4: Fun, Friends, and Fancy

What do you get when you combine 11 little girls ages five and under,

enough boas to dress an entire Vegas show,

and more glitter than you knew could even be purchased?...

A fun, fabulous, “Fancy Nancy” themed 4th Birthday Party

and a very, very happy little Jayda Grace!!!

THE FANCY GROUP

THE CUPCAKES

THE FANCY DECOR

Upon arrival, each guest had their nails painted super fancy.

After manicures, the girls all made personalized tiaras and cute mirrors!

Once the tiaras were on their fancy little heads it was time to get super glam!

All of the guests visited "Jayda's Fancy Boutique" and

were outfitted with boas, necklaces, bracelets, rings, and sunglasses!!

What do you do when you are glam and fabulous?...

You go on a Fashion Parade around the house!

DANCE PARTY TIME!!

(Requested songs included Poker Face and Single Ladies...very impressive).

Please notice Jayda's incredible pirate face (arrrgh matey).

No dance party is complete without some ring-around-the-rosie.

Even though their presence was present enough...the guests all gave Jayda some very fancy and fun gifts....and she had a blast opening them all up!

She felt very special. It was soooo cute to see

each little girl get so excited about giving their gift.

Giving a Thank You HUG for one of her presents.

Time to sing and have some cupcakes!

Saying goodbye to her friends at the end of her fabulous party!

HOORAY FOR GOOD FRIENDS!

I know this sounds a bit like an Oscar speech, but I have to take a minute to say thanks...this party DRAINED me! It was quite a bit of planning and elbow grease and Russ and I had some great helpers!

A big thank you to CAMILLE, DANA, MARY-JO, VICKI, AND RAINY for helping with the party. You guys did nails, helped with crafts, played with the girls, and kept me sane! Thanks.

Thanks to Heather for letting me borrow her camera so I could take these great pics! Jayda will love seeing these in 20 years!

Big thank you to Kerri for staying up with me late (on the eve of her 30th birthday) to decorate and bake cupcakes. The decorations were fantastic---thanks again!

Huge thank you to sweet Suzanne who made the most amazing birthday party invites ever created! They were super cute and Jayda talked about them every day for about a month! Super fancy and fun...thank you/thank you/thank you!

But lets face it - the one thing that makes a party truly fun is the good company! Jayda had a great cast of characters at her special event.

Introducing...

Fancy Jayda

Fancy Natalie

Fancy Bella




Fancy Abbey

Fancy Abigail

Fancy Belle

Fancy Ella

Fancy Madigan

Fancy Margot

Fancy Natalie

Fancy Ruby

Fancy Ava

Happy 4th Birthday Jayda. You Bring A LOT of Fancy to our lives!

Now Accepting Applications

Seriously...my brothers are like the most handsome, sweet, loving, caring, smart, funny, and cool guys I know (with the exception of my bearded hottie of a husband who is the best guy on the planet).


I am now accepting applications for girlfriends for these two studs.


Minimum Qualifications:

18+

Some college courses completed and a goal to graduate (if not already achieved).

Must be pretty (I know it's superficial but I don't care).
Super pretty is even better.

Must make them laugh and enjoy laughing often - even if its at herself.

Must like kids...especially mine because babysitting my children so I can have a date night with my husband is going to be part of the interview process.

Must have a job, a car, and a good relationship with her own family.

Must be independent and strong-willed, but not a feminist (seriously - those are lame. let the boys pay for dinner and get your door, dammit).


Qualified candidates should also be adventurous, enjoy the outdoors, and enjoy being goofy.

Position requires someone who will never go psycho or stalk them, must tell Austin or Dallas when they are wearing too many accessories or are pushing the fashion limits far too much for a straight man, and must be okay with their involvement with MMA. Position also requires someone willing to deal with occasional farts, belches, and dumb statements (they are boys you know).

Compensation includes handsome, sweet, loving, romantic man-child who will also be a good friend.

Please keep your application to these open positions confidential. My brothers would kill me if they knew I was doing this. So, if you are interested - or know anyone who would be fantastic - please reply to this posting with who it is and why they would be great. And no, you don't get a placement fee (unless they get married...they I'll send you $100 and a bag of Fritos).

...but seriously...they're too cute!



Dallas (21) - Austin (24)

Man-oh-Man it’s been too long since I’ve updated the blog. I don’t really have anything interesting to say so I’ll just share some snippets and quick photos so I can remember what we did this past Holiday season.

