Jen's Shower

My cousin, Jen... or as the kids affectionately call her, FeeFee, is getting married in 2 weeks! My mom, sister & I (really, it was just Mom... we just did what we were told on the day of!) threw Jen a bridal shower. It was so much fun! We had an oriental theme because Jen loves all that stuff. So it worked out to be a really fun theme. We had great food, & really nice details (again, thanks to my mom!) Here are some pics of the food & details....I have to admit that the food was probably some of the most fun shower food I have ever had. We served ... Mint Tea (or water) in these cutesy decorated glasses....
We had orange slices with cherries for a pop of color. Don't you LOVE those dragons??
We had eggrolls, more cherries, & mochi balls. What are mochi balls? I have no idea, but they are a mildly sweet, crunchy, nutty, asian ball. (They were in the asian section at World Market!)


Here is a close up... beautiful, aren't they!?
We had some edamame, too. Emma decided she loved this & ate about half her weight in them!We also had sushi!!! I told you it was some of the best shower food ever! This was actually my first time trying sushi & all this was "vegetarian". None of it had any raw fish in it, but I got to try a Philadelphia Roll & a California Roll. And it was yummy!
We also made some cream cheese wontons (or some people call them rangoons). These are my favorite asian treat. I love these! Rebecca & I actually made these from a recipe my mom found where you bake them instead of fry them. And they turned out superb! I hope my mom saved the recipe because we will be doing this again!My mom used her embroidery machine to embroider all these beautiful napkins! They are adorable! And then Emma helped by sticking the decorative (but functional) chopsticks in them.


We had Almond Cookies for dessert & they were so yummy that I couldn't stay out of them!For favors, lucky bamboo was sent home with each guest in these adorable little planters!

And I almost forgot to mention that we hung this beautiful umbrella from the ceiling in the living room....Jen got a lot of great gifts too... One of the sweetest things she got was from her future sister in law, Lisa. She gave her Brian's (groom) grandmother's Christmas linens! It was so sweet!


Here is Jennifer with her mom (our aunt, Peto!), her future mother in law, and sister in law....

She also got these amazing pillows that I can't quit thinking about. They would look fabulous on my couch! LOL!
And this is what the hostesses gave her! Yes, ANOTHER quilt! We did it again! I can't believe that we made another quilt, but working on it together made it more bearable! The colors are so beautiful & perfect for Jen who just loves nature. We used a birdhouse fabric that was just totally "Jen" to build off of for our color scheme! The thing about quilt making is that when it is done, it is so pretty that you forget all the work & delve into another!
Here is a close up of the fabric choices... (And sorry for these photos, but for some reason, the pictures I uploaded straight from my phone will not cooperate in size nor justification...)

The last few pictures I just couldn't resist in sharing... This is a little bit of behind the scenes of shower preparation. Sara Beth was with us & she was very fussy & clingy. Rebecca wasn't able to get much done, sooooo she strapped her on!

Sara Beth was in heaven & we didn't hear another peep! And just moments before getting dressed for the guests to arrive, Rebecca had her strapped on still & was mending the quilt we hadn't wrapped yet. We went ahead & washed it for Jen & wanted to make sure no stitches came loose. And of course, one little 2 inch section had! So Rebecca put in a blind stitch to fix it! Talk about pulling it out in the bottom of the 9th!

But we had a blast getting ready for the shower & we hope Jen enjoyed it as much as we did. We love you FeeFee & wish you & Brian only the best!

We've Been Busy! Weddings & VBS, oh my!

This summer has already been flying by! We have been busy every weekend from the last weekend of June & are scheduled up through the first weekend in August! Crazy, huh?! We've been camping over a long weekend, been to Grandaddy & Grandma Tee's house for one weekend for my nephew Brian's wedding, and then VBS at church, then we threw a shower for Jen's wedding, and then this weekend we are heading out to our Beach Week until the following week. Tired, yet? I am!

Here are some pics recapping our time....

I put the camping trip & Jen's shower in separate posts, so I will start with Brian's wedding! Here are some pics from the Ceremony.... Brian & Taylor Register...

Kayla, my 14 year old (very beautiful) neice...
My grandaddy... I love his grin!

My boy, sitting in his Daddy's lap!
And of course, Grandaddy & Grandma Tee!
Then there was the reception....


Did I mention that my husband wore a tie? He did & I was crazy over him the whole time. He never wears ties except weddings & funerals. But, oh, how I wish he dressed up more often! As soon as we hit the reception, he unbuttoned the top button & loosened the tie! Wimp! LOL!

The kids were super excited over the candy bar that was an "appetizer" before the real food was served. They were in heaven!

It was a nice reception & a beautiful couple! We headed back home late that night from Wilmington, so we were pooped!

Then, 3 days later we started VBS! Hometown Nazareth!

