Mckay/Walker Wedding in Hot Springs!

Last weekend we drove up to Hot Springs, Arkansas for Melissa McKay and Zach Walker's wedding. When Melissa told me she was getting married in Hot Springs, I was super excited because I had never been there before. As soon as we got into town we were stunned by the awesome beauty of this place. It's nestled in the mountains and is absolutely gorgeous. In fact.. it's so gorgeous I really can't think of any other way to describe it because words don't do this place justice. We loved hanging out around the state park area, walking around downtown, and the weather was great. It had been snowing and very cold there so we were a little worried at first but the whole weekend it was in the 60s, sunny, and perfect... speaking of perfect - let me tell you about Melissa's wedding!

The wedding venue was a little chapel and reception hall about a mile or so from our hotel (awesome!) and the wedding was wonderfully small and intimate. The ceremony was absolutely gorgeous and filled with the Word. Melissa's sister and her dad sang during the ceremony and her grandfather (Daddy B) gave a beautiful blessing over the family towards the end of the ceremony. After they said their "I dos" we headed about 10 feet to the reception hall. Dinner was heavy hors d'oeuvres and everyone danced the night away. It was a great wedding and we are so happy for Melissa and Zach!

On Sunday Casey and I woke up early and went to the Arlington for breakfast. We didn't stay here (we stayed at the Park Hotel which was AWESOME and the people were so, so, so nice!) but it was absolutely stunning. Casey and I love historic hotels and this one was huge and very ornate. If you are ever in HS you have to stop by and see it!

After breakfast we headed over to the Quapaw Bathhouse to get a hot stone massage and take a dip in the "healing mineral waters of Hot Springs". Casey had booked an appointment without me knowing so the whole thing was a surprise! We usually don't do a lot for Valentine's, so this was a very cool V-day gift. :) The massage was wonderful as was the "bath". The water left my skin feeling super soft and we left Hot Springs feeling super relaxed.

Here are some pictures from HS!

The public bath at the Quapaw

Beautiful Melissa and Zach

Case and I walking around town

The Quapaw

Me (finally!) getting to throw a snowball at Casey

BPs and BFs

This past weekend I went home to spend a couple of days with my Mom and Dad before heading Mom and I headed out to Lubbock for my bridal portraits. Why Lubbock you ask? THIS is why Lubbock. The most amazing photographer EVER (Lauren Clark) lives there! I have been stalking Lauren since our friends Greta and Benny got married a few years ago. Lauren did their wedding and engagement photos and I was so wowed that I started following her blog and prayed that I would get to have her as my wedding photographer when Casey and I got married. After we got engaged, she was the first call I made to see what availability she had for 2010 and as fate would have it, she was only available on Nanny's birthday- August 21st, the day that I had always wanted to get married on. Perfection! When I went to schedule my bridal portraits, I was unavailable on the weekends that she was going to be in Houston and Austin, so I decided it would be perfect to visit one of my best friends Melissa McKay in Lubbock AND get my portraits done in the same weekend. Side Note: I love "kill two birds with one stone" situations. I had been meaning to visit Melissa and this worked out perfectly!

So on Sunday morning Mom and I loaded up her Volkswagen Beetle Convertible and headed to the Great Red West (haha). It took us about 8 hours, but honestly the drive was not bad at all. We had a great time hanging out as both of us love road trips. Sunday night we hung out with Melissa and her handsome cotton farmer boyfriend Zach and his parents and ate amazing sushi at this little place in Lubbock. I had never heard of sweet potato sushi, but it was AMAZING.

On Monday we got up and headed to the mall to go shopping and then had lunch at this adorable place called Stella's. After that it was go time. I felt like a crazy person running here to get my hair done, then across town to get my makeup done, then across town again to pick up my bouquet and then finally back to Zach's house to put my dress on and head out the door for photos. I'm really glad I got to do that though because I felt like it prepared me a little better for the day of the wedding. We met Lauren at Starbucks and then headed to a ton of different places to take photos. I LOVE how creative she is and how she really knows how to direct people in order to get the best looking photos. We got to see all of the photos on Wednesday and I am truly amazed at how beautiful they are. She is definitely one of the most talented artists that I have ever met. I wish I could post one of the photos on here, but unfortunately Casey reads "our" blog sometimes and I really don't want to ruin his surprise.

After heading back from Lubbock on Tuesday I picked up my cousin Jen (also my matron of honor) and my adorable God daughter Abby. I think I drove a total of 13 hours that day but honestly, I had such great company the whole time that I really didn't notice how much time I was in the car.

On Wednesday we headed to the pool early and hung out for an hour or so. Abby loves the water and it was so much fun getting to play with her. Here are some photos from the day:

Me and my cousin Jen

Me swinging Abby :)

The rest of this week we have just been hanging out and now I'm waiting for my mom and best friend Leigh Anne to get here for my bridal shower weekend YAY!

