FYI - finally adding stuff

Seeing as how I was silly enough to leave my camera at my sister's house at the end of our family reunion, I have not had any pictures to upload and share with all our happenings and travels. I received my camera in the mail (wrapped in lots of bubble wrap and totally safe) so now I can post stuff. I will post them on the days they actually happened so you may have to look back a bit to see what we've been up to. Just thought I'd let you know!

I'm 5! I'm 5! I'm a big girl now, I'm 5!

We celebrated two special events today! Independence Day and Domonique's 5th birthday!
Hip, hip hooray!

She is still small, but is definitely her own little person. She is creative and spunky, loves to laugh and play.

We started with pancakes and ice cream. She was excited to help.

She reminded me about opening her cards - one from Grammy and Gaffa and one from Sister Rodriguez. Her sisters had fun helping her.

The kids enjoyed hanging out in the morning, while Kevin and I drove around looking at 5 properties we were interested in seeing. After lunch, everyone was excited to go swimming. Usually we have our friend's pool all to ourselves but his year some other friends decided to join us. It made for a lot more people to hang out with. They even sang to Domonique - and she became very shy with all the attention! I got in the water and played with Camdilyn, who really enjoyed it and became much more comfortable with the water and jumping in from the side! (Unfortunately, I didn't think about taking pictures until near the end so this is all we get, which doesn't show how brave all my little kids are and how well they are doing at swimming.)

We went home for a wonderful dinner of sweet and sour chicken with rice. It's one of our favorites - especially since I buy the already breaded popcorn chicken and so it's super easy!

Grandma and Grandpa Nichols brought the cake and a present for the party. I think we may have over done the presents a bit but a few were from siblings.

She had some troubles blowing out the candles,

so Kevin helped direct the air.

Present from Marissa...

Notebook in a case.

New skill to learn and something fun to do.

Books to help her keep learning to read.

A big, stand up doll.

Sandals, obviously not that excited about them, but she was.

Wreck It Ralph. She likes that one!

Huge bag of sour patch kids, she was so excited!

New shirt and shorts.

(I'll need to adjust the shorts around the waist.)

Present from Kemiah.

Several different pictures.

First present from Emily.

Bead necklace that you can't see.

Second present from Emily.

Handmade doll.

(Dom made it slap her in the face.)

Grandma and Grandpa Nichols present.

Giant art set - exactly what she wanted!

Big surprise and my favorite....

Stuffed elephant - yes, she actually asked for that.

It is so soft!

Cake and ice cream!

Had a great day! Then we waited up until it was time for the fireworks. Actually, Kevin and Ben had to go take down flags for the Scouts, so we waited for them. We were a bit late to the show but enjoyed the lights and bangs. Camdilyn sat in my lap and kept wrapping my arms around her to keep her safe. There was a pause and she said, "All done!" Then more went off. It wasn't the best show but we were happy to enjoy them. (Later I found out that something had gone wrong so they couldn't set off the finale. Too bad.) We made it home, and went to bed very late! What a sweet day and a fun girl to celebrate!

Friend from my college days.

I was delighted to make time for one of my oldest friends. She and I were roommates during our sophomore year of college. She came to visit me twice while I lived in Alaska. We drove from Salt Lake City down to Draper to meet them for dinner. After eating at Fazoli's (eating lots of bread sticks), we drove to their house to hang out and chat. Kevin had a migraine so he ended up taking a little nap while LeighAnne and I talked and the kids drew pictures and played outside. It was a short visit but very nice to see my dear friend again!

Touring Temple Square

We headed down to Salt Lake City after a light lunch. We saw lots of things and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

Conference Center

Salt Lake Temple

Tabernacle

Family History area.

We had a great time in their interactive area,

learning about our ancestors.

Beautiful flowers.

The grounds always look so nice.

Cousins.. Kemiah, Josslyn, Xiomara

We met up with the rest of the family for a moment,

Josslyn went home with them and we kept going.

Visitor Center.

Organ inside the tabernacle.

We stayed for a mini music show

which displayed the beauty of the organ. 

Waiting for Dad to go around with the stroller.

Inside the Conference Center.

View from the roof.

It was a lot of walking, lots of things to see, and made for a very long day. It was really neat to see so much stuff - lots of which I didn't take pictures of so you missed out.