Thanksgiving, Mom's Birthday, and Wedding Dress shopping Round 1!

Wow - I can't believe it's already Sunday and I've had 5 days off. It feels like this week and weekend flew by! Casey and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my mom and dad and we succeeded in cooking an entire meal without burning anything/burning the house down - yay! I was very proud of myself - one Thanksgiving at our place down - 60 more to go! Haha. Here are some pics of us cooking and the table, turkey, and my favorite part -DESSERT!!



Friday was my mom's 51st birthday and I was so excited when she said she wanted to go wedding dress shopping that day! I had never tried on a wedding dress until then and I was very excited to see what was out there. So Mom, Daddy, and I went to Princess Bridal in Old Town Spring for Round 1 of dress shopping. I was so surprised at how not picky I was - I tried on about 8 dresses and loved 4 of them. I really thought I would be sooooo picky and dissect every dress until I found "the one" but I liked most of them and would have been happy with any of them. Kelli met us there to see the final 4 and talked me into trying on a really different dress and I ended up liking it too. I obviously didn't buy one that day because I want to make sure and include all of my bridesmaids and Casey's mom as well, but at least I have an idea of what's out there now. If you're interested in seeing pics of the four I liked, email me (gmail address) and I will send you pics! I don't want Casey to accidentally stumble upon pictures because he really doesn't want to see me in a wedding dress until the day. :)

After dress shopping, Mom, Dad, Kelli, and I met Casey at Wunsche Bros. for some lunch and we had a great time hanging out and chatting. I had never eaten there and it was pretty good. Here are some pictures from lunch:


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That night we celebrated Mom and Casey's birthdays with gifts and cake - Casey and I got mom this handmade western cross and some other smaller things and Casey got his Xbox 360 from Daddy and I and some black Chuck Taylor's from my mom. Needless to say, after this weekend I need to get on the treadmill BIG TIME!

Today we went to Thomas and Carly Hudson's house for Harper Hudson's 2nd birthday party. It was an Elmo Dance Party theme with a live 6 foot Elmo and I cannot express how hilarious Harper's face was when Elmo walked in to the room. I love kid's birthday parties and we were so glad to be a part of Harper's 2nd! I wish I would've gotten pictures but Harper already had about 50 cameras going off so I didn't want to add to the chaos.

More later- Kelli and Andrew just arrived for Taco night!

Thankful for the Troops

As the holidays approach I am thinking about things that I am thankful for even more than ever. This week I had to comfort a very upset child and ended up making a cool class project out of it. Let me explain - one of my kids, Raven, is dealing with something very difficult right now. She just turned 6 and her mother is serving in Afghanistan right now. Raven is a very well adjusted, very bright child, but occasionally has a meltdown (rightfully so) because she misses her mother so much. On Wednesday Raven was particularly upset because we were talking about Thanksgiving and how we would be spending it. Most of the kids were saying "I'm going to my grandma's house with my mommy and daddy" or something along those lines and when I looked over at Raven she was visibly upset and soon started crying. I can't imagine how hard it is for her knowing that her mom is where she is and not coming home for a very long time. I decided to turn this into a special class project and on Thursday and Friday we made Thank You cards for Raven's mom to send to Afghanistan. This definitely cheered Raven up and Raven's grandmother (who she is currently living with) said that she was so excited that the whole class made cards for her mommy. I am sending the package on Monday, but I thought this one was particularly cute and that you might want to see it:




One of my kids Kendall did this one and yeah it's not perfectly spelled, but this is REALLY good for a kindergartner! Anyway, I hope that all of you are thinking about what you are thankful for this Thanksgiving and being especially thankful for your families. I know I am so thankful and feel so blessed that I have not one but TWO wonderful families this year (mine and Casey's).

Houston, we have a wedding date!!

And that wedding date is....

August 21st, 2010!

Last weekend (make that the weekend before last) Casey and I went to the Hill Country in search of the perfect venue. Thank God, we only had to go to 4 different places to find it! Next year on what would have been Nanny's (my grandmother) 89th birthday, we will become husband and wife at Vintage Villas on beautiful Lake Travis. We were so surprised that the place I thought would be the most expensive was actually the most reasonable. They also had the friendliest staff and were the only ones who mentioned that they wanted to work with our budget. If you know Casey and I you know that we basically refuse to pay sticker price for anything and I call myself the "haggling queen" because it seems like everywhere I go I try to get a bargain. We are just so excited that we found exactly what we wanted and that the price was right. So..... find a venue.. CHECK! It feels so good to check one of the biggest things off of my wedding planning list!

After touring three of the four venues we went and had lunch at The Oasis. If you have never been to or heard of the Oasis, you absolutely have to go. It is a huuuuuugge building on the side of a bluff overlooking Lake Travis and they have a restaurant as well as a venue for parties. Casey liked the pictures so we decided to check it out to see if it might be worth having our reception there. Although it was beautiful we kind of already had our hearts set on Vintage Villas so we decided to have a nice lunch there before heading back to Houston. I had seared tuna with black and white sesame seeds and Casey had the fajitas. Let me just tell you that I felt like I was eating a 5 star restaurant because the food was SO good! Casey's fajitas were cooked just right and I have never had a tuna steak that was as good as mine was. And the view... oh man... the view was to die for! You just don't find that many places in Texas like this. Casey and I both agreed that we felt like we were in Los Angeles because the terrain was so similar. Yay for the Hill Country!

Anyway, other than that we've just been trying to figure out little things like invitations, save the dates, etc. and enjoying the planning process. More updates to come!

Halloween

I surprisingly have not blogged since we got engaged (only two weeks ago but still!)and am very surprised. There is so much to blog about, but never enough time to blog!

I will just blog about Halloween really quick and then more later.

Halloween was a blast and our Halloween party was a hit! Everyone came in costume and we had a great time! I dressed as Wednesday Addams and Casey dressed as Pugsley- we looked so cute!