24th of July

We had such a fun holiday.  Having days off from work have a whole new meaning since being a mom.  I love any opportunity to spend more time with my adorable family!  I think most stay-at-home moms take all their mommy time for granted.  That's one good thing about working full time - I don't take my home time for granted!

***Adorable Moment Alert***
To start the day off, Collin and I decided to play with his trains and wait for dad to get home from golfing. I was laying on the ground by Collin's trains and talking to him...  when he suddenly looked over at me with this big smile.  He walked over, rolled towards me, laid his little head on my arm, and pulled my arm around his tummy.  This boy never wants to snuggle me anymore, and he laid there for a good 2-3 minutes just talking to me.  You'd be right if you said this was easily my favorite part of the day!  :)

Once dad got home, we headed on over to Rita's!  We may have been there twice in the past week...  It's definitely a guilty pleasure.  And Collin sure enjoyed it!

We then went to the park to play...  Although it began with playing in the dead grass.  Of course.

We chased the geese...  [I only let him chase one.  The rest were resting in the shade on a hot day and I didn't want to disturb them.  :)  Typical me, right?]

Collin saw daddy in a tree...

 

...so he decided he wanted to climb trees, too!

After running around the park, we decided to go to Gram's & Gramp's to play in the water!  This boy loves his water!  He splashed around in his pool for a while, and then decided the sprinkler was pretty dang awesome.  He was shivering so much [regardless of the 100+ degree weather], but he would not leave the freezing cold water alone!  [And he actually did start out with a swimsuit & hat, but as soon as we started undressing him since he was shivering, he decided THEN he wanted to play!]

I sure love my little family.  Watching Collin explore and satisfy his intense curiosity is so much fun.  He keeps me on my toes, and I wouldn't want it any other way!

Happy Pioneer Day!

Party Time!!!

You guys. 1st birthday parties are a big deal. Planning this stinker's first birthday party was exciting, expensive, stressful, and the most fun I've ever had planning a party. That sweet boy deserved the best party ever! Thank you to everyone who came and supported my little guy, it really meant so much! He's so loved. And a huge shout-out to my parents who let us crash their big backyard for the party, and to my awesome mom for helping so much with the decorating and being my support while baking [because I was not a fun person to be around during the process]. Also, a special thank-you to my talented sister-in-law, Tanelle, for taking so many awesome pictures so I didn't have to worry about it as much! Collin and I love you all!

And, of course, we can't forget about baby-daddy.  :)  I won't lie, the stress of it all made it kind of a nightmare to live with me at times [that cake though...], and he never once lost patience with me. Not when the invitations somehow turned into a very large expense, not when he had to run errand after errand, and certainly not when I nearly lost my sanity [and many tears] practicing making Collin a smash cake. He was da bomb. Thanks to the best daddy EVER!!! We love you!

***WARNING*** Extreme [& adorable] picture overload to follow!

We've gotta start with Collin's display & dessert table that I worked so hard on. It all turned out pretty cute!

We had some pretty awesome guests party animals! Thanks again, everyone! [Totally didn't get pictures of everyone. So sorry! ...or you're welcome. Take your pick.]

And even the birthday boy had fun being a little goofy!  :)

As usual, Collin was SO spoiled! I was actually surprised how much he thoroughly enjoyed opening his presents. He must've known there were super cool toys inside all that wrapping paper.

And then... of course, there was cake. And just like the week before [for his birthday photoshoot], he thought it was basically the most disgusting thing ever. And yes, he actually full-out gagged. Thanks a lot, babe. But thankfully, after a while, he decided it was actually pretty fun to smash!

Collin's clean-up process didn't start out too happy [that scary hose]...

...But as soon as he got his own little bubble bath, he was a happy camper.

Collin's birthday party really couldn't have gone any better. He had such a fun time, and I loved every single smile and laugh! He is such a curious little boy and is learning and growing right before my eyes.

I love you, baby! Happy Birthday!

Collin is ONE!

My sweet little baby is already ONE! You guys. This isn't real life. People have always said how quickly your kids grow up, but I always thought that was mostly just an expression. He wasn't supposed to grow THIS fast. It was definitely a bitter-sweet day. I love this little guy more than anything in the entire world!

For his July 3rd birthday, I was so grateful that Jared and I were able to take the day off from our jobs. It was such a special day!

We started the day off by going to the waffle truck for a late breakfast. Collin definitely enjoyed it.

Then we went to Collin's favorite place--the new aquarium. I would've been okay with a few hundred less people [come on people, it's been open for several months already!], but Bubba didn't seem to mind!

After an attempt at his afternoon nap [who wants to nap on their birthday?!], we went to our friends Daniel's & Chelsea's place to go swimming...

...and to run around a massive park. That was probably his favorite! Running around without Mama or Daddy having to chase him down.  :)

Sweet Baby Toddler had such a fun birthday! It was such a magical day. I love you Bubba!

Next stop,  birthday partayyy!