Happy Birthday Baby!

"Hi! You guys remember me?? I was born one year ago on January 25, 2016, and I quickly became everybody's most favorite baby ever." ~Elizabeth Mid

HOORAY!!! We celebrated little Lizzie's first birthday this week (a few days later than planned due to a nasty stomach bug everyone was passing around), but better late than never as I always say! Doesn't she look cute in her new birthday outfit??

Select the best answer: That's her holding up one finger because a) she's one year old, b) she thinks she's number one, or c) she has everyone wrapped around that cute little finger? Answer: all 3.

We had a jam-packed day of FUN planned to celebrate Lizzie's birthday, starting with basketball games for Lucy and Zach. Ha, ha, ha. Just kidding. Having Lizzie at their games is anything BUT fun! She is constantly trying to walk out onto the court, hates sitting still, and is basically only content when we're wandering the hallways. I bet they were great games though. Sigh...

After Zach's game finished up we headed straight downtown to the Denver Aquarium. We hadn't been yet, and although it was super-duper expensive it was on the bucket list and well, YOLO. We had a really good time!

Lizzie was fascinated by the fishies. She'd point and squawk and seemed to enjoy our little underwater outing. I know the bigger kids certainly did!

We loved the sting rays and sharks. There is something hypnotizing about watching them swim.

Lizzie went in the bubble just in time to see these two fishies smooch. Ha!

Last but not least, up close and personal with the sharks! After we'd checked out the entire aquarium (which is just tiny compared to the Atlanta Aquarium) we headed over to the 4-D theatre for a fun little show. It was nice being there in the late afternoon/evening because there were hardly any people to compete with. 

We had planned on getting pizza at that same pizzeria we'd tried a few weeks ago for dinner (it was so yummy!)-- but after seeing all those underwater creatures the kids oddly enough, were begging for fish for dinner. So, thanks to Google we found a little British fish n' chips shop nearby with excellent ratings.

Wow! It was a fabulous find--- the portions were huge, the batter was amazing, and we enjoyed every little morsel of fishy-goodness. We devoured dinner and then headed back home for cake and presents.

Lizzie had fallen asleep on the way home in the car, but the kids had been D-Y-I-N-G for cake all day long, so against my better judgment (never, ever wake a sleeping baby!), she wasn't too hard rouse thanks to new toys. 

She got a new baby stroller, baby doll, Finding Dory pajamas, and a baby scrapbook for mom to work on for her.

Caught this cute picture of her loving on her new baby doll! Awww.

Elizabeth's birthday Cookie Monster cake. I'd gotten the cake all covered neatly in the blue frosting, and then I poured chocolate on top and Leah was livid that I'd ruined him! "He does not have hair like that!" So yes, it is Cookie Monster, but a more modern art approach to him.

Singing Happy Birthday!

Classic-"what the heck is going on?"-face, and checking in with mom that we haven't all lost our minds.

I'd title this picture, "The Staring Contest." She was totally thrown off by those eyes! Ha ha!

Enjoying some yummy birthday cake! She had no problem diving right in once the eyes were surgically removed.

The siblings were certainly happy we had indeed woken her up for cake and ice cream.

The finished product. I think she liked it! Happy Birthday sweet Elizabeth!

((And just for fun, here's me on my first birthday. What do you think, do we look alike??))

Here she is, all cleaned up and ready for bed. It was so fun celebrating this little girl's birthday. She is our first and only "surprise" baby. One year and nine months ago we definitely got the SHOCK of our lives when we found out we'd be graduating from a family of five, to a family of six a few years before we'd even though of it ourselves. Not to mention, it came at one of the most stressful times of our lives-- about 10 days before we were moving across the country, separating from the military, starting a new job, and buying our first house. If I'm being completely honest, her pregnancy was the hardest on me emotionally. I was wracked with anxiety from start to finish. However, the moment she was born and placed in my arms two things happened almost simultaneously, 1) the fog of anxiety and depression finally lifted and I wasn't worried about loving her, or caring for four kids, and 2) I immediately sensed she completed our family and it was Heavenly Father's plan all along that she become the 6th member of our little team here on Earth. And boy, are we ever thankful for this precious little gift who brings so much joy, laughter, and love into our home!!! She is definitely the best surprise I ever got. Happy Birthday Elizabeth Mid!

