AUGUST 12th --- Vaughn's 2nd Birthday!!!




Vaughn turned 2 years old on Sunday, August 12th. We were all very excited to celebrate his birthday. We were sad that Ben and Emily and kids were out of town, but maybe next year! We went over to Brian's parents' house in Springville that evening to have a family party for Vaughn. I love this picture of him because it looks like he only has two teeth!












Uncle Robert made sure to start the festivities out correctly. He put everyone in good humor, which made the whole night a lot of fun! (P.S. Doesn't he look like he just did something naughty?) (He just always looks that way to me!)












Laura was sitting next to Robert on the couch when we took his picture. I really liked Laura's reaction. I think she wanted to say something, but decided to hold it in, and she had this very mischievous look on her face. This expression is one of my favorites that Laura gives. Isn't she a hottie?











Laura was pretty busy that evening and had to leave before the party was over, so she decided to get some play-time in with Vaughn. Of course Vaughn chose to "play swords."














Vaughn was a little timid at first, but quickly turned into Inigo Montoya. ( I don't think I spelled that correctly). Laura was up to the challenge!











After Laura left, Vaughn still wanted to play swords, so he took turns trying to convince the party goers to play. Finally his older cousin McKay agreed to play.










While Vaughn and McKay were playing, we got the balloons that Grandpa Poopa and Grandmother Isis had sent Vaughn for his birthday, and we put them up all over the kitchen area. Here's Brian's mother and Vaughn's cousin Kimball in the middle of decorating.













Vaughn's cousin Sammy really enjoyed putting up balloons too. It was so fun to watch the kids blow up the balloons. They took great care in placing them around the kitchen. They really wanted it to look nice for Vaughn.













Brian's sister Amy brought her children over for the party that evening. This is her oldest, Riley. She is a real fun girl. She is always making great jokes or dancing a weird dance. If you're ever interested in seeing the funniest dance ever recorded, ask me sometime and I'll show it to you. And yes, Riley is dancing it. And she happens to be in a black Zorro outfit with a moustache painted on her face.










Amy's second-oldest is McKay. Vaughn loves to play with McKay, as I already showed you earlier. Poor McKay had gotten into an accident earlier in the week and really scraped up his face. We thought for sure it would scar, but he healed perfectly and you can't even tell it happened. McKay is a really sweet older cousin to Vaughn. He always takes time to play with Vaughn, and he shows Vaughn how to do cool tricks with his toy cars. He also lets Vaughn play with his racing track, which Vaughn LOVES! Vaughn really looks up to McKay and is grateful to have him as a friend.








Next comes Alex! Alex is as sweet as she looks in this picture. She is ALWAYS looking out for Vaughn. Whenever I go over to bottle with Amy, Alex is the one who does the most for Vaughn. She is wonderful to watch out for him and bring him toys and play with him. Alex is always willing to go the extra mile in helping her mother and me. She is also the best at finding my keys. I have lost my keys so many times at Amy's house, and if Alex is around, she is always the first to find them! She is my good luck charm! If I paid Alex a dollar for every time she has found my keys, she would be a very rich girl and I would be very poor!








Kimball is the second-youngest. Vaughn has a very special place in his heart for Kimball. Whenever he sees her he lights up. If you look through previous blog posts, you'll see Vaughn holding Kimball's hand in one picture, and the tail-end of the infamous 30-second hug he gave her. She is very tender with Vaughn and likes to play with him. She is patient and kind and very loving. And Kimball is always giving out positive complements. One day I was singing very quietly while we were in the same room. I didn't think she could hear me, but she turned to me and asked, "Why are you singing?" I said, "Oh, because I like to I guess." Then she replied, "I like it when you sing. You have a beautiful voice." She says exactly what she thinks, so I knew it was a genuine complement. It made my day!

