Phoenix's First Birthday!

My favorite nephew Phoenix turned one year old on August 4, 2010! I cannot believe he is growing so fast! It seems like just yesterday that I got to hold him in my sister's hospital room when he was only a few hours old. He is at such a fun age, though. He's been crawling like a maniac and pulling himself up on everything for a while, and now he's just starting to walk. I haven't seen it yet, but Lauren says he takes a few steps each day. He's full of smiles and adorable noises trying to talk. It is so precious!

My sister and brother-in-law had his first birthday party at their neighborhood pool on the Saturday following his actual birthday. It was blazing hot, but it actually turned out really well. There were probably 40 or 50 people there, and everyone swam and talked, and it was a great time! Lauren's talented friend Lacy made the cake in the shape of a surfboard and beach ball with sand and water underneath. It was so cute!! Phoenix was not too fond of the cake, though. Lauren tried to get him to eat the beach ball part which was supposed to be the "smash cake", but he was not too interested. He doesn't like solid foods at all yet. I'm sure he'll come around soon, though. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures on my camera, but my mom did. So, I'll post more once I get them from her. She is such a proud grandma and took about a million pictures! :)





Can you tell that I am a VERY proud aunt? He was only a few hours old here. So tiny!


Here's the birthday boy on the actual big day!

Adorable birthday cake