Happy Abby Cadabby Birthday!

March 31st was Lily's birthday! She's already one! Can you believe it? It feels like yesterday that I had her. No, it SEEMS like yesterday that I had her. If it felt that way, I probably wouldn't be doing this right now... Anyway, we had an Abby Cadabby birthday party for her the Friday before her birthday. Abby Cadabby is from Sesame Street, which Lily loves. Abby's a newer character. All the party things that had her on it were pink, so ofcourse, it was perfect for Lily's party. It was a lot of fun. We just had family come over to open presents and eat yummy cake. I won't bore you with my "proud parent" pictures of different angles of her opening every present, but I thought I would share some with all of you guys. These are some of my faves.

This is Lily in her birthday dress and her party hat. I couldn't resist that dress!

Here Lily is starting the demolition of her smash cake. I think she took the name of the cake literally, as you will see as you scroll down.

Ofcourse, if Lily is doing something cool, Will must join in. Poor girl...



William enjoying Lily's cake. Need I say anything??

Lily when she was done with her cake. The cake when Lily was done with it.

Lily's real birthday cake from Publix. It was delicious! Happy 1st Birthday Lily!!

Tagged - about my husband

So, Krystin tagged me. I'm filling this out, only because she wants me to.

What's his name? Matthew Robert Leo Townsend
How long have you been married? 2 1/2 years! Seems like eternity already
How long did you date? let's see, from the time we met until we got married, we dated for 7 months
How old is he? he's almost 25!!
Who said 'I love you' first? That would definitely be me
Who kissed who first? Uh... I kissed Matt first, although he did try to kiss me on our first date
Who asked who out first? Matt asked for my number and called and asked me out that week. Love it!
Who proposed? TECHNICALLY, I proposed the first day we met- jokingly- but, OFFICIALLY, Matt proposed and gave me my diamond!
Who eats more? Yeah, that's probably Matt
Who is taller? Matt
Who is smarter? Well, I don't know... We're both smart about different things
Who does laundry? I wash and fold and Matt hangs up the clothes
Who does the dishes? Matt is wonderful at helping with the dishes
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Matt does, but sometimes I wish I did...
Who pays the bills? I do
Who mows the lawn? My father
Who cooks dinner? Honestly, my mom does, but I cook on Wednesdays
Who drives when you are together? Matt
Who is more stubborn? maybe me?
Who has more siblings? That would for sure be Matthew. He has 5 sisters and 4 brothers. I have 3 brothers and 3 sisters.
Who wears the pants in the family? I like to think that we both wear one pant leg
Whose parents do you see more often? Well, since we live with my parents, we see them everyday
Who has more friends? It depends on if we're in Utah, where everyone knows "Townsend" or in Tennessee, where, well, I think Matt has more friends....

By the way, Keaven, I tag you.

Matt's Cool Truck

Here is Matt's cool truck. The first picture is the before picture, or the potato truck, if you will. The second picture is the truck before Matt got his bumper and end caps. Matt Emett, please enjoy! Please, believe that Matt and my dad actually did this! Crazy, huh??

Ladies and Gentlemen, drumroll please...

We have FINALLY purchased our plane tickets to go to Utah!! This is our family summer vacation. I'm ecstatic! We will be going to see my sister Carrie and Matt's family. We'll be able to see Angela's baby boy, who should be arriving soon. But, most of all, we will be traveling across the US of A to see this handsome fella to the right here (Spencer), leave to serve a mission! Well, actually, we'll see him leave to go to the MTC in Provo, UT. From there, he'll go to serve the Lord in Spokane, Washington. We're so proud of him and his decision to go! I've heard that Washington is a beautiful place and several people I know who have served there said that they loved it.
Anyway, we'll be going out there for 8 days. I'm happy, but a little sad. On the bright side, we'll be out there to spend Mother's Day and also my birthday with Matt's family, but on the other side, that means we won't get to spend them here. Also, we'll miss Taylor's (my beautiful neice) first birthday, which is two days after my own birthday (yeah, we're friends), although I'm not turning one. I'm sure everything will turn out just fine and I know that we'll have a great time either way.
I think that all four of us are looking forward to seeing family and seeing Spencer. When we flew out to Utah for Christmas, it was crazy. I'm pretty positive that it will be better this time around. I'm sure there won't be quite as many people in May as there was in December. We'll be able to pack a little lighter since we won't need coats and Christmas presents. Not to mention the fact that Will is going to have his own seat. I think mother's everywhere understand why that puts my stomach at ease. All in all, we're very excited! We'll keep everyone posted!

Books and Stuff

I have written in another blog entry that I have found my love of reading. Lately, I've been reading some church books, inspirational and otherwise. I read a series that was about the love story between Joseph and Emma Smith and I loved it. I've also been reading the Twilight Series over and over again. I love those books. I love the story so much.
Anyway, I have decided that I am going to be ambitious. I have read a few of the American classic novels in the past. I absolutely loved To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby. Now, I am wanting to read European Classics. I really have an interest in reading Jane Austen. I have Pride and Prejudice and have attempted to read it. It's a very involved book and it took a lot of my energy to try and understand it. To quote You've Got Mail, I "get lost in words like 'thither.'" I really want to read it though because I love the movie and I think I was one of the very few who loved Becoming Jane.
I also just purchased Wuthering Heights at Barnes and Noble on Friday. Like I said, ambitious. I'm really hoping that my enthusiasm will get me through. I'm sure some people think that I'm stupid because they've read these books already and had no problem. Well, please, take this blog entry as a compliment. I'm striving to be a reader of classic novels, like you.

Ticket Prices!!!

So I was going to post something yesterday, but then I realized that all of my past three posts have been on a Wednesday. I didn't want to be the Wednesday person, so here I am on Thursday. I'm struggling a little bit with a decision. My brother in law, Spencer is going on in mission in May. He's going to Spokane, Washington. He's actually reporting to the MTC on my birthday. His farewell is on Mother's Day. Matt and I have been trying to decide whether or not William, Lily and I will be going to Utah for this awesome event. Matt is going, ofcourse. He doesn't want to miss this experience to see his brother before he leaves for two years, and I don't want him to miss it. Finally, we decided to take the whole family so that we can all see Spencer. I went to buy the plane tickets and the prices have gone up. Now, we don't know what we're doing. I'm eager to see family out in Utah and for Will and Lily to see everyone also. We'll see what happens. Here's hoping plane ticket prices go down!

Josh's Space

This is for everyone, but in particular Joshua Townsend. He is Matt's brother that lives in Utah. This is Josh snowboarding. It's an awesome picture that shows his cool skills. I copied it off of his myspace page. Josh, here is our salute to you. Love you so much!