all things ashdown: celebrating harper

Harper had her first birthday party this past Saturday. We had so much fun with our friends and family that were able to come celebrate our little lady. A week before the party, Harper's Grandma (Brady's mom) called and said she wanted to come to the party from Utah. We were thrilled! We have loved our time here in Tucson, but for times like these it's tough to be so far from Harper's adoring grandparents.

It was so fun to have Michele here for the weekend. Harper loved spending time with her Grandma, they loved taking little "discovery walks" together and touch and explore things. On Friday as I was decorating cupcakes and getting things ready, the two of them were upstairs for the longest time playing and cuddling. Harper was in heaven and I'm pretty sure Grandma was too. Thanks for coming Michele!

We were glad that a bunch of Harper's friends (and their parents) could come celebrate with us. Harper's cousin, Macee was here showing off her crawling skills--the five month gap between them is getting smaller and smaller as they grow. Although Macee may well walk before Harper does, Harper had a few ways to show off for her cousin while they were here.

We had a ball watching Harper dive into her first taste of cake. She adored the feeling of frosting between her fingers and enjoyed a couple licks while she played. Brady finally helped her discover the cake that was hiding beneath all that frosting. Harper's a lucky girl to have such a nice dad. The clean up was less fun, but it was worth it.

I'm not totally sure how first birthdays will be celebrated for future Ashdowns, but I had a lot of fun preparing for Harper's party and although I know she won't remember it, it was a big, exciting day for us. She admired my decorations and wanted to pull them down so badly, while Brady and I were happy to spend a perfectly sunny day with family and friends celebrating one year of parenthood.