Posted by Jenna on Apr 5, 2010 in
Family,
General Friday night as we were leaving the rehearsal a storm was blowing in and brought lots of rain and wind with it. Unfortunately, when we woke up Saturday morning, that rain had turned to sleet and snow and the beautiful blue sky and sunshine we had seen all week was gone. It was about 30 degrees with a 25-30 mph north wind and we knew we were going to FREEZE that evening in our dresses.
you can see the accumulation of snow on the roof of my parents’ house…their front steps were slick with ice
sleet under the tree and on the wooden swing…I thought this was the 1st day of Spring?!
I felt so sorry for Jillie because she had been praying all week long that God would provide warmth and sunshine on Saturday…but alas, the sleet and snow came. The weather wouldn’t have really been a big deal because the wedding was inside, but we were planning to take pictures outside prior to the wedding…mother nature had another plan. We had to change our plans at the last minute, but I think the pictures turned out beautifully.
Even though the weather wasn’t what she wanted, she thoroughly enjoyed every minute of her special day.
Wedding Morning…”I’m the Bride” coffee cup in hand!…She’s so happy!
The first thing we did on Wedding Day was have a bridal luncheon for Jillie at the home of the family she nannies for. Sara is such a sweet lady and loves Jillie so much and decided throw and “Lingerie Lunch” for Jillie and all of her family (girls only!) the morning of the wedding! The food was great, the company was great, and she got lots of great little gifts!
all of the delicious food!
cousins…Rachel, Jenna, Maggie (holding Elizabeth – the baby Jillie keeps), & Emma
After the Lingerie Lunch it was time for the Bridesmaids to start getting ready for the wedding and the aunts and guys started working at the ballroom. By late afternoon we were all in the dressing room in the building where the ballroom was to do make-up, hair touch-ups, and put on our dresses. We took pictures before the wedding, which was nice so we had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves at the reception.
Matt and I finally got an updated picture of ourselves!
I’d say we clean up pretty nicely…
There’s tons more wedding pictures that I want to post, but I’m waiting on my copy of the CD of pictures from the photographer…Jillie should be getting that to me soon…I hope!
Posted by Jenna on Apr 1, 2010 in
Family,
General Friday night we spent a couple of hours running through the ceremony to figure out the best way to do things. As usual when we all get together, we had a blast!
I think we only had to run through the ceremony 3 times before we had it all figured out…not too bad for as many people as we had. It helped that all of the girls had been in weddings before.
If I had to pick the hit of the evening, it would definitely be a toss up between the adorable flower girls (2 of the little girls my sister is a nanny for) or Bailey (my cousin’s boyfriend) stepping in and being the bride for my sister during the rehearsal, since it’s bad luck for the bride to actually walk down the aisle before the wedding day. The little girls were absolutely precious and did a great job rehearsing with us all 3 times and Bailey was a great “bride”!
everything is set & ready to go! …so pretty…
all of the girls lined up waiting to practice walking down the aisle
the flower girls…so precious!
Bailey made such a good bride!…haha
we got the little girls putting their hands on their hips & saying that everything was “FABULOUS!”…it was hilarious!
After finalizing all of the plans for the ceremony, we headed over to Little Italy for the rehearsal dinner. We had a delicious meal with great family and friends! The food was excellent and everybody enjoyed getting to relax and visit before the wedding day.
Jillie also gave all of the bridesmaids our gifts for being in the wedding. Jake’s mom made each of us a beautiful necklace and pair of earrings to wear in the wedding. Jillie bought antique broaches from the antique stores and his mom made them each into a necklace…they were fabulous with our dresses!
After the rehearsal all of the girls got slushies and hung out at our cousin’s house since all of her ACU roommates were gone on spring break. We had our last girls’ night before Jillie got married and we spent a few hours just laughing and talking and remembering old times! I love my family!
Posted by Jenna on Mar 23, 2010 in
Family,
General My spring break this year was officially renamed “Jillie’s Wedding Week”. I spent the weekend and Monday here at home running last minute errands, cleaning house, doing laundry, and packing so I could leave for Abilene on Tuesday to help with all of the final wedding preparations before the big day arrived.
I left Tuesday morning and picked up Jillie’s dress at the bridal salon in Waco where we have both purchased our dresses…such a great little store! After stopping at the bridal shop…it was on to Abilene…only 3 more hours!
It was a very busy week. We have a tradition in our family to give cookies as wedding favors, so we had cookies to bake. We also had to put together baskets for the hotel rooms where all of the out of town guests would be staying. We had to finalize and print the programs. The flowers were being delivered on Thursday and then we had boutonnieres and bouquets to make, as well as the centerpieces for the tables and the arrangements for the front of the ballroom where the ceremony would be held. Oh yeah…and cakes to make…haha.
Family began arriving Wednesday, so luckily we had help!
Jillie requested Linzer cookies for her wedding, so we baked 130 cookies and then filled them with raspberry jam…they were delicious!
setting up our workspace…
there were cookies EVERYWHERE!
Aren’t they pretty?
