That would have definitely been the invitation we sent out if we were actually putting effort into this birthday. First birthdays are a little tricky. The child will not remember nor realize this party is for them, but for some reason society tells us we have to go ALL OUT for this one year old. Ben was 100% against a party. I definitely wanted a gathering, but didn't want Mom to feel like she had to put all this effort into it. Mom wanted to feed the people a five-course meal. Eventually we all compromised a little and we ended up with a very enjoyable birthday party! Ben's sister and brother live in Utah county so they came as well as Missy's family and of course Ana's family and Matt were also in attendance.
The sort of theme was "Guess WHO's Turning One", but these cupcakes were really the only evidence of said theme. Really I just really wanted to try to make these and I think they really turned out!
Our mad decorating skills.
Just some evidence that a one-year-old's birthday party only needs balloons.
And some cake...
As you can see Riley loved her birthday party. We love this little girl so much. It's crazy looking back at pictures from 8 months ago and barely recognizing her! She is now a talking, walking little toddler now, and she looks like such a baby in these! I'm not one who finds pregnancy and child birth a magical, empowering thing. I think it's quite amazing, but I really prefer when it's happening to someone else. My reaction to hearing close friends are pregnant is, "Congratulations!" Followed quickly by, "Man I'm so glad I'm not pregnant." I felt like an overweight hobbit for the last few months of pregnancy. I'm also not a huge fan of being cut open while I shiver uncontrollably and vomit into a bag. But man, all that unpleasantness sure brought us the most pleasant, precious baby girl. Her laugh is contagious. Her mind is amazing to me. It's so fun to see her learning and growing everyday. She is our smart, beautiful daughter and we are so glad we made the crazy decision to have a child.
Saying goodbye :(
Ben decided we needed another person who refused to smile in the pictures.
Riley and her "Mama" and "Papa"
She had never interacted with a baby doll until this trip. She may look like she has it in a choke hold, but she's actually patting it very sweetly!
Like I mentioned in the previous blog, we stopped at Rich and Erica's on the way home as well. Riley found this humidifier and she was cracking me up. Every time she leaned forward it would blow on her and it was adorable.