Isn't She Lovely?

WOW was this weekend a doozie! Casey and I drove something like 700 miles in 36 hours - here's how:

Saturday morning: I wake up at 5:30 - shower and we get on the road to Longview around 7am. We arrive in Longview around 10:30ish and my mom and I immediately go up to the bridal place to get my dress that FINALLY came in. It was absolutely perfect, more perfect than I remember and I am SO thankful. :) Leigh Anne came with me for support and it was so nice to have my best friend there with me for that.

After picking up my dress we headed to Bodacious to meet up with Casey and my dad for some BBQ. One thing I do miss about Longview is eating at the restaurants that I grew up eating - Bodacious, Papacita's, Lupe's, Pietro's... there's nothing like home sometimes.

After eating it was back to Dad's for quick nap and then on to Princeton, TX for Liz & Buckley's wedding! Casey and I made great time on the road and it was nice going a different way to the Dallas area (we took 80 instead of I20).

The wedding was absolutely gorgeous! Liz's colors were Red with accents of turquoise (a ZTA homage?) which is one of my favorite color combinations. Liz looked absolutely stunning and so did my beautiful Zeta friends who were all there that I miss SO much. Here are some pics from her amazing wedding!

This is us squeezing every Zeta at the wedding into this tiny photo booth (16 of us)- idea courtesy of Sarah Nicole Wood

4 ZTA weddings in one year? OKAY!

Blushing Bride!

Beautiful Liz and her Dad walking down the aisle to "At Last" by Etta James :)

Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?

They've all gone to Willbern Elementary!

Friday was Rodeo/Go Texan Day here in Houston. All week long I taught the kiddos everything I knew about the rodeo and all things cowboy/cowgirl. On Friday the kids had their Square Dancing day and we had sooo much fun dancing with them! I will post pics as soon as I get them back from some of the parents!

On Friday we stayed in because I had a migraine, but on Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to go to Austin with Casey's parents. They hadn't seen the venue yet so we drove up to Austin to have a look and start thinking about some of the details. The weather was absolutely stunning and even with everything dead and brown because of winter, the venue still looked amazing. I am so excited that we are getting married there!

After seeing the venue we headed over to The Oasis (surprised?) where we had a lovely lunch in the perfect weather. It was so nice to get to hang out with Casey's parents in a new setting, plus they had never seen that part of Austin so they were very impressed by the landscape. Here's yet another gorgeous photo from our table at the Oasis.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Whoa baby is it ever cold in Houston Texas! I would have to say this is the coldest I have been since I was in Minot, North Dakota last March. Today it felt like it was 12 degrees here in balmy Houston and I was not a fan. Not only does my poor husband-to-be work outside all day, but I too had to brave the cold for bus duty- no bueno! Well the week is over and boy has it been a busy one! Here are some updates:

Monday: My dad moved in for the week- he just go a new job and is doing some traning down in Houston. It was really nice to have him around for an extended period of time!

Tuesday: Drove to Dallas with Jessica to try on my "dream dress" and what do ya know - it was AMAZING on!! I am 99.9% sure it is THE dress, but am still going dress shopping this weekend to make sure that there isn't anything out there that is more cost effective. Jess and I had a great time hanging out during the drive and we went to Pluckers (a wing restaurant) for lunch and it was SO good. Wish we had one of those in Houston! As we were sitting down to eat I was talking to my waiter about my friends Sarah DeLong and Andi Pope that work in Pluckers' corporate office in Austin and low and behold - Andi was standing right behind him! She's now the GM of that branch and loves it! She looked great and it was great catching up. The bad thing- she gave us a free fried twinkie sundae for dessert and my diet went out the window for that day. It was totally worth it though - fried twinkies are amazing!!

Tuesday evening my friend Jennifer Mawer moved in with us for the month! Jennifer and I went to high school together, college together, and were in the same sorority. Now we work at the same school district- we just can't get rid of each other! :) Jennifer will be living with Casey and I for the month of January because her fiance Carl got transferred to San Antonio for a job in December and she had to finish up part of her contract at Cy-Fair. I am thankful for the time we are getting to spend together! NOTE: I made Roasted Rosemary Chicken for dinner with roasted red bell peppers, cauliflower, and broccoli as a side. It was super yummy!

Wednesday: Back to school, Back to school! My first day back after being off for two and a half weeks went great and the kids were incredibly good all day long! I don't know what happened but I think someone stole my rowdy, mischievous class and replaced them with little angels!

Thursday: This is when the cold came and Casey and I (mainly Casey) had to do all kinds of the things around the house to get it ready for the freeze. Covering our brand new trees, wrapping the pipes - who knew having a house was so much work! For dinner: Baked Cheesy Pork Chops- amazing and super easy!

