Happy 1st Birthday Violet!

I married a great mom. I love it that Jennilyn goes all out for our kids, despite her body pain and sleepless nights, our girls are loved with all her heart. I forget how much she invests herself until we’re up late decorating or putting together the last details—things I would never think or imagine to do.

For Violet’s birthday, we went to the zoo with family and friends. Jenni’s parents and brother Travis came to our house early in the morning and we all took the MAX train to the zoo. We were joined by Jessica and her four kids, Wendy and Ryan, Clark and Amelia and my dad.

I’m thankful my dad was able to come. He adores our girls as any proud grandfather would. He hadn’t been to the zoo since I was a kid. He often stuck around after our crew moved on to take pictures.

After the zoo, we met up at our house for a quick lunch, desert with Jennilyn’s awesome cupcakes, presents, and the girls had to take a quick nap before we went to my company’s zoo party. We were pretty exhausted by the day’s end. But the celebration was just beginning.

The next day, we had friends and family join us for dinner, since not everyone was able to go to the zoo during the day. It was almost a guilty pleasure for us because we got to visit with friends we hadn’t seen in a while. We enjoyed a delicious meal, watched Violet’s birthday video, and talked with friends until 2am. Yeah, we’re still recovering from that, but happily so.

Here’s Violet’s birthday video. Don’t worry, it’s not as long as Kadie’s 2nd birthday video!

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See pictures from the two party days for Violet’s 1st birthday »