milkaholics anonymous

Out of order but better late than never! I almost didn't want to blog about my baby shower cause I am so so swollen in all of the pictures, but then I realized "this is your FIRST and possibly ONLY baby shower, you better make record of it!"

I kept promising myself I WOULD make it to have a baby shower this time! I always kind of felt jipped of the experience and felt in part, I was holding out just to make it to this day! Ironically, I went into the hospital TWO days after (and it may have been sooner if it wasn't the weekend)! By tooth and nail, we had a shower!!

Kaity and Kirsten flew down from Utah and organized the party. It had a milkaholic theme, which is actually very fitting because if I've ever known a baby that IS a milkaholic - it's Tate!!

We played Celebrity baby names, Price is Right, and a game where you try to draw a baby on a plate on the top of your head (which proved to be pretty humorous)

The most seasoned Mom at the shower ended up winning the Price is Right game, and came within CENTS of the total for everything! Impressive!!

Katie and Whitney concentrating hard on their plate babies

Whitney won with this beaut!

Here'a group shot, but we didn't remember to take it until some people had already left :(

I had only lived here a little over two months when we had the shower so I'm grateful for all the friends and ward members who came and supported me!

Kaity's husband Rusty and Kirsten's boyfriend, Skyler, were even down for the weekend which was lots of fun. They went with Jared to entertain Emmett during the shower, and Emmett caught his very first fish at the lake right by our house!

It was everything I hoped it would be (minus of course all the family I wish was there) Thanks Kaity and Kirsten for making it happen! Love you guys! :)

the epic reunion of all reunions

We've tossed around the idea of having a college roommate reunion for over five years now, and finally decided to make it happen! I am SO glad we did because I [almost!] forgot how much I love these girls! They were my home away from home, about as close to sisters as it gets.

Aimee and Becky were the real troopers, flying in all the way from Boston and California! We stayed at an adorable little chalet in Midway, Utah.

Here's some pictures of our makeshift "Ridge" apartment (The Ridge was the complex we all lived in at BYU-Idaho)

Here's Aimee showing off our little kitchen. Notice her amazing shoes... Aimee's always had the best shoes :)

This would be the giant King bed I got to sleep in alllll by myself. You better believe I fully stretched out on that thing!!

Here we are chillin in our little living room

In true girls weekend fashion, we spent time in the hot tub, had endless hours of reminiscing and girl talk, brought masseuses right to our room, and dined and shopped to our hearts content. It was marvelous! Just what this tired, stressed prego needed.

Of course we had to hit up City Creek!

I know it was more than just coincidence me and these girls were assigned to live together. We are all so similar, yet just different enough to make living together enjoyable :) Miss you girls and can't wait til the next reunion!

ladies and gentleman, the greatest show on earth

I had high expectations for my 27th birthday celebration, and I think they were well lived up to. I threw a murder mystery party, and since I have a fascination with the circus, that was naturally the theme. Plus since it was the weekend before Halloween I thought it would make for some great costumes (and I was right!)

So Ladies & Gents, I present to you....The Hargrove Family Circus

 

 Here we are in all our glory, Harold & Matilda Hargrove (the Circus Owners)

Many tasty concessions were served, and each character's objectives were given out

Then the mingling / crime solving began

 

From top left: The Strong man and the Tightrope walker, The Trapeze Artist, The FBI Agent, The Tattooed Man and the Skinny woman, the Clown (AKA the Murderer!), the Knife Thrower and Sword Swallower

The Trapeze Artist Part II, The Ringmaster and his assistant FuManchu, The Deputy and the Animal Trainer, The Ticket Taker and the Lion Tamer, The Clown murdering Ariel Swinger, Animal Trainer(again) with the Acrobat

And a few more family shots for good measure. 

It was such a fun and memorable night, and I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends and family to share it with. I live for hosting big events, so everyone making time and participating was the perfect gift. It's going to be hard to top this one!

Baby Oliver's Fantabulous Shower

We threw a baby shower for one of my best friends, Natalie, a few weeks ago. I was in charge of food and games and our friend Jordan did the decorations. The result was amazing! I think Jordan and I need to go into business together! haha. Natalie's theme was a nautical/under the sea theme with coral and turquoise.

Jordan did the drinks, and used mason jars and vintage straws. So cute!

On the bottom right are the DELICIOUS creamy chicken taquitos, which can be found here.

There is actually a funny story behind these... I was up late finishing all my baking the night before and asked Jared to help make the filling for the taquitos. We all know men aren't the most attentive to detail, and this case wasn't an exception. Instead of cumin, Jared used CURRY POWER, and ALSO accidentally doubled it. Luckily he was able to scoop some back out. (I didn't find out he had used curry powder til I was at Natalie's the next day!) BUT everyone was oohing and aahing over these taquitos and asking for the recipe!! haha. So all was well! And we now have a secret ingredient...mwahaha.

Okay so this picture doesn't do my sugar cookies justice, plus they had been transported in the car in the hot sun for over an hour by this point. But these were my biggest feat. I think I made 50-something of them and piped and flooded them all with royal icing. They were sooo good. I'm definitely keeping this recipe on hand for the future! 

              These were my "clams" . Cookies with pink icing and a yogurt covered raisin in the center.

And here's a zoomed out shot of the whole table. Jordan also did the cake with the cute banner, and notice all the cute decorations she did with her silhouette

Here's the 3 of us at the end of the shower. I didn't take any pictures of the rest of the decorations because I was so busy running around, but you can see some of them hanging behind us!
PS Don't judge my pictures...I don't exactly have the nicest camera, and Nat's mom's house has a big skylight at the top which made for some difficult lighting! haha

The games were a hoot, in particular the one where we made big 8x11 headshots of Josh and Natalie, and had people cut and paste them to make their "baby". The results were HILARIOUS! Let's just hope baby Oliver doesn't actually end up looking like any of them...

Thanks Natalie, for letting us help out! We can't wait to meet baby Oliver (who may be born at any minute now!)