Anniversary of a birth

It is hard to believe that Elena celebrated her first birthday a few days ago. Has it really been a year? I watched her as she poked and rubbed the frosting of her cake, making the occasional squeal of delight, and wondered what Ammon and I could have done to deserve such a bit of Heaven each day.

For her party-- which was more for us than for her-- we had a few friends over and had cake and ice cream. Milo and Kim Quiroz, Dayana and Lawrence Puchta, Justin and Amy Blackham, Carolyn Waggoner, Tyler Mock, Brandon Nelson, and Cameron Reynolds were a few that came to celebrate with us. My younger brother, Brad, also came to represent the family. He is a good sport to attend a baby party instead of going out with his buddies.

I couldn't decide between chocolate or vanilla cakes so I decided to make both. Elena got a taste of the vanilla, while most of the guests preferred the chocolate cake. We had finger foods and great times were definitely had.

Elena is currently "army crawling," which is to say that she pulls herself up on her arms and then flops over on the ground. Repeat this process a few times and she gets where she wants to go. She likes to sit on her bum and rotate her legs around in a circle to see everything and everyone. She also likes to scoot backwards. I am convinced that she can crawl conventionally but has developed a bit of a stubborn streak. She wants to do it when she wants to do it! In any case she blesses our lives by simply being a part of us and sharing all the wonders that are new life. I feel Ammon and I are better people because we have her.