Miss Marin Turns 4

Well Marin's birthday was on Saturday and we had quite the busy weekend. I'm sitting here now in peace and quiet; Kate is asleep and Marin is playing at a friend's house. As I think about Marin's birthday and what to blog about it, my thoughts keep coming back to family. Marin's birthday was so fun, although it being only her 4th, she likely won't remember much of it. But I will. I hope when Marin grows up she will be able to fully appreciate what a lucky girl she is to be surrounded by so much family who absolutely adore her. Now I'm not someone who likes a huge deal made of my birthday, and although I want my kids' birthdays to be a special day for them, I try not to go overboard. I was planning more of a quiet family party. Then my parents told me they were going to come from St. George and Mitch's mom told us she was coming all the way from Wyoming too. Then of course the Nelsons were invited, who are pretty much like family, and Jaren and Callie, Avree and Matt, and well, we ended up with quite the crowd. So although this is a post about Marin's birthday, I may get a little sappy and share a few (or more than a few) of my thoughts on family as well.


First off, Marin's dad. Can I just say without being too sappy/braggy that Marin scored in the dad department? Mitch had a tax return to finish by Saturday so he left for work before Marin woke up. At about 9:00 he called Marin to wish her a happy birthday. The first thing she said was, "Dad, did ya want to sing 'Happy Birthday to You' to me?" I immediately started laughing because Mitch works in a cubicle surrounded by other CPA's. Marin put him on speaker phone and I heard him start quietly singing happy birthday to her and she stopped him and said, "Louder dad. That's not loud enough." So he finished the song a little louder. I guess his coworkers got a laugh out of that. Mitch came home later that morning and I think he was as excited about Marin's birthday as Marin was. The picture above is at the Treehouse Children's Museum in Ogden. We went there during the day and Marin and Kate both had a blast!


Mitch's mom, Darlene, drove 8 hours Friday night to come and spend Marin's birthday with her, only to turn around Sunday morning and drive 8 hours home. Can you believe that? Marin's "Grandma Wyoming" as she calls her, is one of the best grandmas a kid could wish for. She has 20 grandkids (and 1 on the way) and she still sends Easter, Valentines and birthday packages and cards for both of my girls. Marin just loves her.


There is also "Grandma St. George" (my mom). She and my dad drove 6 hours from St. George on Friday and turned around and drove back home Sunday too. She plays with Marin for hours. Marin absolutely adores her. She laughs as hard as I do about all of the funny things Marin says. She gets just as excited as I do about every one of Marin's accomplishments.


Marin's grandpas are exceptional too. Mitch's dad gets down on the floor and wrestles with the kids and teases them. Marin always jumps on him, even when he's taking a nap and he's a great sport about it. My dad is a tease too (it must be a grandpa thing). He laughs over funny things Marin says and does and Marin and Kate sure love him! Now you may be thinking, "What? President Obama was at the Treehouse Museum?!" But you would be wrong. It's just a cardboard cut-out. The blinding reflection of the camera flash off of his chest is a dead giveaway.


Marin has some pretty sweet uncles too. Jaren went shopping for Marin's birthday and ended up with so much stuff for her it only fit in this enormous Tinkerbell gift bag. Uncle Matt sent Marin a giant candy bar and card in the mail at Christmas from Santa this year.


And Jaren's wife Callie is the favorite aunt. She will sit and play with Marin forever and is definitely the favorite of the kids in our family. Here she is being a good sport and playing "Pin the Princess in the Castle Window" game.


And of course, there's Aunt Avree (sorry Callie for the weird action shot of you, this was the only picture I had with Avree in it). We always joke that Avree is going to be that crazy aunt who comes to our house before Marin goes to prom and is at everything because Avree loves Marin so much. Marin calls her "my Aunt Avree" and loves her back.

Well this is obviously not an exhaustive list of all of Marin's family who I love. These were just the ones at the party. Marin had a Disney princess themed party of course. I took her to Macey's bakery to pick out her cake the day before her birthday and she picked the same one as last year. There were at least 5 Disney princess cakes to choose from but she wanted the same one. That's how I do birthday cakes... as in, I don't. I've had too many disasters. We all had a great time at the Treehouse museum and then we had a great pizza party in the evening. Marin got a pink scooter that she is already tearing up the neighborhood on. I really can't believe she's 4 years old... that I am actually the mom of a 4 year old. She's turning into my little buddy and chats with me in the car and asks me a bazillion questions every day. Here are a few more pictures of her birthday. Thanks again to all of our family (and friends) who came. We love you all!