It was 10 years ago when Carrie Underwood first popped up on baker Ivey Childers’ radar, all thanks to a hair stylist.

Childers and one of Underwood’s label reps shared the same “hair lady,” so when the time came to serve up a bangin’ birthday cake for newly-crowned American Idol, Childers was the lucky one to get the call.

However, the two didn’t actually meet until a few years later when the culinary whiz began dating Underwood’s music director/bass player, Mark Childers. An instant bond was born, and now the gals are peas in a pod.

Childers designed Underwood’s spectacular cupcake tower for her wedding to hockey star Mike Fisher, so it was only appropriate that Underwood and Fisher return the favor to celebrate one of Childers’ biggest milestones: the expected arrival of a beautiful baby girl.

Last week, Fisher and Underwood threw quite the unconventional shower in honor of Childers and her little one at exclusive hot-spot Citizen, in the trendy Gulch area of Nashville. Friends and family enjoyed cocktails, karaoke, a photo booth with hilarious masks and props and even one of IveyCake’s own massive cupcake towers with a topper bearing the baby girl’s name, Leona.

“We’ve been friends for gosh, seven or eight years now,” Childers said of Underwood. “We got married a year apart, we’re having babies a year apart. We’ve kind of experience all the milestones in life together. She’s most definitely my very best friend.”

And though much of Underwood’s life -- professional and personal -- is lived in the shining spotlight of the world’s stage, Childers told me her bestie doesn’t let the pressures of fame affect her role as a mom.

“I watch her, and I’m amazed at what she can handle and how she’s not rattled,” Childers said. “She calms me. … Watching her embrace motherhood the way she has makes me a relaxed person. We’re a good balance for each other in the sense that she’s very calm and collected.”

And Underwood is always there for Childers with the best advice, like any best friend would be.

“She’s just such a natural,” Childers said. “She’s always been the most excited for me because she’s such a loving and loyal friend. She’s told me to go easy on myself. Don’t be too hard on yourself in everything that you experience with it all. There’s gonna be some hard moments, but just remember to not be so hard on yourself. That’s the thing I keep hearing from her.”

Also there in attendance to dispense wisdom and show love were Childers’ pals Jana Kramer, Ty Herndon and American Idol alumnus Melinda Doolittle.

Childers met Kramer through Underwood and also designed cupcakes for Kramer’s recent baby shower. (She’s expecting a girl, too.)

“Uncle Ty” Herndon is a longtime friend whom Childers says will be a fantastic uncle figure because he “loves with all of his heart.”

Doolittle, whom Childers met in a Tae Bo class, flew all the way from family time in Tulsa to attend the party, because “she’s amazing,” Childers said.

This is one friend circle we’d love to be in. Wouldn’t you?