Siena's 1 year pictures

My good friend Lindsey took Siena's pictures yesterday!! I love how just the first few turned out! More to come when I get them all back but here is the "First Look". Lindsey is just starting out but is already amazing!! Give her a call if your looking for a great photographer :) Look here for the rest of them :)

Happy Birthday Rob!!!!

We had a fun birthday for Rob this year. We had dinner with his family at Ruby River then back at our house for ice cream and cake with friends.

Siena's Korean Dol Dress (1st Birthday Celebration)

So back in October Rob was able to go to Korea for work. While he was there his co-workers learned that we had just had Siena a few months before then and before he left they were so nice and gave us this Korean Dress for Siena, when she turned 1. I went on and read about it and apparently, Dol is celebrated for the first birthday of a child. When Korea had little medicinal knowledge, many newborns would die from childhood diseases so when a child lived to be a year old during that period, it was a very joyous occasion. (this was taken straight out of wiki.....Lbh I am not that eloquent in speaking) So we decided to put Siena in the dress they gave us and send them pictures so I thought I'd share them. She is so freaking cute and I know she is my daughter but she is BEAUTIFUL....

My Baby is 1!!!!!

Happy Birthday Siena! Siena had her 1st birthday last week and we had an awesome party!! My little pumpkin is obsessed with Sesame Street. I honestly dont even remember how she first started watching it. I think it had something to do with my mom putting it on, Anyway she LOVES it to say the least. I feel like I neglect her sometimes cause if I am cleaning or needing to get ready its so easy to put it on and she is in Heaven!!! So with this LOVE of Sesame Street I thought for her first birthday we would do a Sesame Street Birthday Party! It turned out amazing and I couldn't have asked for it to go better. Here are some pics of the day!!

Guess who came to Visit?!!!

Siena was trying to share her cake with Elmo :) She is so sweet!

Mama, Daddy and the Beautiful Birthday Girl!! I made Siena's Elmo onsie and I found Rob's cookie monster shirt at Kohls and my Friend Janessa found my Oscar shirt! It fell into place perfectly!
I cant figure out how to turn this but here's a pic of the onsie

The kids take home gift was Elmo's Goldfish, Dorothy and his crayon...... "Elmo loves his goldfish, his crayon too"......

Bouncy House fun.......

Oscar's Tattoo Parlor! We had Sesame Street Tattoos.... my friend Janessa painted Oscar...She is so talented!

Katie did some face painting, here is our neighbor Layla getting a kitty face

The CAKE!! Woah this took awhile but I was so happy with how it turned out :)

Bella and Elmo... I think this was when grandma (Abu) was telling Bella it was her in the Elmo costume! I do have an amazing mama :)

Stella and Elmo

Party.....

Centerpieces...

Daxton getting in the bouncy house

Birthday girl posing in the Photo op.... My friend Megan helped me outline and then I painted (into the early hours of the mornings) I am happy with how it turned out.... And I know Grover looks a little funky but it was like at 4am..... I was exhausted!

Sydney enjoying all the Candy!

Pinata time!!! This was a pull string pinata, all ths kids lined up taking turns pulling the strings when it was Claire's turn I think she grabbed like 10 strings......LOL

Cute little signs I had for the Trash cans!

We've named her "The Crazy Bag Lady" no joke she had a purse of princess underwear, a purse of princess shoes and her baby Jaguar.....She carries these with her all the time.

And Now for the Eating of the cake.....

First little nibble

"Mmmm, this is good"

And now she's into it!!! LOL

A special Thanks to Leslie, Joe and Janessa, my Mom and Dad!! You guys helped me pull this off thanks so much! Happy Birthday to the girl that makes me smile all day long! We are all so blessed to have you and I hope you had a wonderful day! Love you my Nenners!

4th of July

Happy Birthday America!!!
We had a wonderful 4th of July! Our neighborhood had a block party with a BBQ and fireworks! Just like in the Sandlot! We had a great time even with the rain! These are the only pictures I have from that night. One taken by me and the other taken by an experienced photographer with a nice camera but I wanted to post them both!I do have to give credit to Lindsey for her amazing photography skills!! I absolutely LOVE this picture of Siena!

Mother's Day

The last few Mother’s days have been hard for me always wanting to be a mother and not having that…… but this year I am so happy, and grateful that I can finally have the Mother’s Day I have always wished for.

I just wanted to express my gratitude for my little princess Siena. I am so so so grateful for her and for the chance to be her mother.

I love being able to watch her grow, learn and see everything through her eyes. She is such a joy in my (and Rob’s) lives I am having a hard time expressing it in words. I still can’t believe how big she is getting. 10 months old already and I feel like I had her yesterday.

Motherhood really is the most amazing and rewarding thing and I am so thankful the Lord has blessed me with this opportunity. I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day and realize how blessed you are to have those little ones (or used to be little ones) in your lives.

Staycation....

Rob and I took a little vacation at home this week. It was so nice to have Rob home all week! He got to spend a lot of time with Siena and she is already turning into a Daddy's Girl!! We went shopping up on Park City and took Siena to the Zoo for the first time and ate out practically every night! It was a nice relaxing week and I am sad to see it end. Here are some pics of us at the zoo.

Sitting on the Elephant trunk....(I think she wanted to get off ASAP!)

I know I am biased but she is just BEAUTIFUL!!

She LOVED the giraffes..... in Awwww

Cakes.....

So I have been having fun (most of the time) making cakes lately. I made one for Maddie's (my niece) birthday and then my Friend Leslie's 30th and my brother in law. I tried to do one ALL out of fondant but I havent mastered that yet so I have just ended up doing buttercream for them. Although, during my quest for recipes I found this AMAZING recipe for Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.....YUMMM

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup shortening

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 cup hot fudge topping

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Cream together the butter or margarine with the shortening.

2. Sift the cocoa with the confectioners' sugar and add to the creamed mixture. Mix together adding 1 tablespoon at a time of milk to keep mixture smooth. Don't add more than 1/4 cup of milk.

3. Add the hot fudge topping and the vanilla extract. Blend until smooth and creamy.

Anyway I thought I'd share the recipe and show some of the cakes I've been eating making….

Doug's German Chocolate cake

Leslie's Dirty 30 Cake

Maddie's Dora Cake