Happy Birthday Ayden

While this is pretty belated I need to give my Ayden a big birthday shout out.  She turned SIX last week!  Happy Birthday Ayden! She is going to have a friend birthday this year but she would like it to be a water game party so we are waiting for the weather to be nice.  Hopefully that will happen soon.  In the meantime we wanted to make her day as special as we could and I think she had a really great day. She woke up to heart shaped pancakes made with love by her Dad. Then she got to open up a couple of presents.  A new outfit for school and some nail polish from Alex.  She got dressed up and we painted her nails and she was off to school.  Alex, Laela and I then took cupcakes to school for her to share with her class. When she got home she got to play with her friend Cassi for a little bit then we met Brad at the zoo and had fun there.  We went to dinner at Costa Vida at her request and then came home to her favorite cake with the Matthews and she opened the rest of her presents.  It was an eventful day and she was very sweet and appreciative.  She told us thank you for making her birthday special multiple times. She was seriously glowing all day.
Ayden really is such a special kid with a huge heart.  She has such a desire to do right and she is so thoughful and concerned for others.  She loves the Gospel and thrives when we are living as we should and doing things to have the Spirit in our home.  I am really in awe at how much she loves to learn.  She is so smart.  She also loves to work and be helpful. Some of the happiest I have ever seen her is when she is helping clean, do dishes, help her sisters or something similar.  She brings so much joy to this family and I can't believe she is 6.  We sure love you Ayden!

Here she is waking up to her loot and heart shaped pancakes.

She received a birthday hat, sticker, pencil and certificate at school.  She loved it and wore the hat all day everywhere we went.  They also announced her birthday over the loud speaker and she thought that was super cool.

Here are some zoo pictures.  The day started off kind of rainy but when we got to the zoo it had stopped and it was pretty warm.  There was no one there and the animals were pretty happy.  Ayden was pretty happy too.  She was all smiles. Alex was too, this picture just reminds me of what great friends Ayden and Alex are.  They are such great sisters and I love that they have each other. 

Ayden with her very own Costa Vida salad which was a special birthday request. 

I just had to throw this picture in too to show how much Laela loves costa vida.  She ate so much I could not believe it.

The only things Ayden asked for for her birthday were a piggy bank, Taylor Swift doll and snack food.

She loved the piggy bank we got her but the Taylor Swift Barbie from her grandparents was the biggest hit.  She was super excited about the birthday money in her cards also.  She was so happy to have something to put in her piggy bank! And the snack food, hey at least simple things make her happy.

She wanted her favorite cake which is tres leches just like her Dad.

A big birthday bonus for the sweet heart was her very own rainbow!  She really felt like it was a birthday gift just for her.  It was one of the brightest double rainbows I have ever seen.  You could see the whole arch too. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART.  WE SURE LOVE YOU!