And this is Amy's youngest, the infamous Samuel, or Sammy as we call him. I have a wonderful story about him. Now usually Sammy is considered a little terror. Yes, behind that adorable smile is a mischievous little boy. But one day while he was visiting over at Brian's parents' house, Vaughn happened to be there as well. Vaughn thought Sammy was loads of fun, so he followed him around all day, trying to get him to play. Vaughn kept poking Sammy with a duster which he thought was a sword. Then he tried lightly tapping Sammy. Sammy did not want to play, so he went to lie down on the couch and watch TV. Well, Vaughn couldn't help himself, and he followed Sammy and stood in front of him and would laugh and stick his face down next to Sammy's and giggle. He bugged Sammy to the point that when I finally arrived after being on some errands, Sammy walked up to me and said, "Vaughn needs to go home. He isn't a good boy like me." I just about died laughing! When I told Brian's mother and Amy, they almost died too. Amy laughed the hardest. She couldn't believe Sammy, in all his terror, would say something like that. Now it is the ongoing joke that we bring up at any opportune moment. Thank heaven for kids like Sammy!


I asked Brian's sister Julie to make a cake for Vaughn since I was a little under-the-weather on his birthday. She was very glad to do it, and boy did she ever do a great job! She made three adorable cakes! They looked like they were right out of the 50s with gorgeous pastel colors and vintage sprinkles. Vaughn's was the pastel-green one in the center. They were wonderful!



Being the concerned mother that I am, I wanted Vaughn to look his best for his birthday pictures, so I proceeded to wash his face before we sang Happy Birthday and had him blow out the candles. It looks like I'm being really rough with him, but I swear I wasn't! Vaughn of course, did NOT want his face washed, as is shown in this picture.










After getting Vaughn cleaned up, we lit the candles and turned the lights off. But Vaughn jumped the gun and before we even started to sing, he had blown out both candles on his first try! We just laughed and said, "How in the heck did he know he needed to do that?!?!" He is one smart cookie! So we turned the lights back on, lit the candles again, and while everyone sang Happy Birthday, McKay and I desperately tried to keep Vaughn from touching and blowing out the candles. It was HILARIOUS!!! Everyone was laughing.





You would think Vaughn would do the same thing twice, but he didn't! He took his time on round two, and barely opened his mouth, and barely blew out any air. He kept hopping up on his stool every time he would blow a tiny blow. It was so FUNNY! He finally got one candle out after about one hundred blows, and he started on the next one. You can't tell, but in this picture he is actually blowing at the candle. He barely opened his lips at all!













Here Vaughn has just barely blown out the second candle, and everyone is giving him "High-Fives." I think it's cool how you can still see the smoke from the second candle.
















We snapped a few family shots before getting cake and ice cream.















And we took one last shot of Vaughn's cake. Isn't it adorable?















Julie also got a quick photo with Vaughn. I love the look he's giving her!













Here's Vaughn finally digging in to his birthday cake. And boy was it tasty! For some reason I want to cite the phrase, "You can have your cake and eat it too."













AND NOW ON TO THE PRESENTS!!!




We hadn't let Vaughn see the card that Grandpa Poopa and Grandmother Isis (My parents) had sent. And since we had already decorated with the balloons that were with the card, we decided to "open" the card first. And VAUGHN LOVED IT! He thought it was the coolest card ever!












Vaughn made sure to hold up the card so everyone could see how cool it was! Thanks Poopa and Momma!


















Grandma and Grandpa Higginson gave Vaughn a little plate and bowl set and a set of three preschool puzzles. Vaughn was excited to show them off as well.














This happens to be my favorite picture of the entire night. Brian's parents also gave Vaughn a pop-up book that he went nuts over! As you can see, he went into a true and complete "spazz-session" when he saw it. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!














Brian's sister Amy and her kids got Vaughn a marble game. There were all these colorful pieces you could connect together and make into a roller-coaster-like ride and send marbles through it. It was so great! And Vaughn plays with it all the time! Thanks Amy and Kids!












And finally, Brian and I got Vaughn a light-saber since he is obsessed with Star Wars. The lame thing was that it broke on the ride home and we haven't been able to fix it! I guess that's what you get for buying clearance items! Poor little Vaughn was so upset that he screamed the rest of the way home. He must have thought I wouldn't let him turn the sound or light on. I felt bad for him and worse for my ears!










We had a wonderful time, and we were so glad for everyone who was able to come and make it such a fun birthday for Vaughn!!! We still can't believe he's already 2! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital. That's why we have to enjoy every moment we have with little Vaughn, because before we know it, he will be grown and leaving home.

Here's one for the road....

Love, Lisa