved along till I was running with people that were more in my similar pace range.

The course ran through the streets of Foxboro. It was a lovely New Englandy town with lots of trees and shade cover on many parts of the course. They had water stops at every mile and I stopped at all of them to drink up and pour water on myself and the baby so we would stay cool. 

I haven't run with a stroller in a couple of years so it was definitely a little more challenging pushing that thing. My arms were feeling it on the inclines but luckily the course was mostly flat. Koa bear slept almost the entire time. He woke up around mile 5 and started making cute noises and entertaining the other runners as we ran by. 

The last part of the race takes you into Gillette stadium where the New England Patriots play. We ran through the tunnel and popped out of a huge inflated football helmet and watched ourselves cross the 50 yard line on the giant 48 ft wide HDTV screen. It was the coolest finish line of any race I've ever run!

My official finish time was 1:04:01, a 10:19 min/mile pace. Not bad all things considered. 

Taber and the girls were there waiting for us on the field.  He had totally dominated that race. Despite starting in the back and pushing over 100 lbs of kids and stroller in heat and humidity, he still finished in 56:15, a 9:04 min/mile pace! People saw him whizzing by and were like, "WHOA!!" Yep, that's my man ; )

Future NFL player chillin' on the field. 

You can see the giant helmet we ran through in the background.

It was a great race and tons of fun to do it as a family. Captain America and his patriotic posse ran it too so we had to grab a picture.  Glad we ran it and that the kids did so well. Definitely an awesome way to start out our 4th of July!