Surprise!

Yes, those are pink marshmallows. The girls from my ward threw a suprise baby shower for Jillian on Saturday, the pink marshmallows were part of the decor. They were either really sneaky, or I am just reallly clueless because it was truly a complete surprise. It was also great fun. It put me over the edge from cautiously optimistic to just plain EXCITED!!!! I've never seen so much adorable, pink stuff in one place. They had invited everyone from the ward, my cute neighbors Heidi and Missy, and my sister-in-law, Alison. We had homemade crepes with fruit and cream, we had a baby bottle drinking race (won hands down by my friend Kelly), a blind-folded diaper changing competition and shared much laughter together. I've put in just a few of the photos in this post.

Saturday morning, I thought I was going to breakfast with my girlfriends. On the way out, we just stopped quickly to "drop off some chairs" to one of my neighbors. As soon as I walked in carrying a folding chair and saw all my friends and Alison there, I knew I'd been had! Jilly was given clothing, (including the pink tutu onesie in the picture made by my cub-scout partner in crime, Chira Speers) shoes, hair bows, toys, blankets, jewelry, burp cloths (that are way to cute to mop up barf with) and a tea set. Every little thing that a baby girl could possibly want. There are truly some talented women in our ward, so many of the gifts were handmade.

I am overwhelmed by the out-pouring of love from friends in this place where we have been for so short a time. When we moved way out here, we felt like we had relocated to Mexico. Since then we've found so many wonderful friends and great families out here that we feel blessed to be in this place.

I don't know if these wonderful women will understand the true nature of the gift they have given to me. This first pregnacy after our experience with our sweet son Luke has been full of bittersweet emotions. Being surrounded by such open and unconditional love and excitement has given me a new source of strength. My heart is full of gratitude and love for you all.

Thankyou dear girls from my whole heart. What a wonderful and heart-warming surprise! I can't wait for Jillian to learn about womanhood by watching all of you.

(I don't usually allow photographs of myself when pregnant, so I figured as long as I was breaking the rules anyway, I might as well include the picture in the feathered hat and make a real fool of myself online for all the world to see!)