a birthday party family style

Jaden was a lucky boy this year to have his whole family (almost--minus Aunt Britt and Uncle Shawn) at his birthday party! We don't know when that will happen again, so it was fun to take advantage of the time we had! He was VERY spoiled with presents during our visit to Utah for the holidays between birthday and Christmas from parents, two sets of grandparents, several great grandparents AND Santa? Holy moly, having a birthday during the holidays is crazy! But those toys have to make up for the whole entire rest of the year, so I guess it all balances out. He didn't quite understand the unwrapping presents concept at the beginning of the trip, but oh man he sure did by the end!

For his party we kept things simple, just had dinner, present opening, and dessert. For dinner we had some of Jaden's favorites--soups, baked mac and cheese, veggies, fruits and rolls, along with some grown up salads :). We had his party on a Sunday evening, the day after we had flown in, so my mom did pretty much everything. I wasn't even going to do anything big for his birthday, but apparently grandmas and grandpas want to be part of those events when they can be...which is understandable :). It was fun to celebrate our two year old!!

Reading his "Gospel ABC's" book made just for him by Grandma Howell

Why are the best toys always the boxes?

Playing cars with Uncle Spence

Don't judge us by our sad cake making skills...

A very happy boy. Thanks everyone!