PARTY TIME!!

So we celebrated Jayanne's birthday over the weekend. It was alot fun. It is still weird to think that she is 2. We had almost the entire family there which made it even better. We had dinner, a pinata and presents. I will write about first then post all the pics. So dinner was really good and we wouldn't of been able to pull it off without the help of our families who all pitched in and brought something. It was fun to just sit and visit with everyone and have our families get to know each other better. After dinner we did the pinata. Which kinda ended up being a bust. We had a pull string one so all the cousins could participate and because we didn't think that having a bat being swung was the greatest idea. So all they had to do was pull a string and one lucky one would open the pinata....NOT! All of the strings got pulled and nothing happened. We know what string was supposed to open it but it didn't work. So Brian got a stick and had to break it open which was still a bust. So he swung the bat and the candy shot out, i mean literally, shot out of the pinata and went across the yard. Well most did. One hit my niece Ashley right in the forehead and about three others hit my sister Julie right in the face at full speed. Brian and I both felt completely awful. Thankfully they weren't way hurt or anything. Anyways, everyone had fun running around and picking up the candy that was everywhere. The best part was that my brother-in-law Chris told my dad that the pull strings wouldn't work and that we would have to bust it open and someone was gonna get hurt. After that we had Jayanne open her presents. She loved it. She would just start pulling things out of bags and throwing it behind her and then move one to another one. She didn't really pay much attention to what is in the bags or anything, she just wanted to get it out of there. But since then she has had fun playing with everything that she got. She got alot of stuff and I have no where to put so I guess that means its time to get rid of some of her other toys to make room for the new ones. After the presents we sang to her. We just did cupcakes since Jayanne is not a huge cake fan. So she blew out the candles on top of the cupcake and just ate ice cream. After she blew out the candles she sang to herself. Instead of singing happy birthday she sings Happy to you. It was really cute. She just kept singing it over and over. All in all I think it was alot of fun and turned out to be a great night celebrated with family.

Everyone just hanging out.

Milly, Michael, Mckenzie

Getting ready for the pinata fun.

Jayanne taking her time deciding what one to pull.

Ashley hoping for the best.

Miss Milly taking her turn at the pinata.

Each time Brigder pulled a string and nothing happened he would just chuck the string on the ground and storm off. It was funny.

Mckenzie trying her best to pick the right string. She did get the right one just nothing happened. Zach was very anxious waiting for his turn but having fun at the same time.

Brian going in for the kill.

Jayanne opening her presents.

Jayanne having fun opening her presents. She would get frustrated when I would make her look at the cards instead of letting her open the presents. Needless to say not all the cards where looked at.

Blowing out the candles.

Happy to you!!

My cute niece Avery.

This is what happens when you put my sister Emily in charge of the camera.

ALLEN IS HOME!!

Allen is back from serving on his mission in the Anchorage Alaska mission!! It has been probably the fastest 2 years of my life. Partly because of Jayanne. But it is great to have him home again! It was fun to be at the airport to see him right after he got off the plane. It got a little insane because his flight ended up coming in like a half hour early but luckily my mom was checking the flight and noticed early enough to notify the family so we were still all able to be there when he came. We were sad that Sheri's family wasn't able to be there but his flight was early and I wouldn't drive from Richmond either but they did come down later in the day so we were all together for part of the day. Anyways, as we were waiting for him to come down we all were joking with my mom to see which one of us were gonna push her out of the way and get to Allen first. We only joked about it because that is what Allen did when Jason got back from his mission. The best part was that Jason's son Bridger ended up being the first one to Allen. He only touched him and then ran but he did get there before my mom. Kinda funny.

Allen and my mom.

Allen, me and Jayanne. She wasn't all that sure about him.

Allen and Emily. It totally looks like they are getting ready to kiss, they of course didn't but it totally looks like it.

Allen and my dad. Its not a great picture but they wouldn't stop moving.

Brian had the camera so I didn't get a picture of him giving Allen a hug and I really only posted the one with Emily because of the position that they are in. HA! Anyways, after we did all the hugs, Bridger, who is 4, walked up to Allen and asked him to play tag. It was really funny. He has been waiting for Allen to come home so he could play tag and have him over to swim. Allen did play tag with him right there at the airport. It was really cute. After the airport, the parents took Allen to be release and we went to the parents house to put up the welcome home sign.

After he came home and we did picture time by the sign, we went to see the grandparents.

