In true Dallin style, we had a low key celebration.  He values quality over quantity, so if we invited any kids to his birthday party he would definitely say, “TOO MANY KIDS!”  He is sort of a family kid.  :)

He had the time of his life at Kangaroo Zoo this morning with Hannah.  (It’s an indoor play place with lots of bounce toys and slides for little people.)

We had a Dallin size cake for his big day!  (Hey, a bigger cake would mean more for us to eat, and well, we don’t need that!)

Hannah coached him on how to blow out his candle and he was pretty impressed with his performance!

We bought Dallin a Lightning McQueen potty topper in hopes that he would think about going to the bathroom in the toilet.  He looks super happy about it here, but it was quickly tossed aside when he opened up a package of dinosaurs.  (Notice our Walmart shopping bag that doubled as wrapping paper?  Yeah.  We were super prepared this afternoon.)

He LOVES this dinosaur set I picked for $3.

He also got a bike that he refuses to push the petals on.

Kids.  Why are they so dang cute and unpredictable?

She is such a doll.  I could squeeze and kiss her cheeks all day.  Seriously.

Little Hailey is ALWAYS smiling.

We had a princess themed party, and Hannah, Hailey, and Malaya (Hailey’s older sister) each got a “princess hairdo,” beautiful crowns that light up, (just press a button on the back!) and got to wear some makeup.  They were thrilled!  Dallin on the other hand . . . well, I think you can see how he feels about all this princess stuff!

How can I resist this face!  I could kiss his face off!

Hailey loved ALL of her presents.  I love this age.  They love EVERYTHING.

Look who got three big dollars!  Three dollars goes a long way to a three year old!

I love the expression on Malaya’s face here.   She is looking at her dad, who is filming her, and she has no idea I’ve just taken her picture.  It’s always fun to capture genuine expressions, especially on little people!

It’s not super obvious in this picture, but the crown has sparkling lights behind it.  It was a hit with the girls.  :)

This is my youngest brother, Dan, and two of his three girls.

His kids are so adorable, and it’s fun that we live so close now!  He just moved back to Utah a few weeks ago.  Between us, we have five kids ages four and under, and our kids have lived in six states and two countries!  That’s a lot of moving on both of our parts!

I am one year older, and hopefully wiser too.  I just turned 33 this weekend.

THIRTY THREE, PEOPLE.  I used to joke about “thirty something” people who could shop at Eddie Bauer (and just for the record, I had to google “Eddie Bauer” because the 12 different ways I spelled it was not recognized by me or spell check) because you had to be thirty something to shop there.

Well folks, looks like I am officially thirty something, but I still cannot bring myself to shop there!

Hannah picked out the most beautiful cake she could find.  She LOVED this cake and David said there was no other cake that even came close to being as beautiful as this cake in Hannah’s opinion.

Brian called (for you new readers, that’s my twin) to wish me a happy birthday and we talked about our birthday plans over the phone.  They were so similar, it was erie . . .

Me: We went to a model train show at Thanksgiving point.

Him: Took a private plane ride around San Francisco.

Me: Spent the afternoon watching Modern Family with David while the kids napped

Him: Attended the Apple convention in SF.

Me: Ate dinner with David at Rubios (they now advertise their calories on the menu . . . it was eye opening and shocking all at once!) and saw the movie, “The Tourist.”

Him: Ate dinner at the Ritz Carlton with some friends and probably a few A-listers.

See?  It was like WE PLANNED THE SAME THINGS!

This is what he looks like now at the ripe age of 33:

And this is me and my family on my birthday:

I can’t get over how darling Dallin looks in the pic below . . .

And now he’d like to show you his orange . . .

And now Hannah would like to love him to pieces  . . .

Where’s David you ask?  He was running barefoot on the treadmill.  He popped out 8 miles like it was NOTHING.  Is now a good time to mention that he dropped 25 pounds recently?  Yeah.  I know what you’re thinking . . .WHERE DID HE HAVE 25 POUNDS TO LOSE?!

I know.  My thoughts exactly.  Somehow, his body found 25 pounds to drop and he is sporting a six pack and runs about 30 mile a week–barefoot of course.

David and the kids made my birthday very fun, low key, and special.  I have a wonderful family, and for that I am happy I get to celebrate 72 more birthdays!  (Remember that age calculator?  This is how I know I have 72 more to go!)

These are my plans:  flying out of town with David – the kids + meeting up with some of our favorite people = AN AWESOME BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!

I love meeting up with good friends.  :)

Happy birthday to my twin too!  He could pass for 29 and I could pass for 21, right?  OK, maybe 25?

I’ll have lots of fun pictures from our fun weekend I’m sure.  :)

To jumpstart the fun, I recieved this fun little beauty in the mail:

My sister Jenn sent me white Lustregloss by M.A.C. and I LOVE IT!  Apply it over any lipstick to give it just the right umph.  Trust me.  After you get it, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it!  (You see, I’m actually wondering how I survived.) I used to use a silver lipstick that I would apply over any shade of lip liner, lipstick, or gloss, but it has been discontinued.  (Dang you Trucco, Aveda, and Artistry!)

Jenn first heard about this make-up must have from reading an article on what Victoria Beckham MUST have and this was one of her top picks!

I can see why.

You should too!

Celebrate my birthday by getting yourselves one of these!  (Your treat of course.)  :)

He talked about his 20 year high school reunion coming up in a few years.

Yes.  HIS 20th reunion.

What a handsome (and young of course) man I’m married to.

Happy birthday!

Judging by the look on his face, he doesn’t have a clue what to do here . . .

It just took one little hand print . . .

And then he seemed to know what to do.

His bossy little index finger sure had a great time.

And Hannah’s bossy fingers did too . . .

His face doesn’t have nearly enough icing on it yet . . .

But now it does.  Eating birthday cake is really exhausting!

Happy birthday Dallin!

I have  many pictures to post.

We had a wonderful time with our friends in Texas celebrating the 4th of July and Dallin’s birthday.

Now that we’re back, I need to catch up on some assignments (remember how I’m in school full time?) and upload some photos.

But for now, know that this delicious birthday cake got our birthday boy very, very messy.

And it made him so very happy.

And this delicious cake made the adults very happy.

They are moving to Florida in a few weeks and this will be our last hurrah with them before they move far, far away.

This will be my first time meeting their one year old baby Darby.  This will be their first time meeting Dallin.

I’m sure there will be lots of stories and pictures to post upon our return.

Plus, we’ll be celebrating Dallin’s first birthday while we’re away.  There’s no better place to celebrate turning one than in Texas.

Enjoy the 4th!

Hannah is all about birthdays. (What two-year-old isn’t into cake, candles, presents, and chocolate?)

This is what we ate for breakfast on Betsy’s birthday.

Really.

No one complained.

It was delicious.  All 467 calories per bite.

In fact, I’m positive this was the favorite breakfast my sister’s family ate while visiting.

Because they didn’t smile like this when I served cold cereal and oatmeal!

I’d like to send out a big THANK YOU to everyone who guessed that I am indeed, YOUNGER than my twin.  It’s nice to be the younger one when you’re getting older.

Oh, and that is the correct answer.  I AM 10 minutes YOUNGER.    I proudly share this statistic with anyone who cares (which is no one).

Also, thank you for all your kind comments on this post.  I wasn’t fishing for compliments, I really just thought it was interesting that I used the same bathroom as these people (okay, maybe not the boys, but you get it) when I was a little kid.

Thanks for your comments, and thanks to all the lurkers who came out of obscurity and made themselves known!  You’re welcome to keep commenting . . .