Here's the story....of a gal named Tori

Tori's birthday turned into a week long celebration...hence why I'm writing this a week late and why it's massively long (hey! it was a fun week). My mom (Granny as Tori calls her), my sis and her kiddos, and Jake came up for the week, and our Aunty Brie and Tayli came for the weekend to celebrate early before Brandon left for Colorado. Needless to say, I felt like I should actually plan something this year, which I neglected to do last year, and as previously mentioned on my facebook...I'm not much of a party planner, however, thanks to some help, we were able to do a bunch of fun things, and I personally think the "party side of things turned out super fun and adorable!

We encountered a randomly nice day prior to all our company arriving, so Brandon and I decided to take Tori to the zoo and get our season passes. It was just a nice day out as a fam and I was glad Brandon got to be a part of the celebration since he missed the rest of it.

On Saturday, we did the "party" so Brandon could see all the present opening and candle blowing. Since the weather was yucky, we decided to take everyone to Wahooz! by Roaring Springs. They have a fun cheap little jungle gym and arcade that we thought Tori would like.

And of course we needed to take a break to eat, so below is all the kiddos waiting for seriously some of the best food I've ever eaten.

Here's Tori's cake courtesy of Aunt Brie, who did most of it, but hey, I did come up with the design, a thank you! I really loved it, and even though I questioned whether it was worth it, the concensus is YES!

And this is why! Tori was completely infactuated with it! She was so excited to show us!

And because I stressed so unnecessarily about it, I had to show the decor. It was super simple but I was proud of myself for actually putting some effort into it.

So aside from clothes, our one toy present was this $12 after Christmas sale Princess kitchenette. She kept seeing the box stashed downstairs in our storage, so when we finally gave it to her, she was so excited. In general, Tori was increasingly more fun at present opening than she was at Christmas. This age seriously rocks!

She also got a tea set and dishes from Granny Sessions, and Jake was the nice one that finally sat down and had a tea party with her. What an awesome uncle!

As if that wasn't enough fun for one week, then came her actual birthday on Monday. Even though Daddy had to leave, we tried to make it so much fun, so we saved a few gifts for her to open that afternoon. Love her face here....obviously super excited about her new books!

That night Grandpa and Grandma Dean, and Aunt Tara and Cody got to come to dinner and have some ice cream sundays with us! Tori got to decorate her own ice cream while snitching straight shots of sprinkles in the process.

And since I can't get this picture to move, while Tayli was here we got to color animal masks, so here's all the little girls sporting their inner animal!

So pictured below is Tori enjoying yet another fun day out at the zoo in one of Mommy's bday spoils....a magnificent double jogger, with rotating front wheel that locks....secondhand purchase from Kid to Kid (thank you Brigitte). I was super psyched and Tori loved it too! So excited to put little brother next to her!

And after the zoo, since it was all sorts of amazing weather, we decided to break out the princess pinata that Granny had brought her. She didn't quite get it at first, but once she did catch on this girl was stashing candy like nobody's bizness! It was awesome!

And following one beautiful spring day with another, we decided to go out and play with our new side walk chalk from Aunt Tara! She's actually never done this before and even when she colors in a color book she just adds these dainty scribbles and thinks it's seriously amazing. Of course it is, but it wasn't amazing for pictures haha!

Like every parent, I can't believe my kiddo is two! This is seriously such a fun age and I wish she could stay this young and playful forever. She's so full of excitement, and it's such a joy to experience these new things with Tori. I'm thankful eveyday for her sweet personality and the way she truly brightens my life!