It was a busy 3 days but the kids had a blast as usual. We took our nephew, Kaleb with us each night & I think he helped build Eli's confidence because by the 3rd night, Eli had mustered up the courage to go up in front of the group to sing the songs!

I took a lot of pictures on the last night, so here are a few that I chose to upload...
Sara Beth with her Mama & Daddy (she is just too cute not to photograph!)


Little Miss Emma Rhea!

Eli playing one of the games (that he came mighty close to winning!).
Leah with her tribe bandana on her head. She looks like Aunt Jemima!
Eli again! And let me tell you that the last night he raised his hand to say the closing prayer in front of EVERYONE! It was so sweet that I cried. He had such a precious voice up there praying to God & I was so proud!
Jackson, who really wanted me to stop taking his picture!
But I wish this one had been in focus... because I can't resist those freckles!

Digging in the rock quarry turned up some pretty stones!

I didn't sign up to help other than bring supplies this year because we just had too much going on. But once I was there, I did end up helping these gals in the dye shop... we dyed bags! So fun!

It has been an incredibly busy summer so far, but it has been worth every mile we have driven to be with everyone & participate in all we have been able to! Beach Week is up next week, so stay tuned!

Camping the 4th...

Here are some photos from our camping trip to New Bern over the 4th of July weekend. We had the absolute tiniest campsite ever. Literally. EVER. If you look closely in the picture on the far left, you will see the very edge of 2 red tail lights. That is our neighbors truck. So literally, we had from the pole over towards Jeremy's truck. And we were camping with 4 adults, 4 boys, and a dog. What were these people thinking putting us in this campsite? We were originally signed up for a spot against the woods/dog park, but they moved us last minute when this spot became available due to the fact that there was sewer hookup at this site. But really? It was TINY. It made things a tad bit stressful with Zack, who ended up spending most of the long weekend in the camper in his "new to us" (aka Craigslist) hard crate (since he busted out of the expensive soft sided travel one.) Argh....

We did manage to go out on the boat all together for the first time since Uncle Jeremy got a new bigger boat.... And because it went so well, we did it again on the night of the fireworks & watched them on the river. It was the highlight of the trip for me!




The kids enjoyed the pool as always & I was surprised that Eli became a little fish! As soon as he put on a pair of goggles, he was a transformed kid! It was crazy! He would swim under the water & all! We definitely spent most of our time at the pool! Or cooling off/resting in the camper. It was HOT!

Ethan loved how rough his daddy would play with him in the pool...

My little goggled up boy!


Little fish!

Jackson is just naturally great in the water. This was the first year that he would swim into the deep end & stay there most of the time. He was floating, doing handstand, & even jumped off with me a few times doing cannonballs! So fun!
When the heat was just too much to bear, we would go back to the camper for rest time, or movie time, or sometimes Nintendo DS time...Zack participated in a 4th of july parade where there was a prize for the best dressed dog & bike. (It was mainly for the kids....) but he was the best looking dog, hands down. At the end though, the judges said everyone got free ice cream for participating because they couldn't choose! Whatevs! I wanted to win fair & square- not tie! I mean, I made a cape for a dog for heavens sake!


The kids also spent plenty of time at the little park, too. We had not been to this campground in 2 years, so they had upgraded & built a pirate ship! The kids were all over it! (I hate that this first one is so blurry!)

Jackson took one of me & Marie watching them at the park...


The first night we were there, the KOA "tractor" came around to pick everyone up for turns on a "Hey" Ride! The kids got to ride around the park & holler "hey!" to everyone. It was cute... Ethan especially like the "hey" part! :)

During the ride, they took us all the way down to the edge of the campground to the docks where Jeremy & Randy were docking the boat... look closely to see them...
And I had to snap this shot down there while they whipped us around... the sun was so pretty setting...
Down by the water was also where we had a little mishap. We were just taking the kids & Zack for a little walk while the hubbies were fishing and Zack got stung by what we thought was maybe a yellow jacket or a bee. When he went to rolling & yelping in the grass, Kaleb came running over to see what was going on & as soon as he did, he got stung twice! It was terrible & later Randy went back to the area where we were all standing & figured out that there was a wasp nest underneath a picnic table that we were right next to & Kaleb had sat on the bench right next to it! It was a drama filled moment, but we managed to move past it & enjoy the rest of the day! (After I carried him all the way back to the campsite while Zack drug me on the leash & Marie handled Ethan & getting Kaleb's bike back to the campsite!) whew!


So we pulled it off, though... another camping trip with 2 families & a crazy dog! When we got home I texted this picture of Zack to Marie with this message : "Zack didn't appreciate his post camping bath... however... he isn't minding being back in the lap of luxury in my bed tonight!" We were so tired when we got home. If nothing else, the heat wears you out! I think we will wait for a spot at Kerr Lake next time ... Here's to wishful thinking! (They are ALWAYS booked!)