rMalan got to have her birthday in a hotel for the second time. (Her fifth birthday was in a hotel in Washington, D.C. while we visited the temple.) This time the Hales invited us to join them in Branson for fall break. How fun to be woken up as a ten-year-old by a room full of cousins for your breakfast in bed!
Then present opening in the kitchen. Malan wanted scarves and headbands and high heeled shoes this year. Such grown up tastes! But one little stuffed animal friend was thrown in to the mix.
The rest of the day we got to spend in Silver Dollar City, the neatest amusement park tucked into the forresty hills of Branson. We had such a great time! And we spotted a few criminals.
This one doesn't look the least bit sorry for what she's done.
We sang Happy Birthday to Malan and she blew some powdered sugar off her oreo funnel cake and made a wish. Yum!
Caleb wasn't able to come on this trip because of work, and we missed him a lot. But these great girls and I had so much fun here with the Hales. Wish we had gotten a big group picture!
To keep things real though, I had the most horrible allergy attack of my life in the morning and wished I could have dunked my head into a bucket of ice water for about 2 hours, we lost Jane at the Wild West Show for about half an hour and she was traumatized and mad at me, pushing Emme and all our stuff up and down super steep hills in a stroller while four months pregnant really wore me out, it rained on us for a bit which totally frizzed out my hair and made us all a little soggy (plus we were wet from the river ride), and I got so mad at Jane while trying to take this picture because she kept making the goofiest faces and refused to just be normal for a minute. "Please can't we all just look like an awesome family for one second?!" So this is her cooperating smile.
Ah, real life. So crazy sometimes, but still so good. The other 95 percent of the day was wonderful. Thank you, Hales, for inviting us to Branson for such a fun adventure and a seriously memorable birthday for Malan.
To keep things real though, I had the most horrible allergy attack of my life in the morning and wished I could have dunked my head into a bucket of ice water for about 2 hours, we lost Jane at the Wild West Show for about half an hour and she was traumatized and mad at me, pushing Emme and all our stuff up and down super steep hills in a stroller while four months pregnant really wore me out, it rained on us for a bit which totally frizzed out my hair and made us all a little soggy (plus we were wet from the river ride), and I got so mad at Jane while trying to take this picture because she kept making the goofiest faces and refused to just be normal for a minute. "Please can't we all just look like an awesome family for one second?!" So this is her cooperating smile.
We had a cake night with Dad when we got home, so Malan could blow out some candles. Um, the frosting was a little runny...
Malan is such an incredible girl. Smart and funny and helpful and kind. She has a calming effect on all of us, and especially on me in my most stressful mothering moments. She is a wise and mature soul, and just such a lovely person. We love you Malan! Happy Birthday.
1 comment:
Hahaha! I love those mean-lookin criminals!! I'm so glad you guys came! But also feel kinda bad for bullying a pregnant mommy with no husband into coming on a big trip like this alone. I forgot about your terrible allergy attack! Good job keeping it real and recording those things. I think those little tidbits will be more interesting to your kids later on down the road than just flatly recording that it happened and was fun. You were awesome to do all that for them. And Malan is such an amazing girl! You've gotta be so proud. I am and I'm not even raising her!
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