Marley's 6th Birthday

Marley turned 6! I still can't believe it.

Nana and Papa were in town to celebrate! Nana took Marley on a special outing to Build-a-Bear where Marley made a new very special friend - Fallin. Fallin is a beautiful white horse with a long, flowing mane (which happens to shed like crazy). She takes her everywhere in her own special carrying purse. I think Marley just tricked Nana into buying her two gifts - a horse AND a purse. We call Marley a "bag lady". She has a whole collection of purses and fills them to the brim with all kinds of stuff.

She had a friend party on Saturday afternoon. I decided that, instead of planning a bunch of games and spending money on prizes, etc., we would just spend the money on something extra fun! We rented an inflatable water slide! The kids played and played and we just sat back and watched. It was great. Marley was pretty intimidated while the other kids were here but as soon as they left she went crazy going up and down the slide. Scott and I went a little crazy too. It was pretty slippery and I ended up covered in bruises! But it was good family fun.

My mom helped me build Marley the cake of her dreams! She loves Barbie these days ... especially Barbie and the Mermaid Tale (Merliah). Her birthday gifts definitely reflected her new love. She got a new Barbie along with a mermaid tale dress-up and a mermaid wig!Grandpa has a little tradition - he brings Marley a bouquet of flowers for her birthday! It's pretty cute. A couple of months ago she asked Grandpa for a special gift - the BYU puppy that he kept on his dresser. It turns out that her Grandma Angie had bought the dog around the time Grandpa graduated - around 1968. Grandma Angie passed away in 1981 and Grandpa has kept it on his dresser ever since then. She didn't know it was super special to grandpa, she just thought it was cute. Well, she obviously has her grandpa wrapped around her little finger and he actually cleaned it all up and gave it to her for her birthday - with one condition - she keep it on her tall shelf and keep it safe or grandpa will take it back until she is ready to take care of it. So far so good. Once she understood that it was a special gift she has promised to treat it with special kindness and it has stayed nice and safe on her shelf. She had a really great birthday. Marley is going to be in first grade this year! It is still hard to imagine that I have a six year old. Sometimes she acts like a sixTEEN year old but for the most part she is a beautiful, helpful, kind, funny little girl. I am so glad she is mine!