L.A. Baby Shower

Warning: The following blog post will be filled with excess gushing, sentiment, and nostalgia. Readers may experience feelings of warmth, happiness, and/ or nausea depending on their personal tolerance for heartfelt and unbridled emotion. There will also be pictures. Many, many pictures.

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I just flew back from L.A. this morning, and I am at a loss to explain the amazingness of this weekend. Robert, Aidan, and I traveled to LA for our friend Andrew's wedding and also for my baby shower to celebrate Ziggy's impending arrival. Because I talk to my mom on the phone just about every day, I know how hard she, Kristen, Amy, and Jen have been working on this shower. My mom has run every detail by me from the guest list to the food to the invitations to the location. She gave me daily updates on who would be able to come and who couldn't, who was shipping gifts in the mail and who would be bringing them to the shower. I was so worried about going into labor early, not just because of the obvious health implications for Ziggy, but because missing this baby shower would be a travesty of the highest order.

I am so glad I didn't miss it.

I won't be able to adequately capture in this blog post how much this shower meant to me, but I can tell you that I did not expect the depth of emotion that this baby shower evoked. I've been gone from L.A a couple of years, and I don't see these friends often. Many of them I've known since birth, others I've known since Aidan was little. Every single one of them means the world to me. These are the women who pushed me in strollers, raised me in the church, showered me with love when Aidan was born, taught me how to be a mother, nursed me back to life after my divorce, and cheered me on when I found love again. Every few minutes a guest would arrive and it was like a balm on my soul to see another warm, wonderful, familiar face. I don't have space here to enumerate the ways I am grateful for this party, but just know that if you were there, your attendance was appreciated. If you spent hours and hours slaving over decorations (ahem, Kristen) know that your efforts were not taken for granted. If you drove two hours both ways to get there, entrusted your Saturday sports craziness to your husband, and survived carsickness to be at my shower (Julie), it did not go unnoticed. If you had a hand in planning, setting up, decorating, and cleaning (Mom, Amy, Jen, Kristen, and many others), it meant the world to me.

For everyone who made it out...

Rather than try to describe all the prettiness, here are some of my pictures from the shower. I tried to narrow it down to my favorite pictures, and I still ended up with about 40 favorites.

Bundtinis

Each guest signed a spine of a book. Kristen is going to frame this and send it to Utah for the nursery.

The most delicious cake I've ever tasted.

The cake and Bundtinis were from a vendor called "Nothing Bundt Cake." Adorable.

Drink station

OMG the food

Seriously, the food. 

Book themed decorations

The "H" is already hanging in Ziggy's bedroom

Fruity porcupine

Kristen's handiwork

Gift station

Showered

Handmade sign from my talented friend Cindy

My amazing sister-in-law and adorable niece who loves Taylor Swift

Two of my favorite volleyball friends! 

More forever friends: Julie and Natalie

My best friend Kristen and her daughter Maddie. p.s. I finally get a daughter too! 

Robert said this made him tear up a bit.

Liv, Robin, and Sam. My gorgeous nieces have grown up SO MUCH since I saw them last.

My friends are simply the cutest. This one might move to Utah (fingers crossed).

Adorable onesie from Julie G.

The Bradbury girls. Seeing Caitlyn is another reminder that these kids are all growing up too fast. Stop it! 

Grandma Boyer praying over me and Ziggy. If anyone has God's ear, it's this lady here. 

Opening gifts

More gifts...

Amy did an amazing job tracking presents. Maybe this time I can have my thank you's out before baby gets here. 

Sisters

Jen, me, Nicole. Heather was out of town and sorely missed! 

Mom, Amy, me, Julie, and Sue. 

Me and Julie G. 

Julie, me, Amy. I love that we now have nine kids between the three of us. 

This is going in a frame.

Me and mom. I'm not really that much taller than her. Must be the shoes. 

Me and Natalie

Gorgeous table decorations

The pool house pre-guest arrival

 Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who made the party a success and the day super special. I have two more showers in Salt Lake City this weekend, and I cannot wait to celebrate with all the special women in my life here. I am beyond lucky to have acquired the friends that I have, and especially that I've kept so many from my childhood. Love you ladies more than you know.