The Mother of All Showers

Talk about an amazing upon amazing shower! My bridesmaids and their hubbies hosted the most beautiful shower for Patrick and me last Saturday. We are so incredibly blessed to have the world's most wonderful friends. Seriously - our hearts are filled with such love and gratitude that it's hard to describe.

The shower was held at Melanie and Chris' beautiful home. Not only is Mel preggers with a toddler at home, she happened to redo her living room and toddler Taylor's big girl bedroom...and get ready for the party! (I'm tired already.) The girls - and boys - really outdid themselves and thought of every detail to make the party just perfect. From the precious invite to the darling decor and flowers to tiered plates of dessert to even our margarita machine and keg, it surpassed my wildest dream! Patrick was even fond of a particular centerpiece - a BBQ tool moment of course!

Chris and another friend of ours, Stacey, smoked BBQ ALL DAY LONG. We had a ton of the most delicious smoked chicken and ribs. At one point I looked over and Mr. Stacey was demonstrating how some blow torch look-a-like works with the smoker. Our "smokers" may or may not have been testing the beer for poision as they cooked earlier that day. :) I think Patrick ate two helpings of ribs before attacking anything other than meat. It was really just that great. A special thanks also to the girls for making so, so many tasty treats to munch on - all of our favorites and all so yummy.

With full tummies, we got to open some of our presents and were overwhelmed with the generosity shown from our friends. It means so much to be able to share this special time of ours with the nearest and dearest to our hearts. Patrick was darling opening gifts bc half the time he didn't know what he just opened. And my girls spoiled us with our tres cute duvet cover! Whoohoooo!

Some of our very special out-of-towners who attended are:
My Mom, Dad and Bettie

Patrick's Dad

Sheri D and Justin

Christy and Steven

My favorite part:

Being in one room with so many of my favorite people.

Patrick's favorite part:

Hmm, without even asking him, I'll say right off the bat - RIBS!

Group Photo Pre-Party: Chris, Stephen, Mama Julie, Patrick and me, Bettie and Dad

Host Photo (This is the one that shows Kyle's head the most, believe it or not! He's hidding behind my Big!) Hosts: My Big and Kyle, Christy and Steven, Steph and Seth, Megs and Ryan, Mel and Chris and Sheri and Justin

My Sweet Mama

Aw - Patrick and the dads!

Patrick and me

Please Note: I am 5'2" and the rest of these amazons are between 6'3" and 6'6". Thank goodness for four inch heels!


2 of my favorite friends - Mackay and George - who I didn't get a photo of the night of our shower so here's one of them at our dinner party a few weeks ago!

Girlie photo with the hostesses


Patrick opening gifts

Sweet Sheri D from Boise!


Jayme, Liza, SKC , Amrita and Debbie

Junior Mafia


Roger and Shay


Mama, Chris McKittrick and Patrice

The Very Happy Couple...Thank you everyone!

Next on Deck...Our First Shower! Stay tuned...

Sally Finds A Home

In the midst of our jam-packed weekend of fun, our foster pup, Sally, found a permanent home. It was SO hard to give her away to her new family but we knew it was the best decision for her...and for us!
Patrick found Miss Sally in the middle of the road two Fridays ago and picked her up. Turns out she wasn't mircochipped and was in pretty bad shape, so we bathed her, plumped her up and gave her lots of love. It was just what she needed to get adopted by a great family. Last Friday Patrick let me know that Miss Sally had a new home and would be picked up that night. We all enjoyed her being with us that week - most especially Bear - and it was so hard to watch her go!

Princess and Sally...We found them snoozing in the kitchen one afternoon.

The day she went to her new home!

REUNITED

...and it feels so good! :) Life is good bc last weekend two of my best friends and their hubbies came to town to help host our first shower!! Sheri and Justin flew all the way in from Boise and Christy and Steven drove in from Oklahoma with Mr. Jack. I was soooo looking forward to our first shower but I was even more excited to see Sheri and Christy. It doesn't feel like they've even moved away bc we talk so much and it's like we've never been apart each time we see each other. Nonetheless, it's always a REAL TREAT to see them - and always so hard to see them go.

On Friday Patrick and I had the girls and their hubbies over for dinner. We decided hanging out at one of our houses was much better than trying to hang out with each other at a restuarant. We missed Mel and Chris though bc they were at Miss Taylor's school Octoberfest that night. My Mom came in town on Thursday for our big weekend so she was able to see everyone too. It was so much fun!

Here are some of the 9 billion photos I took from that night...

Dinner!

Sheri, Miss Bear and my Big, Jaime

Soon to be...The McKittricks


Sweet Megs, SKC, Sheri, Christy and my Big

SKC and Mama Julie

Mi madre and Mr. Jackers

My Big and me

The girls and Jack

Christy, Big, me and Sheri D

My Big and Kyle

Christy, Mom and Jack

TAG!

