Baby Shower Pictures

So thanks to ever-dwindling time, I'm going to just post some pictures and leave it mostly at that.  I seriously need to blog "A Tale of Two Pregnancies" to chronicle all the differences between this pregnancy and Lynnaea's.  Because there are a lot of differences!  And I want to remember.  Or maybe I don't!  So I'm hoping to manage to get that crammed in before it's too late and this baby is born!  (I only have 4 weeks left!)

But it's not going to happen tonight.  I'm already sensing that Mr. Sandman is on his way to sprinkle sleepy sand in my eyes.  Or whatever it is that he does.

So, baby shower pictures:

The table-scape before all the food was out (and eaten!)

Just a cute little gender-neutral theme -- since we don't find out before the baby is born ;).

My sweet friends who threw the shower (they are mother and daughter, if you can't tell by resemblance ;)).

And now for some gift opening pictures:

I got a ton of diapers and wipes!  Which is so awesome!  It's really what we need the most of.  Call me an anti-tree-hugger if you will.  But seriously.  Disposable diapers are the best.

This was a cute little gag gift.  Tuxedo onesie plus a mustache pacifier.  In case we're getting a boy ;).  Which we think we are...  But there's always room for surprise! 

That evening, we saw Christina and the girls for a bit, since they dropped by to pick up the extra crib.

Probably the last time we'll take a preggo picture together.  We both had less than 5 weeks to go (since she is officially scheduled for her c-section 2 days after my due date!  Meaning she could have a baby sooner than I do!).  Yeah, I'm like twice her size.  I've never been the small one in our family...

 

This was last night.  Basically, yesterday, while out shopping, I pulled a muscle or something.  Which happens frequently this pregnancy (more details will end up in the "Tale of Two Pregnancies" post I hope to write one day soon.  I hurt so bad.  And now things look a little different.  And some of my friends say I look like I've dropped (or that the baby has).  Which supposedly doesn't happen with pregnancies after #1 until you're actually in labor.  But who knows anyway.  But basically, the baby dropping is a sign of things nearing the end.  And so I was thinking -- based on my inability to get relief from the pain of the muscle thing (which usually doesn't happen, usually it hurts a bit and then I change positions or whatever and the pain eases.  But yesterday...  Well, I wanted to die a little bit.), maybe the baby dropped and that's why I'm having such a huge discomfort?  Again, who knows.  But do I look different in that picture?  Or rather, does the position of my belly?  That's 36 weeks.

And my sweet girl.  Who had croup over the weekend.  She sounded like a barking seal.  We had many, many sleepless nights of she and I trying to sleep on an air mattress.  Fun stuff.  She slept.  Me?  Not so much.  Thankfully that is past now.  It was not fun!

Alabama Trip: Installment 1

So yeah... It's only been a month since I last posted.  And 2 weeks since we got back from Alabama.  What can I say?  It's a busy time of year.  But I figured I should probably at least start posting some stuff from our way-awesome trip to Alabama this year. 

After all, I've decided tomorrow is going to be a lazy pajama day.  Lynnaea and I will not be leaving the house.  And after the busy days we've been having, I'm quite looking forward to it.  So I'll sit here and pop my holiday mint m&m's for some late-night oomph and get this thing started! 

Welcome to our Alabama Adventure 2014 Installment 1! 

We began our morning at 3:30 on November 19th.  Jeremy and I did.  We did everything we could to finalize getting ready before waking up the munchkin.  And at 4, we couldn't put off waking her anymore.  She was surprisingly easy-going about being awoken from her sleep -- though she did want to do a lot more snuggling than usual.  My mom (bless her) picked us up around 4:25 and dropped us off at the ferry.  We hauled a suitcase, a rollaway bag, a backpack, and a carseat (whith child still in it) onto the ferry.  We spent the hour ferry ride deconstructing the car seat and keeping Lynnaea entertained.  She wasn't into sleeping like all other commuters were at that hideous time of the morning (4:50).  We docked in Seattle, and hoofed it several blocks to the light rail station.  Jeremy wore Lynnaea on his back and carried most of the items.  I had the backpack and rollaway bag. 

I was exhausted by the time we boarded the light rail.  Then we got to the airport (45 minutes later), got checked in.  Checked our bag and car seat (I love Southwest!  They let you take checked bags for free!!!).  Went through security.  Blech.  It took about 20 minutes.  Not horrible, but still annoying.  Lynnaea fell asleep in the baby carrier during the security line wait.  She woke up around the time we got to our gate.

