Haapy 3rd Birthday!

 Happy Birthday to our little girl!  Who would have guessed three years would have flown by so quickly?  We celebrated with family and friends at Grandma Lisa's house again.  Everybody was so kind to come party with us. 

We did a shark themed cake this year with corresponding cups of shark jell-o.

The Jell-o was definitely a hit with the kiddos.

 

It was so fun to have so many friends come to play!

We were surprised to find out almost all of Alan's family would be joining us for the party, even Annette and her kids and Ryan!

Friends and cousins were eager to see if Faye could blow out her candles. 

I couldn't help but add this picture, it made me feel so good about my cake!

Faye actually opened her own presents this year!  Yay for that first! 

However, the rate at which she opened her presents was a bit too slow for the other kids.  They helped out this year by bringing presents to Faye.

The favorite of the night was a custom made shark inspired princess dress made by Grandma Sharon.  Faye is in LOVE with this gown, as well as the dress up shoes and crown combo given to her by uncles. 

Thanks again to everybody who came to party, and to my mom for always letting us use her home!

Bye-Bye

Faye's been behind in her speech development, this is quite obvious if anybody tries to strike up a conversation with her.  However, she's made great progress since January, and most of that progress is thanks to Miss Marcie, a speech therapist through the school district. 

 

Since Faye will be turning three this week, Miss Marcie came by for her last visit.  As a three year-old, Faye will be attending the same program but in the form of preschool!  We're excited for Faye to be a big girl and ride the school bus every school day, but it was hard to say bye to our new friend.  Thanks for everything, Miss Marcie!

Three Year Old Pictures

 Mom and I took Faye up to Wheeler Farm for some candid photos of my little girl.  Little did we know she had a different plan in store...

 ...Plotting her mischievous ways....

Faye wouldn't let Grandma get back far enough to take a picture!  So Mom and I had to 'toss' the camera back and forth depending on who Faye would respond to, and quickly snap a picture.  

These two are inseparable.  Faye throws fits when we have to leave Grandma's house, or if Grandma leaves our house.  Grandma is equally as in love with Faye.  It's so fun to watch these two together.

I know some of these shots aren't the most beautiful, but they definitely capture Faye's goofy personality.  She's so silly and happy all the time.

This shot could be for a cloning company....Faye looks so much like her Aunt Heidi did at three years old.

We love our Faye!  Here are some thoughts about Faye at three:

-Still in love with sharks, fish, and ocean animals in general.

-Also loves My Little Pony, Princesses, and feeding princesses and ponies to her shark toys.

-Favorite book is The Pout Pout Fish

-Coloring and playing dress-up are daily activities in her routine.

-Her most complimented skill is how well she holds a pencil/crayons/spoons.  She has the fine motor control of a kindergartener, according to the speech therapist.

-Faye's talking is picking up so well.  We can actually have conversations and reason with Faye now!

-She definitely has an appetite.  After listening to horror stories from friends of their picky eaters, we definitely have it easy.

Happy Birthday to my little girl, who's not much a baby anymore.

Summer Fun

 There seem to be so many big events during the summer time that our day-to-day fun falls through the cracks.  Here's a bit of what's been going on:

Playing in Uncle Reed's luxurious Chelsea pool.  It's almost big enough to soak your feet in.

Cheering for Aunt Camille at Parades!  Faye loves having a princess for an aunt.

Getting another hair cut- it can't all be fun.  

 Playing with the cupcake kitchen at the local cupcake store.

Trips to the park.  Faye typically doesn't leave the house without at least one toy in her hand.  She's very insistent, and very good at not dropping anything.

More trips to the aquarium!  So fun to see it be more finished.  Faye was so excited to hug the killer whales.

 And mostly just playing until we're all tuckered out.  (yes, that is sharpie colored up and down her leg.  She had a fun time with Daddy that day.)

Lagoon Adventure

 While Annette and Jeremy were in town, Alan's family decided to go to Lagoon.  I had to work that day and decided it best not to go.  Luckily, Faye and Alan could join in on the fun and, even more luckily, Sharon brought her camera and shared her pictures so I could see how fun the day was. However, since I wasn't there, my commentary is limited to pictures.  So most quotes are Alan's narration.

