Mallory Turns Five!!

Our little girl had her birthday last week! I can't hardly believe she is 5 years old and will be going to kindergarten this fall! She is so excited for school to start. She always talks about making friends and wonders who her teacher will be. We already bought her backpack and have been scoping out lunch boxes. She can't decide if she wants a Princess or a Tinkerbell lunch box, so we haven't purchased it yet. Life's full of tough choices for a 5 year old ;) Next to a Hershey Cookies 'n Creme candy bar, her favorite food is Chicken and Bacon Casserole! She asks for it at least twice a week. And she eats the leftovers for breakfast! She is really into Princesses and ponies right now. Mallory is ALL girl. She likes to pick her own outfit in the morning and then she picks a "hair pretty" to match. Her favorite color is purple. She often gets compliments on her beauty. Over the last couple of months, she has developed a light sprinkling of freckles on her nose. They are so cute, she wears them well :) We just got her 5 year pictures back. She looks so grown up!


This year I attempted to make her birthday cake (something I have NEVER done). I made the cake and then made homemade frosting out of powdered sugar. The only food coloring color I had was green so we called it a Tinkerbell cake and stuck her toy Tinkerbell on top. It's definitely not the best looking cake, but she said she loved it and thanked me for making it for her :)



The birthday girl with her parents!



My family came out to New Jersey for a visit just before her birthday, so we celebrated while they were out here. My brother served his mission in Hong Kong. So that was his inspiration for Mallory's birthday gifts. She was given a Chinese headband.
And also a "geisha" umbrella! Everyone wanted a turn posing with the umbrella. Mallory:

Clark:

Chase with the umbrella. Hahaha! This one makes me laugh!

Cute picture of Aunt Kim and Cael at the party:

Kolsen showing Mallory the gift he got her!

A doll from Grandpa Alan and Grandma Debbie!


Her Grandpa Marc and Grandma Treesa came out for a visit around her birthday too. They took her out to a fun restaurant we have in the area called CheeBurger CheeBurger. (They have them on the east side of the valley in Phoenix if you're interested in trying it - checkout their website for locations!). The waiters and waitresses sang happy birthday and let her blow out a candle - plus a bowl of ice cream! She loved it! She was given a Nintendo DS by Grandma and Grandpa. She's very serious about her game time! If you can't tell from the picture below :) All business!


It's been a lot of fun to celebrate with her! We love our Mallory!

Spring Break

We made a trip out to AZ for Spring Break back in March. I know it's been 7 or 8 months since I have posted. We've had some changes and our family life has become VERY, VERY busy and chaotic! When I'm actually not busy, I'm tired. And I just want to sit and do nothing. It's an excuse, I know. But it's true. I like to Facebook. It only takes a minute to update my status, whereas a blog can take an hour. If we aren't friends on Facebook and you want to be, send me a friend invite and you can keep up with us that way too! Anyway, back to Spring Break.......

We got to spend the first couple of days with my side of the family. We had a little birthday party for my niece Callie and my nephew Kolsen. We also had an extended family get together with aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was so fun to get to see everyone! I swear every female cousin I have is pregnant! I almost felt a little left out :) Our family is growing SO much, it's so fun! And I was really mad at myself because I didn't get any pictures at the party. I snapped this one of Mallory after everyone left.
I think it's how we all felt! Jet lag is a killer when you're talking about a 3 hour time difference!

My parents also took us to see the movie How To Train Your Dragon. Excellent movie if you haven't seen it yet! The kids loved it and were already begging to buy the DVD before we even got out of the theater! They still talk about it. Let's just say when the local pet store starts selling dragons - we'll be first in line :)

We spent the remainder of our vacation with Craig's parents. Craig and his dad went scuba diving in Lake Pleasant. We met them out at the lake and let the kids throw rocks and sticks into the water.
And of course Clark couldn't resist getting in! He walked in up to his hips and we couldn't get his pants to stay up after that. Every time we turned around he was wearing his shorts around his ankles!

Oh no! They're slipping! (Do you think he has any idea how cute he looks trying to pull his own pants up?!)


"Ok, I can't figure out how to get these back up. I better go find some help."


"Thanks Grandma!"


"Not again! Does anyone have any pants I can borrow? Mine aren't cooperating!"


"You're a lifesaver Grandpa!"


Craig's parents took us up to Hurricane, Utah to visit with Great Grandma and Grandpa Kurtzeborn. We drove and made some stops along the way for food and potty breaks. McDonalds was one of the first stops and the kids were ecstatic to find they had How To Train Your Dragon happy meals. They got a dragon toy and their happy meal boxes also transformed into viking hats!
If I had to come up with a caption for this picture it would be....."Onward brave warriors!! SLAY THE DRAGON!!!" (That is one serious viking!)

Chase was given a Nintendo DS (a.k.a best invention ever!). Between that and DVD players the kids were pretty good car riders.

Something fun about Great Grandpa Kurtzeborn (or Grandpa Ed) is literally half of his basement is a train set. (The other half of the basement is Grandma Barbara's library. HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of books!) The kids were so excited to watch the trains go around the tracks! It really is amazing and the pictures don't do it justice.

Clark with Grandpa Ed. You can also see a part of the mountainside in the background. There is a tunnel that runs through the mountain that the trains go through.

Grandma Barb and Grandpa Ed also have a little dog named Rosie. To be honest she was just as bit a hit as the trains were! The kids loved walking her and playing fetch. Rosie was very patient with all the loving attention she was showered with :)

On our way back to AZ we stopped at Cafe Rio for a goodbye lunch with Great Grandma and Grandpa. I was excited to try it. We had never been before, but we have heard a number of people rave about how good it was. Um, not to offend anybody, but I think it was some of the grossest mexican food I have ever tasted. Not even their chips and salsa were good! We didn't like it at all. I wouldn't go back......sorry Cafe Rio fans!

Our last day in Phoenix we spent some time at the park. It was nice to let the kids run around and play and relax before spending the next day on an airplane.

The weather was gorgeous! It was between 70 and 75 the whole week we were there. A big change from the 40 degree weather we were coming from in Jersey! The kids kept asking if they could stay. They miss being around family and they kept saying the mountains and cactus's were beautiful. Mallory's official opinion, "I just love Arizona! It's so fresh, and hot, and sweatish." Hahaha! That pretty much sums it up!