first birthday

Yes, Elsie had her first birthday. She made it all the way to one year with no teeth and only one day of sickness. And for that, we celebrate.

The first celebration was letting her eat Cream of Wheat while sitting in out bed with us, and very un-messily, I might add. 

After her morning nap, it was time to head over to Gramma's for Party #1. I thought she would have fun eating the chicken salad we had made (she generally loves grapes), but she pretty much just whined and screamed the whole time she was in her high chair. Birthday Diva. It was funny, she would scream and cry, then stop to take a bit of croissant, then scream and cry again.

We figured she was just trying to get through the eating part and hurry up to the present part!

In attempts to get her interested in pulling out all the tissue paper from the many chevron bags of gifts, we started by helping her find the baby cell phone toy in one of the bags. That actually only got her interested in playing with the cell phone, and she was only slightly distracted by a card that was in another bag.

We did give Elsie a little cake with applesauce on top, but I only took video of that part. She liked the applesauce, but didn't quite understand what to do with the cake. Aaron smashed her hand in to it, and that caused her to take a few bites, but most of it went untouched.

Next, we headed up to South Jordan for Party #2 with the Robisons. It began with a Cheerio bath...and I discovered that you can't seem to stop taking pictures when you baby is in a Cheerio bath. And I also discovered that a Cheerio bath is a great way to get some cute expressions on camera.

Elsie did a lot better at birthday dinner, though she didn't keep the cupcake headband on longer than five seconds. She seemed to enjoy her carrot cake cupcake pretty well, too, and loved watching the smoke float away after Aaron blew it out (a few times).

birthday surprise

My birthday surprise this year was that my birthday falls on National Public Land Use Day--that means a drive up the Alpine Loop on the most perfect day is totally free!

Hooray for car-trunk picnics with snow on the mountain tops, Jimmy Johns, cake from Kaye, long socks and boots, and a cutie husband!

surprises!

Seriously. What is better than surprises? There is something about that energy of knowing something great is going to happen, if you are the one doing the surprising, and the love of knowing someone put time into preparing a surprise for you, if you are on the receiving end.

Aaron and I have recently exchanged surprises.

A few Friday's ago, I surprised Aaron when I picked him up from work. He had been at work from 8:00 a.m. until I was done teaching and able to pick him up...about 6:30 p.m.

Long day? Yes.

Was the surprise a success? Yes.

Pizza on a blanket up on the watershed in the foothills of the mountains that are currently changing from green to red and orange. And not just any pizza....meaty meat pizza.

Okay I know the mountains just look brown in these pictures...but I promise there were a few red bushes....

 We were having trouble with the shadow hand...

This pita triangle really looks like cardboard--and my distressed face doesn't help the cause.

A week later, it was Aaron's turn to do some birthday surprising. "Kissing" the ground I walk on and "showering" me with roses was what I woke up to at about 5:30 a.m. Why so early? I don't know.

Next surprise? An invitation to go to dinner up at the grill at Sundance, with formal dress required by Aaron. And it's not what you may think in that Victoria's Secret bag...unless you were thinking of an AmEx Gift Card with money designated for shopping.

Then, since Aaron was feeling sicky, he decided he could stay home from work, so we went back to sleep. Another nice surprise for both of us.

Dinner was delicious. We looked pretty stellar, but unfortunately, it was too dark outside and too romanticly lit in the restaurant for any pictures. Our waiter secretly asked Aaron what dessert to get me by holding up a piece of paper with option 1, 2, and 3 behind my head and signaling for the desired dessert with hand gestures. Chocolate truffle cake with mint ice cream was a good choice! And it was on the waiter!

Perhaps there will be more surprises coming soon. Our one year anniversary is this weekend! Then Aaron's birthday in November. He sure made it tricky to try to top his act!