Benjamin's 1st Birthday

Benjamin turned one on February 6, 2016. This past year he has grown and changed so much (as all babies do), and I am so grateful that he joined our family and changed our lives. January was a rough month for Benjamin due to illness, but when he is feeling good he is such a fun and happy boy! We love having him in our family!!

We celebrated his birthday the last Saturday of January, so that as much family as possible would be able to come. We invited my mom and dad, and siblings that live in Utah, as well as Dan's family and some close friends of ours. We held it at our church building, since our home is no where near big enough to host all those people.

We were really blessed to have a lot of family show up to celebrate Benjamin! He was such a cutie, and I think he enjoyed the day!! He received wonderful gifts and so much love! What a cute boy we have!

First, for the decorations!! I put a lot of work into Benjamin's 1st birthday party, and it was a ton of fun!! I made a deal with Dan that if we could throw a big party, Dan could pick the theme. Shockingly, Dan chose fishing ;) The theme was so fun, and it turned out great!! I did lots of Pinteresting, and Dan helped a lot too!!

Table with Benjamin's monthly photos!!

The cupcakes were from Wal-Mart (I added the swedish fish and signs on top!!) And then, I made the smash cake! It was super hard to make the cake, and almost didn't turn out. The cake wouldn't come out of the pans, but I somehow got it to work, and it turned out cute!! I decorated it with ombre frosting (and tried to make them look like fish scales). 

Benjamin's '1' Baloon!

The treat table:

Complete with goldfish, trail mix, gummy worms, swedish fish, jelly beans, and make your own fishing poles (pretzel rods+pull and peel licorice)

Food table. We kept it nice and easy and bought a 6 foot sub, and then each of our parents brought a big salad to share.

This is the "fishing" pond:

Now some pictures from the party!! We ate yummy food, had cake, opened presents, and then the little kids got to go fishing at the fishing pond for a small plastic fish before they left!! (All relationships noted are based on Benjamin!!)

Cutie-bug Birthday boy!

Benjamin and Mommy

Melissa and Dallin 

Benjamin and Grandma McGuire

Cousins: Mikelle, AJ, Lexi

Cousin: William

Grandma Kolts

Uncle Bradley and Aunt Sharlee

Dan's cousin Alyse, Aunt Kristin, Aunt Kaitlin 

Uncle Mike and Aunt Anna 

Benjamin and Daddy 

Our downstairs neighbor, Michael, and Benjamin

Downstairs neighbors, Elizabeth, Francisco, and Michael

Cake Time!!

I was really excited for the smash cake, but unsure how Benjamin would react! At first he was a little timid. He didn't really want to grab it with his hands. He tried to reach it with his mouth, but couldn't because the plate was in the way. So we slipped the cake directly onto the highchair tray, and then Benjamin went to town!! He loved the cake, and ate a ton of it!! He was so cute shoving his face right into it!!

We also had a photo booth at the party, to make sure we got photos of everyone! We had some fishing props that people could use. It was lots of fun!!

Kolts' Girls

Girls from Dan's side of the family + Mariah

Dad, Benjamin, and Mom

Kiddos!! 

Mariah and her boyfriend, William

Opening presents:

The fishing pond was a hit with the little kids. We put up a sheet, and use a real fishing pole. The kids tossed it behind the sheet, and Dan was there to attach a plastic fish that they got to keep!

It turned out as a great day! Benjamin was happy the whole party, and then he went straight home and took a nap!! What a fun way to celebrate such a sweet boy!!