Great Wolf Lodge

The kids recently had both Friday and Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, so we coordinated with Jeremy and Kylene and family to stay at the brand new Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs, to beat off some of those winter blues!

We've obviously stayed at a GWL before in Charlotte, NC, so the kids (as well as myself) were totally excited! You could check-in at 1 p.m., so we got there right on time so we could have as much time as possible to play at the water park. The lobby had this gorgeous panoramic view of Pikes Peak off in the distance. I just love Colorado Springs!

As soon as our room was ready we dropped off our stuff and quickly changed into our swimming suits. This little girl didn't remember the GWL from NC of course, but she totally fed off of Zach and Lucy's enthusiasm. She couldn't wait to get her little puddle jumper on and hit the kiddie slides!

There was a HUMONGOUS splash-pad-jungle-gym-thingy that I couldn't keep Lizzie away from. There was a huge bucket that dumped water about every 20 minutes or so, and I had to pay some serious attention to the little warning bell that would ring right before it did so we didn't both get waterboarded by it.

We found a much more kid-friendly splash pad over by the kiddie pool. Much more her speed!

Although the water was heated, it still felt pretty chilly-- and those little kids would freeze running in and out of the water and I'd have to wrap up the little Shorty in towels every so often to get rid of those blue lips! 

Lucy and Zach mostly stuck to the slides you can see in the background. They have some super fun ones, with the pies de resistance being the "Wolf Tail," thanks to its death-defying drop and speed. It's no joke!! You start by standing up, in a little tiny tube with a door (almost like a coffin), and then they push a button which counts down from "3, 2, 1" and then the bottom completely drops out from underneath you.  It's a nearly vertical 20 foot free-fall, followed immediately by a 360 degree high-speed loop and speaking from personal experience, it's CRAZY. We'd count from up at the top and it took no more than 7 seconds for the rider to get from the top to the bottom.  Proud to say, by the end of our stay BOTH Lucy and Zach tried it. They are little dare-devils!!

We swam all afternoon, and then stopped by the Dunkin Donuts in the lobby for a treat on the way back to our room to change.  Those kids were starving!

To kill some time before Jon could meet us down there (he was working until 6 p.m.) we wandered around the other stuff they had to do, and wound up meeting one of the wolf mascots, Violet.

They had a fun tree-fort to climb on, miniature golf, bowling, a huge arcade, lots of restaurants, and a ropes course you could pay to do.

After a not-so-nutritious pizza dinner, things got a bit complicated as Jon finally arrived, but I had to head back to Parker in order to teach the 100th release of Body Pump the next morning (it was an international Launch date and kind of a big deal in the Les Mills world). I took Lizzie with me, figuring she'd sleep much better in her own bed, the kids would certainly sleep better at the hotel, and Jon would only have 3 kids to watch the next morning until I could come back. They watched the "Bedtime Story" show that night right before bed.

The Launch went great, everyone slept well, and we reunited with the family as quickly as we could in order to spend the rest of the day at the water park!

These guys were the "Three Amigos" and if you found one, you could find the others. They looked like little ducklings following whichever adult was in charge of them. They LOVED the wave pool!

We decided to just get lunch at the water park so we didn't have to leave and come back, which as you know with wet kids and wet clothes would be a huge ordeal. Surprisingly the food was really good! Jon and I shared a burger and it was delish.

By mid-afternoon the littles ones were winding down and I caught this cute picture of Leah and Sophie watching a movie together. While Zach and Lucy, and the adults took turns riding some more water slides, we slowly got changed, packed up, and ready to hit the road back to Parker. The kids were exhausted from their two days of swimming and playing, but so happy we'd gotten to have a little staycation! We can't wait to go back!

Ringing in the New Year!

The week after Christmas continues to bring lots of fun celebrations-- including our wedding anniversary on the 30th. Can you believe we've been married 12 years??