She likes to pick her nose.  Nice, huh?  But yeah, this is pretty much right after she woke up. 

She did not sleep on the first flight.  Which was only 2 hours.  Which, sure, is nice.  But that meant the 2nd flight would be a long haul.  Our first layover was in Las Vegas.  Now there's an interesting airport for you.  Gambling machines everywhere.  And children aren't allowed near them.  Which is nice, since they are totally lit up with lights and look oh-so-appealing to a toddler.  Anyway, turns out one of my cousins is in Las Vegas these days, and she drove 30 minutes to see us during our brief layover!  It was pretty awesome of her, and it was nice to see her.  It had been almost a decade since I had.  We had a nice visit for the short amount of time we had. 

We left Last Vegas and flew about 4 hours to Birmingham.  Julie picked us up (after we got all our luggage), and we got Chick-Fil-A for dinner.  It's, like, the greatest welcome back to the South.  We were exhausted, so after visiting for a bit, we all turned in for the night.  The next couple days were spent in the Birmingham area with Julie and her family.  Lynnaea was in heaven, because there were other little kids there.  Which made it even more vacation-y for us!  At home, we are her entertainment.  She likes it way better when there are new people.  I can't say as I blame her.  We're kinda boring ;).  Anyway, she enjoyed hanging out in the backyard at Julie and Jon's house. 

We even found a huge knot in one of the trees in the yard and we could sit her on it.  She even cooperated long enough -- and sat still so she didn't fall ;) -- to snap a picture of it!

We spent Friday night at my friend April's house.  After an awesome [Scrubs] party.  Which, did I mention, was awesome.  Here's a group shot.  But if you're curious about other pictures and the details of the awesome party, just check out this link.

It was good times. 

On Saturday, we drove our rental to Dothan.  After April cooked us a delicious breakfast.  And so this is where I'll leave you with installment 1.  Because I need some sleep!

Trying New Things

Last week was a rough week.  Very busy!  And for some reason stressful.  I'm glad it's over :).  The baby shower I hosted went well.  We did a storybook theme, and played about 4 different games (guess how many m&ms in a baby bottle; The Price is Right; Baby Shower Bingo; and a guess the book quote game).  The food was all based on books.  And that's pretty much all I took a picture of at the shower.  Haha...  So here are a couple pictures of the food.

 The food was:
"Chicken Little" Salad Sandwiches
"Dragons Love Tacos" doritos
"Three Little Pigs" in blankets
"Green Eggs and Ham" deviled eggs
"Peter Rabbit's" vegetable garden
"The Very Hungry Caterpillar's" fruit
"Blue [Green] Fish" Punch (because it didn't occur to me that the orange juice would change the color of the blue jello to more of a slime green...)

I did chocolate chip cookies as the party favor from "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and used a quote I liked: "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents" -- Emilie Buchwald

And dessert was cheesecake, courtesy of "The Stinky Cheese[cake] Man" ;). 

Sunday was Easter, and the girls wore their pretty Easter dresses.  And I didn't take any pictures.  But I did take a picture of the dreamsicle trifle I made for dessert :).  It is a total keeper recipe!  I found it on pinterest and I will definitely keep it to make again.  Yum!  And definitely tastes like orange creamsicle :).  Which I happen to love.

You can find the recipe here.  And it's not really hard to make :).  A few steps, but not hard.  We enjoyed a delicious Easter dinner at my grandmother's house.  My mom made a crock pot ham (it was good -- and way easier, which was the goal!), her delicious (and bad-for-you) mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and jello salad.  I made the trifle, creamed spinach (on my facebook 3M cookbook... soooo good!), and biscuits (that looked more like cookies, because when I wrote the recipe from pinterest, I accidentally wrote 1 cup instead of 1/4 cup of water!  Aaach!  I plan to try those biscuits at another time -- the right way :).  And I took punch from the baby shower (it makes a ton and you freeze the base of the punch in 2 parts...).

