Wedding Memories

Joey and I have said several times in the last year that we would love to do our wedding again. Not the planning and leading up to it- just the party. We had such an amazing time and made so many great memories getting married and celebrating with all of our closest friends and family. I mean how often do you have all those people that you love in the same room? It was such a cool thing! We are so grateful for all of the people that love and support us. We feel very blessed as we look back on that day and remember all the people that gave of time and resources to make our day special. So, as promised here are some pictures from our wedding a year ago! Sorry this post took me so long to get up... all our wedding pictures are on my computer that has been out of commission for a bit. It is back up and running though, so let's reminisce!
Photographs by Edward Charles Photography

What? It's been a year already!!!

We are headed out of town today to celebrate our 1st Wedding Anniversary!!! I know... crazy right? Time sure flies! We will be spending a long weekend in and are looking forward to a little get-away. I was so excited packing last night, which says a lot because I really hate to pack.

As I look back over the time we have spent as husband and wife, I can't help but smile. We have made many great memories together and learned a lot along the way. I really hate to boast, but I think I have the greatest husband! He is so patient and servant-hearted. He works hard at whatever he is doing and is such an honorable man. I feel pretty blessed by our life. We have very different strengths, but I think that's what makes us a great team, and I pray that as we continue on our life journey that our partnership will continue to grow stronger. Well, thanks for reading the mushy stuff. :) Stay tuned... a trip down memory lane when we return- wedding pictures from a year ago! Wow!

Hey Y'all!

I really love watching Paula Deen on the Food Network. Love just radiates from her kitchen as many times her family and friends are on the show cooking in her kitchen with her. She emblemizes southern hospitality to me, and I chuckle almost the whole show because she is such a hoot! Not to mention, I love her kitchen and all of her products that she uses. Many of them are for sale on her website, but are sometimes pretty pricey. Her pewter measuring cups are my favorite. One time Trisha Yearwood was on her show and after she admired Paula's measuring cups, Paula gave her a set of the measuring cups and spoons! I was pretty jealous.

The kitchen is definitely the center of her home just as I hope mine will be one day. I love the memories I have in the kitchen with family and look forward to making many more. Anyways, Paula's recipes are delicious and last night I made this one:

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Ingredients

Dry Rub:

- 2 Tbs. salt

- 2 Tbs. black pepper

- 2 Tbs. dark brown sugar

- 2 Tbs. paprika

- 1/2 Tbs. cayenne

- 4 lb. shoulder pork roast

- 2 cups apple juice

- 1 cup apple cider vinegar

- 2 Tbs. Worcestershire

- 1/2 Tbs. liquid smoke

- 1/2 Tbs. garlic powder

- 6 hamburger buns (I used hoagie rolls)

- BBQ sauce and cole slaw (optional) to garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix the dry rub ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle dry rub all over the pork roast, pressing into the pork. Cover with plastic wrap or place in a ziplock and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Combine liquid ingredients and the garlic powder in a large Dutch oven. Place pork in the oven and tightly cover with aluminum foil then lid. Roast for 4 hours or until fork tender and shreds easily. Brush the roast with cooking liquid every hour. (I only ended up cooking mine for 3 hours, so make sure to check it every hour when you take it out to pour liquid on it.)

Remove from oven and let stand until cool enough to handle. Shred the pork with forks into bite size pieces. Serve on buns topped with BBQ sauce and cole slaw. Here's a picture of my yummy masterpiece:

We ate our sandwiches with baked beans (my version of my dad's amazing ones), and ice cold peach tea. It was an All-American meal that really hit the spot! Enjoy!!!

I love a good project

We have hardly anything on the walls in our bedroom because I have been trying to decide what I wanted to do with them for a year now. We live in a duplex that we rent for now and are not allowed to paint the walls. White walls are not my thing, so I am dying to get something on them. I have decided to do a Picture Frame Feature Wall. This should be a fun project as we explore taking pictures with our new camera. Ours will not be black and white since I am stiving to put some color up there, but I am going to collect lots of different frames and start a feature wall similar to the one below. I will post pictures as our collection grows for you to see.

