Turkeys, Baby Showers, and Girl Time

Gabe and I spent Thanksgiving week in Denver. It was great to have more than just a long weekend and actually spend a full week! We normally drive to Denver with the dogs, but this time, we left the animals behind and decided to fly. A 11 hour drive while pregnant just didn't sound very appealing. We had a great time in Denver visiting friends and family. Even with the extra time, we still never get the chance to see everyone we would like to. Thanksgiving dinner was fantastic. My dad dug out the turkey fryer and we had the best turkey ever! I didn't realize until we got there how homesick I really was for my hometown. So it was nice to be home again, even for a few days.

Once back at home in Missouri, it was a crazy stress week for me (hence my panic post below), and I then found myself on a plane once again headed back to Denver for my baby shower and annual christmas brunch with my BFF's. Gabe opted to stay behind this time.

It was a GREAT weekend. The shower was beautiful, and it was so great to see family and friends that I have not been able to see since we moved. Kristi and my mom put on a great spread. The gifts were incredible. And the clothes!!! oh, baby girls are so much FUN!

Here is a brief pictoral review:

My cousin, Rachelle, is so talented. She made the cake for me. So cute!!



















The shower was in an open house format so that people didn't feel like they had to stay the entire time. One of the things I hated about showers was how much time it took to watch the gifts being opened! But, I was amazed the everyone stayed while I opened a huge amount of gifts. Everything was adorable. 85% clothes. It was so funny listening to the "awwww's" with every outfit. It also really started to sink in what was about to happen. So I had a bit of the butterflies through the day. It was a blast and I can't WAIT to put all of it to use. I am so blessed to have a wonderful group of friends and family.






This is the back of my mom's Outlook when we drove home with all those gifts. I was actually able to ship everything home. 4 big boxes. Crazy!

A big thanks goes to my Mom and my Aunt Maxie for helping me out with the shipping. I couldn't have done it without them!

Sunday my BFF's (Kristi, Collie, and Karrie) had our annual christmas brunch. Normally, the shindig is at Kristi's house where we cook, drink, and be merry. But this year, we decided to splurge a bit and have brunch at the famous Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. It is a gorgeous hotel with a renowned brunch. They didn't let us down. The place was beautifully decorated and the food was fantastic.


View of the front of the hotel. With the mountains in the background, I was in heaven!



The Gang. Along with a rare shot of a me 7 months pregnant.



A picture is worth a thousand words. Karrie branched out and tried her first oyster on the half shell. ha! Sorry Karrie, this one was just too good!


I loved this gingerbread house display.

















As much as fun as it was, it is always good to be back at home. I was exhausted and needed to recoup. Now we are grounded for a while. I can't travel after January so we will be sticking around home. Our focus now is prepping for the Baby Bean. March and April will be busy with visitors and before we know it, it will be summer. How the time flies!