Trip to Utah

Right after Tori's birthday, we drove to Utah to visit family. We were lucky enough to get to see Tori's cousin baby Annie get blessed and Annie's big sister Katie get baptized. It was wonderful to be with family during these special occasions. It was also nice because my sister Danielle (who is also an aunt to Annie and Katie - sort of crazy to explain:)) drove down to Utah, too. So, we were also able to play with Danielle, Dan and Olivia. Unfortunately, our camera has been acting up and we were just so busy having fun that I didn't take many pictures at all. Below, Olivia and Tori are having a little sleepover. John, his mom, and all of his siblings went to at a very hot, but fun BYU football game; so Danielle, Dan and Olivia kept Tori, James and me company.

Tori is helping Grandma Katie fill her bird feeders - something she remembered doing last visit and really wanted to do again.

Below, the cousins are playing at a really fun park while some of the adults play tennis and other games. The kids were having a bunch of fun, so it was hard to get them all to stop for a picture. I was able to get a few of them in this picture: Tori, Jane, Maren, Samantha, and Tess.

Jane, Katie, Tori and Tess cuddling together for a picture - I actually got James to join the picture below.

Below - John and his sister Carol (Grandma Katie is off to the left).

Old Video

Here is a cute old video I found of Tori and James that I forgot to post. It is from the middle of July, so James isn't even walking all by himself, yet. I can't believe how fast time goes. It's a pretty long video, so no pressure to watch. I also found two more cute build a bear pictures - below.

Birthday with Family

This year for her present from Mom and Dad, Tori got to go to Build A Bear for the very first time. She was so excited and talked about it for months and months before. We actually took her to go the day before her birthday since John found out that day that he was going to be in surgery really late on her birthday. Tori was thrilled to get to go a day early.

Above, Tori is helping to stuff her bear (I thought the bear she picked out was very cute). She also picked out a sound to go in her bear - it plays a happy birthday song when to press the left hand. Tori and James are really cute when they dance together to the song.

Tori and James are watching as she gets sewn shut. Below, Tori is giving her bear a bath and brushing off all the fuzz.

Below, Tori is dressing her bear in the the rainbow fairy outfit she picked out with red sparkly shoes.

Below, Tori is at the computers naming her bear - she named her Daisy. Tori absolutely loved the whole experience. She was really cute and had a lot of fun. All the people there were really sweet to her. It actually all went pretty quick since Tori was very decisive about what she wanted. I thought she would have a hard time with all the choices, but she knew just what she wanted. What a fun evening!

The next day was Tori's actual birthday and as you can see from the pajamas in the pictures and the fact that James was already in bed, John did get home pretty late. We sure were glad we did Build A Bear the day before.

Tori is blowing out the candle on one of the extra cupcakes that we had taken to her kindergarten class earlier that day. I saved one for her and she got to decorate it when she got home from school (she loves frosting cookies and cupcakes). I didn't want to make another whole cake since we were driving the next day to Utah to stay for a week.

Our happy birthday girl with some of her presents.