I have my camera to thank for the wonderful people you’re about to meet in this entry. Without a passion for photography, I would have never met any of these incredible friends who’ve come into my life over the past five years. That same group of people showered Nick and I and our baby boy with love and congratulations and gifts Sunday during a couples’ cookout/baby shower they held for us. I went to bed Sunday night with the biggest grin on my face — feeling so loved, so blessed, and getting SO excited for this little man to make his appearance in (eek!) two more months!

Here’s some highlights from our wonderful day! A special shout-out to Kyle (and Chanel) for helping me document some great moments from the day so I could put my camera down, sit back and really enjoy things!

The theme of the party was books, which, if you know me (and my husband) you know this is EVER-so appropriate for us. Our friend, Bobbi, came up with the most incredible old-school, library book check-out invitation for the event (here’s what it looked like) and when I got it in the mail, I promptly burst into hormonal tears. It was so perfect. And thoughtful (especially for a girl who loved to play “pretend library” when she was 6). And AMAZING. (and if you know these two and how awesome their Xmas cards are, you are not surprised by the cleverness of this invitation).

Everyone brought us a book for the baby, and it was SUCH a great way for us to get this kiddo’s library started. And yes, he WILL have his own library. I mean, he IS going to be the child of two book lovers, so it only makes sense!

It’s awesome to see how so many couples within our group of friends have become parents in recent years…and because this was a kid-friendly party, there were adorable tots EVERYWHERE! On the left is the oh-my-gosh-isn’t-she-ADORABLE Rose (daughter of my sweet Ball State co-worker Kate): and on the right, that’s Dustin with his son, Finn. Those overalls he’s wearing just made me SWOON (Dustin and April are family favorites on the blog, if you thought they looked familiar!) And can we just take a minute to talk about the wonderful spread of food at this party? My friendship with Bobbi has fostered a friendship with a good friend of hers, Annie, whom I just adore. She is smart (like, doctor smart), well-read, passionate, a wonderful mama and, oh yeah, did I happen to mention she keeps a pretty incredible food blog? She made our cake for us and it was melt-in-your-mouth good (and one of my fave flavors— white with raspberry filling. Mmmmmm) Annie, if you read this, THANK YOU!!! Speaking of thank-yous, our designer friend Ryan showed off his wicked artistic skills with this amazing (and HILARIOUS) baby tutorial sketch he drew up for us. A highlight of the party, for sure!

After a horribly hot summer, what a relief it was to have such GORGEOUS weather Sunday. We spent much of the day outdoors, with yard games for the kids, including this awesome pinata. What a hit this was….(pun intended, of course :) ) My lovely shower hosts, girls I just adore and would do anything for! (That’s Bobbi, Maya, and Betsy and my girl Jess, who couldn’t make it because of sick kiddos but who was there in spirit!) (and no, I’m not a giant, though I am pretty tall…I’m just standing on a bit of a tree root here…I feel like I look monstrous next to these women!) We had a few adorable helpers when it came time to open our gifts :) Chanel and Kyle (who are two of the CRAFTIEST people I know) made us this GORGEOUS mobile for the baby’s room. I’ve said it before on this blog, but those two need their own show on HGTV. Love this photo of us together. Can’t wait to read all these books to our son. More awesome girlfriends … if you would have told me six years ago that I’d become best friends with my OWN wedding photographer (that’d be Amanda, far left), I wouldn’t have been surprised. We get along like PB & J. I’m holding her son, Ruben, who came into their lives back in January through a beautiful, seamless adoption. You’ll see more of these two on the blog soon as I just photographed them last week. Can’t wait to share those images! The boys at the party — I have to say I HIGHLY recommend turning a baby shower into a couples’ gathering. It’s fun to include the guys and we kept it all so low-key. My family is throwing me a more traditional baby shower (for the gals only!) this weekend, which I’m equally excited for, but just glad Nick got to be a part of this one! And finally, had to share an Instagram Bobbi took of me shooting with that baby belly of mine—this photo cracks me up! And those bookmarks were made by Betsy and I ADORE them. Nick and I had bookmarks (highlighting our favorite books) as favors at our wedding, so it feels so right that the theme managed to make its way into this next milestone in our lives.

Thanks again to everybody who came out to shower us with love! We know you’ll be rejoicing with us again come October when Baby Werner gets here!

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