Gracie turned 4 years old on Monday. (she doesn't like to have her picture posed and taken, so she's not smiling here...) We were so lucky to have my sisters Melissa and Emily and her cousing Sean still here to celebrate with us. We had a spectacular day together. Grace wanted to ride for her birthday activity, so we took her to the barn for a great time with Tinkerbell. She had to try out her new paddock boots she got for her birthday and her new grooming tools she got when we were in Salt Lake in January. A picture tells a thousand words - here she is on Tink as we brought her in from the pasture. Grace was in heaven. Here's the real smile you just can't pose.
Then, we took her to lunch at Not Your Average Joe's where they treated her to a pretty cool birthday cake for her special day at the request of Aunt Em.
When Daddy came home at night, we had some of Grace's favorite things to eat - fettuccini alfredo with asparagus and snickerdoodles for dessert - and then opened the rest of her presents. She was so excited to open more things and got some pretty cool stuff. Everyone was (as always) extremely generous in their gift giving to Grace. Even I can't keep myself from getting her lots of things. She is so easy to buy for and I always find way too many things that I know she would love. Grace and I tried to send thank you e-mails to everyone. We hope we didn't miss any. 
Hattie gave Grace a puzzle that is a picture of "The 119" train that we saw at the Golden Spike last summer. Grace actually spotted this puzzle in an antique store window from across the street and yelled "mommy, it's the 119!!" I couldn't believe she would know that from so far away, but sure enough, she was right. Mommy's note: I can't believe my tiny little girl is already 4 years old. In the past year, she has learned to count to 100 and beyond, add and multiply simple numbers, has learned so many new words that she sounds even more articulate than I do half the time, and has begun to read. She really can read and she reads or recognizes words wherever we go. I am always amazed when she points out something and tells me what it says. She is very smart. She can use a computer to check her e-mail, play games, and "surf" the net on her favorite websites, perform any technological function on any piece of equipment you show her, ride her trike WELL, hit a baseball VERY hard with a bat, throw any sort of ball overhand better than her mom (not saying a whole lot there), ride Tink without anyone leading her, and make phone calls by herself (mostly to her Aunt Em.) She also started going to Primary instead of the nursery at church this year. She is in a class of 9 Sunbeams! It is a great little class with 2 very good teachers and she is having a fine time in there. She goes back and forth on being willing to do things like talk on the phone with family, say prayers in front of us, and being nice to her sister. However, I have noticed that she is much more apologetic lately and sincerely says that she is sorry when she has done something wrong or when she has hurt someone. She ALWAYS points out the good things in life. I think about the U2 song, Grace, a lot. It has lyrics that go "Grace finds beauty in everything" and "Grace finds goodness in everything" and "Grace makes beauty out of ugly things." She really does do all of those things on a daily basis. Things to which I wouldn't give a second thought, she says "mommy, isn't that beautiful?" I remember when she was blessed as a baby, part of her blessing talked about how she would love life and live it to the fullest and find beauty in the things of nature and her surroundings. What a cool kid, and I'm so lucky to be her mom. (note to self to read this tomorrow when she's screaming "NO" at me for something!)
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