Life and Times of The Johnston family: Celebrating Elizabeth's 8th Birthday In Denver!

A while back Lizzy was looking at one of her American Girl catalogs we get in the mail, and she noticed Wyoming on the map and that it was close to an American Girl store. She came out and told me that we were close to one of their stores, put the map in my face and said "see!!!!" Sure enough the store was in Denver just a few hours from here, so she asked if we could go there for her birthday. We agreed. We left on the Thursday Sept. 8th and stopped by the Fort Collins Temple to attend the open house. It was really amazing! This was Lizzy's 2nd temple open house and Devin's first and I'll admit I was a bit nervous with him, but he did soooo good. I don't think I've ever heard him speak so softly for so long! He did have to feel the floors all along the way, and he did slip away in a sealing room and start to climb on the altar but I pulled him down pretty fast. ;) I think he got more out of it than I thought he would though. Lizzy was very reverent the entire time and absolutely loved the beauty of it. We have some pictures but they're on Tony's phone so maybe I'll try to get them added in sometime. Then we went to our hotel in Denver had dinner and called it a day. Friday we went to the American Girl Store at 9 but it didn't open until 10 :/. So we went to the Distribution Center at the Denver Temple and picked up a new Book of Mormon to use in Lizzy's baptism pics then next day. By the time we got back to the Mall the American Girl Store was open!! Lizzy was in 7th heaven! She was literally in awe! I don't know exactly how long we were there but it was more than an hour! And Lizzy could have stayed all day! With the money she'd saved up she bought a Wellie Wisher doll named Emerson who loves drama and making her friends laugh by doing fun plays. She also got an accessory set that went with her, a short chapter book about her, and another outfit with shoes and crown. We bought her a Truly Me doll and they had a deal where it came with 2 outfits(shoes and accessory) accessory, she got glasses of course and it was all 20% off! It really was a killer deal. Then we used all the money we knew she'd be getting from family to get her the Wellie Wisher's Garden Theater. As she was having so very much fun playing with it in the store. And I do not regret it at all, as she' plays with it ALL THE TIME and comes up with some really fun stuff! It's a great creative outlet for all her great ideas! Then we went to Toys R Us that was close by and let Devin buy something with the money that was burning a hole in his pocket. He found a Zootopia Officer Hopps recording carrot pen, and little Sonic the Hedgehog figure set. Then we went back to the mall and wandered the stores, at the Disney Store they did a fun thing for her birthday and gave her a birthday pin! She got a lot of happy birthday wishes. Then we found a Great Clips close by and got Lizzy's hair cut so it would look great for pictures. Then we went to Payless Shoes that was next door and found Lizzy some super cute white church shoes! Devin naturally found some Paw Patrol Sneakers that we could not leave without....luckily they had BOGO going on anyway. Then we got dinner, headed back to the hotel to swim in the pool and called it a night. Saturday morning we got Lizzy all dolled up and went to the Denver Temple and did her pictures. It was an absolutely beautiful sunny day! The downside to that was that her transition lenses made her glasses dark, but she was still a beautiful angel and we got plenty of good pictures. After that we went to the Denver Zoo which is SOOO big! It's a really nice zoo, Devin didn't fare too well however so we just saw the main stuff then went to the Aquarium was was also very awesome! We got dinner went back to the hotel and once again swam in the pool. Sunday we noticed that Lizzy's Wellie Wisher doll's arm was super stiff, so we stopped by the American Girl store after checking out of the hotel, and they got her arm fixed all up, while we were waiting for that Devin saw a Wellie Wisher named Willa that loves animals and he fell deeply in love with her, so we eventually broke down and let Devin get the doll. He did have almost enough money to cover, so it didn't cost us much. Then we headed home! It was a great get away!!

The American Girl Store!!!!