Surprise!

I had two wonderful and completely unexpected surprises this weekend. The first was the arrival of my dear friend, Stephanie, and her newest addition, Abby (3 weeks old!) who flew in from Kansas to visit Abby's great-grandmother. Ella knows a good thing when she sees it and fell in love with Baby "Babby" and her mama! This was Ella's first time meeting both of them.


This morning I meandered downstairs to find this:


A surprise birthday celebration! My birthday is exactly one month from today and my sister decided I needed a party now since I'd be back in Vegas on the actual date. We had a party with my mom's infamous carrot cake and everything. I even got a Faith Hill CD.

Baby Abby managed to sleep through most of it. She did wake up to get her picture taken with us, though.



One of my best friends from high school, Erin, made the two hour trip north with her husband and two sons.


And even my sister's in-laws made the hour and a half drive south to meet Ella and celebrate. That's Karen (not to be confused with my sister Karin) and Matt (my bro-in-law).


Thanks to everyone for coming and to my mom for cooking!!