Friday: Here we are. It's super cold and Casey and I are about to snuggle up on the couch to wait for Leigh Anne to get here. Tomorrow she and I (along with Casey's mom and some friends) are going for my final dress shopping trip! Yay! Sunday we will be going to the George R. Brown for the BRIDAL EXTRAVAGANZA!!! Can't wait!!!

N'Awlins: The Big Easy...

Last weekend Jessica, Kelli, and I set out for New Orleans for a nice girls weekend and it was A-mazing! Our friend Sarah Kunz was there for an engineering conference so we decided to piggy back off of her business trip! We stayed with her friend Mark who was a fantastic host and showed us a wonderful time in the Crescent City. Here are some pictures from touring around the French Quarter, our two nights on Bourbon Street, and our dinner out a the fabulous Jacques-Imos- so yummy!















We had a great time and I can't wait to go back!

Trip to Virginia

A bleary eyed Casey and myself at 5am at the very beginning of our loooong trip

Casey and I got back from Virginia this evening (Tuesday night) around 6:30 and boy are we glad to be home. We left Thursday at 5am and got to Spartanburg, South Carolina around 10pm that night. We stayed in a nice Marriott that night, but it was back on the road at 5am Friday morning. We finally made it to Casey's grandparents house around 3ish after stopping at historic Christ Church where Casey's grandmother has been a docent for several years. Because Casey's grandfather has been so ill, she hasn't been volunteering there lately, but everyone knows who she is so we got to check out the place on our own. This church was built in 1735 and is one of the oldest Colonial era churches in the US and is absolutely beautiful.

We made it!

The Rappahannock River that leads out to the Chesapeake Bay


Christ Church
The view from the pulpit

We finally got to Virginia and after visiting with Casey's family for a while we went to check into the Bed & Breakfast. We stayed at the Kilmarnock Inn in Kilmarnock, VA where Casey's grandparents 60th wedding anniversary party was being held and it was beautiful, the cabins we stayed in were brand new and awesome, and the breakfast was to die for. All in all it was a great place to have the party on Saturday and it was nice to finally meet some of Casey's cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles, etc. I had a great time playing with Casey's cousins' kids as well. :) Kilmarnock was also a very cute little down and Casey and I enjoyed walking down Main St. and going into all of the little shops and seeing all of the historical houses. I got the cutest wallet from an adorable boutique called Specials! After the wonderful anniversary party Katie and I were in need of an adult beverage so we went to a place called Swank's on Main St. because it was literally the only place in town still serving alcohol after 9 pm. We had a good time chatting and catching up and then we went back to the B&B for some much needed rest.

Our Cabin
Katie and I before the party
The whole group!
Casey's grandparents - 60 years together!
Katie & I at Swank's

On Sunday, Katie (Casey's sister) and I got up early to go for a run and then had another wonderful breakfast at the Bed and Breakfast. I've found that I REALLY love Hollandaise sauce and anything that has crab in it for breakfast. After eating we headed to Casey's grandparent's church- Living Water Lutheran Church. The service was very different from our church and the congregation was much smaller - Casey's family (a lot of out of towners went) made up half of the people there! After church we all went to Casey's grandparents house (which is incredibly beautiful) and hung out. Casey and I went out in the canoe but quickly noticed that a storm was coming so we paddled back in and went to sit on the screened in porch. Not 10 minutes later the worst storm I've ever seen blew through and took down several trees on the property and even blew a large branch onto my car. There's only a little ding so no big deal, but it still stinks! The wind was so strong during this storm (60 mph), the electricity was knocked out, and it hailed for several minutes as well. It was really crazy! Casey and the rest of the men in the family spent the next 3 hours cutting up the trees and getting the place back in order. WHAT A DAY!! That night we slept with the doors to the screen porch open and it was surprisingly not that bad- that definitely wouldn't have been okay in TX though!

Casey's Grandparents house and the view of the creek

Casey and I on the canoe before the storm came and my camera ran out of room!

Monday morning we left at 5:30am to make our trek to Nashville, TN to stay with my Aunt Lydia (my mom's best friend). I would definitely recommend Nashville to anyone because it's such a beautiful area. My Aunt Lil lives up on a hill that overlooks some beautiful farmland and hills. We grilled some chicken and sat on the porch until 10 that night when we had to go to bed. The weather was absolutely perfect! Thanks for letting us stay with you Aunt Lil!

Tuesday morning we left at 5:40 and boy did it feel good to be on the last leg of this trip. We decided to take a different route than the one we came in on, but it turned out to be much better and faster! We drove through Arkansas into Little Rock and then down to Texarkana and then finally down US 59 to HOME SWEET HOME! We finally got home around 6:30 and then went to pick up the boys at Chris and Jessica's. We couldn't believe it but they had both gained a few pounds in just 6 days! Zach definitely needed it but Riley probably didn't. We're assuming he overate or was just retaining water or something from not being at home. It's good to be home!!!