James' First Birthday!

Can you believe it, our baby turned 1!!!! James had his 1st birthday on St. Patty's day. It has truly been the busiest, fastest and GREATEST year of our lives!!!
James' birthday celebration started a couple of days early when his sweet sitter Crystale threw him a party at her place with all of his friends from her house. She made him this beautiful cake and spoiled him with sweet gifts. He LOVED digging into his first birthday cake.
A couple of days later on St. Patty's day we celebrated James' birthday with some of our dear friends from the neighborhood and ward. My mom, James' Lady was able to come too!! Thanks mom for all your help!!!!

I have always looked forward to making my children's birthday cakes...I probably went a little overboard. Thanks to my sweet friend Brie (she provided all the pans and recipe for the fondant, not to mention lots of moral support) this actually was much easier than I thought it would be and it turned out pretty well...not that James really cared.

Some of James' friends playing with the bubbles. It was a BEAUTIFUL day!! We were able to play and lounge outside and fill up on cake and ice cream.

I am sad I didn't get any pictures of James with all of the kids that came but here are some of the little cutie pies. The two beautiful girls next to James (Bryn and Ava) are our dear friend Jenny's girls. Jenny watched James for us for nearly six months when I went back to work. They adore him and he adores them. It is so cute to watch them together!!! The handsome boys on the left are Carson and Landon, Brie's boys. The other kiddos that came were Jay, Alice, Duncan, Eva, Max, Kate, Gabe & McKay...Thanks to all our wonderful friends that were able to come celebrate James' big day. We are blessed with great friends and are SO grateful for all the love and support you show us!

James taking his first bite of cake!

He LOVED it!!! Totally takes after his mom and dad.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sweet Baby James!!!!

Visitors

Dave and I always love visitors (hint hint Jenn and all you other slackers who haven't come to see us!)!! We have been blessed with a few the past few weeks.
First my brother Dallin and his wife Cami came with their sweet little boys Carter & Davey!

Little David loving the bubbles.

James not sure what to think about the bubbles.

Davey loving more bubbles.

And Carter also loving the bubbles.
Okay I promise we did more than just blow bubbles...but that is all I got pictures of. Thanks Dallin and Cami for coming to stay with us for a little while. It was so fun seeing you and spending some time with you and your cute guys!!!
Next we had a great visit from Liz (Dave's mom) and Grandma Lu. Bonnie (a.k.a. Liz) helped us take care of James and cooked us delicious food. It was so much fun spending time with her and Grandma Lu. I know James especially loved it. I of course did not get ANY pictures of either of them while they were here, BUT I did get a picture of James while they were staying with us:

Don't you just LOVE him! oh and Happy very belated Valentines Day! Liz was with us over Valentine's Day. She even sent Dave and I on a well over due date while she watched our little munchkin. It was so-o great having her here!!!

And finally our latest visitor was this super cute little thing:

Amelia

She also brought along her cute parents (not pictured) Nick and Stacy. Her mom Stacy has been one of my dearest friends for 15 years. It was so nice of them to come all the way from LA to play with us for the weekend. The kids LOVED playing together, we will definitely have to get them together again soon!

We went to Tempe Town lake. The park was closed for a Beer festival...we didn't think we should take the babies to a Beer festival...but knowing Arizona we probably could have if we wanted to! This picture sums up how James felt about me taking his picture that afternoon.

James and his daddy walking from the Lake.

I'm sure they will thank us for this one someday!

Obviously if there was a theme for the weekend it would be hygiene. The kids practiced really good hygiene together. And yes I am aware that my son has a pink toothbrush, thank you.
Amelia we LOVED having you and your parents come to visit us. You can bring them to Phoenix anytime!
Thanks to all our wonderful visitors!!! We love you and miss you already...come again soon!!!!