TA shower

EWe had SUCH a wonderful time in Kansas. It was a jam-packed trip, full of lots of visits and appointments, but the best part was the BEAUTIFUL shower that my dear friends threw for me. I have the best friends in the whole wide world and I'm not exaggerating! These girls flew in and worked their rear-ends off for this shower and as you'll see, their work paid off. I'm sure you will agree with my thoughts...This shower could have been in ANY magazine! Wait until you see the detail!!!

Holly, Jenny and Amy are my best friends from college (Holly from high school too). The most amazing food, decorations, gifts, games and guests. I could not have felt more blessed. What a wonderful day!

Fireplace mantle with candles and flowers. WOW!

Everyone addressed envelopes so I won't have to for Thank You notes!

DELICIOUS sugar cookies. YUM!
Paper Pom-Poms Holly made

Beautiful sign that Amy made. It said "Welcome Blessings"

Mantle again with photo album that will soon be full of advice and photos!

Clothesline decorations. LOVED these little girlie outfits and the idea to hang them.

Every single detail was color coordinated. From the signs telling what the food items were to the color of the food and desserts. I'm not kidding, every color matches our nursery design!

Even the invite matched perfectly. I'm not kidding, I could frame this and hang it in the nursery!

Back of invite with pic of Baby Girl.

Advice cards! Can't wait to refer to these! :)

Fruit cups in coordinating colors and pink dip. WOW!

GORGEOUS food table! Can you believe how beautiful this is? The table liners are receiving blankets.

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Breathtakingly gorgeous!

I LOVE these flowers!

Pink Lemonade!

Dessert table. MMMMMMM

Detail, Detail, Detail!

So classy!

Jen's famous Cake Pops! I think I ate like 5!

DELISH!

Dana and MaKenna-my cousins

Playing games

Opening gifts

Holly, Lee's mom and mom's friend Jane

games

Celebrity baby match game

Guests in front of the photo wall

Me and Ems! I haven't seen Emily for YEARS!

Me with Holly's little munchkin!

Me and my cuz Tara. She's expecting too!

Me and Steph...we've been buddies since we were 3!

Me with Amy and Sami. :) Love these two!

My Mommy-o and Lee's mommy.

Hol and her munchkin

Holly's mom Kay Kay and My mom-in-law Gail

Me and Mama Kay Kay

Me and my bestie Holly.

Very best friends a girl could ever ask for! Holly and Jen

Me and Baby Girl

Me and Bestie Jen

Hol and Ky again

Family...Cousin Tara, Me, Auntie Delores, and cousins Kim and Debbie

Me and my fun friend Amber

Me with my lifelong neighbors, Diana and Renee

Me and my girls Kerry and Jen. They came early and we had a slumber party the night before! SO FUN. I love my cuzzies!

Me and Grammy :)

Me and Grandmommy

Me and MaKenna and Dana

Baker Alpha Chi girls.

Me, Amy and Amber--High school partners in crime :)

Jen and the munchkin!

UTAH SHOWER!

The hostesses with the mostesses

Vickie (she and her husband Michael were the first couple we met at our church "The Rock" and took us under their wing, we love them!) Donna, who sold us our house, but also has become close friends with us. Donna said the first day we ever talked that she'd be throwing us a shower...she said "sometimes there are people destined to be parents. Kylie, you are one of them.") Joyce is Lee's boss's wife and owns Lee's company and we've been close with them since we lived in Arizona and began dating. Joyce volunteered to fly out and do this shower and the food! She is an extraordinary cook, and the smells that filled my house the 3 days she was there...well, can I tell you how hard it is to go back to lean cuisines and yogurt? YUM, she is the best! :) We feel so blessed she flew out to help with the shower! These three ladies had never met but clicked instantly and threw an amazingly wonderful shower!

We feel so blessed...God has really provided a family for us in Utah. Despite not wanting to come here at all :), we have developed close friendships and have been blessed by the amazing people in our lives.

Daisie and Joyceeeee

Daisie LOVED having Joyce here all day while we were at work.

Cake! Donna incorporated both baby girl AND a little heart/African flag.

The spread!

YUM!

Joyce in her element!

Mozzarella, tomato and avocado salad, yummy quinona salad and spinach artichoke and tomato bruschetta

The cake was Red Velvet and DELICIOUS!

Gifts...Kailee is the best helper!

BEAUTIFUL handmade blanket from Julie

Vickie's sweet card. She is making something special but needs to wait to finish till Baby Girl is born.

Vickie, me and Joyce

Love them!

My church gals. Nicki (who just had baby Lucy--our baby girl's future best friend) and Vickie

Wish I could crochet like this!

My dear Anne that worked with me at Aetna. Sweet Erin from church (her hubby is in Lee's Band of Brothers group) and Tracy (who I met through our adoption agency support group. She JUST got home with her new 4 kids from Ethiopia and this was her first night out without them!) :)

Joyce, Vickie (with Lucy) and Mary Beth (another DEAR friend from church. Her hubby and Lee are great friends too!)

April (darling friend I met in the local Utah Ethiopian adoption community. She is one of my dearest friends here, and we just experienced going to the airport and welcoming her husband, her and their two PRECIOUS children home from Ethiopia!), Julie (Lee's co-worker Karl's wife-they moved here from AZ to open the Utah branch too. My little helper Kailee belongs to Juile. :)

I love this picture because it truly expresses my surprise at this gift! When April and Nathan went to Ethiopia to meet their kiddos for court, they asked if we needed anything. Lee asked for coffee. In case you didn't know, Ethiopia is known for the BEST coffee in the world. Its rich and yummy. Lee tried it the night we went to dinner with them at the local Ethiopian restaurant here in town and loved it! Ethiopians cherish their coffee beans and treat them well. :) They have coffee ceremonies too for special occasions (like adoption!) Anyway, I am opening Lee's gift from April here. 4 packs of coffee straight from Ethiopia! :) Let me tell you how HOOKED he is on it! We plan to buy a suitcase full when we go. He never wants to drink anything else every again! We're trying to figure out how to keep ourselves always stocked with authentic ET coffee (FAIR TRADE of course! Beware of Starbucks...they have "AFRICA" coffee but it is NOT fair trade. See my previous post on different charities...Ok, getting off the soap box.) I'm not a coffee gal but this stuff smells AMAZING! :) YUMMMMMMM

Whew! Mama has to take a break!

April and I had discussed this doll and I wanted to get her this doll for her shower and didn't get it ordered in time. SO, she got it for ME at MY shower! :) I love April! She sooooo gets me and my heart for these orphan babes! I started tearing up at the shower when I opened this. :) Anyway, Rahel is a special collectors doll. Part of the proceeds from purchase go to supporting World Vision, a Christian organization that supports orphans in 3rd world countries. It comes with a matching bracelet for the doll and her "Mommy" and a story book all about Ethiopia and her life. It is amazing and is Baby Girl's first doll! :) I love it!!! it is SOOOO special!

This shower was wonderful. As I sat in the room and looked around, I realized that God took us on a journey to Utah and without this journey we'd have never 1) progressed so far on our adoption, 2) gotten pregnant, and 3) met such wonderful people to support us through our big life changes. God knew my heart was broken to leave Colorado, but He led us to wonderful, Godly, family-oriented people who love us and made us feel right at home. I am blessed and would never have had it any other way. Each attendee explained how she knew me (tears again) and shared advice for us as parents and wrote it down in a book for us. It was SO special! Definitely one of my most favorite nights!

Thank you Vickie, Donna and Joyce. Words don't cover the gratitude we have for you!

And thank you Utah family....for loving us!