Grandma and Grandpa visit!

My amazing parents made the drive to visit us this past long weekend. I love it when they are here. We laugh and play and eat, of course. They are the best with Oliver. He loves them! And we do too. We were lucky with pretty beautiful weather during their visit. 

I still have to pinch myself sometimes at this amazing place we get to live.
Just a walk down the road to this. What a beautiful sunset it was!

love that daddy-o of mine

Oliver LOVES the beach! He loves to play in the sand. He loves to run into the water. He loves to get super messy, of course. I'm pretty convinced he would be content to spend all day every day on the beach. But I guess, really who wouldn't? 

No pants for the journey home because they were too messy. 

On Sunday, Chris wore a thrift store suit (which he tailored a bit). There's a tag on the inside dating it from 1974. I wore my mom's dress that she think she bought around 1982. So we were going retro to church. 

Oliver discovered mango. He was seriously in heaven. Just like his papa is with mango as well. 

More joy at Nye Beach

After getting messy again, we unclothed our boy and he got to snuggle
with me in my jacket. I didn't mind. 

Love those snuggles

in the car, all worn out from the beach

Monday morning we took a walk to the lighthouse. It was a lot less windy than last time we were there (when we were almost blown over, literally). 

We walked down by the bay to check out those noisy sea lions. We also had some delicious Tillamook ice cream. Yummy! And we took grandma and grandpa to our park. Oliver loved walking along with grandpa. 

After dinner Monday night, we went bowling. I won, which doesn't happen too often so I have to enjoy it when it does. It was a fun game!

Tuesday morning we had to say goodbye. Sad day :( But we are grateful for the fun visit! Thanks mom and dad!

Mexican Independence Day

On September 16th we had our Mexican Independence Day party. We invited some friends and had a good time. We ate delicious food and even had a whale pinata, made by Chris. We love this tradition, and since we didn't have a party last year it was fun to do it this year. 

Oliver loved the corn

whale pinata 

Chris got on the roof to hold up the pinata

In reality, Oliver got super sad as we hit the pinata. But he
loved to look up at his papa.

Harmony taking a turn!

Go Matthew!

candy!

post party pic

And now for some random pictures of our beautiful baby boy.

Oliver's First Birthday Party

Oliver's real birthday party took place that Saturday. Amy and Jamir drove up to party with us (It is a long drive. They are the best!) Colt, Ashley, and Madi came as well. It was pretty low key, but fun to celebrate. We had hot dogs and hamburgers. Chris made Oliver a train cake. It was awesome! Unfortunately, Oliver didn't go crazy for it. He kind of poked it with his finger and delicately ate a little bit of it. So it wasn't the crazy, shove in your face first birthday cake moment, but it was still a good time. He was maybe tired and just wanted to play instead. That's okay. We love our boy. He got a magnetic alphabet from the Reece family and a shape puzzle from Amy and Jamir. We gave him a xylophone. He also had opened up fun little cars and rug to play with them on from my parents on his actual birthday. Oliver is a loved little man! He was pretty skilled at opening the gifts up. The adults rounded the evening off by playing some Kill Doctor Lucky. We're grateful for good friends and family. And we are happy our baby is one! 

an ode to Oliver's first year of life

opening up gifts!

Train cake!

A year in review. How our boy has grown and gotten so handsome!