Pretty in pink...

Those are probably words you'd never think you'd use in describing something in my life but it was the theme of my most fantastic baby shower. The hostesses decided that what was best for me was to just be immersed in everything girly and pink and you know what, not only did I survive being girly, I really really liked it.

They kept all the details of the shower a secret from me. They'd rented out a suite at a local hotel and spent all afternoon decking it out (with like 7 kids running around "helping"). It was amazing-- streamers, balloons, signs, candles, pink bedspread, flowers, tulle, and many other details that took careful thought and planning. I mean look at the details people, this is my toilet!There was a huge buffet of fantastic food including a super cute pink cake (thanks to Amy). We had manicures, made hair bows, decorated "designer" diapers, made me some scrapbook pages, and just chatted.

Games included trying to guess the flavors of various pink drinks and correctly identifying outlined baby items. Thank you ladies for not making me identify baby food flavors or sniff unknown things in diapers. These ladies really out did themselves. Thank you for everyone who joined us for the fun evening and thank you Amy, Lorelei and Kelly for providing such a great evening. To top everything off they left me the key to the room for the evening. It was EXACTLY what I needed!

I'm surrounded by the greatest people ever

So it's going to be hard for me (the stressed out hormonal woman) not to end up balling by the end of this post, but I have to do it because I have such fabulous people in my life right now who have gone above and beyond to show me their fantasticness and love and they all deserve a shout out.

It started last Sunday when my overly creative and inspiring friend Loralee featured E's birthday party on her fantastic site No Fuss Fabulous. If you haven't checked her site out yet you really really really should. As she has inspired me to get the creative juices flowing and I felt overly honored that she would consider putting my party on her site. Thank you Loralee!

Midway through the week when I was contemplating whether to eat a sandwich, bowl of cereal or heat up one of the bags of frozen broccoli (I'm in the process of trying to clear out the fridge) for dinner my friend Amy called to see if I had dinner plans. She had made a pot roast and decided to that maybe I'd like some. Boy did I ever! Not only did she bring roast but she included mashed potatoes, carrots and rolls MMMMMMMM. It was just the thing I needed for dinner (and lunch the next day). I know my baby was grateful too since it was actually nourishing in comparison with all the candy and junk I've been stress eating all week. Thank you Amy!

By Friday I was overly spoiled and the generosity of my friends was only beginning. Despite the fact that I'd concealed my secret until only about two weeks ago, my friends here immediately put together a baby shower for me. I heard Lorelei was the brains behind it all but I know that Amy and Kelly also had a lot to do with how fantastic it was. I'm going to save the detail for a later post after I get some pictures but I wanted to say something now because I was overwhelmed with how wonderful it was. For now let me just say it was awesome! Thank you for everyone who came-- you all made for wonderful company and thank you hostesses for going above and beyond (and I mean it people, just you wait for the details).

A great bonus on top of the shower was that Kelly sent over tons of leftovers from the shower that served as our dinner Saturday night.

After being gone all week Br got Friday off and came home to help me finish the projects I deemed necessary to put the house on the market. Br was amazing. He worked the whole weekend straight and I mean no stop! He finished all the projects that I'd started and never finished. He made sure before the weekend was over that he'd done everything necessary for me to feel comfortable about putting the house up for sale. Br even made me a gourmet Sunday dinner out of the things left in the freezer-- a little surf (shrimp) and turf (Omaha steaks) over a potato cake sitting on top of Kelly's artichoke spinach dips with a side of grilled corn on the cob and sparkling grape juice to drink (there is officially little left in my fridge). THANK YOU BR!!!! My belly is filled with yummy food and a great stress has been lifted off my shoulders.

Thank you to E too for being a good boy this week and keeping yourself entertained so that I could get the long "to do" list done.

This week was also filled with lots of calls from family and friends that I hadn't talked to in a long time. I just have to say that this week could have horrible for me since I'm SO stressed about moving but it ended up being really good. It was because of all of you and your kindness. I know the Lord blessed me with such fabulous people in my life to help me get through this time. Thank you to him and to all of you!

A long time coming

This week my sister got around to posting pictures of our sister and Mom trip to CA in October. I'd like to say that even if it did take her a while to post the pics, she was the only one out of all four of us on the ball enough to bring a camera to take pictures in the first place.

We met up in Sonoma to attend my Grandma's fantastic birthday celebration.

A couple years ago Br, my mom and my brother and I all took a trip to Disneyland for their 50th birthday. While we were there I said that we should all come back again to celebrate my mom's 50th there. Although it was a few months late while we were in the great state of CA we decided to have a belated 50th Disneyland birthday for my Mom. Since my bro was on a mission and Br was in Paris that weekend, it ended up being a girl's weekend (with the exception of my nephew who was only weeks old at that time).

When were were there a couple years ago my mom got some gold 50th anniversary ears with her name embroidered on the back. Her favorite story to tell is how we were sitting at breakfast and the Fairy Godmother came up behind her and said "Tori, it's so nice to have you hear". She was shocked and started tearing up with the excitement of a beloved Disney character knowing her name through the magic of Disney. It took her a second to figure out while the rest of us were cracking up because it was obvious the Fairy Godmother just read her hat. Anyway I thought it would be fitting to make her a "birthday" cake in the shape of her hat (excuse how sloppy it looks, it is hard to travel with sugar mickey ears).

Here are some highlights (there's more pics in the slide show)-- Thanks Jess for being our photographer.

Oh, and I finally got to eat at Blue Bayou -- the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Releasing the felines beyond the confines of a satchel...

...In other words letting some cats out of the bag.

So a little over an hour ago I walked back into my house after a much needed and much enjoyed week long vacation. AHHHHHH! It was a nice way to destress. I think that in order to completely destress (at least until my new week starts and the reality of life hits me again) I need to take a load off by divulging things I haven't blogged about yet.

First is that there are some rumors going around that we might be moving. Unfortunately, right before we left town we sort of decided that we are. Br got a job offer that will give him experience he can't pass up. It's just too bad that the job is in OK. Yes this means that I get to have the pleasure of selling a house in this market after only owning it for a year. I'm really not looking forward to it but I'll survive. Although the time line is still being figured out (which is driving me crazy) it looks like he'll start working there before the end of the month. I'm not sure what the means for the rest of us since I wasn't really planning on changing my routine here until June.

Now you may ask yourself why did she say June? The other little thing that I don't know if there are rumors floating around about or not since I haven't mentioned this to really anyone yet is that we'll be having a little girl in the first half of June. I figured that since I hit my 3rd trimester today that it was probably past time to tell people. Why did it take me so long to tell anyone (except Br of course)? Well it's mostly due to my horrible body image issues and my paranoia that as soon as someone announces that they are pregnant everyone is constantly looking at her to see if she is "showing" and I just can't handle that scrutiny (whether real or imagined). In any event I'm giving in and this weekend I decided that I was going to try to pass off the billion pounds (that is the actual measurement) I gained by eating dessert at pretty much every meal while I was on vacation as me just getting pudgy because I'm having a baby in a couple months.

So with all that, things are sure being mixed up a bit in the Melton pot. There shall be more details on all mentioned topics (vacation, moving, and baby Melton) but for now I think I'm going to get some sleep in my own bed and try to stay in relaxed mode at least for a few more hours.