Time to PARTY!

Last Sunday we had both of our families over to celebrate Addison's first birthday.

It started off with presents.

 

 

 

Then we dedicated a balloon release to celebrate Allie's life. Everyone wrote on their balloon a message to send to our angel. It was a tougher day than normal not having her here with us. I miss her daily. I can't even explain it in words. When Addie hits milestones it makes me sad that Allie isn't here doing the same. It's bittersweet. I'm happy for Addie but I can't help but miss Allie. I'm sure this is a something I will be working through my entire life. We love you Allie.

 

 

 

Then we sang Happy Birthday to Addie and she almost looked surprised. She wasn't too sure of why everyone was looking at her. It was Addie's first time eating cake and she only ate the frosting.

 

 

 

Overall it was a successful party celebrating both our babies. Love my girls!

 

1st Birthday!

This past Wednesday was Addison and Allie's birthday! Benton took work off part day so we could celebrate them as a family.

We started off the day with eating pancakes. Addie eats about anything you give to her and pancakes were no different, she gobbled them up.

 

She opened some presents. She really enjoyed the tissue paper more than the actual presents themselves, she's so easy to please!

 

 

She loved the ball popper, all smiles.

 

 

Afterwards we stopped by Allie's grave to wish her a Happy Birthday as well. I can't believe it's been a year since I last held her. We miss her everyday and I know we always will. Happy Birthday my sweets.

 

Then we went to Surf n' Swim and enjoyed some much needed family time. The girls LOVE to swim and really enjoyed themselves. I didn't bring my camera into the pool but they were happy to be in the water.

We received many calls, texts, emails, and beautiful flowers from our sweet friends & family. Thank you so much for supporting us. It has been a tough, emotional year and I'm sure it will be for a long time. We are lucky to have so much love surrounding us as well as Allie. She was only here for a short time but she has made a huge impact on a lot of lives.

 

 

Happy 1st Birthday to my girls! I love you both so very much and I am lucky to be your mommy.

 

Cecret Lake

Last week we went on a small hike with my mom to Cecret Lake up Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was a beautiful summer day for a hike. The views of the mountains and flowers were beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hiked about halfway with my mom and Cambree and then Addie and I finished the rest of the hike up to the lake because they were both too tired to finish it off. I'm glad I was able to make it because it was such a pretty unexpected place for a lake up on top of a mountain. The water was so clear.

 

 

 

Such a beautiful place.

A house tour...

We moved into our house a little over 2 months ago. We just needed more space with Benton working from home. We loved our last house but it just couldn't work for us. And since interest rates were at an all time low, we decided to go for it. It was a little stressful for a while but it worked out like it was suppose to. We've done a lot of work since we moved in. We still have a couple projects to complete but it will be a little while.

It was built in 1979, people keep saying we buy houses that look similar. I guess we have a certain style that we both love.

 

As you walk in you see the back of our huge massive fireplace. It's one of the many characteristics we liked about our new home. It's visible as you walk downstairs.

 

 

 

Our upstairs family room...

 

 

The kitchen.

 

 

 

 

Dining room...

 

Laundry room.

 

 

Our master with a bath attached.

 

 

Cambree's room.

 

 

Addie's room.

 

 

Their bathroom.

 

Our deck that is accessible through our family room, laundry room and garage. One of our favorite hangout's since it's completely covered.

 

Now onto our basement. When you walk downstairs you enter into our family room. We don't have furniture yet, but someday.

 

 

Our workout space.

 

The bar that needs a little updating ;)

 

 

Downstairs full bath.

 

Our TV room which use to be wall to wall wood paneling.

 

An extra bedroom.

 

This will eventually be my craft room. It was suppose to be a second laundry room but they never finished it. I don't need/want 2 laundry rooms, but I would love a craft space!

 

We have plenty of storage space.

 

 

Benton's office which use to not exist. We built it completely, just stole a little space from the slabbed garage in our basement.

 

The basement garage where we store all of our "stuff". There is a car garage door in the backyard. If we ever got atv's this would be a perfect place to store them. But its just added space we love right now.

 

And what sold us to this house. The backyard. It's 1/2 acre and they did a beautiful job landscaping. Next year we will plant our own garden, yay!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, lots of pictures! We feel at home in our new house and I can say we are all pleased with our decision to move even though it's a ton of work!