Avery's Birthday Bash

It's hard to beleive that Avery will be one on Wednesday. It feels like yesterday that I was bringing her home from the hospital scared out of my mind. This past year has been the best year of my life; we have been through so much as a young family but I wouldn't change one day of it. Avery has brought such joy into our home and has reminded us what this life is really about. Last  Saturday we threw Avery's Birthday party because Grandma, Grandpa Christensen,Kirsten and her kids were coming down and we wanted to celebrate while they were here. My mom and Kirsten spent most of the week in Las Vegas and it was so nice to spend time with them.

How did we have cute Birthday Parties before Pinterest? I love just looking at all the cute ideas on there and when I found a few cute ice cream socials I just knew that what I wanted to do for Avery's party. You cant have a first Birthday party without a smash cake and this one is defiantly one for the record books. My good friend Miranda came over on Thursday and helped me make this beauty. It is everything I wanted and turned out so perfect I could hardly believe it.

 I found these are the cute little cupcake ice cream cones that I HAD to make! I took the cone dipped the top of it in chocolate then sprinkled sprinkles on it, then I made cake balls and put them in the cones,then I dipped the cones in chocolate and topped them off with a little pink chocolate, a red m&m and a few sprinkles. These little numbers are a ton of work but they just fit so perfect with the little ice cream social that we had going; plus they were pretty amazing!

 This is the super cute set-up that my sister and mom helped with. We served fruit cups, individual 7 layer bean dip, meat balls and jalapeno dip, all of it tasted so yummy. The pictures of Avery in the back was just so cute and I am glad that Kirsten thought of doing that!

I just love this picture of Avery and my mom. When I first saw this picture I instantly saw how blue my mom's eyes are and wonder if that is where Avery hers her blue eyes from.

 My Uncle Floyd makes these adorable little rocking chairs and when I was talking to my dad before they came down he asked me what Avery wanted for her big day. Without so much as taking a breath, I told him I wanted a rocking a chair from my Uncle Floyd. How stinking adorable is it? Avery just loves to sit in her rocking chair and look at her books. The rocking chair is just the perfect for Avery.

 Uncle Eric got put on snuggle patrol with these two little girls! Both girls just crawled right up on his lap and cuddled right in he doesn't seem to mind.

Dallin was holding baby Ainzley and asked me to take this picture because he thought it was so cool that he was the oldest grandchild and Ainzley was the youngest. Dallin is such a great big cousin and just loves to help out with his littlest cousins the entire time he was down he was Avery's personal entertainment and she just could not get enough of him. 

It's not a party without a pinata and boy did the kids just love this!  Everyone got a turn and then the big boys showed them how to really smash a pinata, I think Eric, Justin, and Nate were more excited then the kids were!

It's not a party without a pinata and boy did the kids just love this!  Everyone got a turn and then the big boys showed them how to really smash a pinata, I think Eric, Justin, and Nate were more excited then the kids were!

After the kids picked up all the candy someone saw Uncle Landon eat a fireball so they all went through their bags and gave him all the fireballs, it was super sweet! I am so glad that Emilie and Landon came all the way done for Avery's party. It was a fast trip but it was so nice to have them here.

You cant have a ice cream social without ice cream; here is the ice cream bar that we set up. I thought I would be smart by per-scooping the ice cream the per-scoops did get served fast but they also melted really fast.

When we started singing "Happy Birthday" Avery she got very concerned. She didn't cry or fuss she just kept her eye on mom and dad to make sure we were there and smiling! When the song ended she gave everyone a little clap for a job well done.

This little princess did not want to dive right into the cake but who could blame her with as cute as it was. At first she just took her finger stuck it in the cake and lick it off. after a few minutes of this I took her hand and stuck them straight into cake...whoops bad idea, that's when Avery got upset and tried to get it off by smearing it all over her head.

When daddy came to rescue her she decided to share her yummy cake with him, he didn't seem to mind at all.

When Avery was opening her little presents she was really sweet you could tell she was really excited with each of the gifts that she got. When she opened her little dolly she instantly started to rock the baby and gave it loves. Avery is so loving with all her little stuffed friends it just melts my heart to see.

The party was such a hit and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I am so grateful for everyone that came near and far. We are really blessed to have such good friends here in town to step in and be family when ours are so far away.