Bryan and Rachel's Wedding

I feel like I have lots to blog about but not much time to do it - like nursery plans, farming updates, starting my Mary Kay business... Maybe tomorrow I will have a chance!

Kanyon's and I's good friend Bryan got married last weekend. Bryan was a Young Life leader with Kanyon and I in college. He is so much fun and loves Jesus and showing Jesus to kids. He is on Young Life staff as an Area Director in Fort Worth. Rachel, his new wife, is a junior high teacher. They met through mutual friends. They are quite a pair - both sincere and great people. And they have the same sarcastic sense of humor. Not many women could keep up with Bryan but she does it perfectly.

The rehearsal dinner was at the Young Life building in Lubbock, where she is from. Very convenient for us - thanks, guys! It was a great night of toasts and then the huge wedding party all hanging out together at the hotel after. We ended up staying the night in Lubbock, Kanyon at the hotel with the groomsmen and me at a friend's house whose husband was also a groomsman. Lubbock lost power for a few hours that night, making it a hot night, meaning no one slept much the night before the wedding.

The next morning, I headed home for a bridal shower I wanted to attend in Brownfield and then turned around and came back to Lubbock after changing into my wedding outfit. The wedding was so sweet. Our friend Jace Thompson was the officiant, who is also on Young Life staff in Forth Worth. He did a great job making it so personal and engaging the audience. It was at First Christian Church.

The reception was at the Lubbock Country Club. The decor was so pretty! I didn't take many pictures but I got a couple to remember how she decorated.

 Pretty summer flowers with lots of rustic and vintage accents.

Squeezing myself into this non-maternity dress was real fun at 24 weeks but I managed to make it through the whole night! I thought Kanyon looked handsome in his suit. Love those suspenders :)

We finally got a picture with the bride and groom at the end of the night right before they were walking out the door. Kanyon and I look pretty tired, huh?

 Running out the door!

It was such a fun weekend! We knew a lot of Bryan's groomsmen and their wives or girlfriends from college making it a fun reunion, but boy were we glad to get into bed Saturday night! 

Lindsay's Baby Shower

Last weekend I left Kanyon in Welch to finish up planting to head to Abilene with Lauren for a baby shower and visiting friends.

Its getting much harder the longer we're married to be apart even if for a little bit. I don't say that to make you say "aw" but really just a thought on how life changes! I used to be fine with having time all to myself for a little, even look forward to it. Now I dread when Kanyon has to leave for a day or two. It just doesn't feel right. I bore myself.

Anyways. One of my favorite people Lindsay is 29 weeks pregnant and unfortunately living in Indiana at the moment so we never get to see each other! Lindsay and I were in each other's weddings and I love any time I get to spend with her. She's one of those people who just make you feel good when you're around them.

Lauren and I left on Friday night and got there late but still managed to stay up until 2:30 am (wow, that is unheard of for me!) catching up with Linds. The rest of the weekend was spent catching up with friends that I don't get to see often anymore. It was really needed. We stayed with our good friends Shelly and Colby, who I got to spend a lot more time with than I usually do and I loved that. We stay with them every time we come to Abilene but never end up getting to visit with them much because we always feel pulled in so many directions. As the years go by, though, people have moved away and I felt like I could finally spend more time at home with them.

Sunday was the day of the shower and it went great! Lindsay got a lot of great gifts and got to see several people she hasn't seen in a long while because of her move to Indiana. My friends who hosted the shower did such a cute job and had a bumblebee theme.

By the time we stopped visiting and got around to opening gifts, there were less people there but they had a great turnout.

 Lindsay registered for this cute owl storage bin which gave me a cute gift sack to put my stuff in, making me look semi-creative. I appreciate when people help me out in that area :)

 Cute stationary our talented friend Jackie made for Lindsay's thank you's.

 One of the Molly's that inspired Lindsay's baby Molly's name! Lindsay has two very important Molly's in her life and will soon have three! The other was one of the hosts of the shower.

 Pink ruffles. A given!

 Kelly holding the cute romper she gave to baby Molly.

Like I mentioned before, the theme for the shower was bumblebee and the girls did such a cute job with it.

Different types of honey for dipping. 

One of the activities of the shower was decorating a onesie for Molly. They all turned out really cute. 

 The onesie I made. Jackie drew out the Texas for me, I couldn't have done it! The heart is on Abilene, where Lindsay spent several years in college and then on Young Life staff and even got married to Jimmy there. She has a special place in her heart for it. As do I!

Filling up the wall as we go!

The take home goodies were caramelized honey candies. Very good, very sweet.

After the shower, Lauren and I rushed to get our stuff at Shelly and Colby's house and head out of town so we wouldn't be driving back late. Lauren was a host for the shower so she had been rushing around getting ready for it and I knew she was tired. It was a great weekend!

Ms. Ainsley Crisp

I have talked about Al and Kasha, a couple of our closest friends, a lot on this blog. Especially about their 2 year old son, Tac (aka my boyfriend as Al calls him). Well there is a new Crisp these days!

