West Jefferson Baby Shower Weekend

It was another whirlwind weekend marked by travel for me. But it was such a wonderful one because it included lots of quality time with my mom’s side of the family. My mom, sister and nephew arrived at our house on Thursday and spent the night with us as a stop-over en route to West Jefferson, North Carolina. They headed onto my aunt’s house in the late morning on Friday and once Ryan was done with work for the day, I made the drive as well and joined everyone for a weekend of celebrating my cousin Andrew and his wife Morgan’s first baby.

My aunt and uncle moved to West Jefferson, a small mountain town, a few years ago. It was the perfect secluded location for a baby shower where the main goal was catching up, spending quality time together and sharing in the excitement of baby Andy’s April arrival.

West Jefferson Baby Shower Weekend

Not long after I arrived, the guests of honor arrived, and we greeted Morgan and Andrew with big hugs! A lot of hugs and booty scratches were given to Thatcher, their energetic vizsla, too!

For any new readers out there, Ryan and I were 100 percent obsessed with our vizsla, Sadie, until her passing a few years ago. Vizslas are the best dogs in the world and feel almost like human-dogs because of the way they insert themselves into every aspect of your life and have zero regard for personal space. They’re nicknamed “velcro dogs” for a reason. They are the happiest, most loving and insanely energetic dogs. I have no doubt a vizsla will be a part of our family again in the future (we’re thinking in a few years when Rhett goes to kindergarten). But for now Pepper, our little hamster-dog, is the perfect fit for our family in our current phase of life. Still, it was so great to spend some time with Thatcher this weekend. And he only served to remind me why I adore vizslas so much.

Friday

Our Friday night was consumed by conversation as we laughed and chatted the night away until after midnight when we figured we should go to bed so we had energy for the baby shower the following day.

While my mom, sister, nephew and I spent almost all of our waking hours at my aunt’s house, we slept at a nearby cabin owned by a friend of my aunt’s. It was one of the most adorable places we’ve ever stayed. I am kicking myself for not snapping any photos of the interior because it was decorated so well.

We joked that we felt like we were staying in some kind of a Hallmark movie because they even had a mini Christmas tree farm outside the front of the cabin for friends and family to visit to chop down their own Christmas trees.

Amazing, right!?

Saturday

Saturday was baby shower day! My sister and I were tasked with getting the parents-to-be out of the house. While my mom, aunt and their cousin Jennie decorated and got food and games ready for the shower.

Andrew, Morgan, Leslie and I loved exploring downtown West Jefferson and popped in and out of some of the local shops.

We stopped for doughnuts at Hole Lotta Doughnuts. And as a fritter lover through and through, I opted for the blueberry fritter and it was fantastic.

By the time we made it back to the house, it was close to 2 p.m. and we were greeted with the most adorable baby shower decorations and a delicious display of food!

Andrew is my cousin (my mom’s sister’s son) and we loved the fact that he was part of the baby shower from start to finish. Morgan and Andrew opened their gifts together at the shower. And I loved that they did this since opening presents alone as the mom-to-be can feel a little intense with all eyes on you!

Games

Once all presents were opened, we played a handful of games which were right up our alley. I know games are hit or miss for people at baby showers (and we joked that Andrew was excused from the games at the end of the shower because they are definitely not his thing) but all the women on my mom’s side of the family could play games for hours… and we did! Ha!

One of the more hilarious games we played was a timed game where participants had to write down baby names for each letter of the alphabet as quickly as possible. The names we all wrote down were hilarious as you’d think your brain would name obvious names like “John” for “J” or “Anne” for “A” but names ended up being all over the place. (“Oprah” for “O” was my personal favorite. And had all of us laughing thinking about little baby Oprah.)

Getting Fresh Air

Eventually we were all craving a little fresh air. So we headed outside for a walk to check out some gorgeous mountain views before the sun went down.

My one-year-old nephew Luke was in heaven in the wagon. And we all said every baby shower should include a toddler because he added so much to the weekend and soaked up a lot of attention from our whole family.

We joked that as the third child in his family and the youngest grandchild in our family, so much focused attention is a little hard to come by. And he certainly got his fill throughout the weekend!

Saturday night concluded with a delicious pork tenderloin dinner. Plus hours of chatting until we figured we should call it a night around 1 a.m. My sister and I love any chance we get to be with my mom’s side of the family. We adore learning new things about our family history and the stories that come out every time we get together are always fascinating to us.

Sunday

Sunday morning was a travel day for everyone. We woke up at the cabin and after straightening up and packing up our things, we drove over to my aunt’s house for breakfast before saying our goodbyes and headed off to our respective homes. My mom’s side of the family will be getting together soon enough as we’re planning a big celebration for my mom’s 70th birthday at our house in July which made our goodbyes a little easier.

A solo drive back to our house felt like a treat for me as my car is usually packed with kids. And the drive flew by thanks to my latest audiobook. I arrived home just before Ryan and the boys made it back from fishing at a local pond. And we spent the rest of our Sunday playing games, enjoying time outside, kayaking in the lake and curling up on the couch for movie night before bed.

Today is already off to a good start! After school drop offs, I did a push/pull workout at Burn before popping into the grocery store to stock up on food for the week. Now I’m hoping to grab a quick shower before doing the whole school pickup routine. Followed by karate for the big kids later this afternoon. I hope you all have a fantastic Monday!