Utah Trip: Aaliyah's Birthday Party

July 9

Aaliyah’s birthday party day! Much to the distress of Lisa, I spent most the day at my cousin Rachel’s house. I had ordered The Piano Guys cello and piano duets book months ago and we decided to work on the Frozen/Winter arrangement. Unfortunately, neither one of us got to practice much, but we were able to get something resembling the song after a couple tries, albeit at a slower tempo. Rachel had to go somewhere for a bit, so I stayed behind and watched the girls for an hour or so. The girls had fun dressing up the poor dog in dresses and playing a game of charades. Rachel came back with a friend who stayed just long enough to hear our 4th run-through of Let It Go/Winter. Not long after, Rachel’s sister (my other cousin) April and a few of her kids stopped by. I haven’t seen her for years, so it was good to see her again even though we’re not close by any means. I had already stayed way longer than I planned, and Aaliyah’s party was in less than two hours at that point.

Madeline dressing up her poor, good-natured dog.

Cheyenne (Shy-Anne?). She just had three puppies that were all sold.

Madeline made all the girls some grilled cheese

I had to get back to Lisa’s in order to lend Lisa my Sam’s club card so she could pick up the cake, so I took Elisa and Aaliyah back to Lisa’s house. When I arrived, my mom was cleaning, and it looked like most everything was ready for the party that was to start at 3. Lisa left to pick up the cake. While she was gone, Rachel and her girls were the first to arrive. The guests trickled in until 3:30, with Isabelle being the last to arrive. The kids swam in the (not-exactly-clean) pool for most of the party. The water was too cold for Elisa to swim in but Ian did, for a bit. Lisa wanted someone to pick up pizzas from Little Caesars, so Rachel and I volunteered. Rachel drove. We took too long, because we stopped at firehouse subs to get some food for us (since Little Caesars is nasty), and we missed the singing and present opening. Whoops. I also missed the piñata since I was searching for a swim suit cover Elisa borrowed from Isabelle when she had that play date a few days back. Darn. The kids gobbled up the pizza while I ate my Italian sub sandwich. It was ok. I’d much rather pay $2 more and get the one from Niccoli’s in Phoenix. The party wrapped up about 5:30ish but there were still a few stragglers, one poor girl in particular whose parents must have a mental deficiency since they thought it was a good idea to blight their daughter’s future by bestowing her with the name of NIBLEY. That’s right. NIBLEY. Named after the LDS hero Hugh Nibley. My mom and Tootsie and I just couldn’t get over that. Poor girl. Although we did enjoy laughing about the name, we made sure to stay quiet in her presence—she’ll get enough teasing in the future if she hasn’t already. So sad. What awful parents.

The kids loved swimming in that filthy dirty pool!

I liked this picture of Elisa 

Elisa and her 2nd cousin Isabelle

I got outside just as the kids had finished putting their candy in their bag.

I like this picture! I might print it out someday. Elisa and her 2nd cousins. Madeline (from my side), Elisa, and Isabelle (from Erik's side).