Graduation - Celebration Vacation

We toyed with the idea of going on a grand vacation to celebrate Chris' graduation but 2 things stopped us.

1- Londyn is(was) at a really bad age for us to either leave her or take her with us.

2- Cost. Since our move to KC is only for a year and then we will be moving yet again, those moves suck up any money we could've put towards a sweet vacay.

But the stars aligned in a small way to allow us to have a little getaway to celebrate.

My parents very recently bought a house in St. George so we decided to go spend a few days down there and be there for the furniture delivery they were getting.

  Oh how I already miss the mountains!

 Hanging in the back with Londyn while she inspected her hands.

 Stylin babe.

 Love the red rocks!

 We made it!

Pretty much the only furniture in the house at that point.

We took Londyn swimming for the first time!

She hated it at first and cried but after slowly working our way closer to the pool and into the water she ended up loving it.

Enjoying the new furniture that has a magical power of making you nap...

sometimes twice a day!

And my conehead (bunhead) that Chris made fun of.

Sharing a yummy snow cone.

One of the days we went to Zion!

It is pretty much our favorite place on earth and we hadn't been back since our awesome trip 4 years ago when we were celebrating Chris graduating with his bachelors degree.

View that post here to see our baby selves :)

 Heading out to do some hiking.

Beautiful Zion! We're obsessed.

 We hiked to the lower emerald pool, then looped back to the grotto.

 It was a pretty hot day, but not too bad. 

We noticed we were the only ones with a baby and decided we were either adventurous or stupid.

Cooling off in the shade and having lunch. 

 

Clap clap clap.

 We also did the riverside walk where we passed a LOT of people, who all loved Londyn and her bright blue eyes.

 Londyn was a happy camper in the backpack which made our hiking very nice.

She loved to pat Daddy's back and jabber away as we hiked.

Taking a break by the river to let Londyn stretch her legs.

 We had so much fun going back to Zion and were glad that we were adventurous (not stupid), since Londyn did so well and didn't get sunburned or dehydrated!

Londyn loves to put on sunglasses.

We went swimming again and Londyn warmed up to the water much faster.

 It was pretty windy outside so went inside to the indoor pool and blew up Londyn's new floaty boat, which she loved floating around in!

We had a great time in St.George and can't wait to go back!

Graduation - all the other stuff

We all traveled to graduation in the most complicated way possible just to save money.

Chris drove up on his own while I flew with Londyn.

He got to see some of the gorgeous views on the drive while I stressed about flying alone with Londyn, but she actually did great! 

And we ran into our friends the Drakes who were on the same flight going to graduation too, so it was great to talk to them before the flight and keep my mind off of stressing!

Our first night back in Oregon playing on the bed.

I thought I would feel really nostalgic and be so happy to be back there, but it was raining when we got there (and rained a lot while we were there) and I didn't really have those feelings.

It was weird to be back and it didn't feel like our home anymore.

It felt like the place we lived as students but that was no longer our life. 

(If it had been sunny and gorgeous weather I might have felt differently).

  The next day Chris had his capstone in the morning and then we got to join him for lunch.

It was so fun to see everyone and how big their kids have gotten!

Love the gorgeous springs and the campus there.

 Londyn figured out how to turn the lamp on and off and spent a lot of time entertaining herself with that. 

Our parents flew in later that day.

And they took full advantage of the beautiful area...

In our seats for the hooding ceremony.

Londyn needed a nap already and it hadn't even started!

Londyn mooching off Chris for some of his fruit from the reception after the ceremony.

Friday night we went to the graduation banquet which was the biggest disappointment, and I have no pictures to show it.

 

Londyn had the best time playing at these nightstands.

After all the ceremonies were over we went to eat at Red Robin, followed by Tillamook ice cream in our hotel room for dessert.

We ran to the dollar store for bowls and spoons and got a great scooper that bent on the first use!

On Sunday we all headed home.

Chris and his parents drove back together and my parents flew with me and Londyn.

Those driving home stopped at Multnomah Falls one last time in the early morning.

And miracle! Londyn fell asleep on the flight back.

It was such a great trip and so fun to go back to visit and celebrate and close that chapter of our lives.

We will always love Oregon and all of the growing and learning that we did there!

You Are My Sunshine

I am not one to throw parties, but I couldn't let my first baby turn 1 without celebrating.

Everyone pointed out that she wouldn't even remember it but I admit that I did this party more for me than for her! I needed it to help me accept the fact that she is now a 1 year old.

I didn't go all out, we just had a small little party with both our families.

FYI - The banner is hiding our address from any creeps out there.

I based it loosely off of "you are my sunshine" and made everything pink and yellow and made Londyn's smash cake a sun.

I chose that theme because Chris used to sing that to my belly when I was pregnant with Londyn and now she absolutely loves that song. And of course she is our little sunshine too!

Londyn was pretty excited for her party! 

The food tables. 

We had lots of fruit (not put out yet) on the yellow table and desserts on the pink table.

 I made lemon crinkle cookies, oreo pops, and funfetti and red velvet cupcakes in regular and mini size.

The mini cupcakes.

Londyn's cake.

It was a pain in the butt to frost those sun rays!

The birthday girl!

Opening presents is serious business.

Most of the guests:

Grandma Minnie and Grandpa Bob.

Amanda, Justin, Stain, Katie, and Liam.

Great-Grandma Patsy, and Great-Grandma Miriam and Great-Grandpa Ray

Grandpa Brooke, Weston, Nikki, KK, and Nana.

 

Londyn was pretty eager to touch her cake but wasn't too sure what to do after that.

I ripped off a piece and fed it to her which got her started digging in! 

Londyn ate 2 (or was it 3?) whole sun rays.

The party was perfect except ONE thing!

We forgot to sing Happy Birthday to Londyn!

I was really bothered by this so the next day for Sunday dinner we lit a candle in the half of her cake she didn't touch, sang to her, and let her have some more cake!

Thanks to our families that came and brought gifts!

It was the perfect party and now I can say "I have a 1 year old" without freaking out!