Birthday Party Animals

We had a great time throwing a party for Zane's birthday this year. It was awesome having Grandma, Grandad, Uncle Cody, and Grandpa O. be part of the festivities. I definately wouldn't have been able to get everything done without all of them. Sometimes my ideas run away with me and are a little bigger than reality can handle.

Zane and Grandad got ready to load up the cars and take everything across the complex to the sand volleyball court.

Meagan, Milo, Jessica and Will had fun playing in the sand.

Those two boys have bright blue eyes. Gorgeous!

Clay and Cody buried dinosaur eggs and dinosaurs in the sand and marked them with little flags. Everyone was able to stake a claim and dig around for their palentological find.

The guy on the left is Jordan. Today Zane told me that he is going to Disneyland with Jordan. I hope they have fun.

Zane had fun pretty much going wherever he wanted and doing whatever he felt like doing. It was nice being able to let him run around go crazy. And then collapse in the sand from exhaustion.

Alex and Julie and Alex's little sister, Katherine (not pictured) made the cake balls that we featured at the beginning of the party. We had our ultrasound on Thursday and took an envelope to Alex with the gender inside. They made cakeballs with PINK!! cake inside. Most of our friends didn't know that we are expecting, so it was a double surprise when we passed out the cakeballs and explained what they were for. It was fun.

I had a sign ready that had "It's a Girl" and "It's a Boy" on either side. When we bit into our cakeballs, the cake was pink! That's my little half-eaten pink cakeball that I am holding. The doctor wasn't completely positive about the gender, so we will know for realsies that it is still a girl in a couple more weeks.

I wanted a fun dinosaur themed cake for Zane to have at the party. It took a while to figure out something that I liked, but eventually I stumbled across a fun fossil cake. Meagan and I hand-cut sugar cookies to mildly resemble stegasaurus bones and put them on a chocolate graham cracker topped cake. It was really warm and the afternoon sun made the frosting melt a little bit, so that's where the green patch on the side came from.  

Apparently lighting two candles is a two man job.

Zane had a hard time figuring out how to blow the candles so Clay helped him a little bit. He loved it when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him.

Zane pinched the frosting off the sides of the cake. And that's about it.

Clay broke off a piece of Cake for Zane which he ate for a second before deciding that he wanted a cupcake instead.

Since Zane wasn't eating his cake, his friends sat down at the table and helped him eat it. It was adorable.

And Zane got his cupcake.

I wish that I had taken more pictures of the friends and family at the party, but I was busy having fun. Uncle Cody is apparently our designated griller because he once again spent an entire afternoon breathing in charcol fumes to feed our guests. He was awesome. Doug and Steph helped me set up everything, tie strings onto the balloons, and finish up all the small details. And my dad took me to Costco to find enough food to feed the 40ish people who were there. He also got us our own Costco card. We are officially adults now! We loved having all of our adopted family with us too. I know that these parties are more for me in a way since Zane won't really remember them, but I love the friendships and relationships we are able to foster. I am going to be sad when it is time for us all to move on to the next phase of life! I certainly don't want to stay starving students forever, but I have loved every single second of it!