Sunday, April 29, 2012

'Tis the Season to have Babies!

I have soooo many dear friends who are pregnant or brand new mothers right now!  Tessa, my former roommate, is due with a baby girl in May. Jenni, my mission companion, is due with a baby girl in July.  Another sister from my mission, Jerah, is due in October.  Lisa, another former roommate, is having a little girl in August.  Lexi, another former roommate, had a little girl a couple months ago. Katie, a friend from my freshman year at BYU, is having her third soon. Amanda, a friend from Dixon, and Dana, a former roommate, both celebrated births of baby boys this month. I hope I'm not forgetting anyone! There are just so many that I'm losing track.

One of these things is not like the other...
 At school, the teachers I work the most closely with are the band teacher, Angela (on my right), and Phaidra, the drama teacher (on my left). Their baby girls are due within 3 weeks of each other. I've loved getting to follow their journeys and to listen to them swap stories of swelling feet and growing bellies.

Since this is Angela's first, Phaidra and I threw her a baby shower at my house. It was so much fun and really nice to spend time together as friends outside of our work setting.

Phaidra was in charge of the food and she did an incredible job. She made everything from scratch, including these tarts.

While Phaidra put together the food, she asked me to put together the favors she prepared. She bought pretzels, chocolate, and coconut and had me dip them and put them in little bags tied with ribbon and a tiny pacifier. I thought that was a fabulous idea I'd love to steal in the future!



Phaidra went all out with chicken salad and croissants, pear gorgonzola salad, fruit with dip, and the incredible desserts pictured above.
I was in charge of invitations and games. We played "Guess the price?" on a variety of baby things.  Shopping for all that baby stuff was extremely daunting. All of the different brands and types of diapers, wipes, rash cream, etc. stressed me out! I had no idea what I was doing.  
We also played, "Guess the flavor?" with 7 different kinds of baby food including mango, green beans, sweet potatoes, and apple blueberry.  One of the guests who is not yet a mother got 6 out of 7 dead on. It was amazing!

The best part were the faces as people tried each sample.




This was one of the prizes. It's a jar filled with bliss chocolates and almond Hershey kisses to represent both the moments of parental bliss and the moments where your kids drive you nuts.

Here is another one of the prizes to represent the "immeasurable kisses" bestowed on babies.

Watching the mom-to-be open presents is definitely the best part. Baby stuff is so much more fun than bridal shower pots and pans!


I feel so lucky to work with such talented women who are now dear friends.  I'm so glad I get to be part of their lives! Yay for Motherhood! There is no more important job on earth.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Spring Shower!

Celeste and Brad get married in a couple weeks! We celebrated her upcoming big day in a big way, thanks to her future in-laws! They went all out with decorations and food. It was beautiful.

The decorators matched the bright colors Celeste will be using for her spring wedding day!





Celeste's 11 year old future cousin was in charge of placing all the balloons. She was so excited about helping.


I was in charge of games.  Celeste had to win these prizes (all catered to Celeste's interests) by answering questions that Brad had previously answered and matching his responses.  Here is my favorite response Brad gave:
 Q: When did you realize you were in love with Celeste? A: After the first date. To be honest with you I feel like I always was in love with her. I think about everything that we went through and I loved her more and more after every trial we've had.


Congratulations, Celestial! You and Brad bring out the best in each other and I love you both!

Go Forth to Serve!

Congratulations, Jer and Christina, class of 2012!

It was really sweet to watch Christina and Jer celebrate their graduation together, especially since both years of their marriage have been spent studying and working and trying to get through school.
Aww...

Waiting for commencement to begin...

The guest speaker for the event gave lovely remarks.  He talked about a little boy who found $100 and went to the bank and exchanged it for 100 one dollar bills.  He then gave away $1 to 100 different kids at school.  The speaker gave each of the graduates 10 one dollar bills, encouraging them to go and do likewise.
Let's play "Where's Waldo?" but with Christina and Jer.

Our family is lucky that my sisters and I are in to the arts because our graduation ceremonies are always the least boring.  Christina and I both graduated from the school of fine arts and communications.  We were regaled by a cellist and pianist and by the Young Ambassadors singing a gorgeous piece from "Songs from a New World." We also got to hear speeches from two very creative minds. It was a beautiful graduation and I felt the Spirit there strongly.  I've been away from BYU for so long that I forget how unique it is to be at a university where the speakers can talk openly of their faith and the importance it plays in their lives. 

Jer was awesome to walk with Christina in her school so the families only had to attend one ceremony. 


We thought it was really fun that Meg, the friend who set Christina and Jer up, got her diploma right before Jer. Here are the three of them on stage.



There is a picture just like this from my graduation day, but with me in the middle. When I find it someday, I'll post it.

Our Grandma Marva is always so supportive of everything we do! We love her.


After the graduation, we had a celebration with our family and Jer's family and grandparents. We missed our siblings and grandparents who couldn't be there!


Thank you, Zurchers, for your cute decorations.

Thank you, Bartons, for your cute treats compliments of Pinterest





Christina and Jeremy each gave away their "stoles of gratitude" to their parents.





Tina and Jer's best friends stopped by the party with their sweet baby girl. Jer told us all the story about how they became friends.  They have been a wonderful support to each other.




I got my little sister a cookbook holder for graduation and a magnet which had a woman lying in bed saying, "Yippee, I get to make dinner again tomorrow!" It's supposed to be sarcastic, but I'm pretty sure my sister really does have visions of the next recipe she wants to try as she falls asleep at night!