Wedding pictures link . . .

If you really want to see some of the "official" pictures of weddingpalooza - (Lance and Heather's wedding), you can click HERE. They are awesome - and show the decorations that I tried to describe in my last post. Let's just see if I painted the picture for you with my words . . . you be the judge. ha!

Weddingpalooza

I'm going to post out of order . . . which really ruffles my feathers . . . but some people are "stalking" for pictures of the "wedding of the year" :) so here you go!! ha!

On October 17th, Chad's younger brother, Lance, married his lovely bride, Heather!! I am really mad at myself for not taking pictures of all the decorations, including in the church, but I was too busy helping get everything ready up until the last minute, including my two children! :) There were pumpkins and mums everywhere, but in a beautiful, not farmish way if that makes sense.

We iced 1600 sugar cookies on Thursday (yes, we counted), decorated the gym for the reception on Friday, decorated the auditorium on Friday night AFTER the rehearsal because there was another wedding going on during the rehearsal dinner, and then blew up 2000 balloons on Saturday morning. There were black balloons with leaves at the bottom of the strings to give the effect of falling leaves to create a "ceiling". It was really cool . . . and took a LOT of time to do the day of. I'm kicking myself that I don't have a picture . . . but the official photographer took pictures of EVERYTHING, so it was documented! :)


There was also a glittered cookie tree (really a dead tree) that the iced leaf sugar cookies were hanging from and spilling out onto the table. Beautiful. But, no pictures. :(

This is the one picture I took of Lance and Heather. Aren't they cute?

The three sister-in-laws!! I'm so lucky to have both of these girls!!

Heather was the coolest, calmest bride I have ever seen. I'm not kidding. She was amazingly calm. Wow!

Me and Emily . . . my sister-in-law and one of my best friends!! (I bet most of you can't say that!) We realized that we hadn't had our picture together in years . . . Aren't you jealous of her height?!? I am! :)

Lawton and Hunter are waiting there turn during picture time. Now why didn't I just turn around and take a picture of the awesome pumpkin topiaries down the aisle? Maybe because I was making sure Carolina was eating a snack or the boys weren't being crazy . . .

Sister was feeling fine here! :) If you look closely, you can see the pumpkin ledge and one of the "Love Is" banners hanging behind us.

Cousins. They all did FANTASTIC during the ceremony!! It lasted a very sweet, very personal, very touching 45 minutes. :) All three boys stood in one spot and were very well behaved the entire time. About ten minutes in, Lawton whispered to me that he was hot. I just whispered back that I couldn't do anything about it and he would have to wait. He then "air-wrote" H-O-T as I stifled a giggle. Later on, I noticed that he had somehow retrieved something from his, ahem, nose. He was trying his best to flick it in the mums beside him, and I really didn't bother him, because I figured it would bring undue attention - because everyone SHOULD have been looking at Lance and Heather. Of course, the secret is out now that I'm posting in on my blog. :)

Our family. I sure do hope the photographer got a better picture. Because after quite a sum of money for these outfits, this is the best shot I got. sigh.

After the before wedding pictures, Lawton took his coat off and I just had to snap a picture in his vest. I told him I wanted to take a picture, and he told me, "Okay, mommy. Just one more. Because I'm HUNGRY. I'm serious. I'm really HUNGRY!" (I love the I'm serious. . .)

Me and my sweet boy.

The photographer took some pictures of the wedding party in the unusually COLD October weather. While jumping around (seriously . . . he had them JUMP), Heather's dress got grass stain on it. Tide To Go to the rescue!! I might seriously e-mail them to see if we can be on a commercial. :)

This is the only full body shot of Carolina I got. (do you see how poorly I documented the day?) The dress was mine when I was little (mom made it). Thank goodness I didn't have to buy the dress because I had the hardest time finding (and paying for) those little precious cream shoes. Say they are cute and perfect for the dress, please. thanks.
Gettin' a little sassy with the garter . . . Here is my mom putting on a little "lipstick". My mom came and helped out all weekend (and dad, too for part of the weekend). Thank goodness! They were a lifesaver!! Carolina loves to mimic me in the morning while I get ready- velcro rollers, "blush", "lipstick", lotion, etc. She is so much more in tune to things like that than Lawton ever was. My girl. :) Lawton was too busy doing puzzles and pushing buttons on everything and obsessing with all things with wheels.

Sweet girl . . . waiting for her moment. She walked down the aisle holding hands with Houston (8 years) and was crunching up her nose smiling at everyone the entire way down. Houston escorted her to my parents who were sitting down front. During the rehearsal, she loved being up on stage a little too much and gave affection to just about everyone who would pick her up. ha! Our little social butterfly!

It was a beautiful wedding and I'm so glad Heather is a part of our family!!

Happy Birthday, Houston!!

My nephew, Houston, turned EIGHT on the eighth. That just doesn't seem right. Since things are a little crazy around here right now (my brother-in-law and future sister-in-law are getting MARRIED this weekend . . . stay tuned!) we celebrated a little differently this year. He chose to eat at Five Guys!! Good choice, Houston!! Here he is with the awesome Gladiator cake that Emily made for him. Wow! He chose where to insert the candles. . . I didn't even show you where he chose to put one. . . ha!

Take a look at Lawton chowing down on the fondant part of the cake - he was oblivious to everything around him while he was eating the cake! :)

Just chompin' at the fondant. . .

Sister thought it was finger-lickin' good, too! :)

Happy Birthday, Houston!

My two cheeseballs!

Here's just a few pictures from the past few baseball games. . . This picture below cracks me up because he was really excited about winning the "game ball", but this also reeks of I've-been-playing-with-my-friends-and-drank-an-entire-Gatorade-and-look-at-my-awesome-Spiderman-move pose. Love him.
Just waiting for his turn to bat with Daddy . . .

Both Noni and Gran-D came to watch the game.

And here's Papa J and Dandy. What a blessing to have both sets of parents who love our kids so much and are involved!

Carolina loves her Uncle Brent, too. He can always make her cackle!

Do you see who made her way into the pile-up? Brent and the boys went with it and let her get in on it! :)

Lawton and teammate Braden are having some fun in the dug out!

She is such a cheese . . .

I'm crazy.

I'm embarrassed to say this. I think I might go to my first book signing. ever. When I just read this moments ago, I seriously "triple-clapped" as Chad refers to it. (You know, when girls get excited and squeal and triple-clap) Please tell me I'm not the only girl that triple claps . . . :)


Anyways . . . are you ready for this?


Pioneer Woman is coming . . . to Nashville! (Remember my previous post about PW?) My calendar is going to be held open for December 8. Anyone want to join me? I have already pre-ordered her cookbook (because I'm crazy and LOVE perusing through cookbooks.) I just hope I don't embarrass myself and gush needlessly about how I read all the Black Heels to Tractor Wheels and really want to win a KitchenAid Mixer (even though I already have one) and would love to practice bokeh if I had a fancy camera. Who me? Gush needlessly? never.

If you want to check and see if she is coming to a town near you, then you can click HERE.

Please don't plan any holiday gatherings for the 8th, dear friends. thanks. :)

You know just ONE of the many reasons I connect with her? She can relate to the Chevy Chase Lampoon Vacation, too. Love her.

My one random necessity

So, Kelly as been doing the Show Us Your Life series, and this time, I wanted to throw in my one random necessity that is overlooked, in my opinion. I love the Pampers Swaddlers, the swing, the Hooter Hider, etc., but the one thing that I splurged on and am so thankful that I did is . . . . the lamp. See it in Carolina's nursery? (Sorry . . . this is the best picture I could find of it because PBK no longer makes it. . . )

I did find some lamps from PBK that are similar though below such as the Mason Touch Lamp Base . . .

and here's the girl version Madison Touch Lamp Base . . .

Why, you may ask, is this lamp so wonderful? It is a touch base lamp, which means by one slight touch, it comes on, as in a perfect nurse-in-the-middle-of-the-night-and-change-a-diaper light.

And then if you touch it again, it gets a little brighter, like the perfect read-before-bedtime-stories-light.

And if you touch it again, it is so-bright-the-entire-room-is-lit-so-I-can-find-the-missing-paci-bright light.

I. LOVE. THIS. LAMP.

I never have to fiddle around to find the switch and then make the loud clicking noise while turning it on.

So . . . there you go. My one random baby necessity. :) ha!