mixers, spatulas, and flowers...oh my!

We had Ashley's "kitchen themed" bridal shower this morning and had so much fun! I was so excited to see this shower decor come to life. Ashley had mentioned she really liked the kitchen theme idea and then I just really liked the black/gold/bold color scheme to it all worked together perfectly. 

this chalkboard is one that I had from my wedding, I wrote their initials on it as if it was a monogram and then added some silk flowers for decor

 I had text Aaron (the groom) about a month ago asking why he loved ashley and he responded with this.. I framed it and it was such a hit at the party! It caused many tears!

 How cute are this witty little signs that I incorporated with the kitchen theme?

 again with the witty sign and the 'R' was just some scrapbook paper I cut out and added to a frame I had

 I made this fruit and cheese platter.. I choose a more "elegant" look but thought it turned out cute!

I used another chalkboard that I had from our wedding and wrote a "recipe for marriage" on it (the measurements are not accurate ;)) I added a cupcake liner garland and some cute fabrics I got

 we had recipe cards and a recipe book that everyone could fill out for Ashley

It was so easy to decorate for this shower-I grabbed so many items out of my kitchen and just put it all together

 We had a punch and lemonade to drink

 the invitations, handmade by Kate

 bingo cards for our game

 Kate also made this backdrop that went along with our kitchen theme as well

 the bride!

 what we ate:

chicken salad, pasta salad, cheese/fruit, puppy chow, chips/queso, ooey gooey butter bars

what we did:

movie quote game: I had a list of well known quotes from romantic movies. we split the room into 2 teams and the teams had to guess the correct movie the quote came from

bingo: we had everyone fill out bingo cards with what they thought ashley might get as a gift at her shower and as she opened her gifts they can check off the boxes

 here's the whole group of ladies together

here's myself and the bride :)

May goals

I decided to try this whole monthly goals thing. I know of these are a simple list "blog once a week", "Wake up at 5:00am", etc. but mine are more reflections and convictions of my heart and what I would like to change. 

So, here's a shot at it:

  Marriage

   Focus on respecting my husband more. This means waking up early on my morning off to make his coffee and breakfast, or run errands for him instead of indulging in Netflix, or having a clean house and meal prepared when he comes home from work.

      Less screen time

  I’m so so guilty of spending so much time on my phone and computer. I want to spend less time looking at a screen (and ahem, comparing my life to that of others through spending so much looking at blogs) and more time enjoying the life right in front of me.

   **cody and I did decrease our TV time in the recent 2 months and instead listen to podcasts together or play the game of Life and it’s so much more enjoyable!

   Financial

   Look more closely at our budgets and stick closer to it. It’s so easy to not stick our boundaries when there’s a few extra dollars for a cushion. I want to be more strict on spending only what’s necessary and more relaxed on giving.

     Encourage

   I want to push Cody to apply to seminary this month! It’ll be a huge step for us but I know his desires and want to push him to achieve a Master’s Degree in Theology.

pink, yellow, and a bride

this past Sunday (on the windiest day in Lubbock's history, I'm sure of it) we threw kate another bridal shower. This one was themed yellow, pink, orange... girly. We used flowers and lemons as accents. We had it outside in a fenced in patio which turned in SO cute, despite the crazy 60mph wind.

 ^^the beautiful bride :)

 beverages were lemonade or raspberry/orange sorbet mimosas

beautiful spring

Let's all take a moment to enjoy the beauty of Lubbock this past weekend:

...not ;) Regardless of the crazy 60mph wind and flying dirt, we had a great/busy weekend! Cody and I enjoyed alittle day date on Friday complete with a springtime shopping trip for Cody to have some new work clothes. 

On Saturday we joined my coworkers at the March of Dimes walk to support our babies and pregnant mommas!

 On Sunday after church I made a quick escape to head to my sweet friend Kate's shower! So excited for this bride! 

to finish it off, here are a few of my "favorite things" lately:

1. Chia Seeds-I've been wanting to try these for awhile but just now finally found them at the store, ha! I put them in coconut milk and allow them to plump up (almost like tapioca seeds) and throw in some fruit and almonds, yum! I personally love odd textured food, but most people probably wouldn't like this texture. Chia seeds are super high in Omega 3 and protein.

