Desert Museum - Tucson, AZ

 We arrived in Tucson yesterday for Evan and Katie’s wedding this weekend. It is our first time in Tucson and the terrain is very similar to Juarez/El Paso except all the saguaro cacti everywhere! 

We went to the Desert Museum and it was beautiful. Perfect opportunity to take lots of pictures.

Us Girls

Allison was a HUGE help during the birthday party! 

Spa Birthday Party

 The girls know that they cannot start talking about their birthday parties until after my birthday (January 27); however that doesn’t mean they can’t start planning. I don’t know when they decided to have a spa birthday or when they agreed to have it combined but it definitely made things a lot easier. Especially because they invited their shared friends from church. 

Their plan:

• Soaking feet
• Face masks
• Manicures
• Making bath bombs

Their menu:

• Cucumber sandwiches 
• Veggie tray
• Strawberries & coconut cool whip 
• Chips
• Deep dish pizza

Cameron was responsible for two things: making deep dish pizza and hanging the piñata. The pizza was all made from scratch and it was really good. Cameron decided the best place to hang the piñata was in the garage because it was snowing and wet outside. It all worked out perfectly. After he was done with these two things, he went over to Dan’s to do more manly things while Allison joined our party to do girly things!

Allison was a huge help. She helped the girls with their manicure, face masks and taught them how to make the bath bombs. 

Birthday Cake - Pink & Teal

 Now that the girls are older, they decided to make their own birthday cake. I was not involved at all. They had to work together and figure out their differences in opinions. The cake came out really good: withe and chocolate with cream cheese frosting.

Birthday Piñata - Pink & Teal

 For the first time in ten years the girls had a combined birthday party. That meant we only had to make one piñata. The girls wanted a spa birthday party at our house and we couldn’t find something “spa” related to make the piñata. The girls decided on a traditional star piñata with their favorite colors: teal for Emma and pink for Ana. It came out really cute. 

Birthday Lunch

 Aunt Jan and Nancy came up to take all of us to lunch in celebration of Emma and Ana’s birthday. We tried a new BBQ place and it was delicious. Lunch was followed by ice cream at Graeter’s. 

Us

 

Ana’s Gymnastics Competition

Ana had her fourth gymnastics competition today and she did great. She got second place All Around in her level/category. The surprise performance was beam; she placed first place and we are so proud of her.

First in Beam

Emma is 12!

 We celebrated Emma’s birthday by having pancakes for breakfast then got ready to go shoe shopping. Spent two hours at the shoe store and eight pairs later, we went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch. 

Our friend Amie joined us and it was so much fun. She can shop! Cameron stayed home for a quiet day while his girls had fun shopping! Today reminded me when I used to go shopping with my mom almost every week when I was younger. 

What a great day to turn 12!