One Very Special Day {August 4, 2012}

Words can't describe the feelings you get on that one very special day...wedding day. Joyfully waiting in anticipation of that blissful moment when you walk down the aisle to the man of your dreams. I remember wondering if it was possible to ever love him more than I loved him in that moment.

When we set the date for the big day it felt like it was a century away. You dream about that day for a lifetime. I can recall countless times dreaming about my wedding day as a little girl. It was all that I could have ever dreamed of. So many wonderful people came to celebrate with us and made the whole day so very special.

It's so easy to get caught up in the moment and worry about all the little details. I'm a detail person and I definitely worried a little too much about the details. One person told me, the wedding is going to happen, what didn't turn out the way you want, no one will even know. It will be perfect because you and Brandon are starting your lives together. It's so very true.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day.

Probably my favorite picture. Silly boys!

Groom's Cake! How cute right?

 

Brandon made the arch, and I painted the scripture on it.

All images were taken by Paul Harder with Perfect Moments Photography

First Birthday Thank You Postcard {cute & cheap}

In our family thank you cards are a must. I know a lot of people could care less about getting a thank you card and to tell you the truth it doesn't bother me one bit if we don't get one.

Maybe I just have a guilty conscious. I always feel like I'm unappreciative if I don't send a thank you to someone.

About a week after I graduated High School I started fighting fire, was unbelievably busy and forgot to send thank you's. I still feel bad about that! So I make an honest effort to send a thank you.

For Whitney's first birthday I wanted to make a cute thank you with a couple pictures. We dressed her up and took her to a field just down the street from our house. I wrote "Thank You, Love Whintey" on a chalk board and took some pictures.

I made a little collage, saved it as a JPEG and uploaded it to Vistaprint. I just did postcards to save on postage and it literally cost me 8 bucks for 50 of them. Vistaprint is a super cheap way to go...just keep your eye out for coupon codes.

Here is the front of the postcard.

I don't have one of the back, but I just used their template. You could also make your own.

That picture of her crying is a classic Whitney picture. She is a very sensitive sole. She was trying to stand up and all we said was, "no, no"! Everyone that knows her should appreciate it!

Here are some of the pictures we got that day.

And of course the three pictures we used!

Smash Cake Pictures {baby girl}

We did two smash cakes for Whitney. I wanted to get some good pictures of her smashing her birthday cake. I knew at her party it would be tough to focus on taking pictures so we made a smash cake ourselves and took some pictures at home.

I would recommend this to everyone! With the right camera you can take wonderful pictures at home. I love how some of them turned out. I would much rather save money on those pictures and pay to get nice family pictures.

It was fairly easy, I just used the fabric garland and banner I made for her room to add a little to the background.

I made a little smash cake and frosted it myself.

I put her in a cute little outfit and voila!

Here is my favorite picture!

This is when we first brought out the cake, look at that excitement!

Trying to offer some to me, such a generous little thing :)!

She's "SOO BIG"

We didn't get any of her really SMASHING that cake. I will be honest, we had to do a lot of the smashing. She just picked at it and would lick her fingers. Daddy had to get in there and break it up for her and give her a couple of big pieces.

First Easter

I'm a pretty big fan of Easter. This year was extra special because it was Whitney's first Easter. The Saturday before Easter Sunday we went to the Easter Egg Hunt in Cove. Since she isn't walking yet it was a little crazy. I just had to sit her down where there were a couple of eggs, so she could put them in her basket.

There were so many people there! We got to see lots of her little friends. After the storm passed and things calmed down we put her next to her little buddy Ryker to get some pictures. They were so funny together. Ryker instantly grabbed her basket. Once he gave it back, she gave him her eggs haha. They were just too cute together.

This was where we sat her down, thankfully she didn't get trampled by anyone.

Haha, we got a really good picture of him with her basket.

Just a little payback for stealing her basket.

Then she finally gave them to him :)

On Easter Sunday we got up and had breakfast with my parents, then we went to church. After church we went to Wallowa to have lunch with my husband's family. It was a fun filled day!

Baby Girl First Birthday Party

It's crazy to think how fast this day came. Looking back over the last year I have realized how much she has changed our lives. She is our everything, we don't do anything anymore without thinking about her first. She is absolutely amazing.

Babies in general are amazing. They have the ability to make your heart love a way you have never loved. The simplest things can bring you to your knees. There is just something about their smiles that can turn a bad day around in an instant.

First Birthday's are tough. There is so much to think about, I mean they only turn 1 once...that's a big deal.

I wanted to just go with the theme of her bedroom. I'm not really sure what you would call it, maybe shabby chic. We also had a lot of decor left over from the wedding so we re-purposed a lot of it.

We made a "First Year" book on shutterfly. It has a lot of our favorite pictures, the big events like Christmas and quite a few pictures no one but us has seen. We had the guests leave a little message for her.

My wonderful husband made these boxes out of barn wood, from a very old barn on his parent's property, for our wedding. I still use them as centerpieces, and a lot of my family took some to use as decorations in their homes.

He also made this little frame out of our table runners, I'm pretty sure it's the same wood as the boxes. We used this frame to display her monthly pictures we took. 

I wanted to do a chalkboard, but I didn't want to do it exactly the same way everyone else has been doing it. I just wrote her name at the top, and below wrote about her. Things she likes to do, what she loves, how many teeth, etc.

Of course I had to make her some tissue poms. I think they really jazz up the party and are a great way to fill some white space. If you feel like your table is just not full enough, add some tissue poms.

Lots of candy!

It was such a special day, I will remember it for a lifetime.