Lily is FOUR! Party Edition

I need to be honest. The reason that I haven't posted Lily's Birthday pictures is because I don't have many! Yes, I am ashamed! I told everyone that I KNOW that I would take pictures. Plenty of them. But, here's the thing... I forgot how when you're the host of the party, your camera ends up being neglected. So, I have decided to just go ahead and post the pictures that I have as I am patiently waiting for others to give me pictures that they took. I know, I know.. Ashamed.

Lily had a pretty good day on her birthday. We went to McDonald's for her birthday dinner and went to the toy store to look around for a while. I only have a couple of pictures that actually turned out from her actual birthday. She got her "Grandmother Card" complete with ten whole dollars. She also got a Lizzy doll from Grandma, Rapunzel tower, Rapunzel make-up, necklace, and ear rings, a Tinkerbell watch, and a couple of Rapunzel books!

She also got one of the things she most wanted from DJ and Laura.

(A Rapunzel Dress)

Lily's Tangled Birthday Party was a SMASH HIT! 30 out of the 33 people that were invited came! She certainly had quite the loot including a Rapunzel doll, a build a bear, Belle wand, bath towel, and a beautiful new dress!

And, yes, that is the banner that I made in the background, thanks for asking.

We also played a game and lit a few of the Chinese Wishing Lanterns. I'm excited for those pictures and that story!

Lily is absolutely LOVING that she is four. She definitely feels like a big girl now!

Ribbon Wreath

This is one of the awesome projects that I have been working on. I made this with two of my sisters in law out here in Utah. It was A LOT of work, but I think it paid off. It was so much fun to make too. I kind of like it and was excited to put it on our door. It's is tons of ribbon! If you want to do this, I recommend a comfy chair so your butt doesn't fall asleep!

Decorations!

First of all, let me just say that Lily's party was SOO much fun! I wish that everyone out in Tennessee was there. It was quite the bash! I'll be updating soon on everything that happened complete with pictures.

But, in the meantime...

I have had this idea to put up black and white pictures of me and Matthew above our bed in our room. We don't have any pictures of us up really anywhere in our home. This was the perfect solution! Matthew and I bought these three frames at Ikea (LOVE IT!). Then we waited for mom and dad to bring the picture of us dating here. I printed the pictures off and after about three weeks of them sitting on my bedroom floor, we finally put them up yesterday! And by we, I mean Matthew.

Matthew really wanted this picture of us on the far left. It's from when we first started dating... for probably like a month or something. Since I'm not a particularly HUGE fan of that picture, I picked one of our engagements, which Matthew is not too fond of either. BUT, we both agreed on the wedding pic! We are pretty happy with how these look in our room. I feel like my house is slowly coming together like I want it to.

We also hung these in our room yesterday! It's the perfect accent!

I found these two beautiful fabrics at a fabulous fabric store in Gardiner Village. I knew that I wanted them in my room with my green and white bedding. So, I got my hands on canvases and went to town hot gluing the fabric on them! They turned out just like I wanted and are perfect in our room!!

I have been crazy busy with life and with tons of crafts, which I LOVE! I haven't finished everything quite yet, but (along with Lily's Party Pics) I will be posting my crafts soon!

Silly Lily

Happy Birthday to my sweet, hilarious, spunky, lovable little girl!

We love Lily to pieces and can't imagine what life would be like without her. I can't believe how time has flown by SO fast!

Today, her requests are to go to the toy store and look around (she's hoping we'll get her the Rapunzel dress...) and we are going to McDonald's for dinner! And then we will party hard tomorrow night!

Elder Townsend #5

Missions are bittersweet. No, I take that back. Having a missionary leave is bittersweet. Today, we sent Josh to the MTC where he will be for a while. Procedures have changed at the MTC so the majority of the family said goodbye at the house. All of the Townsend brothers and Brittany, Denise, and Darrell all piled in the Tahoe and went to Provo to drop him off. Josh will be serving in the Mexico, Mexico City Mission, so he will be learning Spanish while in the MTC.

This week has been a SUPER busy week for us. We've had something big everyday. So honestly, it didn't really hit me that Josh was leaving until last night when he was being set apart as a missionary.

Josh is an amazing man! I've known him since he was 13. It's incredible how fast people grow and change. I'm so excited for Josh to serve Heavenly Father and to have experiences that will build him up. It's definitely difficult to say goodbye to someone you love and won't see for two years, but I know that Josh is supposed to go. He's doing exactly what the Lord wants for him. Who wouldn't be proud of someone who's doing that?? I can't type too much more about him because I am starting to get teary eyed just looking at these pictures. But, I will say that Mexico is SOO lucky to be getting Elder Townsend for two years.

Good Luck Joshy!

We love you and are Very proud of this decision you have made!

New Tie

I was so excited for William to wear his super cool new tie to church yesterday! Why? Because I made it! Can you believe that? I've been wanting to make a tie for the longest time. I actually found a pattern and started to make one. However, I got stuck and waited until my mom got out here to help me with a part I didn't know how to do. No worries, now I'm a pro at it! I'm so happy with the way it turned out and William is happy that I actually made him something with my cool new sewing machine (his words exactly).

In the mean time, we have a little girl in our house who is pretty excited about an upcoming birthday.

Birthday Week begins for Lily!

Her tongue looks ginormous.

Megamind

I think this is a sign that we've watched Megamind too many times.

So glad I caught this gem.