Celebrating Samantha!

It's hard to believe that it has been this long since I became a mommy, but on June 22nd Samantha turned seven! It was a great day and she had so much fun.

She and I went to a party store here in town and we found some fun Disney Little Mermaid decorations and games to set the party theme. Here she is posing after her turn in the"Stick the flower crown on Ariel's head" game.

Her cousin Esther just happened to be visiting from Utah and we were so excited she got to come to the party! Especially because her cousin Maryann, who lives here, was in Utah visiting her Grandma. (We missed you, Maryann!) Here are her party guests (left to right): Esther, cousin Caleb, Carlin from school, Samantha the birthday girl, cousin Jacob (making an AWESOME face), Tyler from school, and her brothers Logan and Luke.

We have really tried to help her look at the camera when we take her picture. I was very happy she did so well with that on her big day! (Also, notice her cutie cousin Stevie Denny in this picture!)

This is the shot I got of the decorations in our living room. Note the "seaweed" and ocean life. We were going for "Under the Sea" and I think it turned out well! I was especially proud of the sea horses I drew! ;o)

This is Samantha's fun cake. I am so unorganized that it was decorated just moments before the kids ate it! My mom whipped the blue color into the white frosting and we put the fabric applique of Ariel gently on top. Then we used brown sugar for "sand" (great idea I found online) and put the jewels, starfish, and seashells that I made out of clay I baked around the cake for decoration. I really love that it turned out so cute for how easy it was to throw together!

See how happy she is?

This is another idea I got from the internet, but it didn't turn out quite like I meant it to. I forgot to put the fish into the jell-o before it set up too much, so they just got put on top. Unfortunately when Samantha held the bowl up for pictures all the fish slid off. It didn't matter to the kids though! They loved it!

Ross had two softball games that night so we all went to Dairy Queen before he left and celebrated Samantha as a family. I love her funny face!

We drove out to Grandma and Grandpa Lay's house next to spend a little more time with our visiting family. We had a great Family Home Evening with them. (Thanks again, Celina! I keep using the "I LOVE TO OBEY!" phrase on my kids!) Samantha opened the rest of her presents because I forgot earlier in the day to give her the stuff from Mommy and Daddy. Some of the things she got were an Ariel doll for the bath and some princess paper dolls which I was so excited about because I really loved paper dolls when I was little.

Ross and I love this beautiful girl so much. It has been such an amazing journey with her. There have been lots of twists and turns and we continue to learn things about her that make us love her even more. She has had her share of struggles in her short life and we're always so thrilled to see her progress and strive to do new things that some people take for granted in their children. Her imagination is the best and I love to see her dream. I love that she loves the gospel already and how she gets excited when she feels that special spirit.
I'm also glad she feels love for her family. One of my favorite moments with her that has actually been repeated is when I sing her a song at bedtime called "Angel on my Shoulder" that my daddy used to sing to me. The very end of it says, "I'm gonna cross my fingers that I'll find a guy to love me true and I'm gonna love him too." Samantha stopped me one night after I said "find a guy to love me true" and she said, "Daddy?" It makes me smile every time she says that.
Happy Birthday to my beautiful girl Samantha!