Headed west for the weekend

Josh and I headed to Ft. Stockton for Labor Day Weekend. It was so nice to get out in the middle of nowhere for a few days and not do much.

We went down to Marathon to eat dinner at The Gage Hotel Saturday night. It was so good and the day was absolutely beautiful!! Beautiful enough for Josh and I to talk about quitting our jobs and moving our west! :)

Gorgeous west texas sunset

I don't know what it is about being out there, but I love it. There's just something about the environment that makes me feel so at peace with the world.

And when we got home yesterday afternoon, this was awaiting me! One of the first oxblood lilies of the season! Yeah!

Wildflowers

I have a soft spot in my heart for wildflowers! I think it was in the 6th grade that I had to have a wildflower collection for science class. Ever since then, I have always been enamored with any and all kinds of wildflowers.

Since we had a such a fantastic winter, weather wise, for flowers, they are out in full force this year. I have been itching to get to a good area to take some pics. This past weekend afforded me that chance in more than one place.

These were at Bill & Dolores's Friday evening.

Saturday morning, Dad, Josh, & I went to my parent's farm to burn some brush piles. Once we got them started, I headed out in the pasture to see what I could find.

There was a small patch of pale blue bluebonnets. In this picture it looks more white.

There were tons of Red Paintbrush. I was on the lookout for a yellow one, but it remained elusive this year.

Wild Hyacinth

Spiderwort

These are on the land behind my parent's house. Saturday afternoon, we took a little hike to the creek with Rylie to check out the flowers and the dewberry situation for the year (looks promising!).

Rylie checking things out

This ladybug would not hold still for anything!

Buttercup. This is a true buttercup. The pink one's that everyone calls "Buttercup" are actually Showy Primrose.

Poppy - I love these flowers! So delicate and simple.

And the obligatory Texas Bluebonnet picture. Bayla is missing because he had finished rolling around in a huge pile of cow poop. He wasn't allowed anywhere near us!

Flowers

I went home this past weekend. As I got closer to the 'burg, I started noticing wildflowers in the median, most likely phlox. I got really excited that maybe there would be some in the pasture behind my parents house. I was very disappointed, but did catch a few.

Just a plain ol' dandelion, but the yellow was so pretty against the brown, wintery grass

The peach tree in my parent's backyard

This is actually an annual winter weed, but I loved these when I was little!

And then, the phlox. There were only a few out, but they are so cute and pretty!

Poppies

I took these pictures back at the beginning of the summer. They were in the alley behind a neighbor's house, and I couldn't just not take a picture because they were so pretty!

These were behind my parent's house. Everywhere. It was hard to just pick one to photograph, but it was starting to rain, so I made a choice and ran!

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!