TOO LOUD! STOP THE MUSIC!!

Suzi's Wedding Weekend

This weekend my dear friend, Suzi Hickey was married!  Suzi and I were sorority sisters and close college friends.  Suzi is the most bubbly, vivacious little bundle of energy you've ever met.  In this case opposites did not attract as Phil is equally as vivacious, outgoing and full of energy as his bride.  They are quite a pair!

Sweet Jordan stayed and took care of Larkin this weekend.  J told me they stayed up late, ate fried food and did whatever they wanted.  I found only 1 out of 3 of those to be accurate! Jordan did such a great job.  They were busy all weekend going here and there.  He is very good at taking him places, being "baby mobile"  and it was so nice to be able to leave for a weekend and have a "Mommy break" knowing Lark was in good hands.  So it was with much excitement I got off the airplane to meet a happy but quite exhausted daddy and baby (and a clean house I might add!).

Rehearsal Dinner

One of my prayers going into this weekend was quite selfish, but it was to be able to sleep in and so for the first time in over a year I slept in past o'clock and it was w o n d e r f u l.  It felt like a personal gift from the Lord!

The wedding weekend was so much fun and absolutely beautiful!  Suzi's style is very romantic and classic and this showed up in all of the details.  Unfortunately my camera phone was on the fritz so I only got a few shots of the details.

Wedding Details: Beautiful!

Even more gorgeous than the actual wedding was the bride!  I wish I had gotten more shots of her, but my phone died... she was stunning!

A bit fuzzy- but you get the idea- Photo booth :) Somehow I need to super impose J's face!

It was so fun to hang out with all of my close friends and to be there to celebrate Suzi and Phil's marriage!  They are off now to honeymoon in Greece! 

Larkin's First Birthday Party

This past Saturday was one of the most special days of this past year.  There was just something very special and touching about having our closest family and friends come to show their love and joy for our son as we celebrated Larkin's first birthday.

Bday Boy- Pic from Michelle Andersen- love this shot of him- thanks Michelle!

What began as a simple theme of puppies (because of Larkin is crazy about Piper) turned into a labor of love as I reminisced the past several weeks cutting out pics of Larkin throughout the year to turn into party decor.  Fortunately I just did a little here and there so it was much more enjoyable than stressful in regards to planning.

The morning of the party everything was already set up and we went into Larkin's room singing "Happy Birthday Party" day.  When we walked him out for his breakfast he knew something was different as he gawked at all the decor and took it with wide, curious eyes.

I was a bit nervous he wouldn't take his morning nap but (with the help of a few reminders to Jordan to "Be quiet!" as he set up) Lark slept like a champ and woke up ready to party.

Pre-party

Grandmothers

"Pupcakes"

Fruit "Puppy pizzas"

Pictures from one year ago- Larkin's actual birthday!

Monthly Pictures- Thank you to Michelle Andersen who let me use Reid's stickers (see which month I lost the sticker?!)

We hadn't had all our close friends all together in such a long time and I was so excited my friend Audrey and Rylie could also make it from out of town.  My heart behind hosting this party was best summed up in a verse I saw on my friend Annie's blog.  At her daughter's first birthday party she had this verse written out and when I read it my heart just screamed out in agreement so I emailed and asked if we could copy it ;) It basically says how joyful we are at all the Lord has done

Thanks to our friend Matt who was on picture duty for us and helped document our special day...

Someone is a very lucky little guy!

The verse that sums it up!

 Party Inside . . .

Dear friend Lindsay and daughter Morgan

Sophia, Reid and Oliver play inside

Party Outside

 Price enjoying his watermelon

Birthday boy 

Someone's first taste of dessert . . .

 It seems that still he preferred the watermelon to the cake . . .

Mother and son 

Close friends Mindy, Karen, Tripp and Mel

Rylie

Bennett and Larkin finally get to meet!

Uncle David stopped by

 The littlest puppy!

To sum it up, we had fun playing in the water, talking with friends and just being joyful for all the blessings the Lord has given us through our little Larkin this past year.

Happy Birthday to my precious son.  You are the best and brightest of all of the gifts that have ever been entrusted to mommy and daddy.

ONE YEAR OLD!

Oh my.  It's official my baby is now a toddler!  A little boy!  The first year has come and gone and while there have been days that have creeped by, the memories looking back at his birthday make that special day seem not long ago at all.

This past month's highlights include:

Activities: We are still enjoying our playgroup, playdates and now Larkin has also started swim lessons and he and mommy are really enjoying that time together each week.  Larkin has also enjoyed his first friend's birthday parties this month.


Developments: He is finally getting a grasp of sign language.  He knows, "more" "all done" and "water".  We are working on a few more.  Larkin has also started waving to say hello and goodbye.  He knows "Momma" "Mommy" and when I ask him what sound a cat makes he will pretty consistently meow for me.  Larkin has also started walking behind his push cart this month!

Food: Physically he is getting a bit thicker now that he is on cows milk full time.  Lark gets milk 4x a day.  He eats breakfast at 7, lunch at 11:30, dinner around 6 and then has a snack at 3.


Naps: Lark is napping twice a day 9:15-11 and 1-3



On Larkin's official birthday he had a special morning as daddy stayed late to spend extra time with the birthday boy.  J and I went in when he woke up singing happy birthday and then I carried on a family tradition by retelling Lark his "birth story" in full detail (of course he was enthralled).  We had a very special day and capped it off with a birthday dinner at Fuzzy Taco.

Larkin is overwhelmed as he contemplates he is actually ONE. YEAR. OLD. !!

Of course birthday celebrations weren't over as his party was the next day!  More to come on that in my next post!