Gianna's first birthday party

I realize that this post should have been up a month ago, but I almost didn't write it, and then decided that I wanted Gia to have the memory.  My hesitation was that we couldn't invite everyone who we love, and who love Gia, and I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings by posting pictures of the party.  Our budget and our backyard just weren't big enough to invite everybody we would have liked.  But I hope that those people can forgive me, and know that I'm writing this post for Gia, and not to make anyone feel bad.
The weather on the morning of the party started out cloudy, almost as if rain was looming.  It had rained the Saturday before, so I was a little nervous that it might rain on her party.  And since the party was outside, that would have really put a damper on things.  Fortunately, before the party started, the sun came out & made it a gorgeous day!  My kid picked a good time of year to be born.
The theme for Gianna's party was a rainbow theme.  I love lots of bold colors, especially on Gia, and I thought this idea was awesome and original.  Of course, when I looked up "rainbow themed party" on line to get some ideas, I realized that it's a pretty popular theme.  Oh well :o)  That also meant that people had come up with some GREAT ideas.  Like a 6 layer rainbow cake, rainbow balloon banner and tissue pom-poms.  We had great friends show up and celebrate with us, making it such a special day.
Cori and Mari helped me make these.  I got the idea on pinterest, and decided to do two of each color.  Turns out, they are super cheap to make and make a great decoration!  I went to the dollar store and spent $5 on materials (but I ended up having to get more tissue paper at Target in order to make orange ones).  So, here was the finished product:

The balloon banner I got off a another blog.  I couldn't have done it without my mother-in-law.  She's amazing with a needle and thread.  I think it turned out really well.

For the food, I chose to do one food of each color of the rainbow.  This was my own idea, not from another blog or website :o)  Red = Watermellon, Orange = cheeze balls, Yellow = Lemonade, Green = green jello (it's a Utah thing), Blue = chips, Purple = Grapes.  Then I had some rainbow candy in jars and a vase of skittles with flowers.  I had a game going where whoever guessed the right amount of skittles in the vase got to take it home, but the vase got knocked over a couple of times, and Hannah ate some of the skittles, so I ended up giving it to Josiah.  He made a guess;  I have no idea if he was right or not.

We also had hotdogs for everyone, and a trampoline to entertain all the kids.  I think they had fun!

And then there was the cake.  I was nervous to make it because I had never made a 6-layer cake before, but I'm so glad I did!  Since Bobby's mom was with me, I felt more confident that she could help me.  She made the icing from scratch (it was awesome!), but I have to admit that the pilsbury dough boy made the cake.  I did dye each layer and stack the cake, though!  I was so excited that it turned out.  I got the idea from pinterest, but I put my own twist on it:  I put blue sprinkles on the top so that when you cut into it, it would be like the blue sky on top, white clouds on the bottom, and then the rainbow.  And then, because no cake is complete without some chocolate, I piped a litte and put mini M&Ms around the bottom.

Gia had her own cake that I had ordered from Smith's (only $2.50!), and she had fun with it.  However, I think that the watermelon was her favorite thing of the day.

Nola enjoyed it, too!

We used Gia's wagon (that Grandmama and Granddaddy got her) to hold her presents, and then we opened some of them outside.

The last neat thing that we planned was getting everyone who came to sign her scrapbook.  I got the idea from my dad, who made a birthday poster for everyone to sign at my first birthday party.  I am so touched that he did that for me, and love having it, but it's big and it just sits downstairs.  So I made Gia some scrapbook pages that she can keep in her room.  Years from now she can read back over these encouraging words and know how much she is loved.

You are so special to us, little girl.  We love you unconditionally and are so blessed to watch you grow.  Happy birthday, Gianna!  Mama already has next year's theme planned...

And thank you so much to Laura Ewton for taking all the pictures for us!  You have blessed us immensely with these memories!!