Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Wedding, Birthday, & Birthday....OH MY!

The day has finally come and gone.  Jess & Larry are now married and somewhere in the middle of the ocean right now!  (To be clear, they're on a cruise, not stranded on a deserted island or anything.)  Their wedding was absolutely gorgeous!  I know Jess loved every detail that all came together that she's been planning for the last year and a half.  She had a company called Pursuing Eden help out a lot with the decor.  I was majorly impressed by them.  The wedding was at Ramage Farms in Hooks, Texas.  I've been to many weddings there, and all seem to have a different vibe.  This one was no different.  She complimented the surroundings by doing everything vintage.  I had a blast at the wedding and am so excited for our two dear friends.  I pray they have a long, happy marriage together!

This was at the rehearsal.
DAY OF!!!  Jess wasn't in her dress yet, but we were almost there. :)
Her hair was awesome!
The very cute sign-in table.
Yummy brunch food.


The gifts & cards bed.  I was able to donate my swags for the occasion. :) 
The shelves set up like an old five and dime store. :)
The "Heritage Table."  The left side was the Wilcox family, and the right side was the Sullivan family. 
All of the programs. 
Mother of the bride getting the bride all cinched up! 
Hailey & me waiting for the wedding to begin.  She was in the house party. 
Sarah, another bridesmaid, and myself.

Me & my sister-in-law, Tovah.  She was also a bridesmaid. 
Christi was in the house party.  Her duties also included holding the sleeping ring bearer. :) 
Just me. 
First dance! 
The band for the reception. 
My handsome husband played drums. :)
Father-Daughter dance.  So sweet.
Good friend, Kathryn, & me

My handsome husband & I.
That evening, Nick & I went out with the Maybens, Finks, and Borums for Michell's birthday.  We ate at Shogun and played putt-putt.  We also grabbed some drinks at Starbucks.  Happy birthday Mitchell!!

Baha!  Love my friends!
Now for a more serious, cute picture. :)
John & the zebra were having an intense game of who would blink first.  The zebra won.
Kelley putting away!
The guys behind us.
Waiting on John. 
The group.  Our friends are awesome!


Sunday, Nick & I attended church, ate lunch at Joe & Melanie's (with our precious nephew), then I took the most glorious nap!  After Saturday, I needed the extra two hours of sleep. :)  Nick & I then headed to MP to get mulch and a few more pieces for our yard.  It's coming together!

My nephew being all cute.
Monday, Nick & I worked on the yard most of the day.  We got 3/4 of the mulch spread, but then we had a great evening spent with friends again for Mitchell's birthday.  We ate hamburgers and other good food out at their cabin.  Happy 30th Mitchell!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Mother's Day, Plants, and Owen's Birthday...Oh My!!!

The past week and a half have been CRAZY full and fun!

Saturday, May 12th, I headed to NB to spend the night for Mother's day. My Sister, Mom, and I spent the day together. We shopped, ate yummy food, and went to see The Avengers! It was sooooo good! It was even better than I had anticipated. :) We went to church on Sunday, then my Sister and I made lunch and dessert for my Mom and Dad. My sister did most of the cooking. We had her famous chicken Alfredo. It was delicious! I made a strawberry cake by Mom's request. We ate on the back porch since it was so pretty outside. Mom also opened presents. Nick & I got her a Bible charm and spacer for her Pandora bracelet. My sister got her a charm as well. And Mom and Dad got a new grill! It was super nice and we were able to use it to grill the chicken.  After spending the afternoon with my family, I headed back to Pittsburg.  I ran home, put Satchel in his kennel, jumped in the truck with Nick, and we headed to Highland to meet up with Joe & Melanie to fish a bit.  After about an hour of fishing, Alan, Tovah, & Owen showed up.  They fished with us for about 10 minutes, then we headed to Mt Pleasant to eat dinner at El Chico.  It was yummy, and Melanie got to open her present.  We all went in together to get her a Kendall Wright Tennessee Titans jersey.  She was so excited and surprised.  I can't wait for them to actually ship it to her.  We were only able to do a print out and wrap that.  She's excited just the same though. :)  We had a good time visiting, then Nick and I went home.  OH, and while I was in NB, Nick completely got the rest of the flower beds cleaned out!  I was so impressed with him.