The flowers arrived from Ecuador Thursday morning…three shades of roses and hundreds of stems of Bells of Ireland. After spending some time in water, they brightened up and were gorgeous!
the Bells of Ireland
the roses…we bought pink one’s later to add to the bouquets
Nana and Monica (grandmother & aunt) starting on the boutonnieres
Beth (another aunt) starting on the cakes!
That’s the wedding week…in a nutshell…the rehearsal and wedding day will be posts of their own. I will have to wait for the photographer to finish the wedding pictures to post stuff from the actual wedding since I didn’t have my camera with me as I stood up there next to my sister. Rehearsal coming soon though!
Posted by Jenna on Jan 1, 2010 in
Family,
General Christmas always seems like a whirlwind for us because we are so busy and because we have so much family to celebrate with. We started our celebrations with Matt’s dad and Michelle on the 20th. They came to our house this year for a yummy dinner of roast, mashed potatoes, and green beans, boudin dip for appetizer, and key lime pie for dessert. We also celebrated Matt’s birthday the same night. Unfortunately…there are no pictures from this evening on my camera.
On the 23rd, we took gifts to Ben and Jack and had dinner with the Donaldson’s. Because Jack is so little, they didn’t come to Christmas at the grandparents’ house this year, so we gave the boys’ their presents early.
Christmas Eve, we spent some time with my family when they got to town and then headed to Cypress to celebrate with Matt’s mom, Kevin, Danielle, and grandma. We had minestrone soup, turkey, lots of dips, cheeses, fresh veggies, and of course, the cookies. We had dinner, visited for a while, and then opened presents. Again, same story…no pictures.
Christmas Day we got up early and made blueberry muffins and coffee and then started opening presents at our house with my parents and sister and brother. We had a really nice morning and then loaded up in the Tahoe and drove to Beaumont to enjoy the rest of the day with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We ate ALLLL day long, opened presents, visited, told stories, and laughed a lot.
the “kid” tree at Nana & Papa’s house…it is decorated with ornaments we made as little kids in school
getting the snacks ready…
the “BIG” tree…with new and different ornaments every.single.year.
roasting marshmallows…
We had a great Christmas with our families! We are truly blessed and that was abundantly obvious this year as we all gathered together to celebrate and be thankful.
Posted by Jenna on Dec 16, 2009 in
Family,
General,
News My cousins, Jeff and Alison, had their second baby boy late Sunday night. He surprised us 3 weeks early, but everybody is happy and healthy. We waited for Baby Jack to make his debut into the world all afternoon and he finally graced us with his presence at 11:58 pm. He was a teeny tiny little guy, weighing only 6 lbs, 6 oz and 18 1/4 inches long. We prayed long and hard for him to be born healthy and without complication, since Alison dealt with some pretty serious health issues throughout the pregnancy and God was faithful. He is absolutely perfect – what an AWESOME God we serve!
Big Brother Ben was completely enthralled with little Jack!
I’m already crazy about this adorable little guy! What a great early Christmas surprise. I can’t wait to watch him grow up.
Posted by Jenna on Dec 1, 2009 in
Family,
General Thanksgiving was truly wonderful. I was beyond thrilled when school let out on Tuesday afternoon and my Thanksgiving break had officially begun. Wednesday was full of preparations for my family’s arrival from Abilene and for the big day. I ran lots of errands, including lunch with Matt, finishing some birthday shopping for my family, dropping off the oil for turkey frying, and multiple trips to the grocery store.
My family arrived Wednesday evening and we enjoyed a lovely pre-Thanksgiving dinner with my cousins at Chuy’s. My family had never been, and since it is easily one of favorite places to eat, we felt it was only appropriate to introduce them. After dinner we enjoyed just relaxing around the house and getting food ready to take to my grandparents’ house the next morning.
Thursday morning we got up and had breakfast and coffee before driving out to my grandparents’ house where the festivities would take place. Not only were we celebrating Thanksgiving, but we were also celebrating some family birthdays for November and for the kids who have been off at college the last few months and missed being home for their birthdays. The day was absolutely perfect. The food was…WONDERFUL! We had 3 delicious fried turkeys, ham, Nana’s famous dressing & gravy, a whole giant table full of sides, and a another gigantic table full of desserts. If you walked away hungry at the end of the day, it was definitely your own fault! Since we weren’t able to celebrate Thanksgiving at Nana and Papa’s house last year due to the damage sustained by Hurricane Ike, this year was extra special to us and we were VERY THANKFUL to be back in the house. Not only was the day full of food and birthdays, but there was also alot of football on TV. The Cowboys’ game was watched, with a happy ending and then the biggest game of the day brought out the true rivalry in our family. By night fall, we had all donned our appropriate sweatshirts and school colors to watch A&M take on UT. Unfortunately, UT pulled out the win, but it was a really good game and A&M did much better than any of expected!
It’s a super cute picture…too bad she’s wearing that horrible color!
Friday morning all of the ladies ventured out for some Black Friday shopping. We no longer get started at 4:00 AM, instead we waited around and didn’t even hit Target until 9:30 or 10:00…haha!. We shopped the Woodland’s Mall, but unfortunately, I didn’t walk away with anything except shoes for my sister’s wedding. They are super cute though!
