"Gone Fishing" party

Coming home from vacation was crazy (I always need a week to recuperate), but I somehow managed to throw a friends' party for Hudson THREE days after we got back. He didn't have a friends' party last year, so I figured he could have one this year. My sister also came down (her first time to Charlotte); it was really great having her and she was a big help.

It was such a fun time planning the party; Hud had wanted a fishing party for months so we made it happen and it came together wonderfully!

Thanks to my sister for helping with decorating this cake! 

Love the M&M's!

With our birthday boy

Some of the friends from the party

Video: Blowing out candles

Opening presents. Love his facial expression here! 

The chaos of opening presents

Video: Present opening

decorating pinata bags

balloon animals

duck fishing

getting ready for the pinata

Nemo!!

Aftermath 

Most of the kids at the party (plus Jimmy sitting in the back)

Hudson's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Hudson's birthday with family and friends on Saturday, July 21st (a few days before his actual birthday). There were a lot of adults and kids (16 adults, 5 kids, 3 toddlers, and 1 baby to be exact), but we made it work in our tiny apartment. Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate this little boy's first year! We had a great time! 

We chose blue and orange for the colors, but went back and forth between a theme.  It was going to be a goldfish party or a zoo animals party, but we ended up choosing the latter. It turned out better than we could have imagined!

My amazingly creative friend, Kayla, made these birthday party invites using InDesign. 

I think they turned out so darling!

Birthday boy before the party began

Logan's cousin, Holly, made the shirt for Hudson. Cute, right?

  Clockwise from the right: happy birthday banner, orange and blue pom poms, photo timeline from 0-12 months, and homemade animal cupcakes

yarn wreath

Close-up of the animal cupcakes that my friend, Cari, made. 

So cute and delicious too. 

She made two flavors - funfetti and chocolate. 

Food table

We had tons of food and drinks - hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, fruit, salad, chips, cupcakes, orange candies, orange snacks, and orange soda. 

our family of three

 with Hudson's grandma Lynn and Aunt Amanda

Ethan and Hudson - best buds and only a month apart

 About to eat his birthday cupcake

We had so many guests, but this special kid (Spencer) was nice enough to come to Hudson's birthday party even though he turned 4 on that very same day. 

Bath time with Leilani after swimming (sadly I didn't get any pictures of us at the pool)

Party favors

Graham crackers for the kids and orange kool-aid popcorn for the adults 

That's a wrap (until next year, that is)! Logan has already forbidden me to plan another party for H, but at least I have a whole year to change his mind. :)


*Sorry for the poor picture quality - it was all on my IPhone - but more quality pictures are coming soon!

Little Man Baby Shower

Hope and Jason were some of the first friends we made in our church ward here in Raleigh. It was so exciting to find out that Hope was having a baby - they actually told us the news a day before Hudson was born. Hope is also one of the girls I visit teach. She is so friendly, creative, and makes the BEST Oreo truffles.

I decided to throw Hope a "little man" baby shower with the help of a few friends in the ward. Little did I know that it would involve so much time and effort. But it was a lot of fun planning and stressing over. It turned out to be a HUGE success! We had over 40 people attend! Here are some of the pictures from my camera. I'm still waiting for more, but you can get a general idea of how it turned out. Most of the ideas came straight from Pinterest.

 Isn't that banner the cutest? It was so simple to make - just scrapbook paper and letters cut out. 

 The mommy-to-be (Hope) with Hudson. Hope is so sweet and has watched Hudson for us on more than one occasion.

 We had the shower at a gorgeous home provided by one of Hope's previous Young Women's leader. 

 These pom poms were so easy to make and they added a pop of color to the room.

Not the best picture, but my friend Cari and I made all the guests a bow tie to wear during the shower and to take home. 

This is the car seat cover I made for Hope. She picked out the fabric and I went at it. It is so cute. I almost wanted to keep it for myself because I think it turned out so much better than the one I made Hudson (probably because I'm getting better at sewing). 

So, there you have it. 

It was an awesome baby shower!

We are so excited for Hope and Jason to welcome their little man into the world!