12 and 45

Guess who turned 12? 

Twelve!

My goodness - I can hardly stand it.  I am so sad and so happy at the same time.  Sad that my baby girl is growing up.  12 is a big age.  But happy that she is just on the brink of a very fun and exciting time of her life.  I can clearly remember that moment when I first saw her and how much I loved her.  Now I can't imagine loving this girl more.  It's impossible.  I am very blessed to be her Mother.  What a wonderful and beautiful little lady.

Just a week after Christmas Millie announced to me that she wanted to invite her entire class to her birthday party.  She wanted everyone to be included, but it was also a way to let me know she wanted boys to be there.  She seems to have noticed their existence in the past few months.  Oh, boy!

So, she decided to have her big party at "Airborne" which is a massive trampoline arena.  It has wall to wall tramps with a dodgeball court, foam pits, platforms, etc.  It had to be someplace big because she was inviting 45 people to her party {32 from her class, plus her friends in other classes}.  We figured half or so would show up.  But guess how many kids were at her party?  45! {42 + Sambo, Will, Quin}.  So only 3 didn't make it.  Wow.

She went with a monkey theme {ya know, monkeys jumping on the bed} and because she loves monkeys.  One of her favorite Christmas gifts was her sock monkey hat.  Her invite:

The party was a total hit!  Not only for the kids, but for BS and I too.  We really enjoyed watching the interaction between the girls and boys.  The boys were so cute walking in with their gifts, trying not to act embarrassed.  It was clear that this was the 1st girl-boy party for most of them. 

After jumping and playing around for an hour, we went upstairs to this big party room with big couches and plenty of space.   We ate Monkey cupcakes {which Millie helped me decorate} and Banana Creamies.  They were all so hot and sweaty from all of the jumping so they chilled on the couches and Millie opened her gifts frantically because time was running out.  Can you imagine opening 42 gifts in 15 minutes?  There were some really fun gifts as well as lots of gift cards and lots of cash.  She totally scored!

Party Favors

I couldn't hand out the Creamies fast enough!

 I feel really lucky that we live in such a fantastic neighborhood and that she goes to school with such a great group of kids.  This party really took me back to the good old days when I was her age.  So fun.

We also celebrated her birthday on her real birthday - BS and I took her on a date to Tepanyaki.  She sat between us and it was so awesome having her to ourselves.  We went back home and enjoyed more birthday cake - a Skor cake.  The day after her birthday was a Sunday.  During Primary I was giving her advancement award and the Young Women leaders came in to take her away to their class.  I totally crumbled in front of everyone.  I couldn't believe that she was now in Young Womens.

And of course we celebrated the January birthdays on Sundays at both Grandma's homes.  And that is always a treat! 

Gifts from Mom and Dad...a sewing machine, some music and books for Young Womens, and new Toms

 Amilia Anne, you are so loved!!!

Surprise!

With BS's recent accomplishments I really wanted to throw him a {surprise} party.  He finished school and received his MBA in August {I don't even think I mentioned it in the blog}.  Pretty soon after that he was being contacted by different companies for potential job positions.  After much deliberation, he took a position with Utah Valley Specialty Hospital.  This isn't a job change...it's a career change!  We feel really good about it and he is very excited.  His career in Surgical/Pharmaceutical sales for the last 16 years has been fantastic and very rewarding, and especially with his most recent position at AMS.  But it's no more sales and he is happy about that.

Anyway, I impulsively decided to plan a surprise birthday/congrats party for him.  I invited his friends and family.  I planned it on my actual birthday to throw him off...and it totally worked!  I had the biggest web of lies going on all week and I can't believe he didn't find out.

One HUGE hiccup was that the night before {Dec 28} BS came home late from work and told me that he worked late so that he could take the next day off to be with me and spoil me for my birthday.  Normally this would thrill me, but I was totally planning on getting everything ready and picked up that day.  So, I had to secretly and desperately put my sister and Mom and Mom-in-law in charge of getting everything.  They really stepped up to the plate and took care of it all!  And I am so grateful to them!
BS and I spent the day out shopping, eating lunch, and going to a movie.  It was nice once I relaxed.

The party was at the Suncrest Clubhouse, very casual drop-in and go style.  We went to dinner with my family first and then I told him we had to make a showing at a girlfriend's party {who's bday is 12/28}.  When we walked into the room there were so many people that yelled "Surprise!" and BS looked at me like, "Is this for you or me?"  And then he realized that many of the people there were his good friends.
Yes!  I did it.
There are too many pictures of everyone who came to the party but we want them to know that we have the best friends and family!  Thanks for coming and keeping it secret!

BS was very happy and told me it was one of the nicest things anybody has every done for him.  

That's what I was going for :)

Delivering Millie's homemade cake pops to Dad

Good job BS, I love you and am very proud of you.

2012

After so, so many festivities back-to-back for weeks in December, it was hard to get excited about yet another party for New Year's Eve.  So luckily we didn't have to do anything for this celebration except show-up.
We were invited by our friends to go ice skating at the Olympic Oval.  It was really fun and the kids loved it way more than we anticipated.  They keep asking when we can go ice skating again!
The best part was that they have little "walkers" for the little kids to use while they are learning how to skate.  This was a huge back pain saver!
After that we ate some serious grub at JCWs and then we were off to another party that we were invited to in Suncrest.  There was games, more eating, and "Just Dance 3" on the Wii.  It was fun for everyone to hang-out with so many friends!

Millie & friends biffed it

                                                  

                                                            Morann & Millie

Nate C. snuck up on this one

Tired Feet

 Welcome 2012!

Terrific Tumbler

We had the pleasure of attending Quincy's tumbling program just before Christmas break.  It was held at her gym on a weekday afternoon so it was just her and BS and I.  It was nice to have some alone time with just her and us.  We thoroughly enjoyed every minute watching how cute she was in her new leotard and how she beamed during the performance.  It involved lots of cartwheels, arch-ups, walking accross the mat in an arch-up, some dancing, and kick-overs.  I really should post the video clip but that would mean I have to get out of my warm bed right now.  But what a cutie!  It was impossible to pick just a couple of pictures.  Good job Q!