And this is my newest thing...  I'm learning to knit.  I went to a little sewing group with some of the ladies from church yesterday.  They have it weekly, but I don't think I can commit to that often, so I'm planning on every other week.  Mondays are pretty busy for me.  But anyway, one of the ladies there (she gave us the bunny blanket buddy and ball I showed in a previous picture) is teaching me how to knit.  So now I'll spend the next couple weeks working on this so I don't forget the technique :).  And then she'll show me some other stitches!  Knitting seems like a practical skill.  I cross-stitch, and I enjoy cross-stitching and giving gifts like Christmas ornaments.  But it's less useful -- whereas with knitting, you can make a hat or something :).  Anyway...  We'll see how I do with it and if I stick with it :).  For now I'm excited to be expanding my horizons!

A Par"tea" for an 8 Year Old Princess

I think I mentioned previously that sweet Desiree is 8 now.  I still can't get over it.  It can be tough to have a birthday party up here in February:  it pretty much MUST be indoors.  And since Jeremy and I have an apartment that has enough room, I told Christina I would host Desiree's party if she wanted me to.  She appreciated that, and we went to planning.  And what we came up with (with Desiree's help, of course) was a "tea" party birthday.  We had pink hot chocolate instead of tea. 

I love to host parties.  Especially the kind with food (and what kind of good party doesn't have that ;)?).  I spent some time pinning tea party ideas on pinterest, and then invited Desiree over to look over the ideas and choose what she would like at her party.  For activities we bought straw hats and got fake flowers and ribbons and lace and let the girls decorate their own tea party hat.  We also had some beads (of which I have a kajillion left over) so they could each string their own bracelet (I learned I should not have gone with cheap Dollar Tree stuff on this, since the elastic string was horrible and came untied easily).  And then my mom ordered these little party favor things where you basically decorated a teapot and could put candy inside.  We also had feather boas for them each to have -- and I had bought some fancy fans at the Dollar Tree that they could each choose and keep. 

For the food, Desiree selected cheese cubes, tea party sandwiches, chocolate-dipped strawberries, fruit kebabs, and chocolate-dipped strawberry wafers; along with the pink hot chocolate.  And, of course, there was also cupcakes and ice cream.  I did cupcakes with the idea that the kids could decorate their own cupcake -- and then I found an idea on pinterest to put the ice cream in a 9x13 pan and then use a cookie cutter to cut out ice cream shapes.  Let me say that I have come to the conclusion that sometimes less really is more.  And this would have been one of those times.  We had way too much food and things were a little over-board on cutesie (meaning more effort).  And, true to Nilla form, I got stressed when the time for the party started and I felt like we were behind.  Yeah, probably could have simplified a little.  But I will also say I think the girls had a great time, and I think Desiree enjoyed it.  One of the cool ideas I found somewhere (possibly through pinterest) was the idea of buying tea cups at thrift stores.  So I started hunting them down, and I found a bunch of really cute ones.  I was able to get them for less than 50 cents each and sent those home as party favors as well (I don't need a bunch of fru-fru teacups ;)). 

I don't have a lot of pictures, because I was busy doing the transitioning of table stuff (going from "tea party" food to cupcake decorating while Desiree opened presents in the living room).  Christina got a bunch of pictures, though, and maybe I'll manage to get them eventually.  But I'll post what I have :).

So Thursday night I worked on the name tags.  I'm not super-fancy or crafty, but I thought these were cute enough for place settings.

 

This is what the table looked like when I went to bed Friday night (well, Saturday morning, technically).

 

 And a close-up of Desiree's place setting.  There were 3 different types of tea cups.

At the party.  (I'm a little disappointed I didn't think to take a picture of each food item like I usually do -- but I'm pretty sure my dad isn't disappointed about that ;)).  The cheese and the fruit kebabs were the most popular.  I think we should have skipped the chocolate-dipped strawberries and probably the sandwiches too...  You live, you learn!

All the girls.  By this point, several of them had removed their hats, but this will still give you an idea of some of their fun stuff.  This was at the end of the party and basically it was just the waiting for moms to pick up time.  Saria has really gotten tall...  But, she will be 12 this year ;).

 After about an hour of cleaning up, I hurried to take a shower, because I had to get to a baptism service at 5 and then we had Stake Conference at night.  So, not the most flattering of pictures of me with my wet hair.  But Emily looked so cute walking around my house with her hat on (which Uncle Jeremy decorated for her) and her other hat in her hands (we had extra hats...)

 See?

 And so I got pictures with all 3 of the girls who were still here -- and pictures of them by themselves.  Here's the birthday party girl :).

 

And her is Saria.  Like I said, she's getting tall.  She was on her knees like I was, but I was more squatty than she.  Hahaha....

