Happy 5th Birthday!!

This birthday for Lauren was a lot different than ones in the past. When she turned 2, 3, and 4, I was in the kitchen for hours preparing cake or cupcakes. This birthday I didn't even spend one second preparing anything in the kitchen.

Has anyone ever known a 5 year old, or any age for that matter, that didn't want a birthday cake?

This year Lauren just wanted to get some frozen yogurt at MyFroYo. We invited family to come along. We have gotten together with Jason's brother and family, and his sister on Lauren's birthday for the last 5 years. That is hard to believe! Where does time go?

The only dilemma for the evening was: How was Lauren going to blow out candles?

Well, we made her a cake out of our cups, sang happy birthday, and she blew out her candles.

We love you, Lauren! You are one of a kind!!

Party Time At The Brown's

We decided to let Lauren have a party for her 5th birthday. Five of her friends were able to come. Before everyone arrived, we took a picture of our decorations and, boy, do the Browns know how to decorate!
We took this picture, after which I realized the silverware drawer was open and the package of knives were on the counter. We can't have that in our picture, so Jason took several more pictures with all of that fixed. Little did I know that something else was in this first picture...

Lauren's party consisted of "pin the tail on the donkey."

I played with the girls and came the closest. I outsmarted them all! (Or maybe it is because I cheated by feeling the outside of the poster.)

Then, they decorated sugar cookies that were shaped like butterflies, a crown, and a princess shoe.

Finally, Lauren opened her presents.

Lauren loves all of her friends. She could play with them all day and all night. Thanks to all the girls who could come.

Playin' In The Rain

          It's raining; it's pouring.

The old man is snoring.

He went to bed and bumped his head,

And he couldn't get up in the morning.

It rained here a few weeks ago, so Lauren took advantage of it. She put on her rain boots and rain coat and ran outside to play in the small puddles. She laughed the entire time. :) 

To The Hills We Went

Lauren and I had our "yearly end of the summer get away" trip to Oakley, while Jason went to Las Vegas for classes. It was another great time with my parents. We stayed for almost a week, and the week couldn't have been any better weather wise and all. Have I said before how much I love going to the mountains around Oakley? I'm sure I have, but I will reiterate it now and probably next year too.
We were able to go to three different places while there. I've posted a lot of pictures, mainly for my family because I know they all love the mountains as much as I do. So this post probably won't be too boring for them, but for the rest of you who might check out my blog, you may be bored, but what's new???

We went to the City of Rocks, but first stopped at the Outpost in Almo for lunch.

In the background of this next picture are the Twin Sisters, which were a major landmark for pioneers passing by on the California Trail in the mid 1800s. The City of Rocks has some of the oldest rock in North America. The sister on the left is 2.5 billion years old and the sister on the right is 25 million years old. How does that happen? They cooled underground at different times, but were both brought to the surface at the same time by erosion.

Bathtub Rock is the tall one in the back in this next picture. It is named that for the hole on top, which feels up with water from rain and looks like a bath tub. On the backside are handles so anyone can climb to the top of Bathtub Rock.

We took the four wheelers up Old North Road on our second trip to the mountains. Oakley is down below.

Our final trip to the mountains was to Bostetter, which is a campground. We rode all around up there. I love when the trees start changing colors.

Finally, a video of Lauren up at the City of Rocks. She is well on her way to being the next American Idol...