Ready to Pop!

My best friend, Julia, threw me an amazing shower a few weeks ago. I had such a great time and enjoyed visiting with all the family and friends that came. Julia spent a lot of time preparing for the shower (and even crafted! For those of you who don't know her...that is a major accomplishment!) and spoiled Daphne like crazy. She came up with the cute theme, "Ready to Pop" and had all different types of popcorn amongst other foods for everyone to enjoy.

Downstairs she decorated for the shower as well with lots of cute baby clothes, supplies, and an adorable owl pillow. She used all the items displayed later on in a game. After everyone was done eating, she took down everything on display and everyone had to write down as many of the baby items that they could remember.

While I opened gifts she also had a BINGO game for the guests to play. She gave everyone blank BINGO sheets and had them write down gifts they thought I might receive in all the boxes. As I opened gifts everyone marked off the gifts I had received on their cards. The first few people to get a BINGO got a prize.

Everyone that came were so generous. I really appreciate all the gifts we were given. Daphne sure is joining such a great group of people. Dan and I are so grateful already for all the support and love our loved ones have shown her.

Our friend, Mary, was such a good photographer at this shower as well. She took a few hundred pictures, capturing every moment. It is nice I have so many pictures to choose from and also entertaining as well. There were PLENTY of bloopers like the one below:)

My mom and I

My mom gave me the baby booties I wore as a baby (that my Grandma sitting next to me made)

As well as she made TONS of burp cloths and receiving blankets

Some of the guests...including cute Baby Hinkley and Lindsay (Rueben's fiance's sister and my close friend)

Cooper Girls

Dana Cooper, Lindsay & Hinkley, Dolores, Cindy, me, and my Grandma Black

Julia's mom & sister, my Aunt Cindy, and Aunt Renae

My grandma made Daphne quite a few gifts as well. She made a receiving blanket, burp cloths, bibs, and crocheted these cute headbands.

She also crocheted this cute blanket as well.

There were lots of other cute gifts as well....more fun homemade gifts, lots of cute clothes and dresses, shoes, supplies, etc. I am amazed at all we have been given!

And for all those that have requested pictures of my prego belly..well you finally get one! As many know, I haven't been too keen on capturing the belly on camera, but was convinced to do so at the shower.

Reserve Shower

For those that don't know, Dan is in the Air Force Reserves (he joined the Reserves when he finished active duty in Louisiana and we moved back to Utah). He works one weekend a month on base. A few of the girls in his squadron have been excited for months to throw us a baby shower during the January Reserve Weekend.

We both really enjoyed it. It was interesting to have a shower that consisted of more males than females (they aren't as good at giving the appropriate "ooohs and ahhs" when I opened cute girly gifts...but they tried!). The two girls that were in charge of the shower were so sweet and did such a good job spoiling our little girl.

We started off by playing several games (they are all sitting on the table) and the prizes were the cute candy bouquets they made. My favorite game was the baby food guessing game. It was funny to watch the men smell and sometimes even taste the food:)

A few of the guests.

Dan eating while I was opening.

One of the many cute outfits she received.

It was fun to have Dan at the shower. He was in Basic Training for all my bridal showers so it was nice to have him involved in one for his baby girl.

Christmas

Christmas this year was great, as usual. I love Christmas time and the spirit it brings. We kept things simple this year for Christmas and enjoyed the opportunities we had to serve others and spend time with family. I didn't take pictures very well during the holidays, but I did happen to capture of a few of the highlights.

Dan was THRILLED to get a Saints jacket, as requested, as my gift to him for Christmas. I also made him a pair of Saints pajamas. It cracks me up how much he loves the Saints that I made sure to get a picture of him decked out in Saints gear on Christmas Day from head to toe. He even made the comment that all he needs now are Saints shoes...I think a Saints beanie, shirt, jacket, and bottoms is plenty!
Every year my mom's family does a gift exchange. We generally try to stick with things that are homemade, but it's not required. This year, Rueben got engaged to Kamille after we had already done the drawing. We decided that since both Kamille and our baby were halfway into the family at this point that they would have each other's names. Since Daphne isn't quite capable of making Kamille a gift yet, I was put in charge of the task. Dan had the crazy idea of wanting to give Kamille a gift that was half Saints and half Steelers. She is a Steelers fan. Dan and Kamille are always teasing each other about the other's team. So thus, the pj pants below evolved...

She was excited at first, thinking I had made her Steelers pjs. I folded the pants just right so that you couldn't see the other pant leg that contained Saints fabric. Part of me felt bad that we gave her such a tacky gift, but she was such a good sport about it! Here family even says that she wears them regularly at home:)

Oh, and one last picture. For New Year's Eve Dan and I went to the Hogle Zoo lights. We originally were planning on playing games with family and friends, but after everyone came down with the stomach flu we made a quick change of plans. We both really enjoyed the lights and spending that time together. Afterwards we grabbed a bite to eat and were home and I was dead asleep before 9 PM. So much for me being a good partier when I am prego...but Dan enjoyed staying up late watching movies by himself:)

Christmas Getaway

At the beginning of December we made a quick getaway to Las Vegas and to St. George as of way of celebrating the end of Dan's school semester and enjoy one last time away while we are just a family of two. We had a great time spending time together (it was the first time in quite awhile where we were able to do something together other than work on Dan's homework!) and just relaxing! There are LOTS of pictures, so you are welcome to skip through them, but I wanted them all in case someday I get ambitious enough to print our blog into a book like I always say I am going to do...

We went to Vegas for our Honeymoon and I fell in LOVE with the flower garden inside the Bellagio. I had been looking forward to seeing their Christmas display so it was the first place we went to when we got into town. It's amazing to me all the hours and amount of flowers that go into each display. The theme was polar bears. They had a mama bear, papa bear, and baby bear. We made sure to get a picture of Dan by the papa bear and me by the baby bear since that is the closest we could get to getting a picture of Daphne by the baby bear.

Dan was excited to see the New York, New York Roller Coaster. He ended up not riding it, because he chose to ride the swings on the Stratosphere instead. Sorry no pictures, they charge almost 20 dollars just to get on the observation tower to watch someone ride the swings...so I just stayed back while he went. He LOVED the ride.
We also toured the Titanic Exhibit while there. I saw it as a kid when it came to Salt Lake and have always wanted to see it again. We both really enjoyed it.




The last night we were there we were able to meet up with our friends, Mike and Julia. They were on their way to Disneyland and just happened to be there the same night as us. It's sad to say, that we have been so busy that the only time we have spent with them recently is a night in Vegas when we only live about 10 minutes away from each other. It was so fun hanging out there with them and we hope one day to go on an actual vacation together! Julia wasn't too keen on pictures so this is the only proof I have that they were there:) We went to dinner with them and to the Bellagio to see the fountain show.




After a few days in Vegas, we went to St. George to visit Dan's dad and Grandma Crandall. It was nice and relaxing to visit, cook Paul dinner, and go to church at his Grandma's Assisted Living Center. The boys were able to go repelling while we were there as well. Dan hasn't been repelling with his Dad in years so they really enjoyed being able to do that together. I am glad they got some fun pictures but I don't want to even think about how safe it was since the belayer was also the photographer...