We're back in VA and are happy to be in our own beds in our own house. However, we are seriously more homesick than ever. Jayda is now old enough to really miss her extended family. She can often be found with very real tears in her eyes as she mumbles about missing her "California family." She's laying in on pretty thick and often asks if we can go back there right away. Russ and I both hope to eventually move back to CA, but we are so blessed to have great friends in VA that make this place our home. It's nice to be loved on every coast!

So, without further-ado, here's a quick recap:

Our girls are cute!! (this isn't so much a reacap as it is a factual statment (at least in my biased opinion) :)




Russ’ friend Max got married on December 5th so we flew to California, drove to Lake Arrowhead, and helped celebrate at the wedding. It was fun to see Russ’ friends from high school all growns up. They are such a cool bunch of guys!





On the 18th of December I joined the Dirty Thirty Club. I was dreading it and had planned on spending the day crying in my wrinkle cream. Russ had other ideas and made it the best birthday ever! Overnight stay at a beach side resort sans kiddos, steak and lobster for dinner, flowers, balloons, sparkling cider in our room, and diamond earrings as we watched the sunset. The next morning we saw a beautiful sunrise, enjoyed a walk near the beach, and had a delicious and quiet breakfast while overlooking the water. It was soooo fantastic! Well played Russy - well played! I love ya!







On the 21st of December we welcome my baby brother home from his mission. We were all so excited and it felt great to give him a huge hug. Please notice in one picture how my mother completely bypassed the “do not enter” security signs and she ran into his arms. We were all supposed to be holding signs and yelling for him when we saw him but apparently mom couldn’t wait. She ran faster than I imagined she could…it was quite impressive. We are sooo glad he’s home. He’s sweet, handsome, funny, well-adjusted, and smart ---love love love having him around!











Christmas was awesome…so awesome that I was having too much fun to even pick up a camera and take any pictures. I’m such a loser. We had a fantastic time spending the holiday with our families (Russ’ side and mine). Our girls were spoiled rotten with gifts and we were spoiled rotten by being with family and enjoying the nice So Cal weather. The pics below are from Christmas morning and Christmas afternoon. Jayda had fun playing “duck duck goose” with Uncle Dallas and Uncle Daustin (Austin, but she still adds the "D"). I had a great time being with my “baby” brothers. We all enjoyed being with family! (soo bummed I don't have any pics of the fun stuff we did with the Roth side of the family. I was enjoying gabbing and catching up with my in-laws, brothers & sisters-in-laws, nieces and nephews, etc so I didn't take any photos--insert frowney face here).









We are excited to welcome 2010 and can't wait to see all of the fun memories it will bring! Happy New Year!!

Thankful for...

I love Thanksgiving. I love what a beautiful time it is to reflect on blessings and the simple things in life. I love what a beautiful beginning it is to the Christmas season which is a celebration of the Saviors life.

It is just a special time to slow down and evaluate what I am blessed to have and what I am truly grateful for. It is also a time for me to regroup and remind myself what a want is verses what a need is.

I am over abundantly blessed in the spiritual, physical, emotional, and material sense of the word. I love my Heavenly Father and know that he loves me, I am able bodied and healthy, I have the emotional support of loved ones, and we live in a nice, safe, warm home.

I love that prior to Thanksgiving I had to have a new table, new boots, new clothes for the girls, a new computer, new furniture for my bedroom and Jayda's, new make-up, gifts for everybody I could think of for Christmas, a planned vacation, etc etc etc...yet after Thanksgiving and after writing down what blessings I have received this year and what I am truly grateful for... I realize that not only do I NOT need them, I don't even want them right now. That's not to say I won't want them again in the future (I do love to shop!), but right now I want to simplify. I want to stop "needing" things that I don't really need. I want to focus on the beauty in my girls smiles, the warmth of my hubby as he lays next to me at night, the furry little friend that is my sweet Riley, and the blessings that come from being TRULY happy with what I have...which is A LOT and then some.

As I reflect on this past year it became apparent that I was more blessed in 2009 than any other year in my life.

Here's a list of what I'm most Thankful for (in no particular order):

I'm thankful to now work part-time. I work about 25-30 hours a week instead of 45-60. This change has brought a sense of peace into my life that I hadn't felt for over 4 years.

I'm thankful for my 12 year old, one-eyed, three-working-legs dog. Riley brings me so much joy...she's happy and healthy and spunky and we're blessed to have her.

