Happy 8th Birthday, Lydia!

Happy Birthday to our sweet daughter, Lydia!  You are such a joy to have in our family and you are adored by all (especially your little brothers)!

Lydia's been wanting to get her hair cut shorter so since it was her birthday I gave in and she got it chopped.  It looks adorable on her!

Birthday fun with her friends!  The weather was nice and warm and though the pool was a little chilly, the girls had a great time!

They ate pizza, swam in the pool, played with water balloons, did a gift exchange*, had some ice cream, and did a little more swimming.  

*Jon and I decide after last year that we didn't want friends bringing presents for our children anymore.  They already have an abundance and what they really want is to spend time with their friends.  Plus, as they get a little older (Hyrum's age) there's a lot of social pressure to buy nice expensive gifts.  Lydia came up with idea to do a gift exchange in place of presents.  Each girl brought a wrapped used item she no longer wanted and they played a little game to exchange.  Lydia ended up with a small monkey puzzle.  The girls were happy with their gifts and everyone got to take something home.  Great idea, Lydia!  

She actually planned out her party.  They had so much fun swimming though Lydia forgot all about the modeling clay they were suppose to play with and the craft the were going to paint.

From left to right:  McKenna Rawlingson, Kate Clover, Kendra Acor, Bailey Rawlingson, Madison Coleman, and Lydia

Lydia has been wanting a fish tank for some time now but I told her she had to wait for her Dad to get back from Alaska.  The morning he got home (the day after her bday) she took the money she'd saved up and they went shopping.  It's her favorite birthday present!

This is dessert with the family the day after since Dad was gone.  Lucky her, we went to dinner before Dad left for Alaska, she had a fun friend party on her birthday and then the next day we celebrated again!

Porter LOVES his sissy!!

We had raw coconut cream "ice cream" and sweet potato chocolate chip bars, yum! yum!