James’s 1st Birthday Party!

We finally had James’s 1st birthday party!  Yes!    

He was really excited!  Can you tell?

All right, Jamesy boy, show us your big one year old muscles!

Oh how we love you little buddy!!  You are just the sweetest.

It looks like James’s smolder is already working with the ladies!

Although he wasn’t really appreciating this too much . . . .

Present time!

The girls got James a little football . . . . he loves it:)

Scotty and Emily realized that they didn’t have a present for James, so they wrapped up one of their little cars for him.  So sweet.  He loves cars, and immediately started driving it around on the table.

He had lots of help unwrapping the big one!  We got him the Fisher Price Wheelies Rampway.

Cake time!                           

Oh man, we was excited for this!

But then we all started singing, and he got this smile/confused look on his face and ended up with a fixed stare for the entire song.

So we sang “Happy Birthday” again, and he had the exact same expression the second time as well!

I guess we hadn’t really explained to Leah that we WANTED James to destroy his cake, because she freaked out the minute his hand reached out to his cake!  “NO JAMES!!!”

He was actually pretty timid with the cake.  No going for it like some babies.  That’s okay.  I kind of think he just didn’t know what he was supposed to do with it.  He finally just grabbed some of the frosting.

And then just wiped it on the table!

He finally took a little lick.  And even tried a spoon . . . . 

But in the end, he just got frustrated with the cake, so he let out a great big yell at it.

“Mom, do I really have to eat all this?”  Of course not, sweetie.  And it’s probably better you don’t, because there are some sisters and cousins that really want some, and I didn’t make a second cake for them.  

James’s 1st Birthday Party – Sunday, April 3 at Grandma and Grandpa Cole’s house in California.

Carmel Beach

Beautiful weather, beautiful beaches.  This is why we love California.  And my family is all here:)  We drove to Saratoga last night.  Dan had a flight to Las Vegas very early this a.m. for an orthodontic conference.  He has to get a certain number of CE (continuing education) credits, and this will fulfill half of them for the year.  He’ll be back tomorrow in time for the Priesthood session and then the traditional dinner out with all the men.  So we missed him today at the beach.  It was a great beach day.    

Ashley and her boyfriend, Spencer, flew in from Provo for the weekend as well!  Party time!

We got lunch at a place called Randy’s Sandwich Shop, which claims to have the best sandwiches in town.  They were pretty good!  Michael definitely approves.

It was this little guy’s first time at the beach (well, besides last summer I guess, but he was too little then).  He LOVED it!  I couldn’t get him to look up even for a second for a picture.  He was too into playing.

And I love this picture.  She’s surrounded by cool sand toys, but still chooses to go with the broken styrofoam cup.  Classic.

Aren’t cousins just the best?  My kids love spending time with their cousins.  It’s going to be a great 2 weeks! 

The famous Pebble Beach golf course.  I mean, I’d take up golfing for sure if I could golf on this course.  Such a beautiful area. 

I’m wondering how much that white mansion on the golf course is worth.  A house up there recently sold for $18 million.  That’s about what I was thinking:)  It’s probably just someone’s summer home. 

And some cute ones Steph took:

He’s 1!!!!

It seems like yesterday James was just a baby.  He was 3 months here.  Wasn’t he just the cutest?

And then overnight he became a little boy!  We started his birthday off with a haircut.  He needed to look spiffy for his big day!                                                              

Although we really didn’t do much celebrating . . . . Dan had youth baptisms at the temple right after work, so James was in bed by the time Dan got home.  So, we’ll be having James’s 1st birthday party in California this weekend.  But we did manage to take a few pictures on his actual birthday.

And, he learned a new trick today.  It was the first time he actually pointed to his nose when I asked him “Where’s your nose?”  He’s pulling himself up and cruising a little, but still not much interest in free standing or walking.  And he still just has those two bottom teeth, but I think the top ones are about to brake through soon.  He won’t eat baby food anymore, it’s all table food for him now.  He loves Cheerios, craisins, cheese, jam sandwiches, eggo waffles, oatmeal, peas, and most anything else we put on his tray.  I’ve been giving him whole milk for a few weeks now, so that’s been nice.  I haven’t taken him to his 1 year dr.’s appointment yet, but I doubt he’s 20 lbs yet so we’ll have to keep his car seat backward facing for awhile longer.  He sleeps pretty consistently from 8 pm to 8 am every night, and takes 2 naps a day.  He LOVES to climb up the stairs so we had to put up a gate, but if we ever accidentally leave it open, he’ll notice and get through it.  He loves “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and will try to do the spider part with his hands.  He also loves it when we dance with him.  He’s recently learned how to wave and he kind of says “hi” (which I consider his first word).  I love when he waves and says “hi” to random people in the store.  He’s very friendly like that.  But he is definitely getting a little stranger anxiety . . . . meaning he won’t just let anyone hold him.  He LOVES when Dan comes home from work at the end of the day.  He gets really excited to see Dan and I love it.  It’s so cute.  We just really can’t believe how fast this year has gone by!  Granted, it’s been a very busy year for us with moving and starting a new job, and being in a new place and everything, but really, time is just flying by.  We’re having so much fun with our little Jamesy boy.  He brings us so much happiness, and we just can’t imagine life without him!

Hill Aerospace Museum

It was so fun being in Utah for a few days with Dan’s family for the wedding.  On Saturday, the day after the wedding, a few of us went over to the Hill Aerospace Museum in the afternoon for something to do.  Scott was warning us that it was nothing compared to the Dayton Air Force Museum, but it was a pretty good little museum, and the kids had fun running around.  James actually loved it and kept pointing in every direction at all the different planes, wanting me to take him to each one.  It’s so fun to see how he’s just naturally drawn to boy stuff . . . . Annie and Leah really could have cared less about the planes.  

Big boys like airplanes too!

We went back to Scott and Elisha’s house and got out all our Cafe Rio leftovers for dinner.  Amy and Chris had Cafe Rio cater the family dinner after the wedding, and we got to take all the leftovers home.  We had so much, it was Cafe Rio heaven!  We had it for lunch and dinner on Saturday and then for lunch again on Sunday before we drove home.  Let’s just say we definitely got our Cafe Rio fix for awhile!