Mariah's 3rd Birthday!

We had such busy, but fun day! And Mariah had a wonderful day! She was just beaming and all "grown-up" by bedtime (and exhausted). We started with having three balloons hidden around the house--each one containing a small toy inside. She had me pop them though--she didn't like the sound of the pop (most kids don't, but it is fun to have a prize inside the balloon). Then she got "special cereal" for breakfast (Marshmallow Mateys). Then Grandma Robertson came to pick us up to go to her house for a birthday get-together! I hadn't been able to decorate the cake yet (do to hopefully finding "our house" and making an offer and what not), so I took the stuff to decorate with us--I should have known that there was no way that I would actually get it decorated before afternoon naps--though I tried. The kids had a BLAST together, though they kept the adults very busy! We had macaroni and cheese for lunch (not very healthy, but one of Mariah's favorites--she only eats two things for lunch--peanut butter sandwiches and mac and cheese. It was really fun to have friends and cousins over for her birthday to play! Emily even was able to make it. It was her birthday too--Mariah's middle name is after her--but she got really sick a few days ago and has been preparing for the last 8 months to run a marathon this Saturday, so she was trying to just take it easy and get better, but she decided to stop by and take it easy at Mom's--which was really nice to have her there.


Mariah got such nice gifts from everyone! She is just having so much fun with them right now. After lunch Mariah handed out fruit snacks and toy rings to everyone. Unfortunately I didn't get the cake made before friends had to leave, but I promised them I would bring some cake to them later (which I did--and it's a good thing too--they were counting on it! What cute kids!). Aubrey, Mariah, and James watched Enchanted with Grandma and had popcorn. It was really cute! I was able to finish decorating the cake while they watched the movie. I would have to say that it turned out REALLY cute! It was late enough that we got some pizza and subs and had dinner. Then we sang happy birthday to Mariah and Emily, Mariah blew out the candles and immediately pulled them out of the cake and licked off the frosting! It was pretty cute! The kids all wanted specific parts of the cake, but all were content with pretty much any edge piece with lots of frosting--and that's all any of them ate anyway! When we got home Mariah got to finally open all of her presents. She got a little toy purse and a new doll with hair--she was so adorable with them and felt all grown up! She kept saying how she was now grown bigger and bigger and now could have this or that or she could do this or that--it was really quite cute to see her trying to be so grown up! Here are some cute pictures from her birthday:

Here is the "Annie" cake (from Little Einsteins)--it was actually really fun to make! I used one of my large wedding cake pans (so it's two box mixes). Mariah helped me make the cake and got to lick out the batter after we were done. I printed off a coloring page from the Disney website, scanned it larger and used that as a guide for Annie. As I decorated the cake, Mariah watched on and off. Though James Morrise was extremely interested while I decorated--he would ask questions and was really excited and enthralled about it--it was really cute!

Mariah--quickly taking out the candles to lick off the frosting!
Mariah at home, showing us how old she is turning with her fingers.

She is about to open her presents.

These are some of the cute things she got--she is waving to us with her doll (that she LOVES)!! She was VERY excited about the Star Wars toys as well--yes, Jon is her Dad!

The girls and their "Birthday Parties"

Aubrey and Mariah LOVE to play Birthday Party! It is so cute! They have a toy birthday cake that they love to pretend to eat. Yesterday Aubrey set up a huge birthday party for her doll, Sally. It was time for Mariah to lay down for her nap, but Aubrey asked if Mariah could stay up for a little while for the birthday party. They sang, opened pretend presents, gave their stuffed animals that were in attendance play dishes and served them cake. It was really cute!Sally's presents are in the basket by the table. She opened them before I came into the room. I think they were wrapped in pillow cases and bags.
Sally has the yellow birthday hat on and is Aubrey's doll that is the sister to her baby doll. Aubrey is Sally's mother. She is very serious about that too!
Aubrey told me the names of everyone in attendance--the teddybears were grandpas and she has made up names for them, though I couldn't quite understand what she said their names were.

I asked it I could attend, but was denied attendance because I am not Sally's friend. I am Aubrey's mother and I can't be both, so I can not come to her birthday. It was pretty funny!

Jon's Official Graduation!! Yeah!

Jon got to walk for graduating in December. It was fun and exciting for him and to see him. When I graduated, I didn't go to the Marriot Center ceremony where you walk on the ramp--I kind of wish I had, but that's okay. Myself and Mom and Dad Hansen came to the big ceremony at the Marriot, while Mom and Dad Robertson babysat for us--I think they had the harder job, though I really hate being in the Marriot center and it was almost impossible to find seats (and we were 45 minutes early)! I am VERY glad I did not have the kids there--I get vertigo on those stairs and really feel like I am going to fall over. It was REALLY neat to hear Elder Bednar speak since that is who was the president of Ricks College while Jon and I were there.

It brought back a lot of memories of attending devotional hearing him. We love him! I remember at my Home Ec Woman of the Year ceremony, Jon came and we talked to President Bednar after--he told Jon to focus on his mission, not to have a girlfriend--I was a little annoyed about that, but we did "break-up" and weren't official boy-girl friend. We were just best friends. And then Jon played in the orchestra at my Ricks College Graduation. That was pretty neat. I have pictures of us together after--he in his tuxedo and me in my graduation gown. I will have to put those pictures with these ones--that would be fun to see how we have changed!

Well, back to Jon's graduation. Mom and Dad Hansen brought binoculars and we did finally spot Jon in the huge crowd! They took us out for dinner afterward--we went and got the kids first--and we decided to go out of the Provo area because we knew all of the resturants would be packed. Well, after driving around Springville, Sapnish Fork and surrounding areas, we decided upon a little place in Spanish Fork, which turned out to be pretty interesting--making you wonder if you were going to have food poisoning later, but we were all too hungry to find a different place. The food wasn't too bad actually, well, not bad tasting, I am sure it had more grease and salt than anything I have eaten in a long time. It reminded me of My Cousin Vinny when they go to eat breakfast (it's cooked in a huge amount of lard). It was quite the experience! Mom Hansen is still embarrassed, but it was fun.

Well, the following day both parents and the kids and several siblings came to Jon's College of Family Life Graduation ceremony--it was still pretty big and it was also in the Marriot center, only you didn't have to fight so much for seats. Mariah was hilarious. Dad Robertson and I were sitting by her and she was so onry from being up late the night before and getting up at 6:30 that morning. She would just scowl at you no matter what you said to her. We just kept laughing. There were two girls sitting in front of us that kept laughing too--one tried to help Mariah with her coat once and Mariah gave her the meanest scowl, grabbed her coat, and said, "don't do that!!" We all started laughing while I apologized for my too tired to handle it, onry, funny, girl! Then Jonathan was out in the hall with Mom Robertson and they had free chocolate milk and cinnamon rolls. I was out with them for a little while and got some free food. Jonathan grabbed the chocolate milk--you guessed it--before I knew it there was chocolate milk spread across the "H"section of the Marriot Center hallway. Fortuately there weren't many people out there yet, so we were able to get it cleaned up.

We had a good time overall and it was a great opportunity for the kids to see their Dad graduate and the importance of graduation--education. We went to a reception held afterward where we got to visit with professors and have more BYU Creamery chocolate milk--how can you EVER pass that yummy stuff up! Nobody else makes chocolate milk like theirs!





I love these family pictures! Mariah got to where she couldn't hold still at all--she was just jumping and running around! She is in the air on the second picture!