baby shower'in! :)

we had our first baby shower this weekend for our little fella.  i was completely overwhelmed by all the sweet things from family and friends.  three of my dear friends threw the shower, and they thought of every single detail, down to little flags on the straws for people's names.  SO cute.  they served yummy brunch foods that i love and had the cutest cake from shelby lynn's!

these are three sweet friends who put a lot of love into the shower!

who doesn't love a monogrammed cake here in the south! :)  

one of my dear sweet best friends i made during my freshman year in college made the trip in for the shower!  

they did so many cute details, i just can't get over it!

they asked me what i wanted (or maybe i just told them this one small request....) chocolate milk!  

my pregnancy favorite!

everyone wrote words of wisdom and played game to guess his birthday!  we'll see who wins! :)

kati made this diaper cake!  

cupcakes!

the cutest little onesie's and burp clothes handmade by lins!  

punch was so fun!  

little fella got some razorback gear!  hadleigh was my assistant with the gifts, and stayed right there the entire time, i am sure she was tuckered out, but she was a big helper! :)  love that little girl

cake!

this was mine when i was little, i got several very special gifts from my mom!

the aunts except for lorie, who had to work!

these are two great looking soon to be great-grandmas!  

these two are excited to say the least...."Susu" and "Mamaw"

two of the sweetest and dear friends!  

my belly is obviously quite larger, but little B will have a baby cousin in March!

kay and i after the shower, love her! :)

this quilt is so special as well, made with love by my dear friend Abby!  I LOVE it.

we are so thankful for the blessing of baby b and being surrounded with so much love and support.  i know there are so many who go with out, and so many sweet little ones in the world with out so much love.  praying we raise our little guy to be compassionate and giving towards those with less.  Thanking God for all of these blessings, every single one of them.

3 years...

My love and I celebrated 3 years of married fun today!  We started our morning with an ultrasound of little man, so that was a good start.  He's a long legged boy apparently, and measuring a week ahead of schedule.  

The day today actually reminded me a lot of the day we got married, pretty fall colors and a cloudy sky.  It was a bit colder 3 years ago today, but the look of it was the same.  

We ended our day with dinner at James at the Mill and a re-enactment of our top layer of our wedding cake.  and I ate my whole piece, while Bryan barely at half.  I'm always the dainty lady.  

our big day!

 One year in vegas!

 Two years, I was in Ukraine, i like to go polar opposite from the previous year in vegas! 

we celebrated with a facetime date.  

three years!  (taken this weekend...i was too busy food photographing tonight, and maybe too tired to take a picture)

dinner!  so good!

tonight's cake, i still love our wedding cake.  buttercream with raspberry filling! :)

3 years of marriage of course has had it's ups and downs, but I do feel like our marriage get's better every day, and I am thankful.  

this time last year...

i have been thinking about this week last year as October and fall is settling in here in NWA.  it was the week i spent in ukraine with abby,  ginny, and matt!  looking back on it, it really was such a sweet and peaceful week.

matt and ginny met their daughter.

abby spent time with a little sweet girl, that will soon officially become her and daniel's daughter.

we had great fall weather, smooth travels and settled into a little ukrainian routine.  breakfast and coffee, work, lunch, work, dinner, talking and laughing until way later than we should have been awake!  the slow pace let us really take it all in.  we enjoyed this slow pace at the orphanage and truly made friends with caregivers and doctors and got to see little personalities come alive.  we enjoyed getting a better glimpse into the kids daily routines, meal times, nap times, and seeing more of what life was like for them.  i really feel that God specifically used that week in my life to see His goodness.

i get so excited at the thought of this little girl being home.  

thank you God for sending me to Ukraine last October, and for every detail you over saw during our time there.  i can never be thankful enough!!!

 and you can't really beat the desserts and tea time!  maybe i'll fix myself up some ukrainian treats this week to celebrate!

happy october!

hawaii. ukraine. houston.

those three words don't really go together, but some how they all come up in this blog post! :)

our dear friend shawn is making the move to paradise!  we had a going away dinner for her and spent an evening talking and getting excited about her big move to hawaii!  she is officially there, and i can't wait to visit her in paradise!!

Aloha!

shawn got baby b this onesie.  he is all set now! :)

The ladies got off on their TEAMWorks Ukraine trip and traveled home this past weekend.  God truly blessed the trip, and I am so thankful for their willingness and hard work last week, I know they are exhausted.  You can read about this week's trip here.

Braces and shoes for the trip!  Wow, that is a lot of feet! 

the ladies at XNA, ready to start their trip! :)  i counted 8 hours ahead constantly trying to think of what they were doing!  it was an honor to be able to pray for their trip and the children while they were gone.  

Hadleigh turned 4 years old this month and since I was out of town for her birthday party weekend, we celebrated early!!  Soooooo...we had a Hadleigh/Ahmi sleep over party just for her.  We ate yummy food, went shopping, watched a movie, and made a quick trip to the pumpkin patch and then finished up with lunch at Gee-Dad's house.  She is sweet, funny, kind, smart and we are so thankful for this little birthday girl!!!

her dinner choice, catfish hole!  fun!

oh how i love her.  

This past weekend I went to see my bestie Mariellen!  I was SOOOO excited and got a great deal on a flight to houston!  This was my first trip to see her in her new town, and we had so much fun!  She treated me to a massage friday morning while she worked, so I spent the morning at starbucks in a comfy chair and then enjoyed a massage, relaxing and when she was done with work a mani/pedi!  it's probably the most relaxing day I have had in a long time!  it was nice to be there and know that i could just relax, because there wasn't much i could do all the way in houston! :)

we had dinner at this great place in houston called "Tiny Boxwoods" and it was connected to a plant nursery.  i was excited to meet mariellen's new houston friends.  i am so thankful she has made such sweet friends in texas!  we had dinner inside, and enjoyed sitting on the patio afterwards!  they had amazing desserts, and i had toffee gelato with shortbread cookies and sampled their warm donut holes with vanilla glaze and chocolate dipping sauce!  it was a pregnant gals dream come true!  

 i loved spending time with little Mac!  he is so sweet and says the cutest things right now.  i told his parents i hope our little boy is as sweet and cuddly as he is! :)

 cupcake break from a day of shopping!