Ava's early birthday party (7/2/2010)

We made a short trip to Utah over the fourth of July weekend and tried to accomplish as much as we could in 3 1/2 days. First up was an early birthday party for Ava. Ava turns 2 on the 24th of this month and we decided while we were in Salt Lake with our family we should celebrate; because its better to party with more than just mom and dad.

For fun I made her a birthday crown and tutu for her birthday party, her shirt says Happy Happy Happy, pretty perfect for my Happy Day girl.



Thank you for coming to my party

Puppy had his own green tutu

Here is the birthday girl with her big sister (who we only got to see for 1 1/2 days :( ) and her cousins Shayla and Kyndra

With Aunt Kayleigh and Uncle Taylor


With great grandma and great grandpa Watts

Grandma and Grandpa Watts


Grandma and Grandpa North

Great Grandma Hanson


Uncle Chezlyn and Aunt Shelly

Aunt Karey


Uncle Wade, Aunt Traci, Megan, and Preston


And her cousins Brendan and Cameron


We then opened all of her fun presents



And then it was time for cake, one of our family traditions (and yes my husband thinks its stupid and he dislikes traditions, but I love tradition), is that for the kids birthdays up until age 8, they get a specialty cake from the store, with something that they love at that time on top. Ava's current favorite is of course "Moushka Mouse" aka Mickey Mouse. We also had cupcakes with Mickey wrappers and one of our favorite healthy weight watchers cakes.

Here are the girls eating cake: Shayla, Trena, Caroline, Charlotte, and Paige



I then had a stupid moment, we gave everyone the cake and icecream of their choice and Ava was busy playing, when she came over wanting her cake, Brent said Ava never blew out her candles, nor did we sing "Happy Birthday." Duh, you'd think with 16 adults there, one of us would have remembered. Then again I didn't remember to take a picture with Brent and I either.

So here she is blowing out her candles from a cake already missing slices.

Next the kids played, here is Preston in the cute sunglasses that my mom bought for the kids


My mom has these great pop up toys, tents, tunnels, but they even have games with balls. The kids had a blast running around and playing with these.

Slam dunk


Playing with Megan


Kyndra


Playing


It was like pulling teeth to get any pictures of my oldest, she did not want her picture taken


The neighbors then put on an illegal fire works show which the girls watched


Everytime I tried to take a picture of Megan and Ava, Ava would dart her eyes to the side to see what Megan was doing. Where Kyndra had a blast playing with the older girls, Megan and Ava played fabulously together. I think they have very similar personalities, they are both shy and they take a minute to warm up. It was cute to see Ava play with her cousins.


And when the night was over Ava went and curled up in Grandpa's arms to watch TV, now this is a huge deal because when we were in Utah in March, she would go to NO one and screamed all the time. In May when they came out here, she was a little better, but still timid about going to others ESPECIALLY my dad. This time she was at ease with everyone. I have really noticed a big change in her lately. She is definitely socializing more with other kids.