 

 But here's a better shot of her.

And because my stomach looked particularly huge to me before we left for Conference, I took a picture.  Haha...  Jeremy.

 

 And this is just one more reason I love this man :).  So I kept telling him we had to get a picture with him and his mustache before he shaved it off.  But it didn't happen -- our schedules were awful on his grave shift.  So I realized when he got home Friday morning (he left for work while I was out visiting teaching and visiting a friend Thursday night) that he had shaved off his mustache.  And I just figured, "Oh well, so we didn't get a picture."  And no big deal.  Well, last night as I was looking at all the birthday pictures I got, I noticed a picture I hadn't taken.  And when I clicked on it to enlarge it...  Well, my sweetie totally took his own picture -- just for me!  Oh how I love him!  Plus -- he was a wonderful help at the birthday party.  It was he who took the pan of ice cream around and let each girl pick what cookie cutter shape she wanted, and then he cut it out and scooped it onto their plate.  Haha...  My hero ;).

On that note... I should go and try to sleep again.  Jeremy is actually home (and was in bed asleep until about 15 minutes ago when he noticed I was not in there and came out to find me).  I think it's our attempt to adjust off of graves (he works swings this week -- my favorite schedule these days :)) and we're having a hard time sleeping.  So, I will try some more.  Because after yesterday and today (Stake Conference again, so earlier church, and we foolishly stayed up until about 2 this morning (ahem, Sunday morning) and got less than the desired amount of sleep) I should be exhausted.  So I shall try again :).

Tender Mercies

Today was a good day.  And I count that a tender mercy.  Because, as I said in yesterday's blog post, I have been struggling with change and adapting, etc.  Today is one more example of how much I am loved by my Heavenly Father; another example of how aware He is of me.

I got a text at 10 from Lea asking me what I was up to today.  I told her nothing much until 3:30.  So she said she was planning to stop by before work if that was okay.  It was -- and I really enjoyed our visit where she got me caught up on their trip to Los Angeles.

I got a text from Annie at 11ish and she was just letting me know that she'd read my blog and she just was encouraging and loving.  I do love Annie!  She is wonderful.  It was a wonderful little piece of happy sunshine that brightened my day :).  (And Annie, I meant to text back and got totally involved in making food.  I'm sorry!  But you did brighten my day :)).

I talked to my dad.  And while he and I almost always get in a heated debate about something every time we talk, I am glad we talk.  We are just a lot alike.  Which means, Dad, that you're a hot-head too ;).  I love my dad -- and I think we just know how to push eachother's buttons so well because we are close.

I got some smile-bringing blog comments.  Okay, call me a dork; but these really do make my day sometimes.  Probably more of that social aspect of things -- like getting feedback.  And I appreciate those who shared their thoughts, advice, and experience of child-birth as they experienced it.

I tried out 3 new recipes I'd pinned on pinterest (more on that below)...

For the crafty/gabby/get-together thing I'm trying to do monthly.  I just invite any of my local friends over for the afternoon/evening to work on any craft they want to bring and just sit around and chit chat.  That social gathering I referred to yesterday.  And I love to have a reason to make yummy food and try new things; so I do that too :).  There's not usually a large group, but those of us who are here enjoy the time and the visiting.  And so I plan to keep doing it :).

I talked to my mom for a bit too.  On the phone.  She actually stopped by for a few minutes while the other ladies were here and she joined in on the visiting after she got off work.  Then she took a couple of the Southwestern Egg Rolls home for her and my grandmother, and she said my grandmother really liked it (and so did my mom).  It was nice to see my mom too.  It's kind of sad to admit, but I live like 3 blocks from her and, now that we're not in the same Ward anymore, it feels like I don't see her very often.  So it was nice to see her here for a few minutes and then talk to her on the phone.

And I listened to Christmas music from about noon until 7 p.m.  Haha...  Well, that's because Jeremy needed to sleep, so he was using the CD we had in the CD player in the bedroom as background noise to drown out the cackling of the women while he tried to sleep.  A Courier and Ives Christmas, so it was instrumental at least.  I love that man.  He does sacrifice a lot for me -- and I am often in awe of what a blessing it is to know he's my husband.  Gush, I know.  But seriously.  I think he does the sweetest things in support of me.

So here's the stuff I made with pictures and links to the website with the recipe :).  I liked all three (though I think Jeremy wasn't so impressed with the punch) and got rave reviews on the cookie dough dip (which is easy peesy!!  Definitely a keeper!)  I think I'll start doing this when I do pinterest things -- whether food or craft.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls

Lime Sherbet Punch

 

Oh, and what craft am I working on?  Well...  I want to hang the following (part of Wordsworth's Ode: Intimations on Immortality) in the nursery.  This baby may not have a crib -- but by golly it's going to have a poem hanging above where that crib should be! ;).  I charted it out today and am now ready to start stitching!

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakendess,
But trailing clouds of glory to we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!

I love that part of the poem, and I think it quite appropriate for a nursery :).

Oh, and yes.  today is 27 weeks.  So here is my picture.  Actually a couple.  I was trying to get a good angle, but the one picture where I'm angled too much so I had to really turn my head...  I was shocked to see what my belly looks like from that angle!  So, naturally, I had to include it here.

Anyway, it was a very good day.  And I do know it was an answer to prayer.  My current struggles may seem silly and insignificant when compared with those of others.  I know that they actually are.  But I matter to our Heavenly Father.  And because of that, my struggles -- no matter how small -- matter to Him too.  I am reminded of a quote from another talk I love:  "I am led to believe that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that the things that are important to us become important to Him, just because He loves us."  That talk is easily one of my favorites of all time.

P.S.  I really did have on regular clothes today.  And I meant to take my 27-week picture while I was in regular clothes.  But forgot to until after my shower and jammies...  At least they're different jammies this week ;).

Peace

Well, I can imagine you've all been so excited to see pictures of the funeral home party. Let me preface the loads of pictures that will follow with this statement: The party was neat-o, groovy, far-out, cool, awesome, radical, rockin', bomb, and pretty much any other over-used slang term of any given decade that would be synonymous with those I just listed.

So sit back, relax, and travel back in time (sort of) as you see and read about our celebration of the last 60 years.

Here's our meal/food, backwards.... Representing 2000s, the health-food era, was salad. We also had bacon bits and cheese along with all those dressings. They just weren't put out at this point. Representing the 1990s were Subway sandwiches. We all remember the Subway craze for sure, and though Jared came along early in the 2000s, Subway had pretty much hit its stride in the 90s. We didn't have Subway in Panama, so this was quite a treat when we were state-side during vacations.
In the 1980s, junk food reigned. I mean, sure.... There was junk food before. But in the 1980s, so many varieties came into existence. We're talking cheetos, fritos, doritos, cheeseballs, cheese puffs, pop rocks, fun dip, Big League chew, Razzles... The list could go on. And so we decided a goody bag would be the way to go, with samples of several things from back in the day (but mostly from the 80s). So below you can see the contents of our 1980s (plus) goody bags, which included a disco-ball necklace (70s, I know -- but I got 8 for a $1 at the Dollar Tree!) and glow-in-the dark shutter shades :). We were going to add a bag of individual chips, but that didn't end up happening. Even so, I think we collected some awesome stuff for the bags.
I'm sure you're all stumped as to what the 1970s featured, right? Nah, probably not. Everyone has pretty much heard of fondue. (And if you've ever watched Everybody Loves Raymond, you're even familiar with "fondue fun night.") So yep, we fondued. And it was fun! I have a fondue pot that was given to me by Pat who used to work at Troy. Such a sweet lady. I think of her every time I see the fondue pot or the plastic traveling cake holder, which she also gave me. But we couldn't stop with only one fondue... And we managed to track down a second (authentic 70s) fondue pot! So we had our chocolate fondue and our cheese fondue. The people who signed up for fruit to dip didn't end up showing up, which was a bummer, but we made do with strawberries :). Here's what I did learn about fondue, though.... I'm pretty sure I figured out why fondue went out of style. It's because cleaning those pots afterward is horrible. They just end up with a big glob of well-burned whatever-was-in-the-pot right over where the flame was hitting. Ick. And while it wasn't so bad with my stainless steel pot (steel wool, baby, steel wool), we certainly didn't want to scratch up the nice white-painted inside of the authentic fondue pot which wasn't even ours! So that one took some effort. But it was all worth it, and it was fun to try some fondue-ing with our party.
Our main dish came from the 1960s. It was a time of ease and simplicity. A time when women were mostly still at home and didn't want to make a bunch of food from scratch anymore. I mean, shoot... We had to clean the whole house and look pretty for when the husband came home, right? So why waste time on food? Enter the TV dinner. In a foil tray, I might add. But try to find those hanging around in a grocery store!!! So that was what inspired our main dish. We found some divided trays that were squarish/rectangularish. And we bought KFC fried chicken, and my mom made Salisbury Steaks, and mashed potatoes (not pictured). And let me tell you... It was delicious. My mom makes awesome food, though. Like, always.
And we can't forget the 1950s. Back in that time, going to the diner or the soda shoppe was all the rage. And so we featured the soda shoppe beverages for our drinks. We had tons of soda (as you can clearly see) and cherry syrup, vanilla syrup, and vanilla ice cream for root beer and creamsicle floats. Yum! And so much fun. I think most people opted for Root Beer floats. I went orange creamsicle at first and cherry Pepsi second (which resulted in not being able to sleep that night, since caffeine has a serious effect on me these days -- I think I'm getting old...).
And now the moment you've been waiting for.... The picture of the people. Some of us didn't dress up. But some of us did. I got my outfit from a thrift store here, and I got it about a year and a half ago, probably off the Halloween rack. So without further ado... Here are me and Rebecca (who went "Physical" style while I went hippie-style):
And here's everyone who attended. You can see several people dressed up in this one. We had quite an awesome turnout! Including the 4 kids who were there, we had a total of 24.
Me and Rebecca, who refuses to make a normal face in pictures according to her. I braided my headband and got the glasses (which you can see I forgot to take the sticker off of) at Party City for like $1.50.
Here are me and Bob, representing the early 60s (him) and the late psychedelic 60s (me):
I had made up a game of Decades Bingo. Prizes for winning included a box of Charleston Chews, a box of Hubba Bubba bubble gum, a mini-rubix cube, a friendship bracelet kit, a lanyard keychain kit, and a slinky.
I have a friend who, when she saw this on facebook, said she is guilty of 19 of these. Me? I'm guilty of 12 of them. And if you want to know which ones... been to a drive-in movie, worn leg-warmers, know who died in Seattle on April 8, 1994, can dance the chicken dance, have roller-skated, have eaten all fondue meal, walked around in spandex shorts, owned a trapper keeper, owned a walkman, know what the first video ever played on MTV was, have used a rotary phone, and have worn jelly shoes ;). So, give it a whirl and see how many you have done! (And leave it in the comments if you want). There were a lot of other BINGO cards, and some of them had other stuff also, like if you remember tan m&ms or ever went to a sock-hop. It was just fun and gave us a chance to learn something new about people. And sometimes those things we learned were shocking and hilarious! For example, one person I never would have dreamed would watch such a thing has watched "Beavis and Butthead." And it was funny who ended up winning first, and the fact that he had (and still has) a Cabbage Patch doll is one of the reasons he won!

We also played a game that Pam and Vicky developed. It was THE PRICE IS RIGHT DECADES STYLE! And it was so awesome! They found all sorts of retro stuff and found facts about those items. Then we had to try to guess how much it cost when it was first introduced. Whoever got closest without going over would win the item. I ended up winning the throwback Pepsi. But there was also Coke, mountain dew, Yoohoo, Zots candy, pop rocks, Cap'n Crunch cereal, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, and a ton of other goodies. This game was a hit, and they did a great job preparing it!
I forgot to take a picture of my "TV dinner" (my tray full of food). So I remembered after I'd scarfed everything down :(. So I decided to just take a picture of the empty tray so you could see that we did actually use divided trays!
So here are me and my mom. And Barry Manilow. Hahaha... While looking for my fondue pot in the garage (which was miraculously easy to find!), we also came across some of my mom's old records. And so we took some in for display. Anyway, my mom made a poodle skirt and an initial shirt, plus she wore bobby socks. And we wore our shutter shades for this picture.
We took one last picture of everyone who dressed up (minus our boss who had to leave early to see a family). I think everyone who dressed up did a really great job, and really, quite a few of us got into the fun!
And here is the fabulous funeral home party committee! Rebecca, me, Pam, and Deb (also known as Mom).
It was a fabulous time, and proof that we can party like it's 1999 (and 1959, 1969, 1979, 1989, and 2009) :).

So there you have it. Hope you enjoyed the party read. We already have our next "party" in the works. Because we love it.

Updates and happenings of The Nilla Life will come in a later post.