It's the thought that counts...right?

We attempted to visit the temple today.  We even rearranged our schedules to go during Savy's naptime so it'd be easy to leave her.  We drove to the temple and was met with a sign....Temple Closed.  So we decided to go visit the new Draper temple.  And then remembered they don't rent temple clothing (which we needed).  So we turned around, and found our way to the nearest movie theater for an uplifting viewing of Wolverine!!

She's Finally Two!!!

My sweet baby girl had her birthday and turned a whopping two years old! It's crazy to think she's been in my life for two whole years. It's hard to imagine that I've been a mother to this beautiful girl for two years...I can't remember life without her. What did I fill my life with before there was feeding time, nap time, playtime, snack time, diaper changes, and the constant cleaning up? And where did I find joy before when now it's so often found in the precious smile of my daughter? I love being a mom...and can't wait to experience being a mother of two (and of a two-year-old). Here's a few highlights from her birthday party.

Her fabulous Minnie Mouse cake. She'd been talking about it all week, and any time her birthday was mentioned, she had to mention the Minnie Mouse cake she was going to eat. Although it took me much longer to prepare, I was quite impressed with how it turned out!

Swimming in the pool. Jared and his boys were the only ones brave enough to jump into the water, and Savy certainly couldn't be left out of the pool! Jared was sweet enough to entertain her along with his kids!

I was surprised Savy actually knew what to do with the candles!! There was no spit involved, and yet she actually got the candles to blow out!! She was thrilled to have everyone sing "Happy Birthday to Vanna" (which is what she's been singing all week) and was even more excited to take the candles out of the cake and eat them like any child would do!

Enjoying the cake. The frosting turned our mouths very red. And after cake was the long awaited....PRESENT TIME!!

Sam sat next to her to help her open presents and to try to get her to appreciate all the presents and everyone's thoughtfulness. Savy was actually quite overwhelmed and tired by the time presents rolled around, so she just sat there very somber like and opened presents and did whatever her mommy or daddy asked her to (say thank you, pose for a picture, give grandma a hug, etc.).

She got spoiled rotten, but really enjoyed all the presents she got...a baby doll, a kitchen, lots of play food, a Snow White dress-up, and a stylish purse with all sorts of goodies!

Oh, and her bike! She's been eyeing the bike folded up on our garage shelf for the last week (I did a fantabulous job of hiding it from her view), so she was excited to find out she could actually ride it! The next morning, the first thing she said when she got out of bed was "play with my kitchen? ride my bike?" She loved all her presents, all the attention, but mostly, her family for coming out to show their love for her.

My little girl is no longer my baby. She's a grown up, "big girl." In preparation for our little baby boy, we upgraded her bed to a twin bed. And she absolutely loves it! The first night I laid her down in it I just stared at her little body tucked under the covers and thought...this can't be my baby girl. She's much too little to be sleeping in a bed this size. Why do they have to grow up so fast? I want to freeze Savy in time and keep her like this forever. She is so sweet and sassy at the same time and has an incredibly silly sense of humor! I love her to pieces and can't imagine her getting any better than she is right now!

Yellowstone

For our first and last and only vacation of the summer, we took off with my family the day after school got finished and headed off to beautiful Yellowstone. We stayed in West Yellowstone and traveled into the park almost everyday. We saw buffalo, elk, baby buffalo, bald eagles, geysers, waterfalls, and lots of stinky hot pots. The first time Savy saw a hot pot next to the road she said, "Look, Mommy. Fire. Fire in the dirt." And then after we walked around them for a while and she realized the steam equaled stink, she'd say "I don't want it" and hide her face from the stinky steam!! We had a great time hanging out with the family. Savana was certainly the highlight of the trip for everyone since she was the only grandkid along. She got spoiled rotten and loved every second of it. Only my mom, dad, Mallory, and Taran could make it to Yellowstone, but we had a wonderful time playing games, swimming, walking around town, eating ice cream almost every day, seeing the wonders of the world, and watching lame movies (lameness only in reference to Young Frankenstein. All the other movies about Yellowstone were anything but lame!)

Savy was quite the trooper on all our car rides. She entertained herself with singing, books, talking, or sleeping. We stopped at Rexburg for a much needed break (that's why they're both smiling so big)!

Here's the grumpy Savana we saw only once or twice. She'd woken up from a short nap and only wanted her mommy. But mommy was too weak to carry two babies down the stairs, so she got to ride on Bompa's shoulders...and she wasn't happy about that at all!

The great town of Mammoth (if you can call it a town) always provides us with a close-up view of Elk, some Mammoth hot springs, and delicious ice cream.

If you look closely behind us, there's a buffalo hiding in the trees. This is the first one we saw up close and personal, and Sam kept trying to get him to chase our car. Luckily, the buffalo was too tired to jump at any of Sammy's shouting.

Cheesing on the back of her daddy. She quite enjoyed riding with her dad. With Sam, there's never a dull moment, so she loved all the songs and silly things her daddy was doing along the way.

Our sweet little family hanging out by the stinky geyser. We waited for this one to go off, but it was one of the many unpredictable geysers, so we weren't quite so lucky.

Another stinky hot springs.

Trying on Bompa's goggles. Cool Dude!

Enjoying the stink once more.

These were actually quite beautiful hot springs. I wish the camera would do them justice. Such beautiful colors.

Watching the most famous geyser...Old Faithful!!

This was my favorite...the waterfalls at Yellowstone. The falls and the canyon walls make for a breathtaking view.

Savy had been talking about seeing bears at Yellowstone all week, so we went to this discovery place where they had bears and wolves to see. When we got there, she was more interested in climbing around then seeing the actual bears.

This is my kind of teddy bear.

We watched a movie at the IMAX on Yellowstone, and the closing shot was of a huge bear standing on his hind legs growling ferociously at us. So later that evening, when I put Savy in her newly-purchased bear jammies, she kept being the big bear on the movie and growling away. Her growl wasn't quite so ferocious. She's going to have to work on it.

Thanks mom and dad for a fun vacation. And thanks Savy for being such a trooper. You are one fantabulous little girl!!