Happy 4th Birthday, Tori Bug!!!

Happy Birthday, Angel, your family loves you!!! Here is a brief look at how she has grown:
One day old6 months oldOne Year OldTwo Years OldThree Years Old
And here we arrive at her 4th birthday. We had planned to celebrate it on the 19th even though her real birthday is the 22nd, because it was a weekend night and we invited several family members to a little party for her. It snowed really bad that day and none of them could travel safely, so none of them made it. Our awesome friends, the Nelsons, stepped in at the last minute and helped us by coming over for cake and ice cream, so Tori felt like she really had a party. Thanks so much guys!!

I love this picture, for two reasons. First, because of her attire in it. She got this Snow White dress as one of her presents. It rains glitter everywhere she goes. When she wears it, our house just shimmers, as well as our faces, our car, our garage steps, pretty much anything she comes within 10 feet of has glitter on it. She loves loves it. Secondly, because of the intense concentration on her little face as she colored on one of her other presents. She looks so much like my dad did when he was working hard on something. As many of you know, she was born two weeks before my dad died. He was in a coma from the time she was 3 days old until he died. We lived in St. George at the time and my parents lived in Vernal, UT. It took us about a week to get to his side after she was born, so he had never seen her. On the night he died, he woke up for only a minute to look at her. We asked him if he had seen her and he nodded yes and then he slipped back into his coma. Later that same night, he passed away. In the days following this, I was told by my mom that in mid-December, my dad had asked his bishop to give him a blessing that he would live long enough to see my baby. I know without a doubt that he would have died weeks sooner, if not for his desire to see her once. It's always a bittersweet time of year when we celebrate her birthday for me because at the time she came into my life, my life was so full of different emotions. For some reason, Tori's birth and my dad's death are always interconnected in my mind. So on her birthday, I am filled with happiness that she is my daughter while at the same time, still sad and needing my dad to be here to see her. I know that he would be so proud of her. I know that I am. I love her so much it hurts sometimes. She is everything and much more that I hoped a daughter would be.