Liv's Birthday

We celebrated Liv's 2nd birthday on Saturday.  Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen made the trek from Utah to celebrate the New Years and birthday (as a side note, all three kids made it to midnight on New Years.  We celebrated with confetti poppers and sparkling grape juice.  Grandpa and Grandma didn't make it to midnight - talk about a changing of the guard.  When Svea found out we had to go to bed at 12:15 she melted down because she thought we were going to play games all night).  Ashley and I decorated the room after they all went to bed.  Liv wanted a princess cake and Ashley did some amazing work.  I married a woman who is good at everything - from Physical Chemistry to making cakes.

So for Liv's birthday we decided to go skiing - surprise, surprise!  We taped a special "Birthday Princess" Tiara to Liv's helmet which had everyone wishing her happy birthday all day on the mountain. Also, picture of the Sierra At Tahoe staff shoveling snow off their storage area.  The angle throws it off a bit, but the snow is chest to head high.

Of course we had to go to Maverik on the way to Sierra At Tahoe to get 44 oz Soft Drinks.  I told Liv that since it was her birthday she could pick out whatever she wanted for breakfast.  I thought she would pick a doughnut, cinnamon roll, or maybe a breakfast burrito.  When it came time to pick Liv chose a corn dog.  For breakfast?  That's really what she wanted.  In the car she was eating it and saying "This corn dog is spicy.  I need a drink."  Turns out they placed a jalapeno corn dog in the honey corn dog wrapper. Liv ate the whole thing (then ran around at night with her hand in her crack after using the restroom screaming, "my bum is on fire."). 

I didn't get any pictures of Liv skiing which bums me out.  Its cold and its hard to unzip and get the camera out not knowing when the good moments will happen, but two moments stick out.  We were above a terrain park where the staff had built some serious jumps.  The kind that ramp up then drop off a few feet.  Liv got some speed and headed right toward the jump.  I sat there waiting for her to turn, but she didn't.  She went right off the end and fell about 2 feet and landed it.  She made the jump.  I was impressed that she had the courage to give it a shot and then the skill to pull it off.  Toward the end of the day, Liv was flying down the mountain and heading right for a large tree.  I thought for sure she was going to hit it, but she missed it by a few feet (I really hope that I was just at a bad angle and she missed it by more).  She hit a lip and caught some air and then bounced a few times.  Really a violent fall.  I skied down fully expecting her to be crying.  Since she can't get up by herself, her face was sideways in the snow.  "Liv, are you ok?" I asked.  "Dad, I got some gnar" (an expression for getting the "gnarly").  She was fine and had fun.

End of the day

For dinner Liv chose to go to Applebee's.  The kids love Applebee's because one of the sides of the kids meal is yogurt with strawberries.  Applebee's isn't very good, but not my choice.  Liv chose a corn dog for dinner.  That's right - one for breakfast one for dinner, what could be better than that?

At the end the Applebee's staff came out and sang happy birthday to Liv.  She kid of slunk down into her seat with a big smile on her face.  She liked the attention, but didn't quite understand why everyone had come out just for her.

They gave her a hot fudge sundae. 

We came home and had more cake and ice cream.  Plenty of presents including a doll house, hiking poles, camelbak back pack, art kit, and two Japanese dolls.  

It was a good day.  Our youngest is now 4 which is progress.  Liv graduated from Nursery into Primary at church.  We are leaving behind the days of diapers and endless screaming.  Liv is obviously a great source of joy for the family. She is funny and loves to explore and try new things.  I look forward to the day when she is 14 and Svea is 16 (I will be 48) and we are standing at the top of a black diamond ski run with fresh powder.