Happy Birthday and a little Academy Magic

This post is pretty much all about me, so if you read my blog for the cute pics of my kids, you may want to skip it.  :)

I had such a great birthday this year!  It seems as you get older that birthdays just aren't as much fun and almost seem like any other day.  But this year I really had such a great day with so many little fun things and surprises to make my day.  It included breakfast at Kneaders with the fam, a big surprise gift from Aaron, a birthday package from my sister, cards in the mail from friends and family, two birthday calls/songs from my grandpa, playing with cousins at the park, free clothes, a nap while Aaron watched the kiddos, more birthday calls/songs from cousins/parents, yummy treats from friends delivered to my house, dinner with Aaron at Zuppas, and bunco with some good friends.  We had the official Hicks family celebration a few days later on St. Patrick's day at my mom's house.  The kids were happy to help blow out the candles in the brownies.  You can tell Lexi had some practice a few days earlier.

One of the best presents I enjoyed that weekend was a Academy Counselor overnight retreat in Midway.  Academy for Girls  was sort of like a 10 day girls camp or EFY that was held at BYU over the summers.  My family grew up with Academy for Girls.  My mom was the director for four years when I was in elementary school.  I have aunts and cousins who were directors/counselors as well.  Julia and I loved to go and be a part of the activities and hang out with the girls and mom whenever we could.  I remember being so excited to participate in any way we could.  My mom was amazing at her job and it was the perfect job for her to use all her creative and organization skills.

We loved getting the leftovers, including t-shirts that were way too big for us.  We would dance around and lip sync to the same songs the girls and counselors performed at Academy.  We loved to eat in the cafeteria, go to the talent shows, sleep over in the dorms, go to the final banquet, participate in the olympics, and go to Salt Lake and the canyon with the girls.

I was so excited when I turned 12 and finally got to go to AFG as a participant.  I went for two years with my cousins and LOVED it. The next four years I opted for EFY instead, which has some similarities, but I am a little bit sad that I only went to AFG for those two years.

I was so excited when I turned 18 and got a job as an Academy counselor.  It was something I had wanted to do since I was very young.  I was young and it was super overwhelming to work with all these creative and talented women, but it was awesome.  This was actually the last year that Academy for Girls existed.  I was able to work the last session of Academy ever.  It was sad to see it end, but they had decided to merge it with EFY.  The next year I was able to be an EFY counselor and work with the 12-13 year old girls program, which had kept a lot of the Academy tradition, but also changed a lot.  

My cousin Laura convinced me to go with her to a retreat for former counselors in Midway.  I am so glad she did.  The weekend was filled with awesome classes, treats, a craft, a service project, family prayer, and lots of Academy magic.  In true Academy fashion we were welcomed with a wooden necklace/name tag, a canvas bag, and a cute clipboard with lots of ribbon on it.  We had presents on our pillow at night and outside our door in the morning.  There seemed to be a cute ribbon or tag on everything from the colored pencils to the snacks to the books to the water bottles.  There were so many details that coordinated with the theme of "Sure and Steadfast" from Ether 12:4.  It was fun to see traditions and things that my mom started years ago still lived on.  It was a great spiritually uplifting weekend and I am so grateful I had the opportunity to go, and I am so grateful to Aaron for staying home with the kids so I could go.

It was so much fun to experience a little bit of Academy all over again.  

You can get the free "Sure and Steadfast" printable here if you are interested.  My cute friend Heather designed it and you can find more of her free printables, quiet books, and designs here.  

Family Pics

We took these pics back in October, but I never posted them on the blog.  I wanted to wait until after I sent out Christmas cards, which was a few months ago, so I suppose I will share them now for any that are interested in seeing lots of pictures of my family.  My talented sister-in-law Becca did such a great job.

Happy Birthday Lexi!

The little lady turned 1 on March 9.  I am officially the mom of two toddlers for the next six months.  It is pretty awesome.  

We had a low key birthday celebration with balloons and cupcakes on her actual birthday.  She loved the cupcake and held the whole thing up to her mouth while she gnawed away at it, and when she was done she reached out for more.

The next day we got ready for a little party at my parents house.  

She licked the beater with chocolate whipped cream,

opened a few presents (with some help from brother),

blew out the candle (with some more help from brother),

and LOVED her first piece of chocolate cake.

We set up a makeshift studio in our house on her birthday to get some good birthday shots.  She loves to make this face with her cute little mouth.

At her one year check up she was in the 50th percentile for weight, 71st for length, and 99th for head circumference.  The Dr. says that means she has a big brain.  :)

We are pretty crazy about his little girl and are so grateful that Heavenly Father sent her to our house to live.

February Favs

Just a few of our favorite things this February:

 I love this girls smile.  It usually involves a wide open mouth, sometimes even with a tongue hanging out.  She finally got those top two teeth and tries to eat everything she sees us eating, especially if it involves chocolate or sugar of any kind.  Watch out if you are holding a brownie.  She with use both her hands to push your hand & the brownie into her mouth.

She loves to hang onto our legs when we are in the kitchen trying to clean or make dinner.  It makes it a little difficult to get things done.  But we sure think she is cute.

 She is a walker!  I wouldn't say she has completely given up crawling, but her preferred mode of movement is definitely walking.  She can stand up on her own and walk across a room.  I think much of her motivation for walking is to keep up with her big brother that she loves to follow around.  I am trying not to be too sad that she is growing up so fast and concentrate on being grateful she is developing.

 She loves the newest addition to our house.  I do too.  It has been so fun to be able to play again.  I have missed having a piano for 13 years.

Brigham loved having Grandma and Grandpa Barth visit.  He enjoyed playing his "trumpet" with grandpa during the chicken dance (which he is a big fan of lately).

After a few days of adjustment he seems to really be enjoying the bunk beds grandma and grandpa brought.  They are the same ones Aaron slept in when he was little.  He likes to turn on the little lamp on the side and "read" his books in there.  His latest favorites are the Berenstain Bears.

He has loved having Ty and Kylee come over to play and build forts with him.  He asks for TyKylee just about every day.  

On President's Day we started a 1000 piece Disneyland puzzle.  Brigham was fascinated by it and loved "helping" with it.  We had to find places to hide it when we weren't working on it.  He found it this day and was so tempted to pull it out.  It was really difficult for him to resist.

 I'm happy to say we finished the puzzle and didn't lose any pieces along way.  It is glued together so now Brigham can just stare at it and point out all the things he likes.

Brigham's favorite toy since our trip to Denver has definitely been his new Toy Story toys from cousin Jacob.  He loves these things.  He calls them "toy story 2" and it is one of the first things he asks for or looks for in the morning.  He spends much of the day playing with them, setting them up in Andy's room, moving them into the castle, putting them in buckets and pans and shoes, hugging them, galloping with them, and sleeping with them.  It is hard to get him to leave them behind when we go anywhere.  It is also hard to protect them from baby sister.  She can tell they are prized possessions that he doesn't want to share, so when he isn't looking she sneaks up and grabs one and crawls away as fast as she can.  

It's been a good month. :)