Saturday we did a bit more shopping and then drove out to Tomball to spend some time with one of my dad’s brothers and his family. We enjoyed dinner with them and lots of laughs. My family came back to our house Saturday night and then packed up and hit the road back to Abilene early Sunday morning.
Matt and I got the Christmas lights put up outside and the decorations put up inside and then ventured out to find the perfect tree. We found one at Lowe’s this year and I will probably put the lights on and start decorating one night this week. I’m waiting to let the branches “fall” a little bit since the tree was bundled when we found it.
We are getting very excited about the upcoming Holiday season. It will be a very busy few weeks as I wrap up the Fall semester with my kiddos at school and try to get my Christmas shopping started, and finished. We are also anxiously awaiting the arrival of my cousins’ new baby, little Jack. He should be here sometime around Christmas…maybe Matt will have a birthday buddy!
Posted by Jenna on Oct 22, 2009 in
Family,
Travel Matt and I have had two wonderfully relaxing weekends the last couple of weeks. Last weekend, after a few crazy weeks, we both took Friday off from work and drove out there early Friday morning so we would have an extra day to enjoy the serenity. We have spent both weekends in the Hill country with my family at the ranch and it was so nice to get away for a few days and just relax. We didn’t do a whole lot…the guys hunted, the ladies sat with them in the deer stands, we rode 4wheelers, ate LOTS of tasty food, and enjoyed some wonderful weather. Us gals ventured into Fredericksburg to do some shopping one morning, but other than that, we steered clear of civilization for the weekend. The guys didn’t come home with much meat…only 1 deer and 1 hog were shot, but it was great to get out there before things get busy with the holidays. We won’t be going back until the day after Christmas, which we are so excited about!
Posted by Matt on Aug 6, 2009 in
Family,
Pictures,
Random This probably wasn’t quite as difficult as threading a camel through the eye of a needle, but it was likely in the neighborhood. I came home this evening to find Bailey loose in the laundry room instead of comfortably in her kennel. Either through an accident or Bailey’s sneaky skills, the small, food bowl sized door on her kennel was opened.
For reference, this dog 
Made it through this tiny door….ridiculous. I just wonder how long it took. 
Posted by Jenna on Jul 12, 2009 in
Family,
General This was an extremely busy weekend as we celebrated my Nana’s 70th birthday with a huge surprise party! My parents drove down from Abilene Thursday and we all headed to Beaumont for the festivities Friday afternoon. It was a surprise party, so we told Nana that we were in town to look for wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses for my sister’s wedding, so she shopped with my mom, sister, and I all day while everybody else worked at my aunt’s house to set everything up. When we drove up to the house everybody was waiting outside to surprise her and then the celebrations began with swimming, fish frying, lots of eating, and visiting with family and friends.
After I scanned all 350 pictures, Matt put together an awesome slideshow with great music and we got to sit and reminisce through pictures. He’s so good at making those!
We partied until almost midnight, so instead of driving home that late, we decided to spend the night at my grandparents house and hang out with my parents more before they drove back to Abilene today.
my Nana as a little girl…about 9 or 10 years old…
my Nana & Papa on our family vacation to Daytona Beach, Florida – 2003
Nana was my “honorary Best Woman” in our wedding…apparently I asked her if she would be my “best woman” when I got married when I was really little…
Such a beautiful woman!
Happy 70th Birthday, Nana!
Posted by Jenna on Jul 6, 2009 in
Family,
General July 4th weekend was pretty low key around here and it was really nice for a change! Typically in my family, holidays were always a HUGE deal and they still are for the most part, but this year, July 4th seemed to be an “on your own” celebration.
We started the holiday weekend with LOTS of yard work on Friday. Matt had Friday off, so we got up early and got started in the yard so we could finish before the temps hit 100. We worked for about 4 1/2 hours mowing, weed-eating, pulling weeds, cleaning out flower beds, spreading new mulch around the trees and in the flower beds, and finally washing the front porch. It was so hot outside and we decided when we do mulch next year we will definitely do it in March or April before it reaches 100+ outside! Finally after we finished our yard work we were able to run errands and get ready for our July 4th celebration.
For the 4th, my cousins, Jeff, Alison, & Ben came over to our house for the afternoon and we hung out at the pool for the afternoon. They have a great little kiddie pool with slides and fountains and Ben had a blast! Alison said he has talked about the froggie slide since they left…I think we’ll be seeing them quite a bit this summer for swim time! Along with swimming we had LOTS of delicious food – ranch dip, boudain dip, grilled chicken, burgers, roasted potatoes, grilled corn on the cob, and homemade banana pudding! After dinner it was time for fireworks, so we went to a park down the street and sat up on a hill – the highest spot in the neighborhood and got to watch people shoot off fireworks – which ironically enough – are strictly prohibited in our neighborhood! They were beautiful and Ben loved them! Unfortunately…our dog did not enjoy the fireworks…the kids in the neighborhood started shooting them Friday night and continued through Sunday night and it was almost constant barking until they finally stopped around midnight each night…ugh!
It will be a pretty uneventful week around here…just getting ready for my parents to come visit!
