Baby Shower II

On Saturday I had my "ward" baby shower. It was actually the ward that I grew up in, not my current ward. It was so fun to see a lot of people that I grew up with like my primary teachers, piano teacher, and friends. Also a lot of my family was able to come, so it was really great. The shower was actually more of an open house hosted by Constance Erickson, so people were coming in and out between 12:00 and 3:00. I really enjoyed that format since people didn't feel pressure to stay, and there were no games. Also we got a lot of things that we have been really wanting, like a baby gym and lots of diapers. We also got quite a few things we didn't know we needed, like the Bumbo. I had never heard of these, but are apparently great for helping babies sit up before they can do it on their own. They even come with an activity tray that makes it possible to double as a high chair. Conveniently we only got a few blankets, and no burp cloths (which we got all that we needed at the last shower). My aunt Raelyn put together a "ready made scrapbook" with all the cute
paper and layouts already put together, all I need to do is insert photos and write a few things. I thought that was so clever and what a great thing for a new mom with no time. My cousin Kelsha got us preemie diapers and some preemie onesies (which look like doll clothes). As we accumulate all this stuff it feels like things are getting closer. The picture I have here is of the cookies Constance got from Provo Bakery. They normally come with only one smiley face, but Constance let them know that would not be enough and they needed two smiles. They turned out so cute!

After the shower we went to the mall for 'Friends and Family' day at the Gap and Banana Republic. Lauren's friend Ashley used to work at Banana Republic so we all used her coupon to get 25% off, and when you already shop the sale racks, that ends up being a really good deal. I got some T-shirts from the Gap (which I really needed) and Marc got some great sweaters for work from Banana Republic. Thanks Mom!

While the women were enjoying our day of leisure, the men (Marc and my dad) were hard at work changing the brakes to our Nissan Pathfinder. Apparently the Pathfinder is a difficult car to deal with and they had a few problems getting everything apart due to rust and the 4WD. Once everything was apart Marc took the old rotors down to Pep Boys to be turned and then went to visit his friend Steve. When he was ready to pick up the rotors he called Pep Boys to make sure they were done and was informed that no one was there to turn them and we would have to wait until Monday. That would have been good information 3 hours previous when he dropped them off. Had he known this, he would have just bought new rotors, which are only $15 more than having them turned. So having wasted all that time, Marc went to Auto Zone and bought new rotors (he had had it with Pep Boys) and the brakes didn't get finished until pretty late. We can't complain however. Since my dad was kind enough to help us, it cost around $100 instead of $1000, which is how much it would have been if we had taken the car to a repair shop. Thanks Dad! It was also fun for me to get to spend the extra time with my family and see Leah and her family who were at my parent's house getting ready to go to Lake Powell tomorrow. We didn't get home until late, but it was a fun day.