Kimber's NYC theme Baby Shower in Park City!

When Kimber announced her pregnancy, one of our first questions was, "When can we throw a shower?!" 
Anyone who knows the Holt family, knows we'll use any excuse to throw a party.
Since all the girls were going to be together in Utah in August,
it was the perfect time to celebrate Kimber and Baby C with all our Utah family and close friends.

Once "NYC baby!" was chosen for the shower theme,

 the next thing that we did was recruit our dear friend, Debbie Penrice, 

to help created this adorable shower invite!

She also created all the signs, labels, tags, and so much more, 

which tied everything together and carried out the NYC baby theme!

I love my girls!!  And they all worked so hard to make this all come together!

Allie and Sonya made the yummy caramel apples!  
Brooke created the adorable New York City skyline fabric background!  

They all bagged peanuts, tied ribbons and bows, put together signs and labels on the cups!

It was really a team effort and really a lot of fun to work together!  

Even Dad helped with the shower by carrying "the little girls" Bitty Baby bassinet

  in his suitcase on his flight from California to Utah.

This little bassinet is one of the few items that I had saved from Brooke and Ashley's childhood.

It has been gathering dust up in the storage room for years and I hadn't even thought about it until now.

When I told Debbie that I wanted to recreate the invitation 

with the NYC skyline scene for the backdrop for the serving table,

she suggested that I get a baby doll bassinet and tie pink balloons so it looks just like the invite.

She's genius, isn't she?!!  A creative genius!

And I loved having something from the past that ties to the future!

The soon-to-be Mother and Grandma!  

Gosh!  I'm still getting used to that "Grandma" thing!

 It just sounds so old!

I'm so grateful to these two for all their help and moral support, 

but most of all because they are SO excited for Kimber and can't wait for Baby C's arrival!

And we had to get a "sisters" picture with Stephanie, 

who we all agree is just like another Holt sister, as far as we are concerned!

Such a cute group of girls!

Aunt Lisa and Stephanie also helped put this shower together,

making all the fruit salad cups, hauling up glass votives for the candy bar and folding chairs

and as always putting together all the final touches that afternoon so that everything looked just right.

Kimber and Great Grandma Holt

We decorated our house with skyscrapers, apples, and (of course) lots of pink!

 Each item of food was inspired by famous eateries in New York. 

Deli sandwiches from Carnegie Deli!

Bagels, always a New York favorite!

New York Cheesecake from Juniors.

The famous black and white cookies, found at almost every NYC corner deli.

Fruit cups, also found at the corner deli.

Fresh roasted peanuts, which are roasted and sold at street vendors near Times Square.

The bags say, "Fresh roasted Peanuts in honor of Kimber's lil' peanut!"  Adorable!

Big Apple, sugar cookies on a New York City plate!

Pizza from Grimaldi's, one of Kimber's favorites!

Kimber made the famous banana cream pudding from Magnolia Bakery.  It was yummy!

The beautiful and delicious cake was made by one of Kimber's dearest friends 

from her college days in the broadcasting program, Micaela's husband, 

owner of Martin's Fine Dessert, made this adorable and yummy cake!

It tasted just as good as it looked!

It wouldn't be a Holt party without a candy bar 
and so we had to have Dylan's I mean, Kimber's Candy Bar...
Dylan's Candy Bar is another one of our favorite New York stops!

Love these girls!

These two are a dynamic duo, combining their culinary and creative skills,
 dipping apples all night into the caramel and pink chocolate!  

And let's not forget about the sprinkles:)! 
The apples turned out darling and were absolutely delicious!

Another darling creation from Debbie Penrice.  Isn't she amazing?!

Allie, just being Allie... always lots of fun!

So many dear family and friends came that night to celebrate 

and I wish that I could have gotten a picture of everyone!

I kind of got distracted chatting with all the guests and forgot to grab the camera...

But here are a few of the photos that I did snap that night.

Our dear friend, Rhonda Williams, who used to live in Granite Bay.

Our families have water and snow skied together for years and years

and we have SO many great memories with the Williams family.

Kimber's sweet friends that used to live in NYC, Marci, Theresa and Ashley

with their cute kids!

Our wonderful friend, Linda Howell, also a former GB resident, who we love dearly.

She took time away from campaigning for her husband, Scott Howell, 
our favorite democrat, to attend the party!

We all SO adore Linda and her wonderful family!

