4th of July Part 1: Leah and Dallin's birthday celebration!

My parents were going to be leaving the day before Leah and Dallin's birthday, so we celebrated with them a little early the morning of Independence Day.  Leah had a blast opening presents and it was so fun to see how much she loved everything we got her.  Dallin wasn't too into the opening presents thing, but he liked a lot of Leah's stuff once she opened it! We intended for most presents to be for both of them, but there were a few individual gifts:

Leah loves all bags and purses, so these backpacks were a hit!

Even Dallin liked wearing his (his is a monkey, Leah's is an owl).

She didn't even want to take it off to open her next present... 

A "Cheese!"

We found this camera on clearance at Target and I was so excited because I'd been eyeing it for awhile, knowing Leah would LOVE it.  And she does! (Dallin loves it, too...he pretty much wants everything she has).

I let the kids play with play-doh for the first time the other day.  It occupied them for a good ten minutes!  Not bad for a 2 year old...pretty incredible for a 1 year old!

After opening a few more presents, we brought out the cake...nothing amazing, just two pieces from a chocolate cake mix cake.  Poor Leah and Dallin have a mom who isn't very into cakes (hopefully I make up for it in other ways!).  They didn't care, though.  They thought it was delicious!

Leah showed the most excitement when we brought the cakes out and sang to them. 

She immediately picked her piece up and had at it.  Then she only had 3 or 4 bites and lost interest...but she really looked like she enjoyed those 3 or 4 bites a lot!!!

Dallin, on the other hand, took his time (which surprised me, because he's very into food)!  First he needed to make a connection with his Granddad:

Then he began smashing and digging into it, making a mess of it until he finally began eating it.

And he pretty much ate it all gone.

Wouldn't want to forget to smash it into your hair, too!  Gotta get it ALL over! 

Now that's a happy birthday boy!

We couldn't be more grateful for these two handfuls.  What a blessing they've been the last two years of our lives (well, one year for Dallin...but you know what I mean).