Utah! - USC Friends

Don't you love college friends?!!  Friends you make in college are such special friends; you are both in a similar period of life and experiencing new things.
We met Lauren for lunch at Zupas while we were in town.  Lauren was my secretary in the Relief Society and all-around fun girl.  She just graduated and moved home after putting in a grueling year as ward activities person - the busiest calling in the world.  We didn't get to hang out long, but it was so great to see her!  If anything, it reminded me that even if we were to return to USC, all our good friends like her are on their way out, as well.  Life keeps moving.  Lauren just graduated in Cello Performance for USC so you know that she's awesome.  She's been accepted to a bunch of grad schools but is still deciding where to go.

Ashley and NH were some of our best "couple" friends at USC.  NH got a job out in Utah so they left LA and moved just a week or so before we did.  Ashley was just barely pregnant at the time; when I came to Utah I really wanted to get together so that I could see cute baby Mason!  He's a very sweet, very good baby and I was so happy to hold and snuggle him.  It's too bad that he's wrapped up in Willa's pink swaddle-wrap for the photo because he had the cutest little outfit and shoes on when he arrived.
Willa's got the funniest face in this photo!  I think she was in the middle of blowing a raspberry, which she is especially proficient in these days!

Me and Mason - look at my new haircut, fancy eh?  It was the best haircut of my life!!  There is a new method for cutting curly hair; I thought I would try it out because I wanted to go shorter and nothing can be worse than what I was already getting (as far as short haircuts).  It was amazing, took 2 1/2 hours, and was the best money ever spent on a haircut.  If anyone reading this blog has curly hair and wants more info, email me.

Before Ashley moved, a few of us got together to throw her a small surprise baby shower in Los Angeles.  We wanted to invite more people, but in the end just decided it was better to keep it very small.
Here we all are!  Willa was only 3-4 weeks old and I left her home with Ryan.  Can you see the Madonna Inn goblets?  So fancy!

Since it was too early to know the sex of the baby, we pooled our monies and got Ashley a sweet designer diaper bag.

We also tied her a little quilt that now has many imperfections because we are not good tie-ers.  It's minky on one side and silky on the other.  I went to the garment district downtown to get the fabric, which ended up being a bit of an event for me so soon post-partum.  It was slippery to sew the two fabric types together and Ryan was impressed with the domesticity and look of concentration on my face as I tried to sew and take out pins one by one.

Myka made a guess the gender cake; half of the cake is blue and half is pink, but you can't tell which half because it's all frosted.  The side you cut into tells whether you will have a boy or girl.  Didn't work this time since Ashley had a boy, but I hear it's 50% accurate.

I'm so glad that we got to do that for Ashley before she left!  Now she has sweet little Mason and is the best mama on the planet except for one thing - Ashley doesn't have a kiddopotamus swaddle wrap!!!!  Or, maybe that makes her a good mom, but me a bad friend?  We wrapped him up in Willa's and it seemed to soothe him and calm him a bit.  You can guess what she's getting in the mail from me.  Kiddopotamus swaddle wraps - friends don't let friends have babies without them.  It was so good to see Ashley with Mason and realize that we are both moms now.  We definitely missed our other good friends and hope that we can all see each other soon!