Show Us Your Life - Wedding Party & Flowers

The whole idea for our wedding was 'simple'. But still elegant and classy. I wanted things to coordinate, but not be necessarily matched perfectly. I think I was able to pull it off really well! The ceremony was at a small country church that was built in the late 1800s, where my great-grandparents went to church in the early 1900s and my grandparents continue to go to today. My dad's parents were married there almost 65 years ago.




My sister, Rachel, was my Maid of Honor. My Bridesmaids were my best friend, Jennifer, my other best friend, Amy, and my cousin, Sarah.

Sarah, Amy, me, Rachel, Jennifer

The boys were quite a bunch! They definitely kept us all entertained that weekend!

I absolutely loved the flowers for my wedding! I graduated with a horticulture degree so the flowers were very tough for me to figure out. I knew I wouldn't need or want any for the church, because it is beautiful by itself and needs no other decor, and I didn't want a whole lot for the reception because it's beauty stood alone as well. I hem-hawed around for quite a while trying to decide what would be the best flowers. And then it hit me. I was standing in line at the store and saw the cover for Real Simple Weddings. It had a bride sitting down holding a bouquet of just dark purple hydrangeas. That is when I knew exactly what I wanted! I love hydrangeas in any color, but my colors were dark purple, red, and champagne, so it was perfect! I wanted the bridesmaid's bouquet to be just the dark purple hydrangeas. And for mine, the hydrangeas with red roses. These bouquets turned out so well!!

Since the reception was at a B&B with a barn, I wanted to do something really simple, so we just did a few arrangements of purple carnations.

The best part of the story is from a few months after the wedding. On the wedding day, the lady who was helping coordinate things picked up the flowers and told me that the florist (who is a good family friend) told her that she would never work with hydrangeas again! I kind of laughed because I know that they can be delicate flowers. Well, a few months later, my mom asks if she had told me the story about the flowers. Apparently, the flower guy gets to the florist's shop on the Thursday before the wedding and all the purple hydrangeas she had ordered were horrible looking. She's freaking out and asking the guy what is she supposed to do because she needs these flowers. He said that he had some white hydrangeas, so she took those and spent the night dyeing these white hydrangeas purple, just for the wedding! I couldn't believe it! No wonder she never wants to work with them again! But I love her because the flowers were gorgeous!

Bayla Bear

This is my pathetic oldest "child." This is where he falls asleep at night before Josh comes to bed. He starts out like this...


and ends up like this...

I really wish I could sleep soundly in a position like that! Absolutely pathetic.

He's my photogenic child, so we have lots of fun taking pictures. Most end up like this. But a lot of the time, he'll sit up and smile for me.

This is his new trick, actually sitting up on his butt. I don't know how he figured this out, he just started doing it! And he usually only does it when he wants something.

But the majority of the time is just him sitting and posing. He is a momma's boy and he knows it!

I call him Bayla Bear because when he was a puppy, he looked like a little fluffy polar bear because he was all white. His spots didn't come out on his ears until he was a little older.

The new job (and other things)

It has been a really long time since I have done a good blog post. I have now been employed for close to 2 months. Not much else than work has been going on. At least nothing blog worthy.

* Things are going well in my new job! It has been an adjustment for sure, but a good one. There are only 4 people in the San Antonio office, with 15 or so people in the Houston office. Our office is by the airport and it overlooks the runway, so I get to see planes landing all day. It is a definite contrast to the previous employer in all aspects. I do miss having so many people to talk to during the day though.

* Josh and I have been doing Dave Ramsey's plan since January, so our going out time has been limited to what our "fun money" envelope contains. We are doing really well though and are getting the debt snowball rolling.

* Josh and I went home for the chicken butchering. I really couldn't get into it, so Josh, Dad, & Ryan did it. My mom said that she was going to become vegetarian! Not really, she's just happy they are no longer on her back porch!

* I went home this past weekend to hang out with the grandparents. One grandpa is 96, the other grandpa will be 91 at the beginning of September, and grandma will be 91 in a few weeks. They are slowly getting slower, but at that age, who wouldn't be? I have been working on my family tree off and on for a few years now and I had some questions to fill in some spaces, as well as pictures that were not marked. I got my questions answered and am now able to trace back to my great-great-great-great-great grandparents on my Grandpa Jim's side in the mid-1700s. Yes, that's 5 'greats'! I couldn't believe it! The last few of those greats were on a family tree that was completely in Czech, so I had to get them to translate for me. I am going back in a few weeks for the Praha picnic. Grandma has a box full of pictures, some marked, some not, so we are going to go through it and get them to tell us who is in them and where they were taken.

* My garden is pretty much dead. It just got way too hot here for anything to survive. The cucumber was doing really well and then the 100 degree heat wave hit and it couldn't make it. The squash followed suit and now it's the okra. The jalapeno and both tomato plants are still alive and have produce, but I think they may be next to go. We did get two really good tomatoes last week from it. Probably the best we have had all year!

Rylie laying out getting some sun!

Show Us Your Life - Wedding Dress

I wanted to join in on Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life on Friday, but forgot, so I am posting it anyway.

I absolutely loved my wedding dress! I knew it was probably going to be my dress when I saw it online, but especially after I had tried it on! It was a little out of the price range I wanted to pay, but it looked great, and I just knew it! I am not a "big, poofy dress" kind of girl, so I knew I wanted one that was more fitted. I was looking for something simple and never would have thought I would get one with so much beadwork and detail. The part I loved the most was that the train was lace.

The dress fit me almost perfectly from the time I got it, which was awesome! But it also meant I really had to watch what I ate. Every time I went home before the wedding, I made sure to try it on just to make sure!