updates!

first things first, Arissa's Birthday Bash!...

unfortunately it was so hot, that I only took a few pictures. I was amazed anyone even showed up, it was so hot. We had to have half the party inside in the air conditioning. But it was fun, the girls all liked singing into the microphones and pretending to be a "star":

These are the "backstage passes" that I made...each girl got one of these and a mix cd of some of the songs we played as a party favor:

The following weekend was Arissa's Baptism. It turned out really nice, although it was hard for me to be as prepared as I like to be, because I wasn't sure of how things were supposed to go. But it was really special, Arissa looked beautiful, and I was so happy for her.

And then, a week later, she's gone! She and my grandma flew out Saturday morning to Utah for 2 weeks. Arissa was scared to death of the flight, but she did fine. We walked them up as far as we could, which was only to get their bags checked and up to the security checkpoint. Then we waived goodbye, and the 4 of us remaining drove around to find a place we could try and watch the plane take off. That was hard for two reasons....one, because we got there at 9:15 and the plane didn't leave until 11:33, and also because wherever you're able to park, you can't see the runway. But eventually we found a spot, and we sat there until 11:30 when we saw the Delta plane make it's way onto the runway. Their flight was supposed to be the first Delta one that morning, the next wasn't until 1:30. But there were 2 Delta planes lined up to take off. So we waived and jumped and screamed at both of them, since we weren't sure which one they were on.

Then they were off, and our house seems surprisingly empty with just 4 people instead of 5. A week before they left, I individually wrapped 14 little gifts and mailed them in a package to my Aunt's house where they'll be staying....on each gift is a tag w/ the date for Arissa to open one each day that she's there. I thought maybe that would make her still feel connected to home, cause I know she's going to be a little homesick.

Mariah is actually taking it the hardest though....every 5 minutes it's "why did Arissa have to go to Utah? when will i see my sister? why did she have to leave?". Poor girl. :O)

So the cheer the girls up, we went to SeaWorld that evening. They hadn't gotten to go on the new rides yet (that Arissa, Jesse, & I tried out for the first time on her birthday). They loved every minute of it: