Ashley's 30th Birthday Party

Last Saturday night was sweet Ashley's 30th Birthday.   We stopped in for about an hour and a half.  We had Nathan with us so we needed to get him to bed but he would have been bummed to miss her birthday extravaganza!  I met Ashley at Focus Institute in 2004.  Oh my, has it really been EIGHT years?   She actually went to college at Taylor, about 20 minutes from Indiana Wesleyan where Matt and I attended!  Anyway, we reconnected when Matt and I moved out here and then when she started to watch Nathan during small group last year we have enjoyed getting to see her on a more regular basis.  Nathan loves her and that of course made it so much easier for us to leave him with her!

Micah, another girl I met at the Institute, threw a Mexican Fiesta for her, complete with Pinterest decorations and Vera Bradley invitations!

Micah's from the south and her hospitality is incredible.

Here's Ashley (on the right) and Sarena (also a sweet girl from Focus) on the left.


More decor.


And Micah (on the left) with Denise (on the right)!  Denise...you guessed it!  From the Institute as well.  Super fun girl and very talented writer.  She is at Denver Seminary now.


We got to meet Denise's new boyfriend :)  He's the one watching the Olympics in this picture.


You'll never believe it...more Focus girls!  It was like a Focus reunion.  Really fun.  I wish we could have stayed longer!  These are some quality women that I feel really blessed to know. 

Lauren is on the left.  We used to be in a small group with her and her husband, Andy.  She also attended Taylor University with Ashley.  Matt and I still get to see these two every now and then.  And Amber is on the far right.  Nathan and I get to see Amber pretty much every week this summer.  Amber and I take walks once a week and Nathan rides in the bike trailer.  He really likes her too!  It's a highlight of his week.  And I have loved having the time to chat with her and really deepen our friendship during this time.  I'm so blessed to have her in my life.  I'm sad that she start back to school next week :(  She's a school teacher at The Classical Academy...where I have Nathan on a waiting list!

The men!

Andy (Lauren's husband) is on the far left and Josh (Amber's husband) is on the far right.  Jarred who is sitting between Matt & Josh is Micah's husband.  Nathan is crazy about Josh and he barely ever sees him!  It's hilarious.  Amber says that always happens with Josh and kids!  We talk about Amber and Josh at our house a lot.  And their dog, McCoy...who to Nathan is "ruff, ruff".  When we were leaving the party and headed outside, Nathan promptly pointed out "Amber's car".  He amazes us as to what he notices!

I guess I didn't take any picture of Nathan at the party.  Honestly, Matt and I were busy keeping him out of stuff and I just ran around and took the few pictures I have at the very end.  But, I here are a few pictures of Nathan earlier that Saturday before we went to the party.

Nathan loves orange.  So he is really into his "orange" shoes from Target :)

Daddy sharing food with him.


And Nathan wearing mommy's new flip-flops.  He's obsessed with wearing my shoes.  ha ha.


But it's not just me!  Ashley emailed me this picture from her iPhone back in July with the subject: "I just love him!" :)

He says "flowa, flowa" about the flowers on her shoes!