1st Birthday!

Just now getting the chance to post about our son's first birthday! I have tried several times to upload pics and write a post but have ran into quite a few problems.

Not to elaborate in too much detail, but we got new phones the day before his birthday. Which the new phone has been okay but it is now a google phone, which google and apple don't mix well and Jackson's laptop is an apple. But luckily, with the help from my brother in-law Troy, I was able to download a drop box on the mac to amazingly transfer pictures from my phone to the mac. So problem solved, got the pics on the mac, yeah! Well another problem occurred, the mac wouldn't connect to the internet anymore. In fact still to this day we can't figure out why the laptop mac won't connect to the internet. No worries, we are working on it. All the other appliances connect to the internet but not the laptop. It's very frustrating and we have no idea how to fix it. Oh well, a problem of our own to fix somehow, someday. But lucky for me, I have been blessed with access to another computer just for the weekend to write a post.

Anyhow, on to the birthday post! So exciting! To think that it's been a whole year since the birth of our son! Crazy! We invited family and a few close friends to come over. I tried my best to not go all out on his birthday since he's only turning one but it's so exciting and knowing me I probably went overboard with everything but oh well, he only turns one once! We had a bunch of finger foods followed by cake and ice cream and as usual, I take enough pictures to tell it all. No worries though, I only posted half of what was taken in pics.

In preparation of getting everything ready, I asked my parents if they would come up the day before his birthday to help me decorate and get some of the food ready for the party. They of course were more than willing to come help. Always such a huge help! Don't know how my sister Melanie throws all her parties without the help of anyone. I certainly don't think I could do it.

Decorating: I was gonna hang just a few streamers but Emily went all out with her interior decorating skills that she learned on her own. Dad was a great ladder holder and...

...streamer holder! :) It was about midnight but dad was a good sport on holding things for us. Thanx Dad!

Pics from up above!

Don't mind the dust bunnies on top of the cupboards, no time to do dusting that night.

All finished, great job Em!

 

Time for the cake, doesn't that look beautiful! I will admit, that this was our second try at making the cake. The first one didn't come out that pretty and sadly didn't work for us. So after a midnight run to the store and some heavy duty cooking spray, the second cake came out perfect!

Time to decorate, so much work, but my mom was a great help and support!

Couldn't resist, I just had to take this picture of Maximus at 3A.M.

Emily now bidding farewell and going to bed. Thanx again Em!

Halfway done, well maybe.

The finished product! I went with monkeys just because I'm into monkeys and that is also the nursery decor. Braxton is not old enough to really care yet but he will get to pick what cake he wants for next year!

My hand was cramping up majorly by that time I finished the big cake so my mom offered to ice the little one we made just for Braxton.

Well the day has finally arrived, PARTY DAY! When my dad and sister Emily did there midnight Walmart run, they ran into some old friends my mom and dad knew from our time we lived in California! Quick history lesson; my siblings and I were born in California and we didn't move to Idaho till after I turned five. So while living in California, my parents made some neighbors who became good friends and they used to hang out quite a bit. There names are Robert and Barbara and we haven't seen them since our time in California. And I'll be honest, I don't remember them but my dad sure did when they saw each other at Walmart. So after they talked for a bit and caught up at the store, my dad and sister invited them to come over to the party. They couldn't stay long but did come over an hour before to say hi to the family. It was fun to meet them!

Robert and Barbara at the party.
Robert showing off his amazing balloon skills! :)

Birthday boy right before his bath!

All cleaned up and looking handsome for his party!

 

My brother Wade and his family were able to come.

The gift that Wade and Cadi brought for Braxton; we gave them the same ball popper push toy when Zaebyn was little.

Balloon fight with the swords Robert made.

My friend Tessa came with her family!

My friend Michelle with her husband and kiddos.

Michelle's son Austin. I'm surprised we didn't get a close up picture of his twin sister Kendra. They were born about 2 months after Braxton.

Braxton's cousins Xylie and Zaebyn

Getting ready to eat, I'm surprised I didn't take a picture of all the yummy food! For journal keeping, we had tortilla ham pin wheels, mini pb/jelly sandwiches, mini turkey sandwhiches, smokies, bean dip, and a fruit and veggie tray. I know ... lots of yummy finger foods!

 

Present time!

My dad thinks it's funny how Jackson wears biker socks to church, so he thought it would be fun to get them both similar, somewhat matching socks from Wyoming since Jackson goes there on a weekly basis now.

Cake time! I think they turned out pretty cute!

This is the little cake I made for Braxton so he had his own personal cake to smash and eat on his own.

He got a little nervous when we all starting singing happy birthday to him, no tears yet though.

I forgot to take a picture of me and the cake before dishing it up, oh well.

Jackson's birthday was four days before Braxton's so my parents and I decided to buy Jackson his own personal mini cake. Right after we started to sing happy birthday to Jackson, Braxton broke out in tears, haha, poor kid.

Braxton now going all out on the cake.

Aunt Lou (Emily) making Braxton laugh.

 

This was so cute, Xylie got close to Braxton just to say hi and Braxton tried to kiss her.

Outside shooting the marshmallow gun for Maximus to go after.

Just hanging out and playing with toys after all of our friends left.

I invited Grandpa and Grandma Plott to stay the night and attend church with us the next day. Grandpa Plott giving Braxton a push on his favorite toy! He loves that toy!

Playing with the toys and puppets from his birthday.

Thank you to all of our family and friends for coming to help celebrate Braxton's birthday with us. It was great to have you over! And thank you for all the generous gifts! Braxton loves them!

Happy birthday to our sweet boy! You've turned our world upside down and have given us something to live for. We love you Braxton and have enjoyed our first year with you and look forward to the years to come!