Bonnie, it's your birthday!

Yesterday was Baby Bonnie's first birthday and let me tell you, it was an event to remember.

Baby Bonnie is my best friend, Amy's, child.  We have to call her Baby Bonnie or else we get her confused with me.  For a while there people started calling us big Bonnie and little Bonnie but you better believe I put a stop to that immediately.  I ain't never going to have a "Big" in front of my name, I don't care how old or how fat I get.

I like Baby Bonnie quite a bit.  To start with, she's named after me, so obviously she's awesome. Secondly, she's active as all get out and always running around getting into mischief.  Just like her namesake. Thirdly, she eats everything in sight and makes no apologies.  What a girl!

I'm not sure when it became a thing to throw big shindigs for one year olds, but I'm all about it.  Barbeque, cupcakes and throwing frisbees in the park all in the name of some 12 month old who doesn't have a clue in the world what is going on?  Sure, why not.

It's kind of crazy to watch my best friend be a mom and parent to this busy child who cries for no reason and eats bugs and makes terribly awful smells.  I mean, who can understand a baby?  And yet my bestie spends all day every day not only trying to understand the little one, but feeding her, bathing her, putting her to bed, etc.  All of this service from a girl who it seems like yesterday was running around with me in a bikini and trying to date boys so they would take her out on their boat.  My.  Somehow we grew up.

Amy and Cody are very adoring parents.  It is a little weird to be non parents and watch your friends who also used to be non parents with you suddenly become parents.  And now they're doing all the parent things we all used to agree were totally ridiculous.  Like talk in baby voices and schedule all plans around nap time. Also Amy lets Baby Bonnie scream into Amy's mouth and Cody just looks on and laughs uncontrollably at it all which is very weird to someone like me who has no children.  But I guess as weird as it is, it is also very sweet and assuring to see a baby who has two parents who are so freaking crazy about her.  I get convinced our whole society is going to pot with media now days and drugs on every corner and scammers up the ying yang. But then I see two parents like this, who are so wildly in love with their child, and I think maybe we're all going to end up okay after all.

It reminds me of a journal entry I was reading last week.  I was a junior in high school and madly in love with a boy named Nate.  I thought about him constantly, stalked him at church, doodled his name in my notebook. Junior year I had trigonometry with him and I flirted the best an awkward, never-been-kissed sixteen year old can flirt.  Somehow word got around that he liked me back and I was in absolute heaven.  He had never been kissed either, and I was convinced we were to be each other's first kisses.

The big girl's choice dance was coming up (I promise this tangent has a purpose.  Or does it?) and two months before the dance even arrived I was making big plans to ask Nate.  This would be our moment.  Our dance, our perfect date, the ideal first kiss situation.  But then Nate got asked by another girl.  He went with her.  They kissed.  My pure, virginal, perfect boy was tainted.

I was heartbroken.  Absolutely devastated.  Not only had they kissed, but they were now dating, taking the crush of my lifetime officially off the market.  I wrote this in my journal the night I found out: "Mom and dad could tell something was wrong at dinner so I told them.  Surprisingly, they cheered me up.  Dad said, "He's got a squeaky voice anyways," and then mom said, "and besides that he never speaks up and his nose is crooked!"  I guess my folks can be alright.  Mom reminded me to keep it all in perspective."

I guess I love this story because on the surface it seems so simple and ordinary, but it shows clearly how much my parents loved me. (And still love me.)  How they adored me, just like Amy and Cody adore Baby Bonnie.  And how they were trying to protect me and stop me from crying and keep me happy and all of those things that parents want for their children, whether they're one year old or sixteen years old.

There is a lot I would have liked to tell Baby Bonnie on her birthday, but she don't understand jack crap and she was too busy destroying her birthday cake anyway.  But if I could have, I would have told her that no matter how freaking tough life gets she'll be just fine because she's got two parents who are absolutely, one hundred percent, madly in love with her and they will help her through all the rough times.

Take it from a Bonnie who knows.

You want someone to work for free at your wedding? I'm your gal!

This weekend I flew to Mexico.

I mean New Mexico.

It's all the same, right?

My college roommate and best friend, Courtney, was sealing the knot.  Or so she said.  I refused to believe she would actually get married until I saw it for myself.  

And then I did see it.

And now she's married.

And on her honeymoon.

Anyone else jealous?

The weekend was more than fabulous.  I left Hubs at home, not by my own volition, but because he had commitments he couldn't get out of.  So I kissed him goodbye at 4 am on Friday morning (Yes!  4 am!) and was off for Mexico.  Or New Mexico.  Whatevs.

The first main event was the bachelorette party.  We held it in as public a place as possible so that Courtney could get real embarrassed when we made her open the lingerie and display it for all to see.  We all told Courtney why we loved her and gave her some advice in the marital ways.  I told her to always carry a knife on you because you never know when your husband is going to turn on you.

I kid.

I kid.

The best part of the wedding may have been getting together with all my college best friends again.  I haven't seen Sally (peach sweater) since my own wedding a year and a half ago.  We haven't all been together since Sally's wedding two and a half years ago.  Naturally this makes us all wonder how in the world so much time has passed and has it really been three years since college and when did we all grow up?

Saturday morning brought the temple festivities.  The temple ceremony was absolutely beautiful and reminded me of all the reasons marriage rocks and how grateful I am to be with Hubs forever.  Maybe one day I'll write more about Mormon marriage temple ceremonies, but for now it sufficieth to say that they are pretty dang awesome.

After that it was back to the house to get everything ready for the reception that night.  Courtney's family is so ambitious.  And talented.  And completely out of their minds.  They did everything for the wedding themselves.  And I mean everything.  From sewing table runners to designing and making the dress to the photography to the flowers to the mounds of food, there wasn't a thing they left to the "professionals".    What this really meant was that for anyone semi close to Courtney, we would be spending the hours of 2-7 pm slaving away like some kind of modern form of indentured servants.  I considered complaining, but I was with my best friends in the whole world and the weather was absolutely perfect and Courtney was happier than I'd ever seen her.  Who can complain under circumstances like that?  

And then, it was reception time.  I spent most of the time following Vanessa and Sally around and trying to get them to laugh at my mediocre jokes.  The rest of the time was spent eating.  There was a ten minute period of time there where we hunted Courtney down and made her take a bunch of obnoxious photos with us, just like the good old days.  Oh, and we also had to patrol the smore station because there were little rugrats burning up marshmallows and launching them into the garbage cans.  I had just been thinking what an awesome idea that was when Vanessa started yelling at the kids.  She told them to cut it out and they were going to burn the whole reception down and didn't they know anything?!?  She has a child so she knows that kids aren't supposed to be doing that kind of crap.  One day I'll have my own kid and I'll also know that throwing flaming marshmallows isn't okay but for now I am totally ignorant in the ways of marshmallow burning and throwing.

And that's it, folks!


Oh... we might have found a couple of minutes to decorate the car.

Isn't Courtney so lucky to have us?!?

On a total side note, I puked on the airplane on the way home.  It was stormy and there was turbulence the whole way.  Bad turbulence.  I just leaned over and barfed right into that little barf bag of mine.  The girl sitting next to me shot me some nasty looks as if she was positively disgusted by me.  Now, I know that no one wants to sit next to a barfer on a plane, but is it too much to ask for an "Are you okay?" or "Do you need anything?"  instead of a dirty sneer?  Please, woman, I didn't choose to throw up.  If I did choose it I would have done it all over you.

And that's all, folks!