Shower with sweets

Today, a lovely bridal shower was hosted for my friend, Jeni. She's getting married in August, so my mom and I and Jessica and her mother, Sherry, joined forces to throw a dessert shower for the bride-to-be! Jeni likes to bake (not quite as much as me, but she'll get there :) so it was only appropriate that it be a kitchen and sweets theme.

The invitations were adorable, designed by Jessica's sister, Kandace. She's started her own side business called Save-the-Date. She's great!

Included with everyone's invite was a cute recipe card from etsy.com (i LOVE that site).

So, on Saturday, Jantastic (that'd be my awesome mom) and I got to work baking. On our to-make list was: lemon bars, blueberry cheesecake bars, stawberry cupcakes, and something interesting called, brownie pops (we found this in a new Wilton magazine all about brownies). Now, I'm no Bakerella (yet), but I think they turned out pretty cute!

My drizzling skills could be improved, however.

Anyway, mom and I enjoyed some quality bonding time in the kitchen and everthing we made turned out great. Here are some pics from the shower!

Brownie pops in pink and yellow

Yummy strawberry cupcakes. We discovered a great icing recipe that was perfect- it set up just right!

More of the little delights

Blueberry cheesecake bars were one of my favorites! We hadn't made this recipe before, but it has since been added to the "great" and "to make again" files.

Jessica's pretty fruit tarts

The spread! We had wayyyy too many desserts.

Me with Jeni and Jessica. Best friends since 9th grade!

Jeni and I with Meredith, our dear friend from Fayetteville that we met through Tridelt. She drove all the way down just for the shower. Talk about a sweet, sweet girl!! I was really excited to see her :)

And, somehow those are the only pictures I got at the shower. I know others did a better job, so maybe I can come back and add more!

Hooray for Jeni and all of her great gifts and friends that came!

Memorial Day weekend

So, I didn't do so hot on the blogging last week. Sometimes I just get busy and tired. But, this three day weekend has been so great! We had lots going on and made the most of our time off.
(Warning: This post could be very long- lots of pictures to share!)

Friday night, I went to The Nail Bar with Kayla and Julie. It's down on Mud Island in Harbor Town. It's a super cute place an I love the idea behind it. You get a drink with your manicure or pedicure or you can come in with your own bottle of wine. It's got a great atmosphere and we all walked out with pretty little nails!


On Saturday we hit the road, Little Rock bound. Mom and I went to a couple of stores and bought all of the wedding and shower presents we needed for the summer. We shopped for 10 different couples! The lady at Bed, Bath & Beyond was really tired of printing registries by the time we left. Oh well! Glad to have that off our to-do lists!

That night, we went to our first wedding of the summer season, Katie Dacus and Jeremy Stalcup. It was a really cool wedding and we had a blast...

We were happy to celebrate at someone else's wedding. Couldn't help but think about how glad we are to be married!

The ladies I miss so much: Jessica, Whitney and Joanna
Oh yes, and Keith nearly adopted this little girl. As you can see, I'm not too keen on the idea of a having a small child right now!

Dear Joanna, please come stay with us again soon. Our guest room misses you.

A rare picture with the 3 Riley boys. Twins, Hunter and Haynes and the oldest, Zach.

Can't wait for this girl's wedding!! Hooray for October, the soon to be Mrs Lee Strother.

This is me with Jessica and Brandon and as the couple left, the pyrotechnics were out of control. This is right before I was coughing like a had the black lung!
It was a fun night and we're so happy for the newlyweds! Somehow, I managed to not get a picture with the bride- oops!

Sunday, my parents had a big, festive Memorial gathering with a bunch of family. I was so happy to see everyone that I didn't take any pictures here either, geez! Afterwards, we headed back to Marion so that we could enjoy Sunday night and Monday off at home. We grilled out with our couple friends (we've spent 4/7 evenings together!) yep, we love each other! And because we can't get enough, we all went to the Memphis Zoo together today. It was SO much fun! Rain was threatening our plans, but we didn't let it stop us. It turned out to be really nice...


Puryears, Joneses, Siscos

Hmm, note to self, don't wear a dress like that anymore! It's so comfy, but I look preggers in all these pics, ugh!

Again, these girls are (some of ) the reasons I love Memphis!

Future Dentists of America


Toucan Sam

A very large, very old turtle

Komodo Dragon and his tongue

Hippo frolicking in the water

Future Dentists of America holding Hippo teeth

About to enter the China land with the panda exhibit

The sun came out for us!

Kayla finds a place to rest, doesn't look to comfy

Posing with Le Le, the pretty Panda!

They are such amazing animals! They make the trip to the Memphis Zoo all worth it!

Beastly Elephant

Giganto Rhino

Keith loves animals. In another life, he'd be a zookeeper or something.

The Sea Lion show! Very entertaining stuff...

Gotta get some cute couple-y poses

At the Northwest Passage exhibit, striking some poses
Charles. Is. Hilarious.

Again, this proves my point above!

Indian love.

The apes always freak me out a little bit, so human like!

Our boys...

Yes, I made them take this picture. "Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil"

Yay for Zoo Day!!!!

8 Things

Okay, okay. I'm finally doing this! I've been tagged by at least 3 people, so now I'm finally participating:

Eight Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. Idol watch party on Tuesday- we're grilling out burgers with our D1 couple friends!
2. The Love Dare bible study on Wednesday. Must read to dare 10. We're very behind!
3. Coming home every single day and seeing my Keith (this will always be on my list :)
4. Our 1st Anniversary- June 21st!! We're beach bound...
5. Memorial Day weekend- having Monday off
   
6. Being in N. Little Rock for the next 2 weekends. There's a little baby I'm missing...oh, and the rest of my family is on the to-see list, of course!!
   
