Bible Verse Friday #20

"But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last."-Job 19:25

There is something about older churches.

The architecture.

The dignity they seem to carry.

I think a church does not necessarily need to be in a certain kind of building or even in a building at all.

Church can be held in a home, at a park, or in our case a middle school auditorium.

Church is a place where we can come and be honest about ourselves.

A place where we should feel we won't be judged, but loved.

Where when you are struggling people are there to build you up and remind you that our Redeemer lives and that he loves and forgives us!

He will stand upon the earth at last and oh my that'll be the day!

How exciting is it to KNOW that someday we will be in his kingdom.

I hope you all had a Blessed Friday!

Bud's Done!!!

Many late nights filled with a lot of this...

source

and multiple nights of going to bed alone.

Bringing dinner or Sonic drinks to him a couple times on campus,
and as of today a couple of these....

source

He's finally done.

When he pulled in today blasting the following song:

The past 5 years of hard work have all been worth it.
He had a grin from ear to ear!
He KNEW he was done.
No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks ;)
After eating dinner together for the first time in I don't know how long...we headed over for a little treat at:

source

We were in luck!

They had Key Lime Pie Ice Cream!
And to wrap up the night we planted our bottoms on the couch and watched, with 0 guilt  or feeling of failing on our responsibilities, our DVR'd episode of

The Voice
source

So while this post is short the time I'm finally getting to spend with my hubby is anything but that.

I hope you all had a Blessed Wednesday.

Baby Diaries #3

How far along? 17 weeks 1 day

Total weight gain/loss: I think about 7-8 lbs so far.

Maternity clothes? Just a few.  I finally caved and bought 2 outfits.  1 denim skirt, 1 pair denim capris, and 2 maternity t-shirts.

Stretch marks? Nope.

Sleep: Not as sleepy as I was during my first trimester.  However, when it's time for bed I'm out like a light!

Best moment this week: I had another Dr. appointment Tuesday the 19th and I got to hear the heartbeat again!  152bpm!

Movement: Not that I'm feeling yet...I'm patiently waiting!

Food cravings: Nothing yet, but let me explain something.  I used to get food cravings all the time when I wasn't pregnant, I used to joke that I would stop having cravings when I got pregnant.  So even though I'm steering towards fresh fruits lately, it seems normal for me because fresh fruit and hot weather go hand in hand!

Gender: Still unknown.  HOWEVER, at the appointment we got to schedule our gender ultrasound!  So come May 18th I'll know and come May 20th EVERYONE will know! I still think this is a little boy in here though.

Labor Signs: NO!  Thank you.

Belly Button in or out? Still an inney ;)

What I miss: Is it bad for me to say that I miss beer? I haven't had one since August!

What I am looking forward to: Bud's last day of school, ROTC Dodgeball Tournament, ROTC Formal Parade change of command ceremony, and maybe feeling baby move *fingers crossed*.

Weekly Wisdom: My Grandma telling me she is a big proponent for onesies since baby outgrows everthing so quickly.

From whattoexpect.com

Your Baby in Week 17 of Pregnancy


My how your baby has grown! She's about the size of your palm, weighs about five ounces, and is developing some body fat (join the club, baby!). Her heart is now regulated by her brain (no more random beats) to beat 140 to 150 times per minute — about twice as fast as yours! What else is up? She’s practicing the survival skills she’ll need at birth — like sucking and swallowing.

Your baby is almost certainly listening up by now. In fact, loud noises — the dog barking, the doorbell ringing — will actually startle your baby (and also get him or her used to such noises; for instance, fetuses who regularly hear a dog barking will become babies who sleep right through Fido's outbursts).  Your baby's eyes (which have fortunately finished their migration  to the front of his or her head) are making small side-to-side movements and can even perceive some light, though the eyelids are still sealed.

Bitsy Hitzy is the size of an Onion this week!
SOURCE

I hope you are all having a Blessed Monday!

Book Excerpt

I don't have anything original today.
What I have in an excerpt from a book I've been reading.
A book that will soon be reviewed right here on this blog.
In the meantime though, I wanted to share this excerpt because it just seemed so appropriate.

This comes from the book The Shelter of God's Promises by Sheila Walsh
She is referring to a story that Paul Harvey told on his radio show some years back called:

"The Man and the Birds"

It was Christmas Eve, and a man told his wife and children that he didn't intend to go to the midnight service with them.  He explained to them that the whole idea of God becoming a baby was just too much for him to believe, and he would rather stay home.  Not long after the family left, it began to snow.  As he watched out the window the snow flurries got heavier and heavier, so he settled into his armchair by the fire to keep warm.

