Minnie Mouse Galore!

Today was Rylie's 1st birthday party! I have literally been planning this party since December (I know, I know--that is a little much...but I know how I work and I wanted to make sure that I could do everything that I wanted to do!) so I was very excited that it was finally here! We decided to do a Minnie Mouse theme for her party--the classic red and white Minne Mouse, not the new pink and white Minnie Mouse. That actually made finding things for the party a lot more difficult so we decided to make most of the decorations ourself.











We held the party at my parent's house in their backyard. The weather was beautiful! We had a bunch of little water toys out for all of the kids to play with since my parents pool is a little cold still. We served burgers for the adults and grilled cheese for the kids with a bunch of simple sides. Rylie did great! She actually took the longest nap of her entire life that morning (I loved it, but I was waiting for her to wake up so I could go start setting up everything...of course she would pick that morning to sleep for over 2 hours! She normally takes about 45 minute naps...) so she was in a pretty good mood for most of the party. She looked adorable in her Minnie Mouse sundress and absolutely loved her grilled cheese and cupcake. :) It really was the perfect 1st birthday party for her and was so memorable for us.


Brandon made this amazing cupcake stand...one of the highlights of the decor in my opinion. :) I have such a creative husband! Each tier was cut in the shape of Minnie Mouse and there was even little Minnie Mouse shapes in the middle holding each tier up.




Some of the party guests in their hats.


Rylie with her friend, Parker.


Our Mouse shaped grilled cheese. :)




Sharing her grilled cheese with Daddy. :) I love love love this picture.




Time to open presents! As you can see, Rylie loved the shirt she had just opened.


Sitting on the toy box that Uncle Blake made for her...did I mention that Brandon and his whole family are very creative?!


Cozy Coupe from Grandpa and Grandma




She ate the entire cupcake! :)


All of the kids at the party...I can't believe we even got them to all stay in one spot long enough to get this picture!




Rylie with her friend, Boston


The weather was so amazing that it actually got cool by the end of the party! Rylie was being kept warm by Grandpa. :)

Rylie's 1st Easter

We had a great Easter in California. We headed to church in the morning (which Rylie did pretty good during the service...I almost got to hear all of the sermon!) and then went to brunch. After that, we headed home to give her her Easter basket and have an egg hunt! She loved her 2 baskets and was way more into the egg hunt than I thought she would be. She picked up on the concept pretty quick and proceded to find all 35 eggs around the yard and put them in her basket! I thought that was pretty good focus for a not even 1 year old!




This is how Rylie spend brunch :)






Checking out all of her Easter basket fun


Playing with the bubbles from her basket




Starting the egg hunt




"Look guys...there's an egg!"






We also gave her a chocolate bunny to try...


...needless to say, she loved it!

Latest trip to Disneyland!

We headed to California for Easter weekend, so of course, we made a stop at Disneyland! We have always tried to do something new on every visit (which is getting harder when you have been as much as we have in the last few years!) so this trip we took Rylie to see the Disney Junior Show Live on Stage! To say she loved it is a complete understatement! She absolutely loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so she just stared and danced her way through the show and the songs. It was super cute and definitely something we will go back to again in the future.








Disneyland is a very tiring place!






"Who is this?" :)


Not a huge fan of Eeyore!


She loved Tigger from a distance, but wasn't too sure about him when we got up to him! :)

Easter Eggs

So we decided to decorate Easter eggs and celebrate tonight with my parents since we will be in California for Easter this year. Rylie couldn't really do much with the actual decorating of the eggs, but she did find a hard boiled egg pretty interesting...that is, until she tasted it! I have tried scrambled eggs with her a few times and she has never been a huge fan and apparently, hard boiled eggs are the same story. :) She kept putting pieces in her mouth and then spitting them out. Eventually, she just started clearing the tray in front of her and threw the entire egg and all of the pieces on the floor.




Dakota waited patiently for Rylie to be done with the egg...she wasn't disappointed!



We eventually gave up on the egg and gave her an Oreo instead...she definitely likes those! :)


Rylie did love her Easter basket from my parents. She got a watering can and little rake and shovel set to help Grandma in her garden, a boo-boo bunny, a couple of new music cds, a book, and the most adorable pink stuffed bunny that my mom made. While she loved all of the gifts, her favorite thing was the grass in the basket and the basket itself...typical kid. :)




Giving Bunny kisses








Taking Bunny for a walk in the basket.

Oh and one more exciting note...Rylie stood up in the middle of the room today a few times! She didn't use anything to help her stand up, just popped up all by herself!