A baby shower for Dana to celebrate Elle Julianne!

Today was Dana's baby shower. It's a marathon post with lots of photos... but I couldn't leave any out. What an amazing day full of excitement for Dana and Nick to become parents to Elle Julianne. Elle will be the first granddaughter on the Hughie side and the first grandchild for The Everetts (Nick's family).

Elle is all set with everything she could ever need and lots of fun treats too!

Many of Dana's friends from Sisters High School were able to attend. Sidney, Chelsea and Lucy and Dana have known each other for over ten years.

My friends Tirza, Lindsey and Olivia were here to celebrate with us. Tirza has a new baby boy, Weston Lee.

West was quite the popular dude today. Everybody wanted to hold him. He was all smiles and is such a mellow and happy little guy!

Janice and I had a fun time with the decorations. We made photo frames and candles with baby pictures of Dana, Nick, and their parents. I also found a very interesting piece of history ~ a baby care book from 1942... my how times have changed!

Dana's Mother-in-Law, Julie (who will soon be a Grammie and is Elle's middle names namesake) made an awesome candy bar.

There were even personalized M&M's! Too cute!

A delicious strawberry and champagne cake

And yummy catering from Tate and Tate in Central Oregon.

We had some fun shower games, including trivia from Legally Blonde. Dana fell in love with the name Elle after watching Elle Woods in Legally Blonde.

Janice is such a great hostess and party planner extraordinaire

Mama and her girls

With Elle's mama, aunts and grandmothers

The Sisters crew

Elle now has a great library of books to choose from. Dana and I were read to a lot growing up and I know that this tradition will carry on for Sweet Elle.

Presents galore!

Her first tutu and baby legs leg warmers!!!! (Aunt LALA can't wait)

.... and a Petunia Pickle Bottom.

My Aunt Susan (mom's sister) came all the way from Arkansas!

Sorority Sisters from Oregon State

Dee's hands along with Grammie and Nana Oregon's

I'm so excited to have a niece!

Due next month!

Elle will have a new cousin this October. It's Baby Central for the Hughies and we can't wait!!!

Maroon Falls

This morning we slept in. I took an extra long bubble bath and read and prepared myself for my last day in this piece of God's country.

Maroon Falls is one of the most photographed parts of nature in the world... and it's no surprise why!

Melinda ~ the 29 year old. (5 more weeks 'til the big OH NO 3-0!)


These photos are not touched up. These colors are authentic. Hard to believe the water is rainbow colored. Amazing!

Thanks for a great long weekend, Aunt Susan!

Back home ~ flying into John Wayne.

Next week I have nephew duty. My sister and brother-in-law will be on a trip and I will be doing my best to hold the fort down. Two 14 year olds with daily doubles for football HELL week and their first day of high school... and a love sick 18 year old who has his first day of college. Thankfully Ziad has volunteered his culinary services to keep 3 growing young men fed. Yeah for chefs! Sure beats eggo waffles and the golden arches.

White Water Rafting in Glenwood Springs, Colorado

This picture belongs at the end... but a second ago POOF it disappeared off the screen! This grasshoppa' stayed on my Aunt's shoulder for most of the trip. Certainly that has to be some sort of sign of good luck!

Today we drove from Aspen to Glenwood Springs, Colorado to do some white water rafting on the Colorado River. I prayed last night that since it is nearing the end of the season that the rapids will be calm and that if I fell out of the boat that they could get me back in. (My physique is a bit aerodynamically lopsided and I'm not the most gracious when having to "hoist" myself out of the water into an inflatable raft... I'm just saying...)

Here we are ~ ready to go. Take note of the dorky generic black baseball hat I have on... a last minute necessity to shade my "peaches and cream" complexion. (Really I didn't want my forehead to get fried and do the whole peeling process...)

The complulsary life jackets and oars. My dad offered a friendly reminder last night. He asked that, "I please wear my life jacket." Does he think I'm crazy enough to just, "wing it?" I think I got the oldest, smelliest one of the fleet... but I didn't complain... must mean that it's kept a lot of people from sinking. With the newer ones, one can never tell, eh?

There were five boats on our trip. Three were in front of us and one behind. I didn't mind having some pioneers in front of us. I could judge by the volume of their screams whether or not I needed to be brace myself and dig my foot into the little foot holder thing-a-ma-jiggy. The boat behind us was full of school age kids from a day camp. I actually felt sorry for their guide. Lots of screaming, whining and demands. There weren't any adult types keeping them in line. Question: are there parents who are actually comfortable releasing there kids to go river rafting in a boat without a chaperone? Guess so. That's some trust for you.

All wet. That water is fiercely cold. Either that or I've become spoiled by warm swimming pools and southern California oceans. See that kid in the background? He's Jonathan. An only child who rode in the front of the boat and asked a million questions. Nonstop. He's been on this trip several times before and would ask, "When are we going to get to such and such.... and do I have to wear my sunglasses and when can I go in the water and I want to STAND on the front of the boat... and what's that bug. I don't like bugs." Not so bad if he was an inquisitive type. A boy after my own heart. But he seriously asked the same questions over and over and over. And over again. Bless his heart. I tried the, "let's be surprised! I'm sure Chris (0ur guide) will tell us when we are getting close." He'd look at me and then the questions would start up again. Like I said, bless his heart.

This is where the, "man on the mountain lives." Nobody knows the whole story but apparently this man is entitled to this small piece of river front property. You can see his modest home complete with a laundry line, tool shed and pots and pans. He installed a zip line that goes across the river. He is seen in town quite a bit buying supplies. Not a bad place to camp out.

What a fun day. A drive through Taco Bell and manicures while watching The Olympics completed our night. Tomorrow is Maroon Falls and then a flight home. Sigh......