Party Hard-y!

sunday september 13, 09

On the way to the airport, we were lucky enough to stop by my brother's house and wish my niece a Happy 9th birthday. We ate a nice lunch, watched her open presents, and the kids play a few games and then had MOLTEN LAVE cake! YUM... molten goodness, I should make some right now, or maybe not.

Playing Twister: The first time was a little to easy cuz they were sitting on their duffs, and I was thinking why isn't this harder, then I remembered they can't sit down. It changed the games dynamic very quickly.

Musical chairs- they were all dancing around them, it was cute to watch.

Rand found this awesome painting at the DI, which is like a Goodwill store for $10.00!

WOW! I am seriously jealous- it is an original and a really good size.

Here are the girls in Ava's soon to be finished tree house, it is pretty cool, I wish I had one for myself. But I guess I get to "play house" in a "real" house, so oh well!

This concludes our trip. You may now all utter a sigh of relief.

Funny Mormon Games

friday, september 11, 09

We played a fun game, that we forgot to buy, maybe we'll get lucky and get it for Christmas, hint hint.

It is called "It came to pass" it is sorta like Uno, but not. It was really fun. Here are the sibling's doing a "BIG Eyes" shot- seriously they can really open their eyes wide.

(is it just me, or am I REALLY white!)

Pool Party

thursday september 10, 09

We were not the only ones to come into town that week. My mom's brother Uncle Paul came to town. So, we headed to "the party house", my Uncle Von and Aunt Jeanny's home.

I am not kidding that this is the most fun kid house there is. Their entire basement is an arcade. They have a pool, two trampolines, a hammock and a sledding hill (which doubles as a great spot to eat potluck food). We love heading over there, and it was even more exciting because my nephew McKay got baptized (in the pool), as he just turned 8. They just moved back from Brazil, and since so much family was in town they did it here, pretty exciting.

We also were lucky enough to have our friends Tom and Sara meet us there so we could see them. It was so fun, they have a little girl a few months older than Etta. She knew so many great tricks, rolling over, playing with toys and laughing.... (can't wait)

Also, there is a picture of my sister Kristen holding Etta. I have to laugh because she has had blond children that look like me, and my child is a brunette that looks like her. (poetic justice?)

And no I didn't make Etta wear that bonnet all day, she was trying on her blessing bonnet. It totally made me laugh when we put it on her, because she looked a bit like a pioneer grandma, but I can only do it once, right?

I showered.

I know you are all glad to hear that I shower. But, actually, I am talking about my baby shower, which was only the BEST baby shower of all time. THANK YOU EMILY and all her helpers for such a wonderful event- it was worth the wait!

As the guests arrived, we received a crazy celebrity baby name (taped to our back). We had to try and guess what it was. There was a lot of good natured, helpful clues and about everything short of actually cheating- because seriously, who would ever have thought of "Pilot Inspector" as your first born son's name? Sorry, if I just shattered your reality!

Here we are hanging out really close to the food. Which was heavenly! We had the best fresh fruit, dipped in a beautiful chocolate fountain. Cheesecake stuffed strawberries- I kid you not! Darling strawberry, baby rattle cupcakes. Pickles cuz I'm prego and much, much more. Oh, and of course she had my most craved food- steak! What a meal! And yes I went back for seconds...

I was so psyched to start. Here is the before. Yes, I do look really pregnant for sure! Etta is really trying to make herself as comfy as possible in there I think she may have moved in some furniture, like a crib, and refrigerator to make it more comfy til she has to come out!

We played 3 more games. The first was "Guess Who". Emily had contacted both Justin and my mother and asked them 20 questions. Then she had a list of Cassity or Justin specific childhood traits and we had to guess who was who. (I didn't even know them all for sure!)

Then "What am I wearing", where everyone looked at my outfit for 10 seconds. I left while they wrote down everything I had on, and whoever had the most correct detail won. I was doubly thankful that I had in fact showered!

After that they made me some great hats. Good for Sunday strolls, no need to bring the diaper bag. Here are our models, then of course I got to try them on too. (and later I made Justin do it too, and he did, because he is such a good sport)

And then it was present time. I was totally blown away. I was given the most wonderful things. To start was a special treat. Emily gave me an entire first year scrapbook she had made. And it included letters from family, all the local ladies, my dear girlfriends in Asheville and some of my dear friends from college. WOW!

Then I got the sweetest surprise of a video of my friends from Asheville. Leslie you are amazing. I bawled my eyes out, in front of everyone! It meant so much to me to see all these people I love so much, my whole soul misses them! Here is the picture of me explaining to everyone who this is.

Once my nose was good and red, it was time to open the other wonderful things people had lovingly prepared for Etta and me. I unfortunately had a slight problem with closing my mouth apparently! My jaw was dropped the whole time. Oh, well isn't it time I add some not so lovely pictures of myself to the blog? Okay! I wasn't able to get an image of every gift, some came out blurry, but I am thankful for them ALL.

Obviously from the expression on my face , the caption for this first image, said in a very valley girl tone is: "Dude!" Dramatic pause, "Shut! - Up!" I was obviously excited. Thanks to all those who contributed!!! And Shirley, you can totally buy me any girl outfits you ever fancy- I love them all!

I had a quick lesson of how you use my awesome "modest milker" shield. I guess it's time I find out what those things are for anyway. Shocking!

Even my older furry children were not forgotten. Kitty and Buddy are thankful to their cat friends Burt and Pumba, for their gift! And, oh my this diaper cake was loaded with goodies! Thank you Amy and Elva. I was going to leave it be for a few days and just admire it, but Buddy found the curled ribbon, which is his favorite appetizer(that is really dangerous for him too eat). I removed that, which took off the cellophane wrapping and went crazy taking it all apart- then, to my horror, I realized I hadn't photographed it!! So sad!

Here are some of the details of a few gifts, because baby girl stuff is so darn cute!

After the shower I had Justin come over. (He was home building his baby chicks a home)

He was excited about everything.

It was a wonderful day! Thank you for the love and support everyone has given us. Let the countdown really begin!

Murder Mystery...

I know you are all fearful after reading such a dreadful title.

But-

I assure you all we are safe- and we have a great deal of hilarious pictures the show for this strange mystery.

Our friends Ryan and Katie Jevne have been planning the Murder Mystery date night for a while. And, I am so happy we got to do it since we were running out of time in Asheville. We all had our characters assigned and I was of course the queen my name was Queen Isabella Gaunt, but I liked to go by Ella- (Ella-Gaunt). But must warn you, my queen persona has not yet worn off- and I still believe I am in charge of, well, simply everything. Justin was the bishop I remember his name was Bishop Frankly Devout.

Actually, I must admit I am a bit bugged, that I struck the exact same obnoxious- super stupid pose in every picture see if you notice. I tried to crop it out where possible. but alas... (and there are probably 30 more of my doing the exact same thing, that I will not post as to not embarrass myself too completely- urgh!)

Three Cheers! For crazy late night picture ideas! I cracked up for about an hour after this!

Justin- You are so HOT!

Hope you enjoyed the adventure!
Thanks again to Ryan and Katie, for the great time!