snow violet turns 3

of all the princesses to choose from, violet has always been in love with snow white. so, it only made sense that when i asked violet what kind of birthday she wanted, she readily chose a snow white theme. we had LOTS of friends and cousins there so it really was a party!

activities:
crown decorating
beard making for the dwarf boys
royal parade
mining for gems in the crawl space
bingo
and... CAKE (made by heather)

naturally, i did what any good parent would do. i found a snow white dress in my size and wore it to the party. this is the best picture i have of a not-so-flattering costume. 

 violet really is such a joy at age 3. she is sassy, funny, and adventurous. she is smart as a whip and goes to preschool with kids 1-2 years older than her. she loves to dance, snuggle, play with friends, do crafts, and act like she is ten years old. she is a natural leader and a lot of fun. we love vi.

super bowl? super bowl.

a while back, matt told cade about a video contest his company (frito lay) was running for the super bowl. whoever made the best video, won a trip for two to the super bowl in new orleans. they storylined a plot, met one saturday afternoon, filmed a video in like 2 hours, edited it, and called it a day.

here is the video they made: 

a few weeks passed and i forgot all about this whole thing. so, you can only imagine my surprise when cade came home from work one day to tell me their video had WON. cade william taylor would be checking off a huge bucket list item and heading to the super bowl. i married the luckiest, most positive person in the world. he deserved the win!

lucky for cade, the super bowl fell right near his 29th birthday so this trip was the best way to celebrate.

they went to the game as part of the cbs group- which means that they were treated like VIPs from start to finish. they were well fed, well entertained (garth brooks!!), and well taken care of. 

they even had a chance to golf the tpc louisiana course... which, i have since learned, is a big deal. 

new orleans lived up to its reputation- lots of parties, lots of wildness, lots of fun. cade was in heaven. 

then.... the game happened. it was pretty cool for us to watch the game at home in utah knowing that cade was somewhere in that crowd. they got some pretty great seats so they were LOVING this experience. 

it was the ravens vs. the 49ers. a highlight for me was beyonce at half time, but i digress.

in the end, the ravens took it. as the celebration on the field got started, cade decided he wanted to be where the party was. he needed to get down on the field. there was security everywhere... but for cade, none of that really matters. with a straight face and a few key words, you can get anywhere. sure enough, after some quick thinking and smart following, cade and matt ended up on the field where they celebrated the win with all the ravens and their families. yes, folks, this really happened. 

this was such a great experience for cade. he took full advantage of it all and made the best of an awesome situation.... which made it even awesomer. awesome squared.

to see it all in action, check out the highlight video here: