Lila's FIRST birthday party!

We chose to celebrate Lila's birthday with a big party a week before her actual birthday. We invited all our closest friends and family and had the party at the Children's Museum after hours so we could have the whole museum to ourselves. It was fun and it turned out perfectly!

I made her smash cake before the party. Decorating cakes is definitely NOT my forte, unfortunately. hahhaha but it was fun to make anyways and she'd be destroying it so I wasn't too picky over it. I just made a simple funfetti cake in a round cake pan, cut out smaller circles, and stacked them with frosting! My objective was to make a cute naked cake... it kind of worked. It looked more like the leaning Tower or Pisa, but it was fine hahaha.

I wanted to have donuts at her party for all the guests so instead of order 3 dozen premade donuts, we opted for 3 dozen plain glazed donuts! (MUCH cheaper) Then with the help of my sister and my mom, we melted down some store bough frosting and dipped each donut in the melted frosting and sprinkled them with sprinkles! They were so cute, little did we know that they would be super delicious!! Even the next day!!! Talk about a success!!!

Then later, right before the party started we had both mine and Drew's family over for pizza and pre-party games. I went through hundreds of photos to pick out some of the funniest of Lila from her past year of life so we could play "Bubble Talk" with her pictures. It was so funny and fun to reminisce and laugh about the past year with Lila and everyone else. It was the perfect game!!

We had pizza from Papa John's (half off because the Jazz won the night before, haha) and our little townhome was packed full of all our family and loved ones. Even my good friend Joey from college surprised us and stopped by to spend the evening with us!

After we ate, we played one more round of "Bubble Talk" and then we packed up all the decor and goodies and headed to the museum for the big party!

We set up everything in the party room. We put up the cute banners, set out the donuts and Lila's smash cake, and eventually guests started to trickle in! The window sills filled up with gifts for Lila and the party began!

We welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming. I got choked up as I was speaking about Lila and how special each person was to all of us. Their support means so much to us!! It was special:)

I then handed out a piece of paper for a little game for everyone to play, "Lila's Birthday Trivia!" It was fun because it was for everyone to get to know her! We went over the answers and everyone seemed to be surprised by a few of them but it was fun anyways! Both Shay and Kambry ended up winning the game so that was cute!

After the game we passed out donuts while I helped Lila open her presents. She did so good!! I helped her open them, but she did a lot of the work herself and was patient, excited about each gift, and happy the whole time! And trust me when I say there were TONS of presents. I was afraid she'd lose her cool or get tired of it, but we managed to get through all of them! Everyone was so generous and patient too as she opened each gift haha.. it was fun. She received lots of fun books, cute outfits, bath toys, and yummy snack type treats.

 

After she finished her presents we did the cake smash! We sat her in the high chair, put her birthday hat on, sang Happy Birthday to her, and then let her have at it! She is very particular and does not like to have messy hands so she picked at her cake. It was kind of a slow process haha but it was cute anyways because she is the CUTEST little girl in the entire world!!!

After her cake smash we cleaned her up and people began to leave. We wandered through the museum for a little bit before totally cleaning up and heading home. The whole party was a huge success. We had around 30 people show up and it turned out exactly how I imagined it would!

Lila was so happy. She always is. She's so loved and I want her to always know that! Even after one short year of life, she has influenced and touched so many lives already! So many people love her, including all her family members (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc.) and she is SO SPECIAL!! We are so lucky to have her here and to have her sweet spirit to bless our lives every single day!

A big thank you to all those who helped out with so much of the party planning and prep. I couldn't have done it without you!

The next day we just played some games with my family and made lunch together then sent them on their way. The weather has been really crappy this weekend full of snowstorms and rain. (Just rain for us down here in southern utah, but snow everywhere else) so they wanted to get on the road soon to be safe.

I can't say enough how perfect the weekend was. We are all so blessed to have so much support and love and to celebrate this beautiful girl!!

Love,

Kate

I threw a baby shower!

I met my friend Suzanna when I was working at the Children's Museum. She started working right as I came back after I had my baby. Well shortly after I went back to work, she got pregnant! So that was fun to see her little tummy grow.
I eventually put in my two weeks and left the museum but kept in touch with her and now we are here! She is due in 3 short weeks and I offered to throw a baby shower for her.

I had some help with all the food items (THANK GOODNESS) but did the rest! I planned the games, and prizes, decor, and other fun things. 

It turned out to be a success! Everything worked out the way I planned for it to and it was a fun time. I loved planning it, though it was a lot of work. 

Here is what I learned:

*Next time I throw a shower for someone I will do it WITH someone and not by myself ha

*Offer 3 --simple but fun-- games, not 4

*Let the guests begin eating as soon as they get there

*Keep it under 1.5 hours

It was tons of fun! But this mama is now exhausted. Now onto the next party to plan... Lila's first birthday party!

Love,

Kate

25!

My birthday this year was a wonderful one. I honestly greeted my birthday with no expectations and was blown away by how it turned out! 

"Happy birthday mom!!!"

Friday morning (my birthday) was a typical morning. Drew went to work, I got up and had breakfast with Lila, played with her, watched some youtube music videos with her, and then put her down for a nap. I showered and got ready while she napped and then a little while later Drew came home from work with a couple presents. Soon after Lila woke up so I went up to get her and he tagged along. Then the doorbell rang like (ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong) and I asked Drew, "who is that!?" And he replied that he didn't know, but that I should go get it... So I went down stairs to answer the door and found a beautiful lemon blueberry bundt cake sitting on my front doorstep with a gift next to it. At first I thought maybe my mom had asked my friend Laura to make me that cake and to deliver it to me, but then I noticed how the glaze was drizzled on ---exactly how my mom does it--- and I said out loud, "NO WAY." 

I looked all around and then saw my parents and brother hiding around the corner of the house. I was so surprised! I ran into my mom's arms and just laughed and bawled all at the same time. So much emotion, so much surprise, and so much happiness!!! I had no idea they were coming! They had a lot going on over the weekend so I had already accepted that I wouldn't see them but WOW!! It was the best surprise ever!!! I can't even describe the emotion I felt. My happiness literally brought me to tears in my mom's arms I was sooo happy!!

They could only stay for a couple short hours, but we made the best of it! We went to Pizzeria Limone for lunch and ordered 5 different pizzas and all shared them. They were all really yummy and everyone also enjoyed them! We then grabbed some smoothies from the Orange Peel, then headed over to the mall to look for some church shoes for my mom. She found a really cute pair AND some ankle boots so that was fun!

We made it back to our house, ate some lemon blueberry cake (which I had told my mom previously during the week that I loved that kind), and opened some gifts. We played one round of this new game called "Speak Out," and laughed so hard! 

Before we knew it they had to get back on the road, but I was so happy with the time we got together. It was so good!!

After they left my friend Laura stopped by and brought me a gift! How sweet of her! She is just like family to us, and it was fun to visit with her as well. 

We had a short break in the afternoon where Drew and Lila had a nap and I just rested on the couch until dinner time. Bill and Linda drove down from Cedar to take us out to dinner! We went to one of my other favorite restaurants-- the Pasta Factory. We enjoyed yummy breadsticks and pasta, and I even got a complimentary birthday cheesecake. It was fun! 

After dinner, we stopped by Costco so they could run some errands, and then eventually made it back to the house. There, we shared some cake with them and opened more gifts! Linda got me a waffle maker, a waffle recipe book, and sugar pearls so I can make leige waffles! (Copy cat Waffeluf waffles!) It will be fun to try that out. I can't wait!

It turned out to be a wonderful birthday full of quality time with family, sweet gifts, funny games, cake, and so many kind words and birthday wishes. I'd have to say my favorite part of having a birthday is just feeling so loved. So, THANK YOU to everyone who played a part in making me feel that way! 25 is going to be a good year.

Love, 

Kate