Birthdays, Father's Days, and Bridal Showers

We returned from the beach just in time to celebrate my birthday and Father's day. Since my b-day was on Friday (June 19th) and Father's day was on Sunday we chose to jointly celebrate it on Saturday. We started out the day meeting for lunch at one of my favorite places, Gabe's Downtown. We were joined by Jonathan's family (Ginny and Daniel, Lauren and Chad), My family (My mom and dad, Christine, Quentin and Shannon) and my cousin Elizabeth. After a nice lunch and some very thoughtful gifts (Gift cards to Bed Bath and Beyond and Hobby Lobby, Reba Season 5, an beautiful Shabby Chic picture frame, some $, a shirt from Ann Taylor Loft, a sewing box for my awesome new sewing machine, and a very cute Vera Bradley toiletry bag) I went with my cousin to look nursery furniture. She dropped my off at my mother-in-laws after we were done where I met back up with my family and we celebrated Father's Day and had cake and Ice Cream. It was such a fun day and I could not have asked for a better family. I truly feel like I have been so blessed with a family (mine and Jonathan's) that loves us so much.

Charlie is not the only one who acts up for pictures;) He has a partner in crime and doesn't even know it. Boys, you just can't get them to sit nice for just one picture.

There that is much better.

My cousin Elizabeth met us for Lunch at Gabe's Downtown to celebrate my birthday. It was very special to have her there.
The two who brought me in and the two who can take me out;) We had a wonderful Saturday together.

Me and my daddy. Words can't express how much I love him! Thank you so much for being my dad and raising me up in the admonition of the Lord. You taught me a lot and continue to do so! Happy Father's Day

Aren't they just beautiful. My brother and his wife came to celebrate my birthday and father's day at my mother-in-laws!


On June 13th Along with my cousin Elizabeth and sister-in-law Shannon I helped throw my sister Christine her first bridal shower. We had so much fun shopping for the decorations. So the night before the shower we got together to decorate. The shower was a huge success. Christine got so many nice things. We are so happy for her and she is going to make a gorgeous bride.

If you ever need a lesson in pom pom fluffing...the three girls in the picture above will be happy to teach you.

My cousins Elizabeth and Lauren came the night before to help decorate since the shower started at 10am.

It took 4 of us to finish these, but they turned out so cute. Keep reading to see what we did with them;)

Me and the guest of honor, my little sis.

The sisters: Shannon (My brother's wife), Christine, and me

The girls: my mom, me and my beautiful sister Christine.

The table with the food. We had breakfast and the menu included: Fruit, sausage and cheese balls, whipping cream biscuits and raspberry preserves, breakfast croissants (w/egg, bacon, sausage and cheese), cheese grits casserole, pastries, and orange pineapple punch.

You would not think that danger comes with beautiful decorations...but these did. So me and 15 week pregnant cousin took on hanging the pom poms from the ceiling. Jonathan and I do not own a step ladder or any other type of ladder. But we do have in our possession higher than normal kitchen table chairs. However these chairs did not exactly allow me to reach the ceiling to hang these nice decorations...so we put our heads together and devised a plan. A plan that worked, not a plan that was safe. So with about 45 min left until guest were scheduled to arrive I began looking through the house for something, anything that would help the cause. Yes! I found something. It was a gray Rubbermaid bin that we had some clothes stored in. Turned it upside down, put it on top of chair, proceeded to climb on top and hang pom poms while cousin Elizabeth had a death grip on my ankles. I don't think we have told Aunt Janie (retired 1st grade teacher) how we got those up there yet...best not to;)

Christine and her guests enjoying their brunch on the porch. We had so much fun decorating.

For the first shower game we played we had all of Christine's guest write advice on index cards w/o their names on them as they arrived. We then had Christine read each of them aloud and guess who wrote them. Unfortunately she only got about 2 out of a bunch right. She determined she was not very good at the guessing game.
The second shower game we played we split all the guests into two groups. Each group picked one person to dress as "the bride" in toilet paper. Whoever had the most beautiful gown as voted on by Christine won...you would not believe that both the girls gowns were almost identical. Shannon and Shelby were such great sports and made gorgeous brides.

Shelby, Krya, Abby (Noah's sister) and Noah's mom

Kyra and Amy (college friends of Christines)

Aunt Roberta and Aunt Janie.

Our precious sousins Elizabeth and Julie...if you can't tell they are sisters!

This is the whole crew who attended my sisters shower.