Tuesday, August 31st, will be SarahAnne's 9th birthday!  Since we live hours away from all of our family and still have few friends here, we celebrated her birthday Saturday.  She decided she wanted a LUAU.  She is growing up and is getting away from all those character birthdays!   YEAH, for getting away from the character birthday themes, not for growing up so fast! 

She is our feisty, stubborn, artistic, original girl!  We had Emily and had tried for a few years to have another baby, when  we surprisingly got pregnant with SarahAnne.  We were thrilled and scared.  At that time I was on several blood-pressure medications and was apprehensive about that.  About 4 months into my pregnancy  my placenta pulled away from the uterus which caused bleeding and I was put on bed rest for a few weeks.  After this I was scheduled an ultrasound which brought up questions about down syndrome.  Matt and I decided that no matter, this is our baby and we loved her.

SarahAnne was born healthy and with attitude from the beginning!  She was and still is very vocal!  She loves to read and draw.  She adores animals, especially horses.  Little House on the Prairie is her favorite show to watch on DVD.  She is a blessing.

We had a great Luau with my parents and sister, my brother and sister-in-law, Matt's cousin and wife, and neighbors from next door.  We ate pineapple and chicken kabobs, chicken salad and crackers, fruit salad, punch and cake.  We all had a good day, but SarahAnne especially enjoyed having people there to celebrate her day!