Happy Birthday Lucy! and then some...

I can't believe my little Lucy-goose is 4 now! Ah! It seems so long ago, but also not so long ago that she was just born! It was like a different world then! So crazy. Lucy is the best. She is still my little social butterfly, life of the party, happy-go-lucky, fun girl. She is so imaginative and could play by herself in her room for hours on end. She also asks to go to her 'friends' house every. single. day. She loves singing, dancing, and practicing hand-stands and cartwheels. She loves to be the center of attention, but is so kind to everyone. She loves making new friends, and is very good about including friends and making people feel welcome. She loves coloring and writing and has recently decided she wants to learn how to write letters-- (finally? she has been able to read them all and tell you their sounds for over a year! her motor skills came a little slower than some, but I swear, once she learned how to skip a LOT of things clicked for her! Her handstands, cartwheels, writing, skipping, etc...) She can write her L's and a few other letters, so I'm sure with a couple hours of practice she could write her name. She likes to march to the beat of her own drum though and do things on her terms. She is very tender-hearted and sensitive and loves playing with 'her baby' (Clara). She is the best big sister and loves having someone to play with all the time! We're so proud of you Lucy, We Love you!

We were lucky enough to have Grandma Carrie still staying with us for Lucy's birthday! We woke up and snuggled in bed and told her it was her birthday. She seemed pretty confused and just kept asking us with this quizzical look, "I'm 4 now?" Haha... It seemed to finally click so she opened a few presents from Grandma Carrie- a fun Doc McStuffins coloring book, and a new Princess Sofia book that she is obsessed with! She also opened her new purple purse and outfit from Mom, Dad, & Clara. We then headed to the gym (which she LOVEs to go to!). Tyler came home for lunch where she opened the rest of her presents: a PINK Strider bike was the biggest hit!

 She then opened a few more outfits and a cute swimsuit from Grandma!

Love these cute girlies!

We then met up with some friends that afternoon to go swimming for a couple hours! Lucy had a blast going up and down the slides with me, and Clara sat with grandma most the time! None of the pictures I took of Lucy turned out, but here's a cute one of Clara! Love that little rug-rat!

 We had a quiet afternoon at home while Clara napped, and headed to dinner that night at a Pizza place! Lucy requested ice-cream, so we headed to the mall to get some 'green' ice cream! Yum!

Thanks for dinner and the ice cream Grandma!

 I think she had a grrrreat Birthday! 

It was SO nice having my mom here. I SO wish she could have stayed longer! We do love it here, but it's SO hard being away from family sometimes. Like all the time. Haha.... but we had a good time with Grandma. We went to lunch a few times, made treats, hung out, and just played! I think we ended up at Target like 3 times... When in Minot... haha. My cute friend Jaymie was being induced Tuesday, so after we got Lucy in bed on her birthday Monday night we headed over to Jaymie's house with my mom's amazing caramel corn to watch the Bachelor with Jaymie and her mom! Haha. Quality T.V. I tell ya... But so much fun. I really have the greatest friends here. 

Lucy SOBBED after we dropped my mom off at the airport Tuesday... sobbed. It was rough... But on a lighter note, Jaymie had her baby GIRL! This is baby #5 for her, they didn't find out what they were having and are so excited to have girl number 4 now! Eleanor Rose is just beautiful... I can't get over all  of my friends have the cutest baby girls lately! My dear friend Celeste just had her baby girl, Norah, too! I'm in baby girl heaven! I love it!

and look at all of Eleanor's hair! Ah... I die. I miss her already! and how does someone look so good after having 5 kids? Ridiculous Jaymie...

 In other random news, I finally confirmed that Clara has an extra tooth. Yep. 5 front teeth instead of 4. I did notice it when she first got that tooth, but didn't really do the math and just figured she would get the other side's tooth later.... and the girl has a HUGE mouth. I finally did some serious calculations and yep. 5 front teeth fit in that mouth pretty dang good and straight. It's ridiculously awesome. Lucy's 4 front teeth are on top of each other, and Clara's 5 are evenly spaced. Looovve it. 

 and some random pictures of my favorite meal of Chicken-fried Steak and creamy Mashed potatoes... Pioneer Woman. This is the leftovers from Sunday's dinner with the Winn's! Did I mention we have really cool friends here? Because we do.

also Clara's mullet is awesome. I know.

In other random news/updates.

Our ward here split a couple weeks ago, we are now in the new Minot 3rd ward! Which means we got released automatically from our old callings (Primary Secretary, and Ty was the Membership ward Clerk), so we are now the proud new 12-13 year old Sunday school Teachers! Can you say best calling ever? We team teach the coolest kids.... once a week for an hour, and the kids are awesome. I get to go to Relief Society, AND miss Gospel Doctrine. Did I just say that out loud? OH well. We're pretty much thrilled... We do miss our friends who are in the 2nd ward though! Sniff sniff... In all seriousness, I was the primary secretary in our last ward in utah too, which I loved, but it's a very 'administrative' calling, so I am very much loving having to prepare a lesson, and go to relief society. I need a little spiritual-ness in my life. It is a huge blessing, and very much needed.