My dear friends and former college roommates from my freshman year, 

Ruth Todd, Tammy Runia and Tammy Pinnock, came to celebrate!  

I can't say enough wonderful things about these girls!

We have stayed dear friends after all these years and I am so grateful for their friendship 

and was so touched that they would take the time to come to Kimber's shower

 because I know that they all have such incredibly busy schedules!

Love these ladies lots!

Cousin Jason's wife, Kiley, and cousins, Olivia and Emme, 

and Debbie Merrill, who also lived in Granite Bay and was Kimber's Young Women's leader.

Ashley's roommate, Sydney, who we all love and adore!

This is the kids table that was filled with lots of crayons, coloring books and candy for the kids.

All the kids loved it, especially the little cousins, Megan, Molly, Katelyn and Morgan.

 Kimber, opening her gifts.

 So many adorable little things!

Love the little leopard skin shoes!

Kimber, with the New York City rag quilt that I made her!

Brooke gave Kimber a cute pig outfit and hat!  So adorable!
We are all so excited for this little one and can't wait for Baby C's arrival
and it was so fun to celebrate with Kimber!

Brooke's Birthday Dinner at Tucano's

 Brooke is pretty excited about her "Golden Birthday!" She's turning 19 on the 19th of August!

Since everyone (except for Brett, who we missed so much) was in town,

we celebrated her birthday Tuesday night at Tucano's!

 The birthday girl and her chocolate cake.

 Brooke got a new red dress with a big bow in the front.  It is so Brooke!

 And some New York dishware.

 Tyler and Sonya gave her a book of decorating, which is right up her alley.

 And her big surprise of the night, a new camera, 

which she will be using a lot this fall when she takes a photography class.

 The family, minus Brett, standing outside of Tucano's after dinner.

 Brooke and Ash, the little girls.

 A sisters picture! 

 Mom and Dad with their "little bear!"  

  I love Brooke's shirt that she wore that night:)!  

We love that little bear and want to wish her a Happy Happy Birthday! 

We hope your "Golden Birthday" is just as fabulous as you are!

Brooke's bridal shower luncheon

One of the joys of serving in the Young Women's program, 

a program in our church for young girls between the ages of 12-18, 

designed to help each girls better understand who they are, where they are going,

 and what they are to achieve in this life.  

As a leader, we are there to help guide the girls, organizing weekly activities,

 teaching lessons on Sunday and just being their friend.  

I've really grown to love and care about each and every one of the girls, 

but Brooke has a extra special place in my heart 

probably because I have been her leader ever since she was in jr. high

 and have really seen her grow and change over the years. 

 When I realized that she wouldn't be able to come home before she got married 

(she's been in Africa for the past couple of months)

 and I might not be able to throw her a shower, I was so sad! 

But then I figured out that I would be in Utah the week before her wedding

and insisted that we have a bridal shower luncheon with her friends from college, 

to honor Brooke and celebrate her upcoming marriage!   

Ashley, Allie and Brooke, three of my young women.

I ordered Brooke her very own personalized pizza and as you can see, 

she was pretty excited about that!

 And she was excited to open up her gifts! 

 And the avocados that one of the girls gave her!

It was obviously an inside joke and Brooke got such a kick out of it and posed for this pic!

 And she was a little coy and smug but definitely excited about this pink bag!

 And she loved the ice cream maker almost as much as she LOVED the ice cream scooper that we gave her:)!  

She was super pumped about the scooper! So glad that she gets so happy about the little things in life!

 A fun photo with the entire group holding up the bride-to-be!

 And we had to get a normal group photo too! 

Actually, I look anything but normal... I mean, why am I squatting so much!??

But, hey, it's a great picture of everyone else so I had to include it!

 And last, but not least, we had to get a "GB3, Horses of the Sea" photo

with some of my favorite GB3 ward girls!

Horses of the Sea was the team mascot chosen by these girls

 during a Stake basketball tournament many years ago.

We chanted it during every Stake sports tournaments

and at breakfast, lunch and dinner every day at Girl's camp!

It was quirky and rhymed and just kind of stuck.

The hand signal was added at a later GB3 ward activity.

It is equally as quirky and fun and has become part of the tradition,

so it was only appropriate that we end the shower with this photo!

Wow!  I love these girls!  I love the Young Women program!

And I love that I was able to celebrate with Brooke and her friends!

Congratulations, Brooke!  We are so excited for you!