Happy Birthday Samantha!!

Yesterday was Samantha's 5th birthday. I am not sure how in the world she can be five already. I know this sounds cliche but....I feels like just yesterday she was a sweet little baby cooing at us, but today she is a tall, beautiful, smart and wonderful young girl. She is such a blessing in our lives and we are so happy that she is here with us. I am extremely grateful to my Father in Heaven who gave her to me, and while at times I am completely overwhelmed with the thought, I am also grateful for the responsibilty I have to teach her and raise her. There are days when she teaches me much more than I could have ever taught her and I love her so much. I went down a little bit of memory lane looking through Sams baby pictures. Here are a few of my favorites. It is amazing how she has changed and turned into such a beautiful girl!

For her birthday we spent the morning at the park...

It wouldn't be a birthday without cupcakes...

and friends...

Then we met up with Daddy on campus and had lunch with him. It was nice to take a walk around campus because we have been here for over a year and still haven't really ever taken the kids on campus. It is beautiful!

This pretty much sums Sam up!!

I have some how started a crazy tradition that I make fun birthday cakes for our kids. I always spend a couple hours on the computer looking for ideas and then ask Sam opinion (giving her options that I THINK I can do). I was really pulling for a cute butterfly cake that I knew would be no problem, but...she at the last min. saw a picture of this castle cake and would settle for nothing less. So, being the FANTASTIC mother that I am (you can chuckle to yourself here if you need to) agreed to make the cake. I did not however realize that to make it "just like the picture" you need TONS of candy. So, needless to say, our treat cupboard is overflowing with excess candy, and my kids don't even really eat cake. They will eat it on the birthday, but after that...they just want the candy. So dentist, here we come.

Happy Birthday Sam!! We love you!