Alexia turns 5!

On October 1st, Alexia turned 5 years old! It was such a fun day and to make it even more special, Krystal, Bryce, and Bridger were able to be here for it! We haven't been able to celebrate Alexia's birthday with family since she turned one year old, so to have them here celebrating with us meant so much. Alexia was able to sleep with me the night before, so I woke up that morning to a darling little voice saying, "It's my birthday!" I took her outside to where Brod and Bryce were fishing and it was so cute because right when she saw Brod, she just started running to him and when he saw her, he dropped his pole and scooped her up in his arms saying, "Happy birthday Princess!". The rest of the day was so fun as she got her breakfast in bed, opened her presents, got her own pop, and spent the rest of the day at Miami Beach. Alexia is such a light in my life and here are a few of my favorite things about her right now: 1) She has always had the strongest desire to make Brodie and I happy by just being a good girl. Her spirit is so obedient and her love for the gospel is already so evident. She always says things like, "I love the church and the temple. That's where Jesus goes." And one time when her and I were laying by each other in the pool chair, I asked her what her 3 wishes would be. Her last one was that she could be like Jesus. She then added, "that's what I want more than anything." 2) She is turning into my little friend more and more each day. She wakes up saying, "Mommy, what would you like to do fun with me today?" We have so much fun reading together, painting each other's fingernails, coloring, watching her little shows, playing hungry hippos (her favorite), creating things, etc. She is always making me laugh and reminds me so much of when Whitney was her age, because you really can "hang out" with her and have so much fun! 3) She loves anything that has to do with art right now. She can sit and color, draw, write sentences sounding out her own words, and make Brodie and I pictures all day long if she could. Pretty much everything she got for her birthday is art related and she couldn't have been prouder with it! 4) She has such a zest for learning. Even before she was 2 years old she would just sit and let me teach her letters, shapes, colors, etc. We would literally sit at her little table for hours. That desire hasn’t slowed down at all! When she gets to pick out movies at the library, she chooses the national geographic videos of different animals, the ocean, and the great barrier reef. In fact, her favorite animals right now are the komodo dragon, moray eel, puffer fish, and alligators. With her birthday money we went to Toys R Us and out of the whole toy store, she chose an animal encyclopedia and a Tinkerbell sticker/coloring book. And it was so cute because one morning when I woke up Alexia said, “Mommy, today teach me everything you know.” I just love my sweet Alexia and as I was expressing my love for her through prayer on her birthday, I was just overcome with emotion with how grateful I am that she was sent to me.

The first birthday hug!
So early and SO proud!
She loved fishing with her daddy!
She has always loved to pick me flowers and I was glad I had my camera right there to capture!
Breakfast in bed wearing the Birthday Princess crown- the royal request? Chocolate chip pancakes!
So excited to open her presents!
She was in heaven!
Since it was her birthday she got to go in and get her own pop before the beach! (Audrey about died)
So proud to start her afternoon at Miami Beach!
The kids had so much fun just playing and playing.
Alexia loves to run to the waves and then away from them
Brod took Lex out on the raft and then she put on her goggles, took off her floaties and dove down and gathered sea shells from off the bottom of the ocean floor! (She was always where she could touch and Brod was right there with her so I wasn't so nerved)
Here is her collection from under the sea! I couldn't believe what a flyer she was! I would just watch her take a deep breath, dive down and watch her little feet kicking at the surface while she was searching for treasures!

Brod and Lex building a sand castle
Alexia and her birthday cake
It was so cute because when we told her to think of her wish, this is what she did for so long! (Took is so seriously!)
She then told us that her wish was that her cake would taste delicious! (With all that pondering, I didn't know what to expect!)
These are her presents from Bryce and Krys. It was so darling because they each picked out their own presents for her, so she had treasures from both Bryce and Krys! She LOVED them.

She was so proud that Bryce and Krys could celebrate such a special day with her. In fact, she thought the whole reason they came was to celebrate her birthday with her! (I'm excited to make my next post about their amazing stay here with us!) Thank you so much to all of the family that called, supported, and sent cards and presents. As her mom, it means the world.