 "Faye liked the tea cups, we didn't spin them at all."

Annette, Jeremy, and the girls in a pretty pink tea cup.  Since when does Lagoon have tea cups?

"Faye was such a big girl and rode with her cousins.  We put Cambrie and McKenzie on either side of Faye so she didn't fall out."

Alan and Kenzie on the Farris Wheel.

Camille, Kenzie, and Jeremy on the ski lift.

Alan and Faye on the ski lift. 

"Faye and Kenzie rode the carousel while we took Cambrie on the big roller coaster. Faye seems to  love the carousel."

"I have no idea when they went on the Dumbo ride."

"Faye didn't like the ship that rocked back and forth.  Everybody screams when they're up high. (Faye doesn't like loud crowds.) So Aunt Camille covered Faye's ears until the ride was done."

Such a cute shot of Annette, Jeremy, and their girls.  

"Faye did so good!  She was happy and adventurous even though there were crowds.  She got tired before her cousins did, and only wanted to be held by Grandma or Aunt Camille.  I think she was missing mommy."

Sounds like such a fun day.  So sad to have missed out, but grateful for pictures!

South Jordan Towndays

Today was a very long day for Faye and me.  I had a big cake order to fill, and with a busy week of celebrating Reed's graduation, I hadn't gotten much of a head start.  Poor Faye was left to her own devices for most of the day.  Luckily, the recent graduate was willing to come play with Faye for a few hours, which was a tremendous help.  

 Poor Reed was exhausted from the Senior party after yesterday's graduation, so grateful he came to help.

Faye fell asleep soon after Reed left, and by the time she woke up Grandma Lisa and Daddy came home to help.  We finished up the cake order, delivered the cakes, and then both Faye and I were DYING to get out of the house.  Mom, Faye and I decided to check out the festivities at the South Jordan Town-Days celebration.  We were not disappointing in fun things to check out.

 We took advantage of the photo props.  Here is Faye as a horse.

And Faye as an ear of corn.

We wandered around checking out the booths and enjoying the live music.  And then we saw them, Anna and Elsa just standing there, waiting to be loved by children!  Faye was excited, though tense;  Similar to when she's around animals. 

After saying 'Hello' to the princesses, Faye participated in the coloring both.  While coloring, my mom and I admired the princess dresses for sale.  The Elsa dress was BEAUTIFUL!  And it was so very sturdily constructed. We tried it on Faye, it fit perfectly, and our hearts melted.  So Mom and I split the cost of a princess dress that was just as expensive as the dress i wore to my senior prom (granted, I always bought the dresses for prom on clearance, but the price was still the same). 

 

Faye was in heaven.  And Elsa seemed excited to talk to her new mini-clone.  She even gave Faye a fancy tiara, which the booth owner said was free of charge. 

Getting the tiara just right.

Faye with the princesses.  She finally warmed up to them and even pointed at Elsa while saying, "Elsa!"  It melted my heart.

It's funny how something as simple as a princess dress can make the rest of the day magical.  We played on the playground before going home.  Faye spent a good amount of swinging time straightening out her dress.

 She even loved looking at her dress while in the stroller!  So much fun.  

I did my best to hype Faye up on the ride home so she could melt Daddy's heart.   Walking into the house she would say, "Daddy, Elsa!" However, once we got inside, all Faye wanted to do was twirl around with Daddy.  They danced until Daddy was dizzy, and had such a good time doing it.

I can't wait to get her all dolled up and to enjoy her dress with a photoshoot.

Regis C. Dudley III

Our little Regis graduated! This is the last high school graduation we'll attend until Faye is all grown up and graduating (but we don't talk about that yet.)  What a stud muffin, this Reed.  He had such a round of cheers when his name was called, it's obvious he's loved by all.

Now that Reed's all graduated his mission departure date is drawing ever closer.   Goodness knows how much we'll miss him, but I'm so excited for him to have a fun adventure serving the Lord.