A few minutes later he heard a thump on his window, then another and another.  Assuming that it was neighborhood children throwing snowballs at the window he peered outside, but what he saw surprised him.  He saw a flock of birds huddled together in the snow.  He realized that they must have been trying to evade the storm and, seeing the lights on in his house, flew into his window by mistake.  He knew that if he left them in the snow they would die, so he decided to open the door to the barn where his children kept their pony.  He wrapped up in warm clothes and boots and trudged through the snow, opened the barn door, and put the light on to draw their attention, but the birds wouldn't come.  He went back to the house and got some bread and left a trail from as close to the birds as he could get right up to the barn door, but still they wouldn't come.  He tried to catch them, but they were so afraid that they scattered in all directions.

It was clear to him that the birds were terrified of this large creature approaching them through the snow.  They didn't recognize him; they didn't trust him, and they didn't understand that he wanted to help them.  Every time he tried to touch them, they moved farther and farther away from help.

If only I could be a bird for a moment, he thought.  Then I could tell them not to be afraid and speak to them in their language.  Then I could show them the way to the safe, warm barn.  But I would have to be one of them so they could see and hear and understand.

Just then the church bells began to ring out--"Adeste Fideles."

Oh, come, all ye faithful, 

Joyful and triumphant!

Oh, come ye, oh, come ye to Bethlehem;

Come and behold him

Born the king of angels:

Oh, come, let us adore him,

Oh, come, let us adore him,

Oh, come, let us adore him,

Christ the Lord.

Yea, Lord, we greet thee, 

Born this happy morning; 

Jesus, to thee be all glory given!

Word of the Father, 

Now in flesh appearing!

Oh, come, let us adore him,

Oh, come, let us adore him,

Oh, come, let us adore him,

Christ the Lord.

As the sound washed over him, he dropped to his knees in the snow.  Love had changed everything.

Now I know that this story is about Christ birth and this weekend we celebrate not his birth, but rather His resurrection.  

For some reason though, I was so moved when I read this today that I knew it needed to be shared.  

For how can someone who doesn't believe in Christ even comprehend how awesome a holiday Easter is.

Take a moment this weekend and remember to thank our Heavenly Father for the biggest sacrifice ever made.

I hope you all had a Blessed Saturday.

Bible Verse Friday #19

"For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky.  Through everything God made they can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature.  So they have no excuse for not knowing God"~Romans 1:20

Today is Good Friday.
The day that we, as Christians, commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus.
The Friday before Easter.
A day to reflect on what Jesus did for us.
The day He died for our sins so that we could someday enter the kingdom of heaven.
This is a gift that we can never repay.
We do have an obligation, however, to spread the word of God.
To tell everyone that Christ is RISEN!

This scripture says that people have no excuse for not knowing God. 
Everywhere we look his works are vast and great.
Unfortunately, even though people have no excuse for not knowing, it's easy to see why they don't.
Society focuses on all the bad in the world.
This puts doubt in people's minds.
It leads to questions such as: "If there is a God why does He allow bad to happen"?
That's where we come in.
We can answer this by explaining that God does not will bad things to happen.
Instead we must remind people that bad things happen because of the free will humans were given.
We must remind people of God's love.
We must show people God's love.
We should desire to share God's love.

I think one of my most introspective moments when I realized there must be a God was when I was much younger.
I had a fascination with butterflies.
After my Grandfather passed away, my Mother bought me a preserved blue butterfly encased in a glass jar.
The colors were magnificent.
Every shade of blue from deep navy to bright cerulean.
I stared at that small creature, thinking of having seen my Grandfather at the funeral and contemplating that he was in Heaven now. 
It had to be true.
God.
Heaven.
All of it.
This butterfly was my proof. 
How could something this small and delicate and beautiful just occur?
It couldn't.
A God, My heavenly father, created it.

So as we reflect today on the blood that Jesus shed for our sins, take a moment to notice all that God has created for us.
Take a time out and a deep breath and look around.
God has given us this amazing planet.
He gave us his son.
He continues to give us his love.
Know that He is real.
Share him with someone you encounter today.

I hope you all have a Blessed Friday.

P.S. Today is also Earth day.  So in order to accomplish both honoring God and all he has given us, take a moment to find a way to make this Earth better.  Reuse, Reduce, Recycle, and Rejoice for the Lord has Risen!!!!

Baby Diaries #2

Just a quick update on how things are going here!

