Babysitting

Haylee and I are baby swapping. One, to be able to go out with just our husbands. And two, to be able to go anywhere and do anything we want hands free! Ben and I watched Matthew and Lindsay and had the best time. I'm excited for Eliza to learn to share and get along with other kids. Here's to date night!

Sorry for the terrible picture quality from my camera phone...

Lawson love

Lawson is one year older than Eliza. He is her protector. Whenever she goes towards stairs he is sure to let us know so she won't fall. When she is in dangers way, he moves her. It's pretty precious. I snapped this picture and think it's very telling of Lawson's dutiful love for Eliza.

Red and blue

Red Lobster all you can eat shrimp with the Bott's is quite the event. I don't like shrimp, with the exception of a few coconut shrimp drown in the yummy sauce, so I don't look forward to it as much as the guys. This year we went on the night of the BYU vs. Utah football game. We watched it on their tv and laughed the night away. Eliza had fun dipping and eating her popcorn shrimp. She wasn't so sure about the live lobsters though. Best part of the night...go Utes!

Downtown

I used to love going shopping and to lunch downtown. I still enjoy it but it doesn't happen very often. We ended up at the Blue Iguana for dinner then walked around. Eliza had quite the time. She walked all the way from the restaurant to the car holding our hands. I told Ben it was my dream come true. Then we let her walk around and explore. She got super muddy but loved it. I love the picture of her leaning on the planter. She loves to lean. Ben says she's putting out her vibes.

1 Year Checkup

I have never taken pictures of Eliza at the doctor. So, for her one year check up I thought it was time. She looked so cute on the scales. The first time she was on those scales she was under six pounds. Tiny little baby who lost too much weight! Look at her now!!! 22 pounds and going strong. She is 90th percentile for height and 70th for weight. Maybe she'll be tall and skinny like her mom! I'm hilarious.

The nurse had to prick her toe to get blood for an iron test. Eliza didn't make a peep (but cried her eyes out with the shots) and LOVED the bandaid. So much that she took it off and almost choked on it when the doctor was checking her. I swore to her I'm a good mom! She smiled. The doctor said Eliza is pretty much perfect. I'd have to agree.

Eliza's First Birthday Party

We had such a fun time planning Eliza's birthday party. We debated themes and decorations and favors and food and so on. In the end, the theme was Eliza! We spent hours and hours planning and planting flowers and cooking and decorating. We had our backyard all set up and went inside to get the food ready. Our "vision" of the party was coming together. I thought for one sec, hmmm maybe we should take a picture, but decided to get all the food out then take pictures. We were inside making chicken salad sandwiches, lemon tarragon pasta, spinach salad, fruit kabobs, cupcakes and homemade peach ice cream. Among the chopping and stirring we saw our picture banner (just about 300 pictures strung around our entire backyard fence) start to wave as the wind picked up. We then heard a balloon or two pop. And then downpour. We weren't sure what to do. We had just hoped for good weather and not planned an alternative. After I stood there and cried (and cried and cried) we decided to bring in as much as we could. Ben moved furniture out of the house to the garage and we moved the tables into the house. The balloons around the fence, the newly planted mums and the picture banner didn't make it inside. Our little living room couldn't accommodate quite the same as our backyard but it turned out and the party went on! Luckily the rain cleared so the kids could go outside and play. All that mattered in the end was our sweet little Eliza turned one! She loves people. She LOVES kids, especially her cousins. I'm sure she didn't know that everyone was there for her, but she did have a lot of fun. Our house was a disaster from corner to corner but every little crumb of cake on the floor was worth it. Happy Birthday Eliza!

We wanted a cute way to tell people they didn't need to

bring a present. We found this picture and it just came to me!

The food, the decorations, the candy box favors, the 

personalized water bottles... all a little damp but all survived!

Eliza eating dinner and showing off the decorations.

The parents, grands and greats, cousins, aunts and uncles.

The sidewalk chalk.

The cake.

Eliza watching daddy light the candle. 

Eliza clapping to everyone singing happy birthday.

Eliza showing how old she is.

The cake smash.

The cake mess.

The tired little girl.

The end.

Birthday Dinner

After frosting a billion cupcakes (that's what if felt like at least) we were starving and still had to take Eliza out for her first birthday dinner ever. We ended up at Mimi's. It was delish and Eliza had a fun time. I know she doesn't know it's her birthday but I think she could tell something was different. At least I hope so.

Cupcakes

Cindy is my friend and former young women leader. We spent so much time at her house eating mac and cheese and purple juice. Oh the memories. Her daughter Jess got married on Eliza's birthday. She asked me to help with cupcakes. It was a lot of frosting and a lot of sprinkles and ended up being a lot of fun. They had a carnival wedding which Eliza loved! She thought it was for her birthday I'm sure... She even got a number 1 balloon hat from the balloon boy. Congrats Jess and Bent and Happy Birthday Eliza!

Waking up

Ben was home when Eliza woke up on her birthday so he blew up some balloons and put them in her room. She loved it! It was such a fun morning with her. I cannot believe that my little baby is one year old. I've had a few tears thinking about it. She is so precious. I love every thing about her. I am so thankful to have her as my daughter. Happy birthday baby bug!