Grandma Knighton. She was so concerned how short she would look next to Allen.

Grandpa Stephens. He was just glad to be there with Allen.

Grandma Stephens. She was concerned she wasn't looking her best for the picture but as you can see she is just as fabulous as ever.

The grandparents loved just sitting there with Allen and the rest of us. After we saw them we just went home and had lunch together with everyone before Emily had to leave to back up to Camp Barlett. It was a lot of fun to just be all together again. I will say this, I don't think Allen changed all that much. I know he did spiritually and emotionally but his personality and mannerisms I think are exactly as they were before. It was great to see him again. It is kinda weird since he is usually not around but its great to have him home. All the nieces and nephews are starting to warm up to him and before he knows it he will not have a moments peace anytime any of them are around. I am excited to hear him speak on Sunday. WELCOME HOME ALLEN!!

A New Roof

So our project over the weekend was to reshingle our roof. And if anyone has ever done that before you know how absolutely awful it is. It took us 5 days to complete the project. And of course we had to replace everything so it was that much more fun. It would have gone faster but it got so hot up there that during the hottest part of the day they weren't able to get anything done. I didn't do anything except watch Jayanne and run and get the supplies that they ran out of. Brian is pretty sore from it and I can imagine anyone else who helped probably is too. We could not have gotten it done without all the help that we got. A HUGE thanks to Duane, Chris, Brett, Doug, Blake, Danny, Jill, Michael and Mckenzie. You guys were life savers!

Feeding the Ducks

So today Brian took us to feed the ducks at Layton park after Jayanne's wellchild checkup (she is still growing). Jayanne had a absolute ball with this. She had no fear. At one point she was trying to walk up to the ducks to give them the bread and didn't understand why they kept running away from her. She got so excited everytime she saw a new duck. It was really fun. I will admit that I had a blast too.

This has got to be like the worlds ugliest duck.

Happy 4th Of July!!

So for the fourth we didn't do a whole lot since Brian was working on getting the roof finished but we were able to make some time for fireworks. We went to Grandma Singletons house and watched the West Point fireworks. It was a perfect spot. It was really fun. Jayanne loved it.

Jayanne Turned 2!!!

So Jayanne turned 2 this past week and I cannot believe it. It honestly seems like yesterday I was working at Tanner Clinic and telling my boss that I was pregnant. And now here I am with a 2 year old. Jayanne is a wonderful little girl. She is so smart and funny. I swear that girl can make me laugh no matter what. My favorite thing that she does is instead of calling for Mommy and Daddy she just yells MODDY!! to get both of us to answer. She is just a sweet girl that has such a spirit about her. She came into our lives completely unexpected but I wouldn't change it for the world. I am so blessed to be able to stay at home with her and help her learn and grow. I love you Jayanne!!

For her birthday we took her to see Cars 2. She did pretty good for being her first theater experience. Towards the end you could tell that she was done and had no interest in the movie whatsoever. She did have fun having her cousins, aunts, uncles and grand parents there with her. Thank you to those that were able to come and share her day with her. We just did presents on her birthday from mom and dad since we are doing a party in a couple weeks so Emily and Allen could be there. She had fun opening them and so far she had enjoyed playing with them as well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAYANNE!! WE LOVE YOU!!

Sunset City Days

Last weekend Brians family got together to celebrate my sister-in-law Casandra finishing school. Congrats to her!! We had dinner at their house and then we went to Sunset City Days. Our Grandma Satterlee lives right across the street from Sunset park so we were able to have excellent parking and wonderful seating for the fireworks. It was an absolute blast. After we went through all the booths at the park we just hung out at grandma's house and waited until the fireworks started. Jayanne was scared of the fireworks at first but after the first few she couldn't get enough.

Jayanne and me next to Grandpa Satterlee's firetruck.

Jayanne just enjoying the sun.

Brian enjoying a Banana snowcone.

Jayanne and Milly just chillin until fireworks.

Everyone playing an intense game of Killer Bunnies.

Chris and Grandma Satterlee enjoyed watching Jayanne and Milly play.

Ok so the best part of this day was Jayanne went down on one of the huge bouncey slides at the park. She absolutely loved this. After we got done she kept trying to run to the entrance to go again and when we took her from the entrance she would just run to the exit to try to climb back on and go down again.

The boy in green that goes down before us is Jayannes cousin Michael.

Thank you to Brett and Casandra for inviting us!! We had so much fun! And Congrats to Casandra for finishing school!!