Our Birthday Girl

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY MISS LAUREN MICHELLE

Lauren's birthday party was everything and more than I had anticipated. It was so fantastic

to be surrounded by our families and share this special day. I have lots of pictures to share and am going to go in somewhat of an order of events. Enjoy! Our house was full of family

and yummy food. We had a spread of chimichangas, guacamole, yummy dips and salsas, rice, and of course lots of cake and ice cream! (I tried to steer clear of Thanksgiving type food!)

I saw a pattern for a bib similar to this on a friend's friend's blog...anyway...I looked up the website, wrote down the instructions and attempted sewing for the first time since I was in

4-H at the age of 14. I was happy with the way it turned out and thank you to my

mother who helped me!!! :) I wanted something cute and fun for her to wear while eating her cake and also to fold and put in her baby box. And I loved the print so much I got enough to make her a sundress for next summer. I will probably need to practice before that!

Party Favors These are the party favors...white chocolate covered pretzel rods. You probably can't see it but the mold is flowers. I wanted to stick with the whole daisy theme!

The CakeAgain, I went out on a limb here for this party and attempted my first birthday cake.

I mean actually making and decorating. I was pleased with the outcome although I thought

my grass looked a bit more like stalactites or are they stalagmites...anyway...the fondant flowers

took quite a bit of time and I learned a lot along that way that no one tells you about...like how the color will stain your counters :) So....here's the cake. It was fun to put in that much

work and effort in making the cake. I really enjoyed it although I am a real perfectionist and had to let some of that perfection go...

The Gifts

Lauren really enjoyed tearing the paper off her gifts and examining the bows. She also enjoyed looking at the boxes of the gifts she got. It was pretty fun to watch. She got some really fun gifts! James was even more excited than she was about all of them! Another perk to having

multiple kids. She got lot of fun girlie gifts!

James loved helping

Lauren got many exciting gifts, but this has to be one of her favorites so far. It is a very

large stuffed dog. It looks like a husky and both James and Lauren LOVE it! James

has been asking for another dog and they both love animals, so G & G Carpenter thought

this would give them their "dog fix" for a bit. She lays her head on it and snuggles it. It's very cute. James named it Harley because it looks like our neighbors dog. I need to get a picture of

them both laying on it.

Eating of the Cake....

Well...not exactly....the difference between a boy and girl. James ate the cake....the ENTIRE cake. He even started eating it without hands. Miss Lauren simply stuck her fingers in the frosting and modestly licked them off. She never did dig in which I always think is fun to watch, but she seemed to enjoy it. There was much less mess to clean up with her.

The Love from Family
Grandma & Grandpa Bogue

Grandma & Grandpa Carpenter
(this is where Lauren gets her blue eyes)

Mommy, Daddy and Birthday Girl
this is one of the only pictures of just the 3 of us...

Luke and I snuck in a quick picture since we did play a little part in creating this little girl's life :)

What a great night we had filled with laughter and memories. Luke worked hard to put together a slide show ofLauren's first year and it turned out beautifully. It made me tear up looking back at the course of the last year. What an amazing year it has been. If one year can be filled with so much emotion and memories, I anticipate what the years ahead of us will bring.
Thank you for sharing this special day with us! We love you!!!!!