Sierra's First Birthday!

Is all this really for me?

She was quite excited about her new shopping cart

Not so excited about the birthday hat

Loved Great Grandma's blueberry birthday cake but it took her a

while to really dig in

Party #2

Sierra takes a little bite of Auntie's fruit and her finger:)

Opening Aunt Helen and Uncle Kevin's gifts

So many Grandma's!  A very lucky little girl.

A special cake from Grandma Shelly

This is what happens when you eat too much cake.....

"I think there's room for a little more"

You are allowed to skinny dip on your first birthday.  It's a known fact.

Getting some love from Grandpa Buck

A little sprinkler fun with daddy

Our big girl is a year old.  It's incredible the way our lives have changed in one years time.  It is impossible to predict the way that a baby can turn your world upside down.  Every extreme feeling of love, fear, protectiveness, and pride that you have felt in the past seem like nothing once you hold your own baby in your arms.  Every emotion and feeling magnifies a hundred times.  It's scary and amazing all at the same time.  Having that much love in your heart is almost heartbreaking because you realize how much you have to lose in life but also how much you have gained.  What a gift it is to be a parent. 

I find myself talking about how tired I am and how hard it is.  And it is!  It's exhausting and trying because you want to be the perfect parent and you never will be.  None of us ever will be.  Good thing that we have the Perfect Heavenly Father to fill us with his Peace and Grace.  There are some days I need those things more than others:)  But above all of the trials, there is such joy.  Unspeakable joy.  And I am so proud and in awe of my beautiful gift from God.  Happy birthday Sierra May.  You make my heart sing.