Our marriage is 4.

My partner. My friend.

It's so fun being in love with your best friend.

I love our life. I love us. I love our baby. I love YOU.

Her party

The invite:

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The set-up:

{Banner was made in 15 minutes an hour before the party started when I realized I didn't have one}

{Not pictured: cake pops and dipped oreos that I made. Okay and cake pops? Delish but HARD. It took way too long and mine turned out way too ugly to post:) }

Uncle James took the invite a little too literally:

D.I. frames we painted for each month:

Adorable cupcakes made by Grammy Lisa:

Her birthday cake I decorated in less than 5 minutes. Man was it yummy! (Rainbow chip cake with homemade buttercream frosting)

Yummy goodies made by Grandma Kendell:

{Plates and candy holders we got from the D.I., painted, and glued together}

Since she didn't like her birthday cake in Arizona, we didn't think she would eat her cake.... but she LOVED it. Slowly dug in and ended up with it everywhere. Yay!  {See video below}

We had a photobooth set up for everyone that came. Love it!

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Super hot day, but SO much fun. Thank you to everyone who came and contributed! This girl is well worth all the fuss:)  We all watched this video I put together of her first year:

Her first year. from camille garrison on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday our darling Claire!!

12 months

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She's ONE.  I now join all the moms who say they can't believe how fast time went. That the last year has been the best year of our lives.  That their baby is the best baby in the world, etc. But believe me, it's all true:)   A year ago today she was finally entering the world (after 40 hours of labor) HERE. We just love this baby.

New this month:

Height: 29 inches (50%)
Weight: 17.13 lbs (5%)


{Claire dropped some weight this month, mostly due to the fact that we all got the flu. Wow was that a rough week.}

She loves shoes, carries them around with her, and tries to put ours on.

She's become a semi-picky eater.  Things that I thought she loved she only likes now and then.  Stuff like cut-up fruit and toast and scrambled eggs.  It's kind of a task to get her full these days.  The one food I can always get her to eat is baby Cheetos.

She's still my little cuddle bug. She loves to lay her head on my chest. Please don't ever grow out of this.

She's best napper and sleeper ever.   **I wrote this before she turned one. Now that she's one she doesn't want to sleep. Her naps have only been 30 minutes or so long and she doesn't go to bed until 8 or later. She's either still on a sugar high from her party or decided she's too old for that baby stuff.

She loves the slide in the pool. The second she lands in the water she's turning around to get us to do it again. What baby laughs when they go under water or get splashed in the face? Claire does.

She LOVES balls. Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head.

She's very ticklish. Especially under her neck (like her momma) and her feet.

She knows how to do a monkey sound and LOVES her monkey friends.

She loves peek-a-boo (and does it herself sometimes). She loves when I say "I'm gonna get you" and starts running away as fast as she can (which makes her look drunk as she runs into stuff or falls over).

She is now done with formula and bottles and tried whole milk for the first time today. She LOVED it! 

She says "Hi dadda" to everyone. Never says "momma."

There's not a person who meets her that doesn't comment on how extremely happy, friendly, and cute she is.

Happy happy birthday sweet daughter!

Almost-birthday Party!

With Jon and Jaclyn in town from D.C., we went to Arizona for a quick trip to see the Garrisons. While there, we celebrated Claire's birthday! 

She got some cute things and loved all the attention!

Yummy Costco cupcakes.

What she didn't love though was her cupcake. When I put the frosting in her mouth she gagged and wouldn't touch the rest.

One night, we were all watching the 3 dogs play fetch in the swimming pool (they LOVE the water) and Jake (only 2 months old) got stopped mid-swim by the bigger dogs and lost his momentum.  We all watched in slow motion as he could barely keep his head above water. People started emptying their pockets and just as he started sinking, Ben jumped in to the rescue. 

While the boys went golfing a couple of times, Jac and I went shopping and got matching shirts:)

LOTS of swimming in the over 100 degree heat!!

Claire LOVES Cosmo. He's such a good dog and lets her do whatever she wants to him. She wanted to follow him everywhere and always sat right there by him.

We got to see Ben's dad's new place down there and had a great trip!

Independence Day

We went to the Stadium of Fire Saturday with Jon, Jaclyn, Jac's mom, and Lisa. It was AMAZING. David Archeletta is one talented, cute little man. And Brad Paisley... goodness. He's the whole shebang. 

The whole thing was awesome. 

On the 4th, we started the day off bright and early running the Huntsville 5K. It's such a fun run since it's back in our old stomping grounds and we run right by our old house.  All my siblings did it except Anna so it was super fun! 

Finishing:

My goal was to beat 30 minutes (my last time was 31:45) and I got 28:59! SO proud of myself.
Ben ended up getting 1st place overall with a 4 minute mile! HAHA, until we all realized they accidentally had him in the 10K group instead of the 5K.


Then the parade! 

Then we walked around to the booths, had lunch, went to Lisa's and celebrated Ruby's 17th birthday (Jon's cat), then we had dinner, went to the golf course for some putting with Jon and Jaclyn, then fireworks at Huntsville! SUCH a fun day. Definitely one of my favorite holidays. I always feel the Spirit while I watch Fireworks. We are so blessed to live in this country with all that we have!