Grayson's party

Let me just say,I am NOT a party planner by any means. But I did spend a lot of time planning this party. When thinking about what I wanted to do for my last baby's first birthday I knew I wanted to go big. I wanted to involve all the people I love, which for me included my extended family as well as the usual immediate family. So as far as the guest list went, I invited my aunts, uncles, and cousins. And I am so glad I did. I asked Jared to invite some of his extended family as well and he didn't feel it was necessary, which I was not happy about but I was not going to force him to invite them.
I did a lot of DIY projects for the party. I spent a lot of time and energy on everything and put a lot of thought into how I wanted the evening to go. I was really excited! But as my luck would have it, Mother Nature had a different plan. Sunday as I spent all day setting things up and finishing up last minute details it was beautiful outside. The sun was shining and I was actually starting to break a sweat. But we live in Utah and we all know the weather can turn within seconds.
As the time for the party approached I was getting more and more stressed out about everything. Jared had people over to watch the Redskins game and they didn't even leave until about 15 minutes before the party started, which meant that my husband was glued to the TV and was no help. As people started to show up the clouds started to roll in, and with them they brought wind.
Now, I don't have room in my house to put all the wonderful people who came. I had things all planned out. I had things I wanted to say and do, we were going to all have a good time celebrating the amazing miracle that Grayson is and the joy he has brought us all over the past year. But that is not how it went at all. The weather was getting worse by the minute and I thought to myself we are not going to get anything done before the rain comes, so I went into turbo mode. I feel like I raced around the entire time trying to fit everything in before it was a total loss.
First we decided to do cake, so that everyone could eat while Grayson opened presents. When we sang happy birthday to him we didn't even light the candle because the wind would just blown it out. I hurried and cut the cake and got everyone a piece and then we dove right into presents. By this time everyone was freezing, including Grayson. He had no interest in opening presents, he didn't really understand what was going on. And I was just trying to get them all open before the skies opened up and poured on us. I feel so horrible because in all the confusion I forgot to have someone write all the gifts down and who they were from. As soon as we were done with presents the wind was blowing pretty hard and things were being knocked over and blown away. A few people were so sweet to jump to the rescue and help me clean everything up and take it all inside, just before the rain started. Total party time from beginning to end-under an hour.

 I really wish more people would have done the photo booth.

I know there is nothing I could do about the weather. But it was very upsetting and disappointing. I wanted it to be a really special day and unfortunately it just wasn't. At least not for me. But I am so so grateful for all our amazing family and friends. You all mean so much to us. I am so grateful for my wonderful husband and all he does for me and our boys! He is the best! And I am especially grateful for my boys! They are the most precious gift. I love them more than anything. Life will go on...