This is me March 13th at 11 weeks.

This is me April 17th at 16 weeks.

I definitely have a bump.
I have another Dr's appointment tomorrow at which point I'll be given the paperwork request for my ultrasound that will tell us the gender.
Unfortunately I won't be allowed to fill that request until closer to 19-20 weeks.
Arg...waiting is so hard to do!
Does anyone have any guesses as to what we are having?
I still have it in my head that this is a little boy, I also think we will have baby early...maybe 9/30?
My mom made her guesses already- She says it'll be a boy born 9/15 weighing in at 8lb14oz
Her friend Monica (whom I've never met so this makes me giggle) thinks it's also a boy who'll be born 9/26 weighing in at 7lb3oz.
I guess we will find out in a few weeks.

In other baby news:
I'm feeling SO SO much better.
No more queasiness everyday.
Still battling a few food aversions.
Not nearly as exhausted, but still requiring a few impromptu naps.
Also, despite the fact that I'm starting to show can you believe that it still hasn't hit me?
That's right I still can't believe I'm pregnant.
Right now it just seems like none of my clothes fit.
I think once I feel that little one in there only then will it hit me.
Let's hope that's soon!!!

I hope you all had a Blessed Monday!

Baptism

Today I got to witness something amazing.
It all started last Easter.
Bud was in the Easter production our church put on and we sent out a mass message to all our friends and ROTC cadets asking that they come to the Easter service.
A few people joined us for the service.
About 6 months later we got an email from AK.
She told us she had watched online and had really enjoyed the production.
So much so that she had continued to watch our church online.
Well that in itself moved us nearly to tears.
You never know who you might reach when you throw something out that general.
I know that God had a hand in that.
We had planted a seed and he has cultivated it.
I know this a few weeks ago when AK heard that baptism Sunday was coming up she asked if we would be there for her baptism.

Well today was that day.
Pastor Bruce explaining baptism to AK.

The dunk.

Introducing the new AK.

So proud we could be part of such an amazing day
for her.  My heart swells with love!

And although it doesn't show in these pictures I'm on the verge of balling my eyes out the entire time.
God is good all the time.
All the time God is good.

Just remember that every time you plant a seed, invite someone to church, or show your faith to others..you never know when those individuals will allow that seed to grow and feed their soul.
May you allow God to use you to plant seeds!

I hope you had a Blessed Sunday!

Blog Friend...

Sometimes when plans fall through it's not a bad thing.
Sometimes this happens because other plans need to be made.
Today was a perfect example of this.
Let me rewind.
Friday night I got an email from Suzanne.
She's a blog friend and the author of Privet and Holly.
I love how she writes.
She has a way with words and everything she write is like poetry.
Anyways, I got an emails from her telling me she was in a nearby town and wanted to know if I would be free to grab lunch.
Well as far as luck, if you believe in that, would have it our plans had changed and I was free!
Originally, Bud & I were supposed to be in Waco for ROTC field day.
My responsible hubby decided that he should instead put this day to better use and got started on his 10 page final paper.
I drove 45 minutes to meet wonderful Suzanne and her equally beautiful mother.

She's beautiful inside and out!
Oh and she definitely doesn't look old enough to have a 16 year old.

I brought them each a gift.

Gingerbread pancake mix from Kerbey Lane Cafe.

It's kind of a local favorite hotspot as far as pancakes go.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch and talked for nearly 3 hours!

I didn't anticipate what happened during lunch though.

Suzanne almost brought me to tears when she handed me a gift bag with these:

I've been gaga over Fiestaware for years.
She told me that we would have to use these when
she comes to visit me in North Carolina.

In the meantime, I'll use mine
each time we have a virtual
coffee.  Decaf for me, with one
hazelnut creamer & 1 scoop of
sugar.  And I'm so happy I got to
meet you "for real" too!

Thank you Suzanne!

Thank you for taking the time to meet me.

For allowing me to share time with you and your amazing mother.

For your kind gift that means more than words.

For the emails and cards that have been words my heart needed to hear.

I pray for you and your family and I hope you enjoy the rest of you time here in the Lone Star State.

For everyone else, I hope you had a Blessed Saturday, I know I did!

Bible Verse Friday #18

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see". ~Hebrews 11:1

Dictionary.com defines faith as:
-noun
1. confidence or trust in a person or thing.
2. belief that is not based on proof.
3. believe in God or in the doctrines or teachings of relgion
etc...etc....etc

How do you define faith?
Faith to me is trusting that God will provide just as he promises.
I can read and know that he provided for people in the biblical times.
I can look around and watch other people who are provided for.
Yet it takes believing in God to know that I will be provided for.
It takes faith.