What the yard looked like after Nick pulled up EVERYTHING!  So proud of him!
On Monday, May 14th, the bank had a sponsor night for League of Dreams.  Many employees from the bank were able to all get together and cheer for some of these awesome kids.  I was given the task of creating baseball trading cards for each of the kids, and they were ecstatic to receive baseball cards with their picture and name on it.  I so enjoy getting to participate weekly in League of Dreams.  Those kids are so awesome!








Some of our awesome bankers who attended and helped out at the game.
On Tuesday, May 15th, Nick & I had a mini date night to go see The Avengers.  I had obviously already seen it, but Nick hadn't.  I think it was even better the second time!  It was like we were in college again.  We made a dinner out of food from the concession stand, and laughed like crazy as the Hulk pitched Loki around like a rag doll. :)

Wednesday, May 16th, I was fortunate enough to get to volunteer as a teacher for JA-in-a-Day.  I had some of the sweetest kids to teach about government, finances, and how a community works.  We even made paper donuts.  I gave them all real donuts as a treat for doing so well the entire day.  It was such a blessing to work with them, but I do know that I am not called to be a teacher.  I'll stick with marketing. :)

The lovely ladies I work with at the bank that also volunteered to teach.
My sweet kids working on "How the Quarter Travels" worksheet.
They were all soooo good!
And FUN!
My great teacher!
Friday, May 18th, a few guys at the bank fixes some AMAZING food for an employee appreciation lunch.  There was grilled chicken, ribs, sausage, steak, baked potatoes, fried okra, pies, rolls and so much more!  I was sufficiently stuffed after lunch.  They definitely know how to cook and make the employees feel appreciated.

Ummm...yummy.
That evening, Nick came home with A LOT of plants to put in our backyard.  Encore Azaleas, lariope, boxwoods, yaupon holly, Japanese maple, hydrangeas, Indian hawthorne, hostas, lantana, and more I'm sure.  We've been working hard Friday, Saturday, Sunday, & Monday to get all of the plants in the ground.  Sunday, Nick started working on the irrigation for the beds.  They'll all look awesome once we're done.  I'm not going to post any pictures of the after until we're fully done.  But, I will put a before picture.

This is the best "before" picture I currently have.  I think Nick took some on his camera.
Saturday, May 19th, was our nephew's very 1st birthday party.  Little Owen partied hard and ate his very first cupcake.  He was so happy to have sugar!  :)  Nick & I got him the cutest swim trunks, swim shirt, and straw hat.  I hope he'll wear the hat because he was so darn cute in it!  He's never worn hats before, so I don't know if he'll actually leave it on.  I guess we'll see.  He had a fish themed birthday complete with fish hanging from the ceiling and a pail full of goldfish crackers.  I think he really enjoyed his celebration.

The little outfit we got him. 
"Don't I look dashing Aunt Dede?"
"I don't think I need this on anymore." :)
After the party, Nick & I headed back to Pittsburg to pick up Satchel and head to New Boston.  A lot of my family from Mississippi were in, and we wanted to get to visit with them.  We spent the night there and had a great time!  I know I'm biased, but I have the CUTEST cousins in the world.  Charly (who will be three in just a few months) now knows the Pledge of Allegiance.  It was adorable to listen to.  She sounds like a Care Bear when she speaks.  LOVE IT!  We're going down to Mississippi at the end of June, and I'm excited to get to spend more time with all of them.

Sunday, May 20th, we ate lunch with my sister and Mom, then headed back to Pittsburg.  We planted and worked on the front yard, then we had Joe & Melanie over for dinner.  They brought Tex back (who had spent the night with them while we were in NB).

Life is not slowing down (but I wouldn't have it any other way).  I have a retirement party to plan for an employee of the bank, a wedding to attend that I'm a bridesmaid in, a good friend's birthday all this week/weekend.  Thank goodness I get Monday off!