Baby Shower for Sarah!

Sarah, one of my all-time favorite people, and her husband Calvin are expecting their baby girl to arrive any day now. I am so excited for them! They are going to be wonderful parents.

I knew I couldn't let her get away without a little celebration, so Jaclyn, Kaycie and I got together and threw her a baby shower a couple weeks ago. I don't think it could have turned out better!

Don't you love those little feet? Thanks, Melissa, for donating those precious tags to add to the favors.

Centerpieces for the tables. Her nursery colors are lavender and green, so we stuck with the lavender theme.

Kaycie made this gorgeous cake! And yes, it tasted as wonderful as it looks.

The mother-to-be lusting after the cake...

So many friends came to celebrate with us. I think we had about 15 ladies there at one point. 

We had a yummy brunch and then played a game. We had a gift for Sarah wrapped up in about 10 different layers. Each layer had a label on it that said either "Prize" or had a competition for the person who unwrapped the layer and someone of their choosing. Once you had your turn, you passed the gift onto another person who unwrapped the next layer and had to do what it said. It turned out to be a blast!

Kaycie and Jac headed up the game.

Blindfolded diapering. Love it!

Lucy raced her mom to see who could drink the sippy all gone. Mom won, but Lucy got to pick the prize.

Guess the flavor of baby food. Kaycie was nice and had nice flavors like pears or mango.

Even two of Sarah's college roommates were able to make it to the shower! They drove all the way from DC.

Watching.

Find the hidden baby!

I win!

Jenna and I got to race to see who could put on our shoes the fastest with preggo bellies. Jenna was already 8 months pregnant, so only I had to wear the balloon.

Jenna beat me by a mile! I'm out of practice...

Another of the competitions was to see which of the two could most closely guess Sarah's belly circumference.

Very close!

Not close at all.

Finally the last layer came off and Sarah got to open her gift.

It was a Willow figurine of a mom holding a newborn baby. My mom gave me one when I had Lance and I have LOVED it.

Then it was on to the gifts! Everyone got to play BINGO while she opened to try and win more prizes.

Sarah and Kaycie with the cake.

I know this is a ton of pictures, but I love Sarah's face as she opens her gifts:

This outfit was actual hand-made by Allison.

Isn't that dress precious?

We're missing several ladies that came but had to leave before the end. It was a great group of girls!

I had the best time at this shower. Sarah is an amazing person and a great friend. It is no wonder so many people love her and are so excited to meet her little one when she finally makes her debut . Hurry up and come, baby, so we can all love on you!

Cville happenings

(aka "camera dump")

It's officially fall and I am LOVING it! Fall is my favorite season for many reasons--good food, yummy smells, cool weather, and tons of holidays to look forward to. School is in full swing, much to Lance's dismay who likes to tell me every morning that if he were in charge, he wouldn't have to go. Hate to break it to you, kid, but first grade is as good as it gets. I guess that's still better than the "this is the worst day of my life!" I get every night when I tell him it's time to turn off StarCraft and get ready for bed. Oh, Lance. 

We officially haven't made it to Church on time this entire year. Not even once. Okay, maybe once but that was when we were visiting family and Church was at 9 a.m. and not 1:30 p.m., right in the middle of nap time. I tell you, I can't wait for our meeting time to change to 9 a.m.

Speaking of Church, I'm beginning to realize that parents with children between the ages of 6 months and 3 years old go to Church solely to set an example for said children. It certainly isn't because we're getting a whole lot out of the service while we sit in the foyer or walk up and down the hallways with a toddler that can't understand why he's not allowed to run, talk loudly, or climb all over everything. It is a workout every time. I hope we're getting "effort" points in our Heavenly tally, even if I can't for my life remember what any of the talks or lessons were about each week.

Lance is playing soccer for the second (and probably last) time this fall. He didn't want to, but I told him he had to try at least one more time before I let him quit, so he's plugging grudgingly away. He's getting better and I think he's starting to enjoy it a little more, so I guess we'll see if there is yet another season of soccer in our future. For now, we're just trying to make it to the end of this season with as little tears as possible.

The coach was gone one week, so George subbed as coach for one game. He did a great job, especially when you realize he's had zero soccer experience at all. It was cute to see him on the field with these boys. Way to go, George!

Cole is crawling like a pro now and loves to try to keep up with everyone. He's also decided that he likes dogs and will giggle whenever he sees Vera or Diesel. 

Cute boys. :)

We got to go bowling this year with the Family Housing. For free! And with our friends! Awesome.

This was the first year that Jude knew what was going on. He thought it was the neatest thing every, but had a hard time understanding the "taking turns" concept. 

Cole was a trooper.

Killian and Kendall were there and got to be on the same lane as Lance.

These kids are best friends.

My mom and Grandma were able to travel to Hawaii for a week with Aunt Linda and Aunt Cherryl in September. It was the only of the the 50 states that Grandma had never visited, so her daughters took her for her 75th Birthday. We drove up for an evening after they got back so we could we could see Grandma Brewer before she flew home to Florida.

Mom had a gift for Lance for his Birthday.

Brain Quest! I remember loving these as a kid.

And an awesome BYU football jersey. Lance prefers to wear athletic clothes every day, so this was perfect.

Lance is becoming quite the reader and read the whole Cat in the Hat book to us that night. 

Aunt Linda came over to visit for a bit, too. The boys think Aunt Linda is great!

Especially since she does fun things like give them airplane rides.

My boys are so lucky!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

4 generations.

The other night, Bennett had his 3rd Birthday! He is Jude's best buddy, so we were excited to celebrate with him. 

Big three-year-old.

Cupcakes!

It was a super hero party, so the kids all got masks to wear. 

Jude thinks his mask is the best thing ever and has worn it to the store and around the house ever since. Love it!

Stay tuned for Sarah's Baby Shower and some kiddo updates!