Sioux City birthday party 5.21.09

We had Gwen's 1st birthday party of the visit at my sister and brother-in-laws house (Deb and Dave) on her actual birthday - Thurs. May 21st, 2009. Deb and Dave are so amazing for hosting this ordeal and Gwen thanks them a thousand times over :)! A big reason we picked there was because it's like a fun house. Seriously, there is a fire pit for smores, a big deck with dogs, 4-wheelers and the BEST reason, horses! There was even pony rides offered that night. They used to have an above ground pool too but it was put away to get ready to build the underground pool, hummm....maybe next year it will be there again...OK, too ahead of myself!

So anyways, Gwen got to see her first horse and even sat on one with the help of Aunt Cissy and also pet the horseys face and hair with Jason! She loved them and I swear she remembers them because we have this book with a horse you can pet in it and she just lights up everytime she sees it...she actually gives it kisses!







My parents did most of the cooking while some other family members brought side dishes, pop, etc. It was so nice and helpful, they all really helped us out tremendously. The food was great, the cake was awesome and Gwen really dug right in! She got great gifts (so many clothes!) and all in all had a perfect time witout a melt down! She passed out about 100 feet from their driveway, too.




Her actual FIRST bite of birthday cake...it was ALL frosting and she LOVED it!















At the end of the night, within about 1 minute of each picture being taken she was out. The first pic was without the flash b/c she was still awake and the 2nd pic is with the flash b/c she was down for the count. :) A Great Birthday!!




Not to worry...the next morning she was up and running again not even phased! This might have even been the morning of "banana aebleskivers" (say ay-bla-skeever) that she chowed down on. She wanted her bike/car thingy grandma Judy and grandpa Steve got her out of the box asap!





She can finally wear her hair in bows too!! SO CUTE!



And this was heart breaking enough, leaving Sioux City, but seeing her so tired and upset here was both horrible and hilarious. :) We left at 5 am to make it to Des Moines in time to see Uncle Jimmy walk the stage at his graduation ceremony, she loves her Uncle Jimmy :)

Oh yea, and the new car seat is courtesy of my brother Tom and sister-in-law Kim. Saves us $100, hehe. It is a great one and she really loves being able to face front now too. Thanks Uncle Tom and Aunt Kim!!!