Happy 1st Birthday Annika!

One year stats (disclaimer: the CNA measured her length twice and got a 3 inch difference. I'm not putting much stock in this:)

17 1bs

27" long

18" head diameter

Still our petite, nonetheless growing baby!

Anni-cakes is ONE!  She had no idea she was the VIP of the day, but we still partied it up on August 31st.  Her party was definitely more for me than her.  I loved thinking about different themes all summer. In the end, we decided to do an African animal party.  I didn't go all out but I did have some fun simple touches. Gram Pam bought her an outfit before we even knew the gender.  She told David that our baby was going to be sassy and she needed this outfit: zebra print skirt and hot pink shirt with ruffles. She was adorable in it!
We invited lots of family to the party (Stock great grandparents, Beus g-parents, Grandpa Scott, Zack, and Keenan, Heather and Nathan and Co., Blake and Julie and Co., Debbie, Kevin and Ethan). We roasted hot dogs over our little fire pit in the backyard and had a few salads. Pink and grey were the colors.
What she loves these days: dancing, going for walks (we go almost every morning with Chandra), drinking from a straw (not the most effective way for her to hydrate), bath time!, dumping everything out, giving head butts, finding dad when he hides in her bedroom, saying mama and dada, eating most of her dinner after she gets out of her high chair, putting her hands above her head for "touchdown," putting both her hands out at her hips and making a little noise that says "where did it go?," listening to her kid music in the car, playing with keys, talking to dogs (we think she has said dog a few times), standing up in the middle of the floor with out pulling up on anything, climbing! (she is fearless and that scares me), playing with her walker from grandpa Scott, playing with grandpa Scott's name tag and glasses, visiting daddy at work, playing outside (I have now established play clothes and shoes- little girl clothes are too cute to get dirty outside!), still down dogs often, giving mom and dad and her stuffed animals open mouth kisses and usually sticking her tongue out during the process (should we be worried?), drinking water (she drinks from her sippy like she lives in the desert- chug, chug), saying "all done" in sign language every 30 seconds while she's eating (thus why she finishes her food standing next to the bench while I eat), finding mom and dads' shoes and insisting (via whining noises) that I put them on, crawling back to her room to dump out her shoes and socks and trying to pull them onto her feet, pulling all of the shoes off the bench in the entry way multiple times per day, pulling up mommy's shirt and pinching her love handles, playing the piano and looking to us for praise after every few notes, climbing up and down stairs, riding her zebra toy in the backyard (mostly she likes to dismount it), walking along furniture (still no walking more than a few steps, and on just a few occasions), being the center of our world! We love our Annika Joy!

Annika woke up just a few minutes before her birth moment. I know we're kinda weird but we made a big deal out of it. We took this picture at exactly 4:55 pm on August 31, 2012.

 She got lots of cute clothes, fun toys, a few sippy cups, a hoodie towel

She has since learned to love the "bear in the box."  David really wanted her to face her fear of the popping bear so he worked with her. Now, she brings the box to us several times a day and wants us to play the music to make Mr. bear come out. She anticipates the bear popping out a few notes before and closes her eyes. It still surprises her every time.

My favorite gift she received. My mom had plans to finish all 27 sock monkeys to be given to her grandbabies on their 1st birthday.  She did finish 10 of them.  Each one has an ancestor's name stitched on the leg. Annika got Olive. She seriously loves this monkey. She gives her kisses every day. And I think of her Gram Pam every time. 

1st bath as a ONE year old!

I made her this polka dot hoodie towel for her birthday

This one and the next few are not on her birthday but within a few weeks of her birthday. Above: reading with daddy. This girl loves books!

We went to the Othello fair with Kingston and Jessica. She was rockin' the cowgirl boots!

I made her this sweet little BYU maxi dress. She had to have something for game days! I was able to use one of Abby's old shirts to cut it from so it was super easy.