Unbelievable Friends

Last weekend three of my girlfriends from Grad School decided to come visit me in Florida. Jill, Debbie and Dana were here from Friday to Sunday and we had an amazing weekend. I should start off by saying that these three ladies are some of the most incredible women I have ever met. They are all extremely intelligent, successful, gorgeous, funny, kind and most importantly just great friends. I am constantly telling myself that I am just so blessed to have friends like them.

So it was no surprise that they would all take time out of their lives to come to Gainesville for a visit. One of the best things about these gals is that every time we get together its just like no time has passed; we just pick up right where we left off. So that's what we did starting on Friday when I picked everyone up in Orlando. From the airport we headed back to Gainesville for lunch and manicures and pedicures. I think we all agreed that we got some high quality spa treatments! Then we picked up some snacks and headed back to my house where we played Scrabble and caught up.

Our plan for Saturday was to head to Mill Creek Farm to feed the horses. We were a little bit worried that we would be rained out, but the weather held out and we had a great time.

Here are some pictures from our visit:Jill feeding a horseI don't blame Debbie for being a bit scared of this one!Here I am - there was a picture of me from the front but it was awful!And here's Dana :)

After the horse farm we headed to the Ivy House in downtown Alachua for a fantastic lunch. I had mentioned to the girls that this restaurant has fantastic homemade deserts. So when the waitress listed off all of the yummy cakes and pies (especially the chocolate milk cake!) I was baffled why no one wanted desert? Because any friend of mine loves her chocolate!!

Well, it turns out these ladies had a trick up their sleeves. They had been planning a surprise Baby Shower for me and even Jered was in it! When we got home from lunch this is what I see:

My friends had orchestrated a plan for Jered to decorate our house for the shower while we were at lunch. He did a great job and got an A+ for effort! I literally had no clue that anything like this had been in the works and I was so flattered. In retrospect, I really should not have expected anything less from these girls; that is just the type of friends that they are. So Jered got everything set up for the shower and even put together the Sweetpeace Newborn Soothing Center that my friends got me as a gift. In addition to this fabulous gift, they each got me some other great gifts for me to open.

Next up were the games. Jill planned a "Price is right" game where we each had to guess how much different baby items cost. Dana planned a baby food taste testing game where we were all a little freaked out that Debbie actually liked the taste of the green beans and rice baby food!! Then Debbie had us all decorate onesies with puffy paint and I promise to post pictures of Eli wearing each and every one of them! To top off the whole event, the girls had ordered a delicious cake from a local bakery; dessert at last!

That night we went to Satchel's for some pizza and then the next morning we had to head back to Orlando so that everyone could catch their flight. It was a jammed pack two days but it was perfect in every way. Thanks again Dana, Jill & Debbie - you ladies are the best!