Girlfriends Baby Shower

I had the pleasure of my close friends Colleen and Christina throwing me a lovely baby shower in Colleen's home. It was a wonderful day, I'm so thankful for those who came to help celebrate. We played fun games, enjoyed each other's company, and ate delicious homemade food courtesy of Colleen!! What a great time!

Here are some pictures from the day:

Decorations on the front door/front of her house

More decorations inside

Delicious cake!

Look at this food spread, yum!

Lovely hostesses Christina and Colleen

Jamie creating what our baby will look like

Linds and Christy hard at work!

Hey Kath!

Mrs Simpson studying the magazine

John showed up to judge

Winner!

Playing some games

Opening gifts

LOVE the MSU blanket

Tayla and I

Colleen and I- LOVE her!

All in all, it was a great day. We enjoyed a lot of laughs, good food, and great company. Thanks again!

LaMacchia family Baby Shower - July 16th

My wonderful mother-in-law MaryLynn and super-sweet sister-in-law Cassie, along with John's godmother/aunt Becky graciously threw us a baby shower. The day was just beautiful. Baby L is already one spoiled baby and it's not even here yet!

The shower was just lovely, the food was delicious, and it is always so nice to see family and friends all together. We were lucky enough to have John's grandma Elaine, Aunt Mimi, cousins Erin and Natalie Jo travel from Rogers City/Alpena (4 hours drive). Along with great friend Bobbi Jo and her mom Mary Jo who traveled from Traverse City and Alpena as well.

I cannot forget my own Mom and sister, with nephew JD and niece Lola who made the long 12 hour drive from PA as well. I was so glad they could be here for John and I and spend a wonderful long weekend together.

Of course, thank you to everyone else who made the journey, near or far, it was so nice to see everyone and spend some time together.

Both John and I are so very grateful to everyone who was able to attend and even more thankful for your generosity. Having a baby is terribly overwhelming (but so worth it), we certainly did not anticipate all of the needed clothes, baby accessories, and traveling gear. Everyone has definitely helped us to prepare so much, we are forever grateful! (And hope you will get a chance to visit once the baby is born)

I will have to steal some more pictures from my mother-in-law and Cassie. I certainly missed a lot of people!

Mom, Kim, JD, and Lola's Visit

My mom, sister Kim, and her 2 kids, JD and Lola made the 11 hour drive from PA to visit us July 13-17. They left PA on Tuesday evening and arrived shortly after 4am Wednesday morning. I'm so glad they were able to come see us, it was such a great (but fast) weekend.

The weather was simply gorgeous the first 3 days then started to heat up on Saturday and Sunday. We were able to spend lots of time playing outside in the backyard. JD loved playing baseball with John. And Mom, Kim, and I enjoyed resting in the chairs under the tree. It was very relaxing! Mom also made bulls in a blanket one night, which was a wonderful treat for me. I haven't eaten that for probably 15 years!

Wednesday night we went out to the farm so John could take JD for a tractor ride. I'm pretty sure John had just as much fun as JD! They drove around for at least 30 minutes while us girls sat around chatting. (Mom and Kim took pictures on their camera- I didn't bring mine this night, so I'll have to steal some pictures from them and post later) We stopped for ice cream on the way home- YUMMY!!

On Thursday, we headed to the Potter Park Zoo here in Lansing. What fun day! The weather wasn't too hot that we were able to enjoy walking around without sweating our butts off. JD rode a pony and a camel, he was thrilled. Mom just wanted a peacock feather and kept stalking the birds the whole time. We finally found her one as our outing was ending. (Keeping her from stealing one right off the bird's back thankfully) We also were there around lunch time for the animals and got to watch the snow leopard eat right where we were standing. What a neat sight and what a beautiful animal. Of course we saw lions and tigers (no bears) plus many more animals. What a fun day! (I also did not take pictures this day as well, will have to steal some from Mom and Kim and post later)

Thursday night we grilled some burgers and hot dogs before we headed to watch John play in his softball games. JD played on the playground as we attempted to watch the game. There was a lot going on! But, John's team won both games (we only stayed for the 1st one) and John had some good hits and plays too. It was a fun and tiring day!

Friday we decided to visit John downtown after he worked a half-day to tour the capitol and walk around some. It was another beautiful, sunny day!

JD is sitting in John's seat where he works from on the Senate floor (next to his boss's desk/seat)

We got lucky and a nice Sergeant was watching the closed Senate floor. He allowed us to take a few pictures up on the podium. He even had JD hold the gavel. What a nice guy, thanks!

We visited John's first office when he started working with the Senate (7 years ago!) This is inside the Senate Minority Leader's office, sitting at her desk in the Capitol. Its a good thing her and John are good friends :)

JD hard at work making phone calls (future politician I wonder?)

After much walking around Friday, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing inside watching TV, movies, and chatting. We were all pretty tired and definitely enjoyed a good nights' sleep!

Saturday we woke up and got ready for the LaMacchia family baby shower. (See post here) JD decided to skip the shower and spend the day with John. They had fun together and met us there towards the end.

Once we got home from that, we spent the rest of the day outside in the kiddie pool! It was a little hot, but the water felt great. I'm pretty sure the kids loved it, I know I did!!

On Sunday we woke up and went out to breakfast so Mom could get her favorite crepes. Kim kept seeing commercials for breakfast places and couldn't take it any longer!

When we got back, JD helped John fill up the pool so we could spend the day outside in the sun. And that we did... sunburn to prove it! We had a great time playing in the pool and John and JD playing baseball too. Mom and Kim took naps and I spent the entire day in the sun. It felt great at the time, the sunburn was still worth it!

We even got Mom into the pool!! Believe it or not, 3 adults and 2 children are sitting in the pool in this picture!

Mom and Lola relaxing

John and JD playing motorcycles in the pool

Smiling for the picture

Unfortunately, Sunday night was time for Mom, Kim, and the kids to pack up and head back to PA. They left around the kids' bedtime in hopes they would sleep most of the trip back. The weekend went by so fast, but I/we had such a wonderful time together. I wish we all lived a little closer to each other. I was definitely sad to see them go, but wouldn't have traded any of the time we spent together for anything. I'm so thankful they were able to make the trip out here and be with John and I. My family is simply the best :) I love you both very much! Thank you for everything!

July's Recent Ongoings

July 4th:

We had a rather uneventful 4th of July this year. I had to work 5 of the 6 nights surrounding the 4th. John and I were able to sneak up to my in-law's cottage for Saturday night to Sunday. The weather was beautiful and spending time with family was great! We had many good laughs and of course, delicious food! It's hard to believe the summer is half-way over. We have only made it out to the cottage twice! Work has kept me pretty close, I've been on way too many weekends. On top of work has also been weddings, showers, and other events keeping both of us busy. I can't wait until August when we have totally cleared the calendar and haven't planned anything for the weekends. We will be able to relax (hopefully) and enjoy some of the end of summer before the baby arrives.

July 8-10:

I have the absolute pleasure of being a bridesmaid in one of my best friends' wedding in October 2011. Bobbi Jo has become one of my go-to girls, just a phone call away (as she lives in Traverse City-3hours away from Lansing) to talk to about anything and everything. I spent this weekend up north in Alpena/Grand Lake celebrating her bridal shower and bachelorette party. What a wonderful weekend! We spent Friday glamorizing Bobbi up! She had her wedding hair-day practice run, it will look beautiful on her big day.

Friday afternoon we relaxed on Grand Lake. It was nice to sit and chat (and nap) and spend some time together with her sister Anna and friend Amy. That night was food prep time! Scrubbing potatoes, making strawberry shortcake, cutting veggies, etc. We had a lot to do to prep for the shower Sat.

Sat morning we woke up early and continued with the decorating/setting up. Once we got over to the clubhouse, set up was in full swing. Anna and I got to wrap 15,000 plants (well maybe only 60 but it felt like a million). They turned out nice and were a huge hit as shower prizes and gifts. The shower ran without a hitch! The food was delicious, the decorations were so beautiful, Bobbi's mom Mary Jo did a great job organizing everything and planning the Red Shoe Shower :)

This is just one of the shower pictures I have (stolen from an email). I didn't take pictures with my camera, I'll have to wait for Celia's album to surface.

Saturday night was party time! Bobbi wanted an all-out 80's themed bachelorette party, and that we did! It was soo much fun reminiscing the 80's and getting all dressed up. The city of Alpena was certainly not ready for our hotness!

We had so much fun! Look at our awesome outfits! Totally 80's. We headed to 'downtown Alpena' to spend the night bar hopping. We ate dinner at the Owl.

Group shot!

Almost Mrs. Lawrence!

We all hope your bridal shower/bachelorette weekend was everything you imagined! What a wonderful weekend with great friends!! Can't wait to celebrate your wedding day with you :) xoxo