Right now is still very uncertain for Bud and I.
We have a lot of decisions coming up soon.
Bud has just 22 days until he graduates college, 35 days until he commissions, 82 days until he EADs (Enters Active Duty), 85 days until he reports in for duty, and 170 days until Bitsy Hitzy is here.
In the mean time we have so many questions and decisions we must make.
But no matter what we know that God will provide us the answers we need.
He will provide us with the security that man can not.
He will shelter us, feed us, love us, and provide for us because we believe.

What does faith look like to you?
Do you struggle at times believing in what can not be seen?
I have and sometimes still do.
It's okay, but please when that doubt creeps in...
...cast it out.
Replace it with faith and know that God will reward that faith!

I hope you all had a Blessed Friday

P.S. I'm exceptionally happy right now.  There is a chance I will get to meet one of my blogging friends this weekend!  She's been amazing and inspirational and I feel like I've known her my whole life.  I hope it all works out!!!

P.S.S. I'm also linked up here today!

Bigs hats, Baby Registries, and Buckets of Crab!

Well if we thought that Saturday was crazy busy we were wrong!
Sunday turned out to be even busier, but still awesome.
Bud decided we would tune into Church from home so we hooked the laptop up to the tv and snuggled into the couch to listen to the message.
That's the amazing thing about our church, they broadcast live online so no one has an excuse to miss church.
After church I jumped in the shower and then squeezed in a Skype date with my Dad.
Before I knew it I had to run across the street to Red's, where we were having our 3rd Annual Hat & Glove luncheon.

I liked my hat this year, but my dress almost didn't fit!
I didn't think about the fact that I'm growing another person inside
me right now and all my clothes are starting to get a tad bit tight!

Here is our group shot!

When I got home from this it was time for a quick wardrobe change, remember I said that dress was a little tight!
Bud & I were off to do some registering for Bitsy Hitzy!

I didn't realize how stressful a baby registry could be.
Honestly I think we spent an HOUR looking at strollers....

Bud thought he broke the stroller.
He couldn't get it to open back up.
Turns out there was a little safety latch on
the side that he needed to undo.

Finally after about 2 hours of registering at Babies 'R Us and Target it was time to celebrate our Anniversary.
That's right, it was our Anniversary....7 Amazingly Awesome Wonderful God-Blessed Years!
Most years we do something really fun for our anniversary:

Our 2 Year Anniversary we took our 2nd cruise
and went scuba diving for the first time!

Our 3rd Year Anniversary....

....we got tattoos

Our 4th Year Anniversary....

....we went skydiving!

Our 5 Year Anniversary
we did a photo shoot!

Our 6 Year Anniversary we rented a motorcycle and rode down
to Fredericksburg, admiring the wildflowers the whole way!

and we did another photo shoot with
our favorite photographer!

Well this year I wanted to go horseback riding in the hill-country...that is until someone mentioned that might be a bad idea since I'm expecting.

Sure enough, I looked it up and it's a big No No!

Arg....I had thought about a hot air balloon ride, but I'd been so queasy I'd hate the thought of being up that high and not feeling well...so we settled this year.

We simple went to Joe's Crabshack
and proceeded to STUFF ourselves

on as much crab as we possibly could.
We finished off with a piece of key-lime
pie and although it wasn't nearly as
adventurous or daring as years past, it
was perfect. 

I can say it was perfect, because I got to spend it with my best friend, the man that God blessed me with!

And I guess as far as doing something daring or adventurous....maybe growing a human is more daring than anything we've ever done before!

Plus there is always next year to horseback ride or hot air balloon in North Carolina...we have quite a few years of marriage ahead of us!

I hope you all had a Blessed Thursday!

Busy Saturday!

After a restful nights sleep it was time to hit the ground running again.

I had lunch plans with a good friend RK.

We ate at Magnolia Cafe and we both ordered the Royal French Toast!

It was really good catching up with her.

She's been crazy busy between working and her Sign Language Classes.  

She's set to be done with all those classes and start her internship next spring.

After lunch I stopped by Bud's work to say hi and then it was off to Whole Foods to pick up some FRESH BEAUTIFUL fruit for our picnic.

When I got home I nap was much needed and when I awoke I quickly straightened up and packed the "picnic basket".  

TV & KS as well as KS & AT came by and we all had a picnic at the park area in the front of our complex. 

Each couple brought their own main course and a side to share.

