Forever and Always: firetrucks and cupcakes.

my child is three years old. what? how is that possible? we were in the middle of his party when 12:10 hit, and i briefly got swept back to the time when he was born... the chaos, surrounded by people we love, all about zak, being so happy. and it was the same then as it was yesterday. i love that we get to celebrate him each year.

since last birthday season, i was pregnant and lacking any motivation to plan a party or do anything remotely cool for zak or levi, i tried to do a little better this year for both of them.

so, zak's {awesome} mom decided that we should go to the fire station and get a tour. and it was a smashing success if i do say so myself. zak had been counting down sleeps {since about 21} and was ecstatic to finally get there. unfortunately, he gets all cray cray in new situations so he didn't look like he enjoyed it much, but i know he did because he keeps talking about it.

prepare for an overload of pictures you've probably all seen on facebook. but i have to document for posterity. =)

we started the morning off bright and early, 6:30 to be exact. blech. mom and dad were setting up until late, so that time came very early. zak requested green pancakes with chocolate chips and sprinkles for breakfast. don't worry, we provided him with a green smoothie before we left the house as to somewhat avoid the inevitable sugar high and downfall of the day.

we didn't buy zak much for presents, seeing as he gets hooked up by everyone. plus we don't have tons of room for more stuffs anyways. we're cool parents like that.

but the one thing i was excited to buy him was this tool bench. he's in love with it. when he's not playing with all the other millions of toys he got this weekend.

we also bought him a watch, some books, and his pride and joy-- GUM. we made him wait until he turned three until he could chew some. he lasted about 5 minutes before it went "down down down to his tummy". that's a work in progress. haha

we started zak's party at 10:00, which is a perfect time for a party btw. we got home before nap time, and it was fabulous.

the firefighters were amazing. they did such a good job talking to kids, and i loved that they made zak large and charge. they also made an announcement over the dispatch to wish zak a happy birthday to all of the south city stations. it was pretty sweet.

we had about 20 kids come to the fire station. the fire fighters did really well talking to them, and showing them their cool digs.

this guy lost the coin toss and had to put his outfit on for the kids. so funny. he did it very quickly, but the darth vader voice threw off all the kids for sure. zak was terrifed of him. it was pretty cool to watch though.

this fire fighter was a hot tamale, to be honest, i didn't even notice until it got pointed out that he was by all my lady friends haha. good thing i have these pictures to remember ;)

showing them the saw. oooohhhhh.

my party got a little out of hand, i expected more people to say no when i invited them, so our gracious friends volunteered their perfect house to host all of our kids. and it was perfect. the kids had a blast, and the parents got to relax and hang out.

these are just a few of the decor. love me some party planning. it was so fun. i also love me some cupcake making. i'm pretty proud of it, in case you haven't seen on instagram and facebook. haha.

so i found this balloon wall on pinterest. unfortunately, i'm not the master photographer like the people on pinterest, so mine didn't look as cool. but oh well.

after nap time, zak opened some presents, and then we went to red robin to continue zak's celebrations.

levi's friends bought zak this hot wheels thing. and he loves it. lucky for him, he got a bagillion hot wheels to play with it. unfortunately, it's super humongous and loud. oh well.

some of our favorite friends from provo spent the evening with us after the party. these boys love each other. and i love how they can play with each other even after time apart. they're just so cute.