fiske dot com: A Whirlwind Weekend

We went out to Utah over Easter Weekend. Mike’s brother, Paul was getting married and we were hosting Tennyson’s first birthday party. It was a packed weekend. I look back at the pictures and am shocked at how much we fit into three short days. We were running from place to place the entire time we were there. But it was a lot of fun and we got to see a lot of friends and family.

The wedding on Friday morning was beautiful. The ceremony was wonderful. We were so glad that my sister was in town so that we could go in the temple and be a part of it. Afterwards, the sun was out and the temple grounds were absolutely gorgeous.

Tennyson was dapper as ever.

Being at the temple made me realize how much I really love my little family and how glad I am that I’ll have them forever and ever.

Tennyson just adored my sister and they had so much fun together. It was great having that extra pair of hands!

Tennyson loved spending time with Grammy. And didn’t I tell you the grounds were gorgeous? The tulips smelled just as fabulous as they look.

Just so you fully understand what a whirlwind weekend this really was, let me tell you that from Wednesday night to Sunday night, we never stayed two nights in a row at the same place. We were everywhere.

Saturday morning we were at my aunt’s house down in Utah Valley because that was were we were having Tennyson’s birthday party. While we worked on decorating, my cousin played with Tennyson. They watched Wonder Pets together and played with all the baby toys. It was so cute watching them play. They both love each other so much. They gave each other hugs and kisses before each nap and I don’t know who was more sad to see the other one go.

The highlight of the morning was definitely when the bubbles came out. Seriously, how adorable is this?

Even my aunt got in on the fun.

Before we knew it, it was party time!

Tennyson’s cake turned out so great. We love Costco.

We had so much family that was able to come. It was wonderful seeing everyone. Tennyson was absolutely spoiled.

Just like every first birthday party, the cake smash was everyone’s favorite part. Everyone gathered around the high chair and sang happy birthday. This made Tennyson turn around and bury his face in the chair while sobbing. But we persisted and finished the entire song.

He wasn’t too fond of the cake at first. He put two fingers in the frosting and was disgusted.

I flipped the cake in half so that he could see that it was food. It still took him a minute to be brave enough to stick his hands back in. When he did, he grabbed a handful of chocolate mousse and squeezed it hard as he could in both hands.

This made everyone laugh and Tennyson spent the next couple of minutes playing the crowd and figuring out what would get the biggest reaction. The bigger the reaction he got, the more he laughed and smiled and smeared his cake. Eventually, we ended up with this:

Note the absence of cake on his face.

He wouldn’t eat until we gave him a utensil.

Like I said earlier, I love our little family. I can’t believe it has almost been a year since we welcomed this little guy into our world!

Tennyson got a bath...

…and then opened presents. Okay, so we opened presents and then handed him the toys.

And if you thought we were done then, you would have been very wrong.

We had an Easter egg hunt!! It is a tradition on my mom’s side of the family to do a candy hunt every Easter. This was their 49th year doing it. The kids all run around finding bags of candy and then, after their buckets are filled to the brim, my grandpa throws out another entire bag of candy and it is a free for all.

Tennyson got right into the thick of things. This kid has no fear.

We spent Saturday night at my Grandma’s house up in Bountiful and on Sunday morning, found that the Easter bunny had come and brought Tennyson a giant chocolate bunny.

Then we spent Easter like every other typical family. At the airport.

Okay, so not like every other typical family. But we still made it feel like Easter by giving Tennyson his chocolate bunny to eat.

It took him about ten seconds of gnawing away to get the ears completely off.

Once he had the ears in his mouth we decided that was more than enough chocolate, so Mike took away the bunny. Tennyson wouldn’t have it. He wanted that bunny back.

We caved. He got the bunny back. But how can you say no when you see the look of joy on his face?

Luckily he stayed pretty clean.

We landed in Chicago that night and went to have Easter dinner with my family. Tennyson learned that you can use the rolls to push the egg pieces on to the floor. It’s a good thing my family has dogs.