I'm thankful for my in-laws and extended family. They rock. I'm blessed to be a Roth. My girls are blessed to be Roth's.

I'm grateful for my friends who laugh with me, cry with me, and bitch with me when needed. All my friends are fantastic. Those in California who make me feel missed and those in Virginia who make me feel welcome.

I'm grateful for little hands that reach up to hold mine and little feet that are always under foot.

I'm thankful for my calling at church. I'm grateful it helps me learn more about the Gospel and our Savior and that by performing my calling I am serving the Lord.

I'm thankful that kids eat free every Tuesday at Chic-Fil-A.

I'm thankful for the health of my children. I'm thankful for their laughter, and their smiles, and their arm dimples, and their big blue eyes that light up when they see me, and their sweet little spirits. You can't look into the eyes of a child and not think about the Love of our Savior.

I'm thankful for my brothers. Austin for his support, laughter, and friendship. Dallas (Elder Porter for 19 more days...but whose counting) for his example, humor, and fabulous penmanship in his letters home which provide me hours of entertainment as I try to figure out what the hell he wrote.

My mom. I'm thankful for my mom. For everything she is. For everything she's taught me to be. For her example of pure Christ like love. For her showing me what it means to truly be a good wife, mother, and friend. For her patience. For her humor. For her. I want to be her when I grow up.

I'm thankful for Spanx (not the naughty kind...the kind that suck your butt in when wearing tight pants)!

I'm thankful for my precious baby girl, Sierra "Bella," who came into this world nearly 2 months early but was healthy. I'm thankful for the doctors who helped me throughout my emergency (and scary) operation and for the NICU staff who loved and held my sweet girl for the first few weeks of her life when I couldn't.

I'm thankful for Jayda. For everything about her. This post is already long so I won't bore you with how cool she is and how much joy she brings into my life. Let's just say that it's a lot. I love her all the way to the moon and back. I'm grateful that when I tell her that she replies: "Well I love you all the way to the freeway and back!"

I'm thankful for my hubby. I could try to detail the reasons why, but it would be impossible. He's my Prince Charming, my Fairytale, my Happily Ever After. He totally got the short end of the stick in this deal. I lucked out.

I'm thankful for my Savior. I'm thankful to be a member of his church. I truly believe that the good things in my life are a direct reflection on my membership within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I love being Mormon. I love that Jesus is My Savior and that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me and who sacrificed his son for me so that I could have eternal life. It's almost too much to even wrap my head around. It's a love that I can't fully comprehend...probably because I'm human.

Finally, my biggest blessing in 2009 is my dad. I have my dad back. We all do. For over 10 years my hero, the first man I ever loved, was in pain every day of his life. He hurt and took pain meds and suffered. We all suffered with him...especially my mom. But he is now nearly pain free and off pain meds and is back to his old happy self. He talks (non stop...it's awesome!), he laughs, he jokes around, he has energy, and he's truly enjoys his grandbabies. In all honestly I didn't think we'd see the day when we'd have him back. I didn't see an end to his pain. However, the Lord had other plans and proved (once again) that through true faith and prayer... miracles can happen. I'll never understand how come some people are healed and other's aren't. I know the Lord doesn't love one person more than another. I just know I'm thankful for the lessons we all learned throughout this decade of trials and I'm grateful that my dad being healed was part of the Lord's plan. He's back to his old self...only better. It's truly a bigger blessing than anyone could ever imagine.

So, is this a sappy post? Yes. Am I a bit embarrassed to share it with everyone because it's so personal (and quite long)? Yes. However, I would be remiss to not put down in writing the blessings I have been given. I am so thankful for each of them. I am so blessed.

Happy Halloween!!!!

We hope you all enjoyed the Halloween festivities. We had some friends come over for Pizza and Trick-or-Treating and had a great time. As you can see by the pics above, Bella was Princess Leia and Jayda was Michael Jackson.

I sprayed Jayda's hair black which seemed like an okay idea at the time, but quickly proved to be quite dumb of me. It rained and so her "hair" dripped all down her face and created quite the mess. But also extremely hilarious!

Halloween night was less than 48 hours ago and I've already used her candy to perform 4 bribes and 2 "if you don't _________ then I'll throw your candy away." Wow - who knew that the candy would provide Jayda with eating enjoyment and me with bribes and punishment threats! Good times!