Secret Garden Baby Shower

There is so much I want to say about this wonderful shower...mostly about the tremendous love and support I felt from all my girlfriends and family...and especially those who put together the decorations and threw the shower for me! I truly appreciated everyone so much!! I can't say that enough without sounding corny and redundant, but I really am so grateful for everyone in my life. I had a fabulous time at my shower and was so glad I got to see so many wonderful, familiar faces. I wish there were more of me to go around so that I could have chatted longer with everyone. If I didn't get the chance to "thank you" at the shower, I'm thanking you now and letting you all know how much I love you! :)

These three hosts, Erica, Sandra and Sara, put in a lot of time and energy in preparation for the shower! They are so awesome! Everything was so beautiful! THANK YOU!!

Sara came up with a pretty theme for the shower, "Madison's Secret Garden." She came up with and incorporated so many beautiful ideas and decorations. I loved it!

Erica and Sandra spent time covering books with coordinating paper and putting together the moss frames and flowers. It all collaborated nicely and turned out to be such pretty decor.

Sara also bought exotic flowers to display. 

There were a ton of delicious treats. By the end of the shower, it was all gone!!

I loved the moss rose boxes Sara made. They were gorgeous. Sandra made the cupcakes and cute cupcake toppers with an "M" for Madison. 

My mom stayed in Utah beyond the Christmas Season so she could be here for the shower. I was glad she could make it.

I love this picture or Sara holding both Natalie and baby Carter. So cute.

My family!! 

Many lovely ladies mingling and enjoying the food. Love them all!

Sandra hosted the baby products "Price Is Right" game. Wow, I did terrible. I'm in for a rude awakening when it comes to how expensive baby items are! 

I love all these gals. I wish I could've gotten pics with everyone. There are several girls who attended that I didn't get any pictures of. :(

My mother-in-law, Kathy, spoiled me rotten with soooo many cute outfits, blankets, and toys for Madison!! She is such a good Grandma to all her Grandkids; I know Madison will love her too!

Here's few pics of some of the wonderful gifts I received. Thank you to EVERYONE!!!

Can't forget the essentials! :) Thanks Heather!

After a day of shooting their guns, Steve and Zach dropped in to say hi to everyone. Zach was excited to see all the gifts. He especially loved the outfit with a fabric deer on it. ha ha. He still loves hunting more than ever.

All done opening gifts! It was fun!

We snapped some quick shots before everyone left.

UVU college roomies!

Taking a peek at my belly. 

I had a fabulous time. I felt so loved. Thank you again to everyone who came, and even to those who stopped by and delivered gifts within the days following my shower. I really appreciated everything! XOXO

Chair Slipcover & Baby Update

Remember this ugly, drabby rocking chair (a "hand-me-down" we acquired when we first got married) that was in our living room when we lived in our apartment? I purposely saved it for all these years with the intention of making a slipcover for it. I knew that it would be perfect for a nursery and for rocking my sweet baby to sleep. It swivels 360 degrees in a circle as well. Pretty handy. It's hard to tell by looking at the photos, but it is fairly large and pretty comfy. 

I had never attempted a slipcover for such a large chair, so I turned to the internet for advice. I found several YouTube videos, but none that were quite what I was looking for. Then I found a fabulous lady's blog, from Eagle Mountain, who was selling her very own slipcover "how-to" DVD. I bought one. I watched it several times before attempting to make my own slipcover. I felt pretty confident that I could make at least a semi-decent looking one...not even close to perfect, but good enough. Here's how it all turned out:

Before: the ugly rocking chair.

I chose the color white (I know...dangerous choice with baby spit-up on the way) because I wanted it to completely match the rest of the nursery. But that's the great thing about slipcovers is that you can easily remove them and wash them! The white is so shabby-chic and dainty, I skipped over the practical choice of color and bought what I thought was cutest! :) 

The back and the side arm with the attached pleated skirt. Can you tell my measurements are off for the back center seam? :) Oh well, good thing it's the back where it won't be visible.

The piping was the hardest part...only because if my measurements were wrong, I had to seam-rip not only the slipcover itself, but the piping too. It was double to work if I made a mistake. 

Done and done!!! I still need to iron out some of the wrinkles, but I thought it turned out great!! It's not as clean-lined and crisp as getting it professionally reupholstered would have made it, but a slipcover is the next best thing. I'm going to get a cute throw blanket and a pillow to finish it off. It's going to look cute when the nursery is all finished!!

.   .   .

Baby Update

For my last couple of doctor visits my belly had been measuring very small (about two weeks behind schedule), so just to be safe my OB scheduled an ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid levels and the baby's body measurements. The results were actually opposite of what we thought...the fluid levels were fine and the baby was actually measuring six days ahead of schedule! Crazy. My doc says I must have abs of steel to be hiding her so well. lol. :) It was a relief to hear that everything was fine. 

I'm now past my every-other-week doctor visits and onto my weekly visits. As of today (and if you're counting the six day measurement jump) I'm right around 35 weeks along. The time to deliver is getting closer!! My belly button finally popped out a couple of weeks ago. It's strange looking. I still haven't developed the "linea nigra" (the dark line that runs up and down the belly), water bloating/swelling, or stretch marks! Phew! But I'm fully expecting their arrival any day now. I'm getting close to the end, so I'm sure all of that will appear soon.

The baby loves hanging out up in my rib-cage and jabs me all day long. She is sooo active. Even the ultrasound tech was laughing at how much she wiggled. It kind of drives me nuts though...not the most comfortable feeling. It's getting harder to eat large meals when the baby is taking up most of my stomach room. I fill up pretty quickly. I've started eating smaller meals more frequently. Putting on shoes or bending over is becoming more difficult. Zach has to help me out a lot. :) And I think I walk with a little bit of a waddle too. 

Overall, things are good. I can't say I'm one of those girls who LOVES being pregnant, but I am happy that everything has been going pretty smoothly. I'm getting more and more nervous as the countdown gets closer to the end. I feel so inadequate at times...like what the heck did I get myself into! I'm scared of the late night baby cry sessions and the emotional break-downs I'll probably have, but I know it will all be worth it. :) I can say I am excited to meet her though and see this little thing that's been living inside of me! Just last night Zach and I were talking and he was saying to me how he can't wait to hold her and kiss her cheeks. It was cute. Sometimes I forget that I'm not going to be doing this all alone; that I'll have Zach there to help too. I'm so glad I married him. He helps ease my fears.

New Year's Eve

Mike and Brit hosted their second annual New Year's Eve party at their fabulous home. We had so much fun. The Nelsons cooked up their traditional "Raclette" dinner for all of us to enjoy. It was delicious. 

We popped open Christie and Quentin's "Christmas Crackers" (a European tradition) and wore the paper hats that were stuffed inside. 

I love Christie's spunky personality.

Mike got a new gun for Christmas. It was quite the attraction. Don't mess with Christie.

After we ate, we played games until midnight.

We played the card game "Acey Deucey" with quarters. Most of us had terrible luck---and I think I might have had the worst luck of the night. I lost all my money to the worst hands. It was still way fun though. 

Christie and Quentin came out on top! Winners!

The clock hits midnight! Happy New Year!!

Mike and Brit were fully prepared for midnight. They handed out firecrackers, blow horns, popping streamers....it was loud and fun!

Zach decided to do some sort of ridiculous tribal dance over the firepit and singed all his leg hair off! :)

Why do boys love to play with fire so much? :)

We had a great night. I was surprised I lasted all the way til 3AM. Totally worth it. We couldn't ask for better friends.