7. Hosting a bridal shower for Jeni at the end of May- and a bachelorette party in July. I love girly parties!
8. Making our flower beds beautiful- we're waiting for good weather and a free weekend to enlist my dad's help.
   

Eight Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Brunch with my in-laws, brother-in-law, Ryan, and his cute girlfriend, Shelby. They are both 16 and remind me of myself at their age
2. Went "Krogering"
   
3. Baked 3 loaves of Banana Nut Bread, Yum!
   
4. Wrapped 3 birthday presents
5. Snuggled with my hubby while we watched Last Chance Harvey, it was cute (the movie, that is)
   
6. Visited the Sisco's to deliver a housewarming basket (yes, I'm extremely domestic)
   
7. Watched the Desperate Housewives finale and nearly had a heart attack at the end when I thought the little boy was going to die
8. Read 2 sections of The Love Dare to Keith before going to sleep. I'm loving that book.
   

Eight Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. See my sister
   
2. Have a little extra patience
3. Read 5 books at once
   
4. Pray more frequently
   
5. See my friends that live in other cities more often
   
6. Love working out (cuz I SO don't)
7. Travel all the time
   
8. Laugh with my brother (that, too, will always be on my list)
   

Eight Shows I Watch:

1. Desperate Housewives
2. Brothers & Sisters
3. The Bachelor/Bachelorette
4. Dancing with the Stars
5. American Idol (GO KRIS! have I said that enough?)
   
6. Grey's Anatomy
7. Jon & Kate plus 8
8. So You Think You Can Dance
   

Eight Friends I Tag:

1. Kayla
2. Julie
3. Anne
4. Lisa
5. Claire
6. Betsy
7. Tyler
   
8. Becky
   

Catching you up

Sorry for the blog hiatus! The San Diego trip turned out to be very busy, as I predicted, but we had a great time, too.

This is the Embassy Suites team from cs2: Anne, Eric, me, and Kate. We all work so well together and our hard work paid off; the conference was a success!
We didn't get much time to explore San Diego. We were able to leave the hotel for dinner out on 2 different nights, so that was really nice to taste the local flavor. I'd love to go back to the area, for fun, and see more of it. Gorgeous and very clean!

By Friday, I was SOOOO ready to see Keith. We don't enjoy being apart one bit!! So, I was on cloud nine when I got a big hug from him.
I was also thrilled to come home to a spotless house and to see some beautiful gladiolas in a vase!


Oh my goodness, he is spoiling me so bad! Apparently, Keith is really tight with the Kroger flower lady and she 'hooks him up' with the best flowers. Either way, I love them!

A few things from the past week to note:

• Keith finished his first year of Dental School- YAY!!! And he finished with great grades (an even bigger YAY!!!!). I'm so proud of his success and happy for him to get a summer break. He gets 6 weeks off and he's gonna work up at the West Memphis ortho office (he used to work there when he was in high school), so that ought to be a good use of his time. AND he will make a little extra moo-lah- every little bit helps!
• Kris Allen made it to the American Idol Finale!! I'm pumped that he's in the top two. He really deserves it and has my vote to win it! I'm ready to buy his records now, please!
• While I was away, we received approximately 8 invitations to weddings or showers. Holy Schmoly*, our calendars are filling up fast! I'm looking forward to all of these, but I'm starting to forget what color our fridge is.
• I missed cooking. A whole week without it, and my hands were ready to get back in the kitchen, much to Keith's delight I'm sure. So, today I made more bread and we took a loaf to the Sisco's as a housewarming gift. I've also got a list of de-lish dinners planned for the week, including a Tuesday night Idol watch party for our couple friends. Yay Kris!

I'll do a much better job at blogging this week, I promise!

*= Holy Schmoly is a new phrase added to my repertoire, courtesy of Anne.

San Diego Bound

I'm leaving on a jet plane tomorrow headed for San Diego, California! I'll be there all week for the Embassy Suites conference. The weather should be nice and we (4 going from my office) should have some fun, too. We're gonna be extremely busy, so things may be a little quiet on the blog this week!

A few things:

Happy Mother's Day to my amazing mom, Jantastic. Thanks for always being my biggest fan- I missed you so much today :)
Happy Mother's Day, also, to my beautiful Grandma Bobo, my sweet mother-in-law, Penny, and to all the other moms I know and love!

Keith has a final on Tuesday to wrap up his first year of dental school. Pray for him that he will be able to study hard (should help that I'll be gone) and that he ends the semester on a great note!

Keith's grandmother that has been visiting for a few weeks returns to Florida this week, too. I"m so thankful for the time we spent getting to know one another. I pray that we'll get the opportunity to see her again.

Lastly, please cheer and vote for Kris Allen this week on American Idol. He was in Little Rock on Friday for a big welcome parade and concert. The whole state is behind him, including me!!! SO, please watch and vote. I'm almost positive I won't be able to view it live this week, so I gotta figure out a way to watch the highlights online!! GO KRIS!

Have a great week, I'll try to post an update if time allows. Here's to safe travels...


PS- Alexis and Phil, I'm so glad you came by to see us tonight! You should visit your families in Marion more often :) We've miss both of you!

When I finally make it home...

This week's song is below, called "Finally Home". It's by MercyMe and it's the song I am always hoping KLove will play when I'm in the car. Do you ever get like that with a song? You could just hear it over and over and over again!

I think this one is just so sweet and full of hope! I love the line "and the sweetest sound these ears have yet to hear... the voices of the angels..."

Finally Home - MercyMe