It's fun to pull out old photographs of when we were dating-- the kids think it's hilarious that Jon once had hair, and of course that I was young and beautiful, without the current bags under my eyes and fly-away gray hairs, ha, ha. We sure had some good times back in Provo!

Lucy and Zach were so sweet, they made us a special anniversary breakfast of an egg and cheese bagel sandwich, and leftover Christmas fudge. Don't forget the mayonnaise and applesauce on the side!

After Lizzie's ordeal on Christmas Eve, the poor little baby came down with a really nasty cold. She had a mild fever for about 3 days straight, lots of congestion, and just felt really yucky. We wanted her to get lots of rest, so we had to forgo most of our plans for that week so we could stay home and let her recuperate. By Friday night though, cabin fever was in full force so we got a babysitter for the older three kids (I still wasn't ready to leave Lizzie just yet), and Jon and I headed to Casa Mariachi for our anniversary dinner. Nothing says "I love you" like chips and salsa! 

Saturday night was New Year's Eve, so we invited Jeremy and Kylene + cousins over to help us celebrate. We did a potluck dinner-- I made Kings Hawaiian sliders, spinach dip, pina coladas, and an Oreo cheesecake (done in 45 minutes, thank you very much) in my new Instantpot which was a huge success.

The kids ran wild downstairs in the basement, while the adults played Settlers of Catan for old time's sake. At about 8:30 we caught the London NYE recorded celebration and toasted 2017's arrival!

And thus ensued an epic dance party! Woohoo! Happy New Year! These cousins have so much fun together.

Jon's office was closed on Monday, January 2nd (New Year's Day observed) and it was also the kids' last day of winter break. We knew we had to do something pretty big to celebrate the last day of true freedom before spring break-- which is still months away. We decided to check out the Denver Children's Museum--which incidentally, Jon's dental staff had all chipped in on to give our a family a pass for Christmas this year. 

They had a really fun baby area just right for Lizzie (and Leah apparently) to crawl around and explore.

Leah loved playing "dentist" to this little monkey, just like daddy does at work. The museum was super busy due to the holiday, so we didn't stay as long as we would have liked, but with our new pass we can go back any time we want!

We got lunch at a new pizzeria that was highly recommended by a friend, in downtown Denver called Pizzeria Locale. It was really good! Jon got a spicy Sicilian pizza all to himself.  

I got the Maize pizza which had white sauce, ham, and fresh corn and it was really yummy. It's a similar pizza concept to places like Mod Pizza, but the dough is lighter and fresher and makes a huge difference in the taste. I couldn't keep Elizabeth's hands off it!

And then school started back up, just like that... Christmas is officially over and January with all its windy and cold weather is well underway. I signed the kids up for basketball starting this month, and it's been a great success so far. They had their first games on Saturday morning, and lo and behold, they each scored a basket or two and LOVED learning the great game of b-ball.

I thought it was a pretty crazy coincidence that they both ended up pulling jersey number 10!

While I headed home after their games so Lizzie could nap, Jon took Lucy, Zach, and Leah ice skating (plus Lucy's friend Collette) at the new discovery trail right by the new library near our house. We're so excited to have ice skating so close to us! Yay! One more family-friendly thing to do here in Parker.

That night we decided to try a new place in Aurora that featured Australian food called the Great Australian Bite. They had meat pies, sausage rolls, and other authentic "tucker" and it truly felt like a meal the hobbits would have eaten and enjoyed on Lord of the Rings.

Jon is brave. He got the kangaroo pie, which was really weird tasting if you ask me. The kids shared a beef and cheese one, and I got the curry chicken pie which was super homey and flavorful. It was fun to be eating like those down "unda"!

Well, at least I thought it was... Leah obviously thought otherwise. She just wanted Chick fil A. We also tried a custard pie and Lamington which was a piece of vanilla cake dipped in chocolate and shredded coconut for dessert.

Mmmmm! Lizzie loved the custard pie, and I think that little face says it all. Cheers to 2017, mates!