Nathan's first birthday party!

Woo hoo! It's the post I've been dying to write! It's 8:30, Nathan's in bed, and I have no homework tonight. Awesome!!

(No, the house and toys aren't cleaned up yet...I'll get to that later...)

One of the biggest events for my anxiety to feed off of was this party for my one year-old. Not because it was extravagant. Everything either came from the Dollar Tree, a clearance section, or was the cheapest I could find elsewhere. I seriously threw this party for under $30. Anyway, the reason I was so stressed was because 

I've never thrown a party before! (Cue gasps...)

Plus, we had people traveling in for it, my awesome in-laws and my brother- and sister-in-law. In this case, it wasn't the people that were traveling, but the sheer fact that they were traveling a two-day journey to get to little Rexburg to join our little family for our little party. Whew! Talk about unintentional pressure. Good thing they were tons of help and support, or I would've been toasted!

Oh, and last minute pressure? We moved exactly ONE WEEK before the party. Awesome.

I decided a theme months ago, when Nathan started rolling cars across our kitchen floor. Because this little guy was one of the only ones he had at the time:

it became the theme of the party! Tonka's "Chuck and Friends" cars. They're all very sturdy, friendly-looking, and kind of plushy. Perfect for little hands.

Anyway, my in-laws and I got some great time to set up the party. It would've been much more convenient for us had we still lived in the complex where we had the party, but their clubhouse still worked out perfectly. Nathan napped while Mitch and his brother rounded up the last of the party stuff (and anything we'd forgotten) and brought it along when Nathan woke up. 

The fireplace in the clubhouse with all of Nathan's gifts. They came from grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and parents. These pictures would've looked better had I turned my flash on, but it is just too much to try and edit all these. So I'm not.

I was impressed by how easily everything had come together. All I did was walk down the aisles of Dollar Tree, thinking, "what have I seen at little kid birthday parties? Wait...have I ever been to a little kid birthday party? ...That wasn't for a girl?" and then I started throwing things in my cart. I even found Tonka stickers there! Score!

The thing that stressed me out the most was that I couldn't picture the thing coming together at all. I had no idea what all the bright-colored everything would look all thrown around the room.

We tried to make good use of the pool table in the middle of the room, so we covered it in plastic tablecloths and set out little decorations. I forgot: 1) to display his baby book--a YEAR'S worth of work!, and 2) to take a further-away shot of the whole table! Darn! Just picture a big balloon bunch hanging down like on the fireplace.

This print was huge...like, 18x24! I snapped it on his actual first birthday. He makes this face a lot. I already had the frame and I had the print made very inexpensively, so why not?

 My in-laws were just golden: encouraging, helpful, and productive, and we got the place thrown together in no time!

My sister-in-law, Dani, was a huge help. Not only did she help us move and get settled, but she made this adorable wishing tree for all the guests to put their wishes for Nathan on.

The wish tags in this darling dump truck...my mom found it for 50 cents!! Ha!

The wishing tree in all its glory...see how much better using the flash looks? I love my flash diffuser.

Favors for Nathan's 3 little friends that came

Close-up of the little party boxes (dollar tree again!), and the $1 Tonka stickers!

The cake(s) table

big guest cake...4 mini Chuck cars, 3 of them are race cars off-roading, and one is a tow truck to help tow one off the big rocks.

 

My favorite parts were mixing the two colors of brown on the cake to look like mud, putting chocolate frosting on the wheels of the cars by rolling them through, and using the grass/hair tip to make little tufts of grass. So fun!

Nathan's cake...why is it sideways? I uploaded right twice...just turn your head sideways :o)

I found this giant Chuck truck at our thrift store for $1! Score!

We happened to invite some people who had Crone's Disease, were Gluten Intolerant, and Dairy Intolerant. Solution: gluten-free, dairy-free, vanilla cupcakes! You seriously could not taste the difference!

 We had 18 people in our former apartment complex's clubhouse, so if you're wondering why you didn't get an invite, it's because space was already limited! I'll tell him you were there, haha :o)

Fun with daddy :o)

The babies did NOT vote for a group picture!

Poor babes.

Danny, our brother-in-law, enjoying the food :o)

how dramatic!

Mitch's little brother, Ethan, who is coming up to BYU-I in January! Woo hoo!

Friends!

Family!

More Danny Boy! (His wife, Mitch's sister, is also named Dani. She is pictured above...they are the adorable "Dannies", or Danny girl and Dani boy)

Ethan and Mitch's friend, Mark, who Mitch has been friends with since about middle school!

Mitch's little sister, Jayna, always looking adorable!

Next time I'll post about opening his presents, playing with them, and eating his cake! Oh, the simple joys that come from being a parent...I just realized how lame that "next post subject" sounded!