Miss KS brought a delicious corn dip.

Miss AT brought chips for the dip.

I brought a lot of fresh fruit and homemade fruit dip.

But did I get any pictures?

No.

I'm a slacker.

But I think sometimes it's okay to just enjoy the company.

Afterwards Mr KS & AT headed out and we went with TV & Miss KS to Threadgills to see Mingo Fishtrap.

TV & Miss KS introduced us to them about a year ago.

Here is a video of them performing at the same location we went to a year ago:

And here are TV & Miss KS enjoying the music:

Less than 2 months until their big day!!
Bud & I are so excited to be a part of their wedding party!

Nice job getting the sign in the picture KS!
We love Mingo Fishtrap!

Bud got me out on the dance floor once and maybe I should learn to let loose and get out there more.

I know it would make him happy.

Overall it was a GREAT day and a GREAT night!

I love when we get to hang out with awesome friends!

I hope you had a Blessed Tuesday!

Blues & Ballgowns

I apologize profusely for my inability to keep a regular schedule lately.
I had every intention of sitting down and writing about all the fun activities I did this weekend, but somehow time slipped by.
So here we are.
Tuesday night.
Post grocery shopping.
Post dinner.
Pre-cleaning.
Pre-showering.
Pre-bedtime.
I think I'll spend the next few days filling you in on the weekend and then Friday I'll be back with Bible Verse Friday!
I always hate missing BVF, it helps set my soul straight and the feedback from everyone is always a nice reminder that I'm not typing to hear my fingers clickity-clack against the keyboard.
Anyways, let me move forward.

Friday was my pamper me day.
Every year Air Force ROTC has a formal dinner.
And every year I take that opportunity to go spoil myself all day and get dolled up for the night.
This year was no exception.
I booked my appointment at Frenchy's Beauty Parlor w/ my wonderful stylist Kallie.
First we did my highlights, it'd been a year since I'd had them done, fortunately she did such a good job last time, they grew out rather inconspicuously.
Then she touched up and added a few new layers to my hair.
Finally she styled it for the big night.
The thing about Kallie is that the entire time she asked me questions about what I would like, but I saw her grin each time I told her, "Kallie, I trust you, do whatever you want".

The finished product

After Frenchy's I grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to my 2nd appointment of the day.
A Mani/Pedi at Embellish!
They know how to make a girl feel like a girl.
They everything is elegantly decorated and the big tv's hanging on the wall play nothing but chick flicks.  While I was there I caught the end of The Wedding Date  w/ Debra Messing & the beginning of My Girl.
It was heavenly.
Finally it was time to come home, do my make-up and head to dinner with the hubby.

How handsome is this man standing next to me?

He's a little excited about Bitsy Hitzy

It's so much fun seeing everyone dressed up and mingling before and after the wonderful dinner.

AT & KS are getting married July 30th!
They are a great couple and we love hanging out with them.

KS & TV have less than 2 months until their big day
and we can't wait to walk down the aisle again as
bridesmaid & groomsman to support them!

The great thing about fun couples and ROTC and knowing each other for a few years.

It's always fun to be around these people!

KS (the female) didn't think she'd been in enough photos
yet so she jumped in on this one ;)

And let's not forget Bud & his Best Friend JF

JF made dinner so much fun.

A few birthdays ago we gift him a fork like this:

Airforkone
source

Well he brought it and exchanged his proper dinner fork with this one in honor of his pilot's slot!

That is a completely random, but just an example of how much fun these people are to hang out with.

All in all as far as our LAST AF ROTC dining out goes, I have to say it was nearly perfect.

Only 38 more days until Bud Commissions!

I hope you have a Blessed Tuesday.

Baby Diaries #1

So the big question lately is...
"How did you tell your family"?
Let's just say this was a well thought out plan that started some time ago.
Do you remember back at Christmas when I mentioned that we gave all the family photo albums as gifts?

