Hannah

I'm so thankful that my oldest is a girl. Not just any girl, but THIS girl. She is fun, helpful beyond words, kind, sensitive, a pleaser, passionate, a deep thinker, driven, a GREAT example to others, and pretty darn beautiful inside and out.

She was SO excited to move to Idaho, but Aaron and I knew better, that it was going to be a big adjustment and that it would be very different than what she was used to in Utah; particularly where we lived in Utah. There isn't a plethora of kids to play with at her whim, not everyone believes as we do and she's learning that too. She misses, terribly, her best friend and cousin, Grace. There have been many a tear from her eyes that she really misses Utah and all her friends there. That said, we are all learning a great deal as a family through this experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything! So before anyone starts feeling super duper sorry for Hannah and the others too, just know we are pretty happy most days. She's making new friends and having wonderful experiences that we might never have had living in such a highly LDS populated place.

I didn't want to do a "friend" party this year.  I knew she would be okay with that, but I really wanted to make it special for her. I wanted her to know that her family can be her glue when things are hard. That we love her the very most of anyone ever. And guess who must have been thinking the same thing? Aunt Suzie! Susan planned to bring Grace up for Hannah's birthday as a surprise, and boy was it ever!

These two were the silliest, most giddy girls you'd ever hear! After quick hugs at the door, Hannah quickly grabbed Grace's hand and pulled her up to her room, only to come back down 5 minutes later dressed as twins.

After they showed us their dresses, (a gift from her Grandma Lombardo) I don't think we saw them again until dinner time. They had some serious catching up to do!

I have to include here that Nathan wanted so badly to decorate the house for Hannah. He wanted it to be a surprise. He even woke up early to help me do it. I was so touched by this sweet act and you can bet I made sure it happened!

Matching jammies

And the cutest little messy face you ever did see!

We took the girls rock climbing while Grace was here. They were total champs at climbing! All of the kids were!
Hannah

 Grace

 Abby - and I must say, we were most impressed with this little climber. No hesitation whatsoever!

 Nathan- who could scourer that wall in seconds. It was truly impressive.

We played at the park, the kids made forts, dressed up, put on skits, colored, watched movies and ate popcorn, told stories, and took the ultimate bubble bath.

We were all sad to see Aunt Suzie and Grace go. Hannah cried herself to sleep that night. She dearly loves her cousin and I have no doubt she will never forget this birthday as long as she lives.

I hope they will always have this special bonded friendship. Susan, thank you so much for thinking to do this. And Nikki, thank you for giving us Grace for the weekend. We love her!

And FYI: we think Holland must not have forgotten her Aunt Suzie, because she went right to her and stayed with her the whole weekend!

*Not pictured here were some incredibly generous gifts from Hannah's Grandma Lombardo. She came to visit a couple weeks ago and took Hannah shopping for the day. The day! She came back with bags of new clothes and a new love for shopping. I didn't get any good pictures of her opening any of those gifts, (quite honestly, most of my pictures are all blurry if you couldn't tell) but I'll tell ya, she is one fashionable 9 year old! Thanks Vicki!