September Birthday's

September is a big month for the Clegg's. Parker's birthday, Erin's birthday and one of our anniversaries (we celebrate two- which I'd go into but you probaly don't care so I won't). So Parker turned 1 and I turned 29! So on September 13th we woke up and sang Happy Birthday to Parker. He, of course, didn’t really care or know what we were doing and we had a pretty normal day except that we picked up Spencer from school and went to the park and had a little picnic for dinner. The following Saturday we had a big party at Liberty Park for him and me. It was really fun.
A lot more people came than I expected. Originally we had wanted it to be just close friends and family but I heard from a bunch of people who couldn’t come so I started to invite other people, like this Indian couple and Chinese family that live by us. But it ended up that a lot of people came plus all the extras I invited. It was cool though. And since I don't plan on that Chinese family ever visiting this site I will tell you a really funny story: So they don’t speak English very well-they are actually VERY hard to understand. I’ve had to have him repeat the same thing over and over and over like 30 times before and I had NO CLUE what he was saying. Anyway, so they gave us a little gift and I didn’t know if she wanted me to open it in front of them or not so thinking it would be polite to open it, I did. She had one for Parker and one for me. The one for Parker was a little toy that was cute. The one for me, well, I started to open it and this little pink g-string fell out. I was so surprised I thought…this must be something else..this can’t be what I think it is..the rest was in the package still and it was all frilly. I kind of looked at her and she said what I thought was “doll” so I thought “Oh, this must be some kind of doll for Parker or something” and I started to pull the rest out only to realize that it was in fact a nice piece of lingerie. It was SO awkward. Her husband was there and kind of looking away, there were people all around me and I had no idea who was watching me in this totally awkward moment. And she and I couldn’t really communicate..so I just said “wow! Thank you!” I seriously am laughing right now just thinking about it. Clash of cultures I guess. It was hilarious though.
So the party was fun. Lots of food. Friends. Family. I love Liberty park because there is so much to do there (like the Ferris Wheel we took Parker on in this picture). I was kind of amazed that so many of our friends came up to Salt Lake for it. I wasn't expecting that and though I totally understand when people can't come, having them there really meant something to me. It was Sadie's birthday and she and KC still came up, Bry and Mindy had tons going on but came up, my dad who had like 4000 things going on that night, and all our friends, "my girls".. who have kids and are so busy. But having them there, I just realized how grateful I am for my friends and my family. I am so lucky. And somehow I noticed that with my family more than ever. We have come through some hard times these past two years and yet I have only grown to love them more for the people they are. I have learned a lot from them. And they showed their love for me on my birthday in various ways that meant a lot to me. Now I understand why my dad used to tell me when I was little that all he wanted from me was a card. Those little cards and little words and little acts of love were all I needed. So Parker. Parker is a one year old. He is a toddler. He is walking now and getting into everything and I can't believe we are here. He liked his party, kind of..I think he was ready to go home before we even blew out the candles, but that's okay. It's really for us anyway. With the change of seasons I am reminded of last September when we had him, when he was so small and this sense of peace overcomes me of that special (though sometimes challenging) time. He has brought so much to us in this one year of his life and he'll only bring more I'm sure. Lots to be grateful for in this my 29th year!! Happy Birthday Erin and Parker.