Grace's 3rd bday= PRINCESS!

I never liked pink. I wasn't the sister that loved dolls or girly things. I always said that I would NEVER call my daughter "princess" or encourage the values that often come with "princessy" things such as glorifying looks over brains. I think that God is laughing at me because I don't think I have ever met a little girl that loves the color pink, or anything having to do with a princess, as much as mine. Today was Grace's 3rd birthday. I can't believe she is 3! She woke up today and asked "is today my birthday?" I told her it was, and she got a confused look on her face and asked, "where is the cake? where are the balloons?" Well, she needn't have been concerned, they were coming! We had a princess day, all around! Even Noah got in the mood, loving Grace's high-heeled shoes and her pink baby stroller. Grace wore at least 3 layers of fluff (slips, dress ups, etc) at all times during the day. As I type this she is asleep in her room, in a poofy white slip (the kind I used to throw over my head and pretend was hair when I played dress-ups.) I love that Grace is just as much of an individual as I was. Just much more pink. There are too many pictures to post here, so go to my website (www.lindsayhallam.com). They will be posted there at www.lindsayhallam.com/graces3bday by the end of the night. Here are a couple to tide you over :)

Grace's Swimming Finale

Grace first did swimming lessons when she was about 8 mths old. At that point she basically learned to float on her back if she was to fall in the water. There are so many swimming pools here that it is a huge risk if your child does not know how to survive in the water. Grace and Noah do their lessons through a program called Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) www.infantswim.com. Noah has another week or so to go, and I will post his video as soon as he is done. He is learning to do the same things that Grace does here in the video. Basically they doggy paddle to the edge of the pool, and learn to flip to their back and float when they need a breath. Yesterday Grace swam two laps across the pool and back all by herself. We are so proud of her! This video is more of a demonstration of her survival skills than of her swimming skills, but it is still really neat to see. She normally does her lessons in a swimming suit, but she is fully clothed in the video because sometimes things as little as a jacket or shoes can throw kids off and make it harder for them to survive. Now that we have this under her belt hopefully next year she will be able to do some more actual strokes and things like that. She absolutely loves the water! As you will see in the video, her biggest concern was that her jacket was getting wet :)

Kelly Slater vs. Roy Rogers

Since moving back to Arizona Grace has spent quite a bit of time at her Mema's ranch up in Prescott AZ. We had the chance to go see the rodeo last weekend, and Grace saw the mechanical bull. She said, "I want to DO that!" so up she went,wearing a dress, pink cowgirl boots, and a pink cowgirl hat, all by herself, one arm waving madly in the air. As the bull twirled through the air I saw the look of pain on Steve's face as he realized his daughter might be entering the "cowgirl/horse" phase. Luckily for him, she still doesn't like horses, just bullriding and her boots. In fact, she made him take a picture on top of a stuffed (ALL of him was stuffed....don't look too closely) bull so she could remember the moment forever. Steve says that we need to buy her a surfboard pronto before we lose her to the "other side." :)
Here are a few other pictures from the 4th as well.

Grace and Noah were being silly, she was pushing him around in a doll stroller






Grace and her cousin Cody


Dancing with a flag


All decked out