One Year Old(er)!

So the big day has come and gone...my baby turned one today! I can not even believe it. I know everyone always says this about their children, but I seriously don't know how he got so BIG so FAST! I honestly feel like it was just yesterday that we were going into the hospital to have him. And what an amazing year it has been. Our little family has been truly blessed. I couldn't ask for more. Sawyer has brought so much joy to our lives. We love him like crazy. He makes us laugh all the time and he gives the best hugs ever! (On the other hand he's also quite good at biting--ouch). He's quite the little tough guy/dare devil but he's definitely not ashamed to snuggle up to his mama or Mr. Bear (the soft brown bear that sleeps in his crib). He's fast, strong, and creative--all of which get him into trouble a little too often, but keep him extremely busy nonetheless. At this point the only bit of vocal rambling that is comprehendible (and there's ALOT of vocal rambling) is 'dada'...which he often shrieks out around 4:30-5 pm when he hears the front door open...right before he drops whatever he's doing and runs to the door and gives his daddy a hug (unless of course he biffs it before getting to the door as a result of the 'over-excited running'). Every day is an adventure and a blessing and we feel so lucky to be the parents of such a fun little boy. Happy Birthday, Sawyer! We love you!

We bombarded him in his room singing "Happy Birthday"...I think he was a little confused.

The "birthday table" set-up the night before. (yes, as I told Nathan, I realize he's only one and doesn't know what's going on but it's tradition)

This is his new car, Mater. He loves Mater. Doesn't so much love the birthday hat I made him (that lasted about 1/2 a second...just enough time for a picture :) )...

Managed to crash it several times within the first 5 minutes....No tears, though. Just smiles!

Kind of by default we spontaneously decided to go to the zoo on his birthday! (We overslept a little and Nathan missed the first hour of school...then decided why not miss the whole day and spend some fun time with his birthday boy...we're so glad he did! It was a blast!)

There's some little monkeys in the background...see if you can find them!...it's like Where's Waldo?!

Don't worry...just a statue :)

Riding the tractor with Dad at the Harmony Farm exhibit.

And milking the cow...

Petting the goats (unfortunately Sawyer's got a couple of anti-animal, germa-phobes for parents...I might have been a little over-protective. But honestly it was all for the goat's safety...for real.)

Blowing out the candle on his 'mini cake'

He had no idea what to do with it for the first few minutes...just kinda poked and laughed

He figured it out, though...

Somehow thought it would be easier to put the cake straight in the mouth 'no hands' style...

And a random picture to wrap things up...Sawyer seems to think that wearing the wireless TV headphones around his shoulders is 'cool' (probably cause he thinks he looks like us when we wear them on our head)...we see this quite a bit lately.

An April Shower

Last Friday I threw a baby shower for my dear friend, Jennifer. We are so excited for she and Isac to become parents very soon! They decided to not find out what they are having so I tried to do a shower that was semi gender neutral. The theme was "A Baby is Blooming"...basically gardens and flowers. I had a great time planning and preparing, had several people help with the food, and we played a few quick games. Overall I think everyone had a good time and Jen's little baby was nurtured that night! Thanks to all who helped and came!

The food table and my onesies clothes-line.

The party favors and the motherly advice cards.

My watermelon baby carriage. I was pretty proud of this little creation.

Orange and cucumber water.

'Stake your Claim"...guess how many chocolates were in the jar. In the vase are garden stakes tied together with little packets of seeds. These were the game prizes.

A close-up of the favors. Each pot had a baggie of wildflower seeds with a note explaining how the wildflower seeds could be compared to Jennifer's baby...a surprise when they finally decide to bloom but until then you never know what you might get! :) They were clipped together with a clothespin.

A close-up of the 'Motherly Advice' cards.

My sunflower cake! (And yes, those are peeps.)

A Week in Utah

A couple of weeks ago I flew up to Utah with Sawyer to meet up with my sisters and mom. Sydney got engaged recently (although it's been in the works for months), and we decided to take advantage of a good excuse to see each other and get some wedding planning underway. Sydney and Mitch are getting married on July 20th in the Salt Lake City Temple. We're so excited!! So anyhow, I flew up on a Wednesday and left the following Wednesday. My mom got in Thursday morning and left again on Monday morning. Needless to say we had such a great time together and the time went by way too fast. We managed to scope out the reception center, pick out a wedding cake, work on some dress re-designing, almost figure out the catering, and of course, do a little shopping as well. While shopping in Salt Lake we met up with Meghan Stott and her little girl, Kaitlin. It's always so fun to see them! Thanks Meghan for meeting us there! Later that weekend my mom also brought along some adorable easter baskets for the boys and we did a little early easter-egg hunt at the park. On my last couple days there we were able to meet up with Jerai and Boyd! She was in Utah for a few days before flying to Oregon for a visit. It was so good to see them...I'm glad we were able to semi-coordinate our travels :)! Another perk of the visit was that I got to spend a little more time with my future brother-in-law, Mitch. It was fun getting to know him a little better. I'm so excited for those two! As far as I see it, he makes Sydney a very happy girl and he's super great with Jake and Sawyer. I'm happy to have him in the fam!

And possibly the most entertaining aspect of the trip was watching Jake and Sawyer interact. They were SO cute together! Jake was very mature and kind and gentle with Sawyer. And if things did get a little rough, Sawyer was totally cool with it. They had their occasional struggles for the same coveted toy, but overall they were best of pals. Jake mastered Sawyer's name the first day we got there...it was so cute to hear him saying it throughout the day. And Sawyer just loved all of Jake's fun toys. They ate together, played together, rode in the car together...it was great. I wish we lived closer so that they could play together more often. We can't wait to see them again soon!

Shopping in Sandy, UT

Meeting up with Meghan and Kaitlin at Syd's Reception Center

Oh the good old memories of BYU...it was fun to stroll around with Sawyer on campus.

The kids took turns riding/napping in the stroller. Here's Jake, the big boy of the bunch, pushing the sleeping babies :)

Again at the reception center

I didn't get any pictures with Jerai!!! I can't believe we spaced it on that one. But I did get a couple of our boys together. Poor Boyd was pretty miserable with allergies (or at least that's what we were attributing the constant flow of crocodile tears to).

Sawyer and Jake enjoying the awesomeness of the Macy's shopping carts...and free balloons. It doesn't get much better than that.

The easter egg hunt! (Jake did a great job of finding and Sawyer sure loved the foil wrappers!)

Grandma attempting to dye easter eggs with the boys. We'll just pretend that Jake didn't try to drink the dye. ;)

They love their grandma.

Headed home.

Happy Easter!

A friend of ours had three little duckies for the week and was doing Easter pictures so we were lucky enough to go over and have a few shots of Sawyer taken on Friday. We LOVE how they turned out! If anyone in the Phoenix area is interested in taking pictures with duckies, or with Jamie in general, you can click on her name for a link to her site.

I can also help you get in touch with her if you would like.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend!