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asher turned one today! we enjoyed his day by taking the day off and taking him around town. we let him have an easy morning, versus trying to get him to go out. so he took a long nap, afterwards we headed to the shedd aquarium. it was a free week, not to mention school was out, so it was packed with lots of people. it wasn't too bad, but next time we'll remember free day means lots of people.

then we headed to our favorite gelato place on division (can't remember the name) and gave asher his first gelato experience. he certainly liked the chocolate gelato.

our baby has grown up sooo much. the days flew by so fast. i can't believe we're here a year later and enjoying him. i didn't think we'd/i would make it. we started out rough, colicky, then it just kept getting better. we are so thankful for him, he is truly a gift.
we love you baby boy!

it's a luau

aloha!

today was asher's birthday luau. i've always wanted to host a luau and we actually got to do it for asher's birthday. it was a beautiful day, thank you Lord. we had been watching the weather, praying for beautiful weather for our luau, and the Lord provided. we had wonderful family and friends over to celebrate asher. it was fun seeing kids run around and enjoy themselves in our backyard. prepping this whole shindig was a feat in itself. no matter how much time and planning you put into something, it doesn't always come out the way you want it to, but in the end people enjoy themselves, you're happy you did it, and then collapse from sheer exhaustion for pulling off a grand event.

thanks to the many wonderful family and especially friends who were supposed to be our guests, but ended up helping out in the end. i went online and did some light research on baby's first luau's and saw this great video (excuse the 70s look) that described the preparation and event of a baby's first birthday luau. i thought of it the whole time our friends stepped in to help us get things going. i loved having our family and good friends over to celebrate the joy of our lives.

the kids' secret garden