Lehi Invitational Meet - Alyssa's Bday!

Alyssa wasn't very excited about having a swim meet on her birthday, but it worked out well in the end. Her morning started out with a big musical balloon in her room (which her dad had gone to get at the crack of dawn because we had forgotten the night before and she had a swim meet ... we knew it had to be in her room when she woke up for the swim meet!). He also picked up donuts for breakfast (breakfast of champions, esp right before a swim meet - LOL!). Made her day start pretty happy! (The musical balloon in their rooms when they wake up is something we started this year with Jessica on her birthday - they LOVE it!!).

Then, because the little girls were at the Princess Party, Steve got to watch Alyssa swim! She competed in freestyle, breaststroke and butterfly. She got disqualified in breast and fly, but did GREAT in freestyle. She placed 16th out of about 30 or 35 girls her age - time for a 25 M was 30.30. Not great, but we are quite proud of her. She really loves to swim and that is all that matters to me!! The fact that she is exercising and learning a life skill is also GREAT!
After her swim meet was over, we went home and she got to open her presents. She was so excited!! She REALLY wanted a snowcone machine, but was even more happy when she got a camera!!

And she loved her rubber stamps of animals from Aunt Nyla and Uncle Biff. Alyssa loves to do crafty things and she loves animals - best of both worlds!

Unfortunately, the cute, hopefully durable camera we bought for her, was an absolute piece of trash. So, Steve did some research and we splurged and bought her a regular digital camera with hopes that she'll take care of it. Alyssa had chosen Chuck E Cheese's for her family birthday night out, so on our way there, we stopped at Best Buy and got the camera and case that Steve had researched. She was truly in heaven now!!

Steve and I have figured out the best way to enjoy an evening at a place like Chuck E Cheese's or even McDonalds. We play card games while the girls play. Its perfect for us. The girls come to the table to give us their tickets (so we can hold them), tell us about their victories and fun things they've done, get 2 or 3 more tokens and then off they run to play! They are happy, and so are we! But, it does mean I didn't take a single picture of the girls at Chuch E Cheeses. But Alyssa thought it would be fun to use tokens to get these pictures drawn. I think she used her camera too, but I haven't downloaded all those pics yet. I need to do that! Cute, aren't they?

Wish that they each had their own, but this is still super cute!

What a happy day for Alyssa! We also splurged at Chuck E Cheese's and bought a chocolate birthday cake ... it was a rich Nestle cake and actually REALLY good (for store bought that is!). We sang to both girls and let them blow out candles.