Happy Birthday Rhen

Our baby turned one on Tuesday this week - crazy how time flies by! We had a birthday bash and had so much fun - here are the details of our night.

Hayley and I made these invitations for the party - as you can see it was a cupcake theme.

And thanks to Gayle for teaching us a few cake decorating tips - we made cupcakes for all the guests... And the big cupcake for the guest of honor.

Rhen had all her favorite people come to the party:

Grandpa

The Holts

Her best friend of all - Daddy.

Uncle Justin, Uncle Caleb and Aunt Hayley.

And many more - thanks to everyone for coming!

We played a little game to see who knows Rhen best. Heather took home the grand prize - I think she got 6 out of 10.

Present time!

With a little help from big sis she got all the gifts opened. She's so excited about this particular gift - treats!

Then the cake...

Taking it nice and easy at first...

Then both hands.

The best is that she got it not only in her mouth, but in her hair...

And her eyebrows.

In the end, she did a pretty good job with the cake.

Shower time!

The next morning we woke up and found her sleeping in throw-up in her bed. It was purely chocolate and frosting. It must have made her feel better to throw-up because we didn't hear a peep from her and didn't know until morning. Poor girl - that's what too much chocolate will do to ya!

We had such a fun party thanks to everyone that spent the evening with us. Rhen loved the attention!

We love our one year old and look forward to many years to come with our sweet girl!

Snow Princess

Just a couple weeks ago Rease finally had the chance to pull out her snow clothes. She has been asking all winter to go "play in the snow" or go ski with Josh. So Josh decided it was time and took her out during the last storm that came in.

They started to build a snowman and Rease helped roll the snow.
Taking a look at their progress...

And taking the chance to catch some snow.

The snowman actually ended up being a "snow princess." Rease requested it and Josh did the carving. The final result - Cinderella.

Rease was happy with the way she turned out - so beautiful.

And one final hug!

The snow didn't last long that day and the snow princess actually fell and melted by the end of the day. Rease kept saying "mom my snow princess fell off the ground." Yeah it did. But it was fun while it lasted!

Boogers

This is what you get when you cross a cold with a teething one year old...

Ward Chili Cookoff

Friday our ward had a chili and chocolate cookoff. Everyone brought either a pot of chili or a chocolate dessert and the judges decided which ones were the best. Josh and I made our chicken chili to enter into the contest. There were so many yummy ones to choose from and so many delicious chocolate desserts that I ate too much of. After the judges took a taste of each one, they gave out awards. They gave a "spiciest" a "most original" a "people's choice" and a "best overall." In the end, Josh and I took home the prize for "Best Overall Chili." We were so surprised! We won a pot of candy - just what I needed after all that yummy chocolate dessert I ate!

Just hangin

Rease has turned into a picky eater. She is constantly saying "I don't like that" or "I want to eat something else." Josh and I decided long ago that the kids will eat what we are having for dinner and nothing else. We will not make them something else just because they don't like what we are having. Rease has been to bed many times without dinner because she didn't eat what was in front of her. Lots of times she sits in front of her food for half an hour with us telling her over and over to eat before she actually takes a bite.

That is what was happening when this picture took place. Josh was dressing Rhen and at the same time yelling to Rease to get her to eat. She was just laying on the chair and wouldn't even sit up to the counter and he couldn't figure out why. He finally asked, "Rease what are you doing?" She said "Dad, I'm just hanging here." He went over and found out that she had hooked herself on the doorknob. No wonder she wouldn't sit up and eat - she was stuck! The funny thing about it was that she kept saying, "I'm just hanging here."

Potty bum

This is what happens when you sit on the pot too long...

Shower time

I don't know what it is that makes naked babies so cute, but I love Rhen when she is just out of the shower. Her hair is crazy and I just want to squeeze her cheeks. Plus I love that her hair is starting to curl in the back. She still has skinny legs but her stomach is catching up with Rease's when she was this age.

The worst part about letting her roam naked is that she has left some pee puddles once or twice. Not fun when she is already clean and has to go back into the shower.

Good morning

Rease and Rhen are such good sleepers. They go to bed early and wake up early and hardly ever wake up in the night. Every morning when Rease wakes up she knocks on the door so we know she's ready to come upstairs (yes we lock them in their room - we just don't want them out once they are in bed. We have a monitor in our room so we can hear if they cry or if a catastrophe happens, but we just really like our sleep too. Don't think we're bad parents!) Anyway, once she wakes up she knocks on the door and then Josh goes down and unlocks it for her. When he gets to the bottom of the stairs she always has her pudgy fingers sticking out from underneath the door. I'm not sure why she does this but it's her morning ritual: wake up, knock on the door, stick fingers underneath. She's a crazy girl.

Under where?

I love this picture. Rease was playing with her phone and this is where she "put it away." I love that she thinks this is where it goes - she sees Josh put his away in his holster on his hip so of course this is where hers goes.

Banana Hair

Josh sent me a text picture while I was at work one day of Rhen's "banana hair." He said he gave her a cut up banana and this is the end result. Banana Hair.

What a messy girl!

Making a mess

Rhen loves to eat. She will eat anything you put in front of her and just chow and chow and chow. But when she's done eating, she's done and lets us know it. She takes a bite in her mouth and then blows a raspberry at us. Yeah that's right it goes all over her and all over whatever is in the area. This is an example of how she looks after one of her spitting episodes.

She's happy about the mess she made.