Well we did that with the promise that we would start sending them all real tangible pictures.
See, we kept getting complaints because people don't send real pictures anymore and everyone expects you to be on Facebook to see pictures, etc.  So we decided to change that.
Fast forward to the last week of March I'm 13 weeks pregnant and finishing up my 1st trimester and it's time to tell the family.
So we sort through iPhoto and pick the best pictures from Christmas through current to send to the family.  Each photo has a sticky note of when, where and what is going on in the picture so that family members can update their photo albums.  The last 2 pictures in each batch were the sonogram pictures!
We dropped them off in the mailbox Sunday night and prepared ourselves for the waiting game.
When would they check their mail, when would they call, how will they react?
My Dad in Michigan got his on Wednesday.  But he had already known we were pregnant since his birthday in February (My Dad was the last one to find out I was getting married so I was hoping to make it up to him, but telling him first he was going to be a grandfather).
We told my brother-in-law TH over the phone before he deployed so he wouldn't find out on Facebook, he was excited!
Thursday Bud got a phone call from his brother and sister-in-law.  BH's first comment was, "Dude your having an ALIEN"!
That afternoon 5 minutes before I was getting off work I got the call from my Mother.
Apparently, she had had a down day and she was in shock when she checked her mail.  She's been calling almost daily ever since telling me how in shock she is and giving me advice from all and anyone she talks to.
When I got home I called my Grandmother, in Hawaii.  It was her 70th birthday and I was calling to wish her a Happy Birthday and to ensure she had rec'd her birthday card.  Grandpa hadn't checked the mail yet so we continued to chat and finally I was "wrapping" up the conversation and I said, "Oh Grandma I'm really bummed your birthday card didn't get there in time".  This prompted her to check the mail herself at which point she read the card and then started to fawn over each photo with me.  Finally she read the sticky not on the front of the last photos that said OUR FAVORITE PHOTO OF 2011.  When she pulled off the sticky note I heard the gasp and then in a near whisper, "Biz.....your...pregnant"!
I replied with "Happy Birthday Grandma, now you'll be a GREAT Grandma"!  She rushed and handed the photo to my Grandpa and said, "look at these Great Grandpa".  I heard my Grandpa say, "Biz?  It's about time"!
Finally, at 7pm we hadn't heard from my father in law yet and we were frustrated.
We called and Bud explained that we had send the first batch of quarterly photos and that I was worried I hadn't put enough postage...my father-in-law has a PO box at the post office about 1 block away from the parsonage so he decided to go check and he'd call us back.  30 MINUTES LATER! I say to Bud, "Did he walk heel toe the whole way there and back"?
The phone rings and Bud says, "Hey Papa Bear".  His Dad replies, "Hello Papa Bear"!
It was a great way to finish off the telling the family.
Oh, but wait....what about Bud's Mom?
I have a video for that...let me set it up.
We hadn't sent Bud's Mom her pictures yet, she's a prankster so we decided we were going to tell her on April fools day.
We asked BH if he and his wife would help us out, we asked them to call Mama Dear on April Fool's Day and tell her they were pregnant.
My brother-in-law texted Mama Dear saying:  How does Nana **** sound?
My Mother-in-law nearly ran a red light and then she called BH and yelled at him, apparently they had pulled that April Fool's joke on her 2 years ago and she wasn't having it!
So cue Bud & I....

Now everyone knows!
Life is good!
I hope you all had a Blessed Thursday!

Bridesmaid Diaries Part 6

The spread at DE's Bridal Shower

Yummy and Beautiful Cupcakes....
and what's that, Oh the table runner I made!

Flowers, because what bridal shower is complete w/out matching
flowers?

Group picture #1!
We got everyone to dress in pink, brown & white.
In this picture many of the ladies were showcasing the veils they
made from headbands and tissue paper.

Group shot #2
Sans veils, very nice!

Group shot #3
Silly faces...I don't think everyone that we were serious about this one.
Haha!

Overall the shower went smoothly.
The bride got plenty of wonderful gifts and plenty of bridal attention.
My friend JP and JS were my close compadres all day!
After the shower we drove back to Austin and prepared for more bride-to-be adventures.
Many of the girls rented a hotel room to crash in after their night on the town.  I had to pass on staying in the hotel because I can never tell how I'm going to be feeling and I didn't want to be a party pooper.
Once everyone had arrived from Killeen it was time for dinner.
I was very excited because I had a lot to do with picking and booking our dinner venue.
We went to a place called Union Park on West 6th St.

This was our view
source

The food and the view were wonderful!
I had the steak, mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus and it
was only $12!!!
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After dinner we headed back to the hotel and the bachelorette party games and lingerie gift opening began.
I was already starting to feel the sandman's presence, but I held out until right before the girls headed downtown for the party portion of the night.
At 9:45 everyone started touching up make-up and I took the cue to head out.
I hugged the Bride-to-Be and homeward bound I went.
From the sound of it they had a great time.
It sounds like it was everything DE wanted.
Only about 2 more months until her big day....where has time gone.
I hope everyone had a Blessed Wednesday.

P.S. I got my organic spray tan today and so far I'm in love with my sun-kissed looking skin.