So Christy "tagged" me and now I'm supposed to answer a few questions about myself for all of you to read.

10 YEARS AGO I...
1. Was living in a house with over 100 girls and was rooming with my Big next to 5 girl: Sheri, Popo Manning Allison, Megs, Maegen and Jodi. Yes?
2. Was going over to Mel's with JM for CHICKEN SPAGHETTI
3. Had a huge, secret crush on a certain Sigma Chi...
4. Went on a coke date with my girls almost every day.
5. Spent my time pouring over Party Pics.

5 THINGS ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST...
1. Get through the mountain of work so I can go home and enjoy my Mama being in town!
2. Hug mi madre and kiss on Patrick. He just got home from being gone for a few days.
3. Work out details for our foster puppy, "Sally's," new home. Sigh.
4. Do some last-minute household chores before the weekend officially begins tomorrow! Patrick was sweet and said he would help me do blinds and window sills, so hopefully it won't take too long since my sweet fiance is coming to my rescue. I heart him.
5. WEDDING STUFF with Mom. She hasn't seen our invites since they've been printed!! I'm sure we'll play around with 'the package' as Patrick calls it.

5 THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A MILLIONAIRE...
1. Donate money to the SPCA and to my church.
2. Take a 3-week vacay somewhere fabulous. Of course, my girls and their hubbies would have to come too! Patrick and I would get lonely otherwise.
3. I would probably fund a new shelter for doggies by setting it up on a large piece of land with full-time caretakers and a building that is sort of house-like so the dogs feel at home!
4. Buy a new patio umbrella since my very special and wonderful and beautiful one that Jeanne and Peter bought us took a little fall yesterday and got injured!
5. I would help my family and friends who are in need.

5 PLACES I HAVE LIVED...
1. Where it all started - Ponca City, Oklahoma baby!
2. Next stop...college. Stillwater - Go Pokes!
3. Shh, don't tell...Norman for the summer.
4. Hey Big D! Dallas here I come!
5. North Carolina anyone? DON'T freak out people - not anytime soon!

5 JOBS I HAVE HAD...
1. Lifeguard for 3 summers in high school/college
2. Rush Party Chair for Chi Omega
3. "Waitress" at Don Pablo's in Norman that summer. A joke.
4. Intern for the Director of Communications at OSU
5. Public Relations!

I am tagging....hmm...I can't really tag anyone else bc all of my blog friends have already done it!

DIRTY THIRTY

Happy Birthday to my best friend - and MOH - CHRISTY!

She just turned the big 3-0 on Friday and to help celebrate, Megs and I loaded in the car and headed north to El Reno, Oklahoma for some serious girl time and celebration. I'm a little bummed though bc we were so excited to see each other that we forgot to take pictures!! We did manage to get one pic of the three of us...well after dinner when we got home. We convinced Steven to take it on our way out to the back patio for girl talk and vino. Steven was also the man of the hour this morning when he made a special trip to Braum's to pick up our greasy, tasty breakfast! Yum scrum. After we filled our tummies, Megs and I had to say our goodbyes and head home. She had to get ready to leave for a week long work trip and I had to focus on getting mi casa up to par since all kinds of parentals are headed to us this weekend!

I will admit that I went a little wild this morning photographing Christy's little man, Jackson! The soon-to-be 1-year old has grown SO much since the last time I saw him!! He eats cereal and bananas now and loves to "work" on anything around the house. I've only posted a few here but believe you me, there's a whole slew of photos from Jack's breakfast this morning. Here are some cuties...

We had SUCH a great time with Ms. Christy and can't wait to see the VonTungeln fam again on Friday when they come to Dallas for our first shower! WHOOHOO! Can't wait. The bridesmaids are hosting a couples shower on Saturday and I'm getting so excited to see all of our special guests like my parents, Patrick's Dad, Christy and Steven and SHERI D AND JUSTIN from Boise!! It really means the world to Patrick and me that they are all traveling such a great distance to help celebrate with us. My cup runneth over.

BIG Improvements!

What a fantastic new look my sweet blog just got! Thanks to my friend Cara, it's so precious! She is SUPER creative and makes it all just seem so easy. A BIG thank you to Cara for all of her creative talents, as I'm one happy girl now. Thank you, thank you!! I'm in heaven...

And check out her sweet business at http://oh-sospoiled.blogspot.com/. If you have children or at least buy for any in your life, you've got to see how Cara's biz can make you the gift-giving hero. She customizes darling decor for your little one's room and even to help welcome your tiny tot at the hospital. Truly sweet stuff.