But she didn't get here without a little drama of course.

Last Thursday, Al called me and told me he is taking Kasha to the hospital because she was having very intense pain in her abdomen but mostly back. She was just a day away from being 36 weeks into her pregnancy. I asked her it felt like contractions or just pain and she said pain.

A little while later (actually a lot while later - they had to wait too long), they found out she had a kidney stone. The irony is that the night before Al was telling us how he has kidney stones sometimes and how horrible they are. And the next morning, Kasha wakes up with one..

As if she isn't in enough pain with a kidney stone, all the activity and pain (I assume) sent her body into labor. So she starts having contractions. While passing a kidney stone! She finally passed the stone two days later only to find out she has an infection in her kidney, too.

To make a long story short, Kasha's labor and kidney pain goes on until Monday night when she finally gave birth to Ainsley. They were very worried about if the early birth and infection affected Ainsley. The doctor told Al and Kasha that Ainsley would have to spend at least 7 days in the NICU because of it. But God gave us all a Christmas blessing because Ainsley had high Apgar scores and seemed to have no indication of an infection! We were all so relieved and excited! I couldn't be there for the birth because I had taken off work that morning to be with Kasha while she was just waiting to get further along in her labor. Ainsley was born at 3:38 pm.

Tac with his little sister! They said he was couting all of her fingers and toes and so interested in her.

Look at those chubby cheeks!!



Visiting her in the NICU!

The next day was Tac's birthday! So Ainsley's birthday is December 19th and Tac's December 20th. December will be a busy month for Al and Kasha!

The birthday boy!

Ainsley did not like being woken up...

A few days later, earlier than expected, Kasha and Ainsley both got to go home. Kasha's kidney infection was expected to clear up very quickly now that her uterus was not pushing on her kidney, irritating it.

I am so happy and thankful to God for the blessing of Ainsley and Kasha's health. It was a long week for me just watching all of it, I can't imagine how it must have been for Al. And Kasha was such a trooper. Passing a kidney stone and in labor at the same time?!? Just calling her a trooper is such an understatement.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are enjoying your day!



Camille's Wedding

Last weekend, I got to return a favor:

Almost two years ago, Camille was my bridesmaid. And last week, I got to be her's!

And I cried. A lot.

I didn't realize I would, but this wedding was one of the sweetest I've ever been to, much less been a part of. Camille and Jacob were so excited to be finally married, the whole weekend was stress-free (at least for us) and all about excitement and so emotional.

The wedding was on Sunday, so on Saturday morning at 11:00 am, Camille's grandmother and aunts gave a Bridesmaid's Luncheon for the bridesmaids. It was at the Houston Country Club and was a beautiful formal affair. I'm really glad Mom talked me out of wearing jeans... (I was going to wear heals, though!) We headed over to the venue for a quick rehearsal that afternoon.

That night, Claire (another bridesmaid and best friend from high school) and I headed downtown to the Rehearsal Dinner. It was at Pappa's BBQ. The food was excellent!

Claire and I 

The toasts after dinner went on for a while because everyone wanted to make sure and tell Camille and Jacob how proud of them they were and how much they loved them. Many tears were shed. It was such a special night.

That night, all the bridesmaids and groomsmen and bridal party (about 20 of us or more!) went over to one of the groomsmen's houses and had a lot of fun hanging out. One really fun part of this wedding was how well all of us got along, even if we didn't know each other. We all had so much fun celebrating with Camille and Jacob and each other.

Then the big day finally came! We got up to The Gallery Sunday morning. Camille looked absolutely stunning.

Camille's Maids of Honors were her two sisters, older sister Carrie and younger sister Carly.

I was such a proud bridesmaid!

I don't have a picture of the venue but this is from online:

 We were so happy to see our friend James. He lives in California now and we don't see him as much.

The wedding was definitely a huge success. It was such a fun weekend. Camille and Jacob are in Mexico this week for their honeymoon and then will be back in Dallas.

Conglomeration

First of all, I know that I kind of left my guest room updates and the leather shop updates hanging. But that's for a reason.. because I haven't been able to do much since those updates. But Kanyon and I walked through the shop last night and he told me what all he has left to do. And I am getting materials today for a project for the guest room. So updates will hopefully be coming soon?

In other news, now that I've gotten two of the bigger chunks of our weekend in Houston told, I think this is going to be a conglomerate of the rest of the weekend!

Friday night, Kanyon and I flew in to Houston about 8:00, about the same time as my cousin Emily, who flew in from OKC after work. That night, my family all just hung out at home, ate a great dinner from Mom and just relaxed.

 Dad playing with his new wine decanter/big boy toy.

Saturday, though, was busy busy. We woke up and headed to downtown Houston for Micah and Emry's birthday party. We got home from there around 3:00 or so? When we got home my family was watching the Oklahoma State game and we had time to sit for a little while.

From there, we headed to a nearby neighborhood to take some family pictures with our friend Megan, who is a photographer! Here is a link to her blog post about our session with a sneak peak of pictures! She had a hand in helping us surprise our parents since we knew we would be going pretty much straight from pictures to the surprise party, where she also took pictures for us.

Love this picture of all of us.

After a really late night after the surprise party visiting with friends and family, we woke up for church at my home church the next morning. I was particularly excited to go this Sunday because they had just moved into their new location. Well, really, they had mostly moved out of the building we had been in for about 10 years and are currently meeting in the YMCA. I've been so excited for them. Moving out of that building was going to be a major load off of them financially and it was exciting to be starting a new chapter. It was great seeing all the new faces that meeting at a YMCA brought and the excitement of something different.

After church, Mom and I skipped going out to lunch with everyone because we were helping host a bridal shower at our house in a couple hours! My best friend Camille from high school is getting married! I don't have a single picture from the shower unfortunately (I'm sure someone else does..) because at that point, I was running on fumes.. but she had a great shower and I enjoyed getting to meet a couple of her aunts that I hadn't really ever met.

I really had trouble deciding which picture to show of Camille and her fiance, Jacob.. because they are all so beautiful! Are they not a gorgeous couple!?

 (Photo by When It Clicks Photography)

After the shower was over and we finished visiting with friends and cleaned up, it was about 5:00. I think I was on my second fifth wind or something because I don't know how I stayed in the upright position the rest of the night.

For dinner, we just took all of the leftover food out of the fridge and had a mostly Italian but also some other stuff meal. Kalum and Ashley came over - wait .. quick picture of Kalum and Ashley from the surprise party..

You're welcome.

Anyways, we had a great dinner (Dad and I ran to the store and bought some really good olives.. something I had to drive to Lubbock for them to be uncanned or jarred.. Kanyon is rolling his eyes, I'm sure). And we got to eat some more of the awesome cake that Kalum and Ashley got for Mom and Dad's party.

And then Rachel, one of my best friends, and Jeremy stopped by! Jeremy is from Texas City and Rachel just got an internship in the area after she graduated this summer so she is really close to my parent's house! She got a puppy for her birthday and brought her over.

Elly was a teensy bit nervous around Holly Belle but she got over it pretty quick. It was so good to see Rachel and Jeremy. I don't even remember the last time the four of us actually sat down together. 

Another late night, got up early and headed to the airport and then worked that afternoon! It was a great weekend.

Now, just because I found this in my phone from last week and its too cute not to share..

Mr. Tac. Kanyon put him up on the hat rack at Emmaus. Look at that cheesin'.

Have a great Tuesday!

Girl's Weekend!

A few of my best college girl friends came to Welch for a girl's weekend the last few days and it was so fun, hilarious, relaxing... lots.

Heather came from Midland, Kaelyn came from Dallas, and Lauren came from Abilene!

Friday night, I made my mom's "Chicken and White Wine Sauce" for dinner and picked up an Angel Food cake with whipped cream and strawberries for dessert. I love that dessert. No fat but still so good. 

After dinner, we jumped in the truck with Kanyon and Zeb and went to go check water with them. I hadn't seen Kanyon's cotton in a couple weeks myself (I never drive that way since I work in the opposite direction) and I thought it'd be interesting for the girls to see.

And they wanted to ride in the back with Zeb... I said "have fun, I'll be in the cab, thanks."

We spent about an hour out there checking water and Kanyon having an interested audience to tell about cotton farming. He pulled up a stalk to show them and all three gasped in horror and said "how much did that cost you!?" I laughed because thats the same way I felt about it when I first came home with Kanyon. Now I know its not putting us out more than 50 cents.

Saturday, we got up a lot earlier naturally than we ever did in college (9:00 am!) and had breakfast and just hung out in our pj's until noon.

Then I told them I wanted them to meet my boyfriend... Mr. Tac.

Tac loved having the attention of four girls. He was quite the charmer. But thankfully he still made me feel I was his favorite :)

I asked Kasha and Al (Tac's parents and our good friends) how they felt about becoming my entertainment for my friends when they come to town, ha! Somehow I always end up bringing visitors to come meet Tac and see what's going on at Al and Kasha's. I mean, they just happen to always have something interesting going on! Kasha's taxidermy, Al's cotton gin, or their new house that's being built right behind their old one is a lot more interesting than my living room!

Tac thought this was hilarious... he was laughing with his mouth under water, blowing bubbles.

Don't worry, Zeb hadn't gotten a chance to drink out of it yet!

That afternoon, we relaxed around the house, watching a movie, taking a nap and reading. That night, we headed to Lamesa to eat out and go see a movie.

Dinner was great, we ate at Taqueria Jalisco's and then headed to the movie theatre where Kanyon and Landon met up with us. We saw Captain America in 3D!

Heather in her 3D glasses and her Captain America pose.

It was a great weekend and we had so much fun getting to catch up and hang out. After a really great church service on Sunday and a church potluck lunch, everyone headed back home and Kanyon headed to the gun show in Lubbock so I took a two-hour nap. Nice :)