Happy Birthday Chad!

Happy 30th birthday Chad! Poor guy, he had to work all day, but we didn't let that stop us from celebrating. We started off the morning with Chad's favorite buttermilk pancakes with Nana's yummy syrup!

Later that evening, we surprised the birthday boy with a trail of notes (up the 3 flights of stairs to our front door) telling him many of the reasons why we love him. He said it made for some good reading! Then he got to break through the door to our birthday celebration.

Here's Emily's ode to Daddy. I thought it was really cute!

We had a delicious dinner: shrimp and pasta

Only one guess what was for dessert...

That's right, Chad's favorite German Chocolate Cake!

Make a wish!

Everyone really enjoyed the cake and ice cream.
Emily gave a two-thumbs-up and said very excitedly,
"Good Job MAMA!" We all had a good laugh!

Annie liked it too!

Party time!

My parents bought some party horns for Annie's birthday.
Emily decided we needed to get some for Chad's birthday too.

Chad let his eager "helpers" join him in unwrapping his presents.

We ended the night with the girl's favorite game...Hot Dog!
(Chad wraps them up in a blanket like a hot dog and tickles them.)

Happy birthday Chad. Hope you had a fun day.
We love you!

Providence Water Park

Providence has several water parks. At the beginning of the summer, it was our goal to try out all of them. We only made it to a couple, but decided to fit one more in before the parks were closed for the summer. This one was really fun. Unfortunately, it was a cooler day and the water was cold. It took a while for the girls to get warmed up. But before long they were running around having a great time! We'll have to hit up a few more next summer if we are still in the area.

Princess Pajamas

This is Emily modeling her new Pink Polka-dotted Princess Pajamas. She saw this night gown at the store and just HAD to have it. She looks lovely, just like a princess should!

Dress-up Fun

Our girls have a lot of dress-up fun at our house. Emily decided that she needed to dress up like Daddy and Annie needed to dress like the big sister. She put on Chad's clothes and put Annie in one of her shirts. This is their fashion show on the catwalk. Strike a pose!

Emily is wearing a blue striped button down shirt,
kangaroo tie and brown leather shoes.

Annie is wearing a sunny yellow
team sunbeam t-shirt.

Yahoo!

Annie's "Shoe-Shoes"

Annie loves to play dress up with her big sister, Emily. Annie is very much in to accessories. Her favorite thing to do is to raid Emily's closet for her high heel shoes or as she calls them, "shoe-shoes". Annie gets around in them amazingly well. She is very proud of herself for being such a "big girl".

Annie's Escape Tactic

Do you see Annie's foot on the highchair tray? This is Annie's new escape tactic. She does this every time she gets in the highchair. As long as she can get her leg out from under the tray and put her foot on top of it, she can push her way out. Is it an ingenious escape tactic or just bad table manners? :-)

Montpelier

On the return trip we couldn't pass up making a stop in Montpelier. Unfortunately, there was no Nana and Grandpa there. We did get to see the State House and drive through the lovely downtown area.

Ben & Jerry's Factory Tour

After a wonderful morning at Joseph Smith's birthplace, we headed a little out of our way to the factory tour at Ben & Jerry's. A friend had mentioned it to me and we thought...sounds like fun!

The place was packed and we had an hour wait before our tour began. We decided to get some ice cream and let Annie get a quick nap.

I ordered my all time favorite, Cookies and Cream...YUMMY!

Chad and Emily opted for the exclusive flavors found only at Ben & Jerry's factories. Emily choice: Chocowlate (or something like that), vanilla ice cream with large chocolate cows. Chad's choice: Triple Chocolate Fudge...

After our delicious ice cream, Chad and Emily left to explore the large children's playground and other attractions on the factory grounds while I stayed with Annie, who was sleeping.

Grandpa Jensen these pictures are for you!

Time for our tour. Annie woke up minutes before this picture was taken. You're a good sport Annie!

You can't take pictures during the tour. It was interesting to learn about how the ice cream is made, packaged and shipped. But our favorite part of the tour was the tasting room. They hand out free samples of the ice cream being packaged on that day. For us...Chocolate Chip Mint. Yum!

We took a few pictures on our way out. The girls were a little tired and not really into taking pictures by then. Still, we had a fun day and lots of great ice cream!