Happy Birthday, Ellie!

Ellie's 5th birthday celebration began last week with a trip to Cedar Breaks. Several months ago Ellie said that she would like to go hiking with Grandma and Grandpa for her birthday. With busy summer schedules, a few days early was the best we could do, so we met Grandma and Grandpa Lillywhite, the Borrowman cousins, and the Smith cousins for a picnic and a hike. Grandpa and Grandma Randall joined us briefly on their way home from St. George to enjoy cake and open a few early presents. Unfortunately, our camera was out of battery power, so we have no pictures of the beautiful Alpine Pond hike. It was a lot of fun and enjoyed by all. Afton brought a bit of adventure to the experience by throwing up all over the parking lot at Chessman's Overlook. Otherwise, the whole afternoon was a lot of fun and just what Ellie was hoping for.

Today was Ellie's "Actual Birthday." She has been hoping for a brown bunny cake. So here is the attempted masterpiece. She loved how it looked and how it tasted.

The day began with muffins, a candle, and some new doll house people.

Ellie spent the day playing with Brady and friends. Then, happily, Grandma Kurtz came for dinner. Of course, we ate chicken nuggets and fries.

 

Ellie was excited to open her presents.  The exciting gift was a tea set and a promise from Mom to help her host three "tea parties."  She got a Fancy Nancy book that teaches about hosting tea parties, so we should be able to come up with some fun ideas and have some fun parties with her friends.  She wants to start tomorrow, but we will probably have to give things a few days to get ready.  

We sure feel lucky to have Ellie in our family.  She is so sweet!  We love her lots.  

Happy Birthday, Sweet Ellie!!!