This past weekend we had one of the best parties ever thrown for us by two of my best friends, Jessica and Lindsay.

The hostesses

Jess is an event planner, so she offered to throw us a baby shower and recruited Lindsay to help out. I knew with those two in charge it would be a great day, but I was not prepared for how awesome it turned out.

First of all, they made adorable caterpillar invitations, which I understand required many hours and several bottles of wine to complete. This was the start of the general caterpillar theme, which was continued in the food and decorations.

The Friday night before the shower my mom, both grandmothers and my sister-in-law flew in from Texas to help with the preparation. It’s a good thing they did, too, because otherwise Linds and Jess might not have gotten any sleep that night.

The food in the above photo represents only a tiny fraction of the abundance that they put out. There were melon ball skewers, caprese skewers (mozarella, tomato and freshly picked basil), and cheddar and grape skewers along with veggies and dip, pulled pork sliders and grilled veggie sliders.

And of course the crowning achievement was the cupcake caterpillar that Lindsay put together – isn’t it adorable?

After a night of prep work and fun it was time for the actual party, which was just great. There were white onesies to be tie dyed and drawn on (mad props to all the artists, by the way), gifts to be opened, and of course lots of snacks to be eaten. Matt and Jess’ pulled pork will be made by quite a few people in Texas in the coming months

We were overwhelmed by all the people who came out to show us love and support. We are truly fortunate to have found such a great community of friends here in Boulder, and we can’t wait to introduce the baby to all these great people.

Of course it was also fantastic to have family there too. It was a whirlwind weekend for Ginger, my sis-in-law, and then my grandmas and mom stayed over the rest of the weekend to help wash baby clothes and setup the nursery. I’m still amazed by how much work it takes to setup a room for a person whose needs don’t extend beyond food, sleep and poop, but the room is set and ready for baby Partain’s arrival.

Again, I just have to say thanks to everyone made the effort to come out (particularly Andrea Oh who drove in straight from the airport after a massive delay in her flight home). You are all amazing friends and we are so lucky to have you!!