Penny's First Photo Shoot

Here is a sneek peek of our little Penny's first photo shoot. It was such a precious and sweet experience. Brad and I were able to take her, just the two of us (miracle, I know). The photographer was like a newborn "snake charmer". I told her that I would be calling her at 3 a.m. to come over and "tame" Penny. Here is her info, if you live in the AZ and your prego, book her NOW! You will not be disapointed with her or her prices. Check out her blog and you can see some more of our little Penny.

Kristin Merwin Photography

**INTRODUCING**

Penny Randall

November 16, 2010

7 lbs 10 oz

21 in

Welcome to our family sweet little Penny

Happy Birthday to Abbie!

Our sweet Abbie turned 8 on Oct. 13th. This has been such a big birthday for her, it seems like there are so many milestones at this age. We started the morning off with breakfast in bed (she ended up eating it at the table with us).

Then, she opened up her presents from us. We got her her first set of "real" scriptures with her name on them. At first she wasn't super excited, but after we explained what they were and how special they were, she loves them and feels so big to have them. We also got her a special journal and an outfit.
I always take them on a special date with just the two of us on their birthday. Abbie chose lunch and a pedicure this year. I have to say I was just as excited as she was to get a pedicure.

That night we had her birthday dinner.

The Menu

(chosen completely by Abbie)

Grilled Steak

Tortilla Chips

Queso Dip

Fruit Salad (strawberries, blueberries, and bananas)

Dessert:

Brownies, Cookies and Ice Cream

Special things about Abbie:

The peacemaker in our home

Kind to everyone

Loves to write stories, read, and draw

Loves to play with friends

Loves to play with her sisters

Still loves to spend time at home and with her family

Excellent student

Loves gymnastics, basketball, singing, and dancing

Always the first to notice when someone is sad and needs to be cheered up

We love you so much Abbie, our family would not be the same without you!

Birthday Party for Abbie!

Abbie wanted a birthday party at the park this year (hooray for our budget). I told her we could just do a bunch of fun birthday games and she was super excited. It ended up being a great party and all the girls had so much fun. The first game we did was a water relay race where they had to fill up their sponge with water, then run to their teams bowl and squeeze out as much water as they could. It was so cute they wanted to play it twice. I handed out point coupons for every game so everyon felt like winners and then at the end of the party, they traded in their points to pick out a prize from an assortment that I had. So, everyone got to take home a prize.

Another game we did was inspired by that minute to win it show. They had to rub vaseline on their nose then when we said go, they had to dip their nose into a bowl of cotton balls and "drop" the cotton ball into an empty bowl by shaking it off their nose. Whoever did the most the fastest was the winner. We did this game in groups of 4 so there were multiple winners.

All the cuties eating fruit and cake

The Birthday Girl getting ready to open her presents

Nailpolish hot potato

This game was the favorite of the party by far. I had 4 or 5 different nailpolish colors that I handed out randomly to the girls while they had their bare feet in the middle of a circle. We turned on the music and they passed the nail polish around. When the music stopped, if you had nailpolish in your hand, you painted your first toes that color. By the end, everyone had a rainbow of colored toenails.

We also did a three leged race that was really cute, but I missed taking pics of that.

Some of the girls being silly

Her cute cake with matching daisy cupcakes

It turned out great and Abbie had a blast!