2. Embrace Grace-this is a ministry my heart has been heavy on for a bit. It's a national organization that welcomes pregnant teenagers and single mommas into the church where they can be loved and supported, instead of out on their own. I think supporting pro-life is awesome, but as this organizations says, the girls choose to keep their baby.. "then what?".

3. Young Living essential oils-I joined the bandwagon! I first heard about these oils as rumors started up at work that we're going to start implementing them into practice for not only our nurses but also upon request by our laboring mommas. I just ordered my started kit  but I'm so excited to start using these everyday!

4. Mint-this is a budget app that Cody and I both use. We set it up on the computer but use it day-to-day on our phone. We set specific budgets for everything we wanted to, and it keeps us accountable about where our money is going. Last night we sat down together and reviewed it for the month, it's a great tool to communicate finances!

5. Call the Midwife-call me a dork but I just love this show. It's a show dated back to follow one of the originial midwives in the poor areas of England. I love seeing our modern day L&D practice even then. Plus, is there really anything clean on TV nowadays? I'll stick to my netflix :)

picnic couples shower

It's been awhile... like, months. Oops! Honestly, I feel like we haven't had too much going on to blog about, but rather we've been planning everything upcoming. 

One of my biggest hobbies (always) but especially in these last few months is planning wedding showers for two of my good friends. I love having a vision for a party and seeing even the smallest details come through! 

This weekend was the first of many of those wedding showers, Kate's couples shower. Since it was a couples shower, we choose to do a co-gender theme and what's more fun than a springtime picnic? 

the shower went great, the skies did turn black and it started pouring an hour in but luckily we'd sped up the gift opening and game so we could just mingle indoors at that point :)

I had these beautiful hand made invitations made from a hometown friend, Whitney and her talented calligraphy :)

 I thought it was a cute idea to pre-make lemonade and sweet tea and can them in mason jars over ice. That way, the drinks were ready and guests just put a straw in!

 We ordered mini cheeseburgers from Blue Sky, had potato salad, pasta salad, watermelon, chips, cupcakes and cookies

We had a cornhole game set up for the boys entertainment :)

 ^^the soon to be Mr and Mrs :)

 my husband and I!

After the shower we got a short visit with Cody's sister, brother-in-law and new nephew :) They were in town for Easter. 

 Cody was a natural with him and bounced him to sleep twice!

That's it for now! Many many more showers coming up!

springtime

We are loving spring and the (occasional) warm weather! I've had a few days off work and it has been excellent! We're working on updating a few things around our house..more on that later. So my days off have been spent painting, planning bridal showers for the upcoming months, cooking, and trying to "spring up" our home. 

We haven't been doing too much, but here's a little look:

We went to the high school baseball game a few weeks ago// We stretched brisket for dinner and lunch as long as could, loved pairing it with pasta and fruit salads//I got some tulips for our kitchen table and cleaned our windows so they're ready to be opened for the spring//I visited Cody at work one day//I made spring yellow and pink cupcakes with the youth girls

 I whipped up the pasta salad one day as a spontaneous side dish. Cody LOVED it and has literally requested it 4 times since then... so we've made it just that many times! Great thing about this recipe is it's SUPER easy and once you buy the ingredients.. pasta, pecans, dried cranberries, mayo, etc. you'll have enough to remake this recipe for several times. Here's the recipe:

Cooked pasta of any kind

a scoop (or two) of mayonnaise

chopped up raw broccoli

a handful of grapes cut in half

a handful of dried cranberries, pecans, and bacon bits

a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper

that's it!

baby Carter

We took a roadtrip this past weekend from our West Texas home to the other side of Texas, Longview. Both Longview and Lubbock almost hug the border of Texas from East to West, so we literally drove the entire width... 8 hours worth! Why did we go? To see our first nephew! He was 2 weeks old this past weekend and this was our first opportunity to see him! We had a great time with Cody's sister and brother in law.. and baby Carter. It was such a relaxing weekend full of holding the baby.. watching tv.. sleeping in (till 11! who are we?!).. and just not having an agenda!

we saw this sign at a restaurant on the way there and had to take a picture. gotta love small town Texas!

 biggest different between West and East Texas?.... these tall green things, ha!