Our Luau Baby Shower - May 18, 2013

My birthday was Friday, May 17th. I'm now 28 years old!! Everyone kept asking what I wanted to do for my birthday and in reality my birthday was the furthest thing from my mind. I knew that the following day was going to be our shower and that was going to be a big party in itself. So, for my birthday we drove to Palmdale. Saturday was the big day.

We had about 90 people come to our shower! Talk about feeling overwhelmed with love, joy, and support. We had such a great turn out. I can't believe all the work that went into the shower. My mom and Shelley had been planning it for a few months and Friday my mom had quite the team over at the house to put everything together. I can't say enough great things about the shower. There were a lot of pictures taken but I only pulled a few. The rest can be found on facebook.

The decorations were outstanding. Everywhere I looked it was set up for a luau. Shelley made the banner below...

 

 

The food was absolutely delicious. Several people helped contribute into preparing the dishes and setting up. My mom had pulled pork cooking in the crock pot for 16 hours ahead of time!

 

Citrus punch, tea, and mai tai's, oh my!



 

 

The beautiful cake made by Carrie Bell and Christen Winn. It wasn't only beautiful it was delicious!

Me and my mama

Steve and mom. Yes, that is a tattoo on his face. Not to worry, it's a fake ;)

My dad and Shelley had got me a fresh flower lei. It was made out of a ton of orchids. It was just beautiful.

So many people traveled from all over for the shower. We had family and friends come from Vegas, Orange County, Hacienda Heights, Upland, Los Angeles, and many other places.

Shelley, me, and Danielle

Justin with his Uncle Don and Grandma Betty.

Justin's cousin April, Uncle Bill, Aunt Paula, and April's husband Bryan

Steve and Jessica

Kim, Chasidy, Shawna and baby Brooklyn (Kim's baby girl)

 

John, Justin and Max

 Nicole and me

 

Me and my goddaughter Leilani (Nicole's little girl)

We got so many wonderful gifts for our baby boy. There were so many gifts that we decided to wait until later that night to open them so we could spend as much time as possible visiting with our guests. We started opening gifts around 7pm and didn't get finished until 10pm! Granted we took a couple breaks to get food and drinks. I've included a few pictures below.

My mom went to town making things for him including blankets, burp cloths, bibs and the play mat in the picture below. That bear might be one of the softest things I've ever felt!

 Shelley also made quite a few things for our baby boy. The blanket below was originally crocheted in pinks (when we thought we were having a girl). She was able to make a new one for our boy just in time for the shower. Talk about dedication.

Brian surprised us and got us the jogging stroller AND the car seat! I did so much research on both items. I was thrilled to get them both for baby Gill.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but Danielle got me this beautiful diaper bag. You can't even tell it's a diaper bag. It looks just like a purse! I love it :)

 
  It's hard to tell in the picture, but there's a high chair in there from my dad and Shelley! My dad took the time to put it together for us.

Another fun gift we got was the "tool belt". It was loaded with things to change a diaper. It had everything from a face mask, to clothespins for your nose, to rubber gloves, to butt paste, wipes, diapers, and the list goes on.

I had about 60 thank you notes to write from this shower alone. I'm happy to say we got them done and they've been put in the mail! Thanks again to everyone who attended and helped out with the shower. We are so appreciative.