Picture Time

We got a new camera for our anniversary coming up! We have been having problems with both of our old cameras that we have had for years and decided it was time for an upgrade. I am excited to play with it and learn more about photography!
Get ready for a lot of great pictures coming from us in the future!!!

Fun with Friends

When was the last time you went bowling? We went with Rich and Megan a couple of weeks ago and had a blast! I especially enjoyed giving Joey a hard time as he rolled his bowling bag with his own ball and shoes into the alley. Go ahead and leave a comment to tease him if you feel so inspired. I will happily pass it on to him. :)

Do you know what AMF stands for? We had the discussion while we were bowling and looked it up later, so I thought I would share. It stands for American Machine and Foundry. The company's first product was automated machinery for the tobacco industry. Their invention of the pinspotter in 1946 revolutionized bowling and AMF became the dominant force in the industry. Now that you have your random piece of trivia for the day, here are some more pictures from our bowling experience.






My personal favorite is Rich with his rolled up jeans and stylin' socks he adopted from Joey's sock drawer! :)

So we are great friends with Rich and Megan, but Harley and Tegan have become good girl friends too! We have gotten them together a few times lately to play, and look what a mess they made last night.... We were watching a movie inside and came outside to find this destruction they had created to entertain themselves.

At least it was the pot that Harley had already dug up...

Harley loves the water! We call her our little water bug. Any time we fill up her pool in the backyard, she jumps right in. Here is a picture of her chilling in her pool one night after we got back from a walk. Yay for staying cool in the summer time heat!

These are a few of my favorite things

My mom refers to little gifts that you give to someone just because as happy's. Those are probably my favorite kind of gift because it shows you that someone was thinking of you and wanted to show you that they care. Sometimes it feels like life is in a rut. Nothing is terribly bad, but not terribly exciting either. I think I find it hardest to be content in the mundane. It's during these times that I notice God's little happy's to me... pick-me-up's if you will. Here are a few things that make me happy:

1. A date with my husband
2. Going on a walk after dinner with Joey and Harley and watching them chase rabbits together
3. Being inside snuggled up during a storm
4. A great find at Marshall's
5. Spending time with a girl friend who I haven't seen in awhile. I got to see Shay Bear a couple weekends ago when I stayed with her for meetings we had in Dallas for work. It was so refreshing to spend time with a friend that I share so much in common with and to catch up on girl time.
6. Text messages from my dad
7. The relationship my brother Taylor and I have as we both get older
8. Seeing my younger siblings look up to me as they grow up
9. Long conversations with my mom and the friendship we share. There are few people who understand me better than my mom.
10. A hot cup of tea in the morning
11. Watching Paula Deen's Home Cooking show on tv and trying new recipes
12. Warm dessert
13. Cuddling with Harley when she is tired
14. When Joey makes me breakfast for dinner
15. Watching a beautiful sunset and reflecting on the greatness of God

What makes you happy? I hope you can take the time to realize the little happy's God gives you because he wants to show how much he cares. We all need a little pick-me-up every now and then. Have a happy day!

Our 4th of July Weekend

Our 4th of July weekend was full of relaxation, great friends, and fun memories. Friday morning Joey kissed me on his way out for work and asked if I wanted to go on a date when he got home. :) I LOVE date nights! We usually don't end up doing anything too unusual, but I just love getting out of the house and being with my husband. So, Friday night when Joey got home we decided we would run a few errands and go out to eat at Chilis. We sat in a booth and were enjoying our chips and queso when this large group in jeans and boots came and sat near us. The problem was they smelled like a barn, as Joey put it, and that's being nice. It was the strongest and most unpleasant smell to accompany dinner. We sat there trying to figure out what we were going to do to enjoy our dinner without embarassing ourselves or this group. Joey went and talked to the hostess, who said he had smelled it when he sat them, and they were happy to move us. So, we had an interesting dinner that we will probably laugh about for awhile.

Saturday we did a lot of laying around the house catching up on tv shows. It was fantastically relaxing. On Sunday for the 4th, we went to church where there were a lot of patriotic songs sung and men in flag button downs. (Joey got a kick out of that) Then, we went to our good friends, Rich and Megan's, for lunch. Rich grilled some yummy burgers and corn on the cob. They have a 7 month old chocolate lab named Tegan, and we brought Harley with us so that they could play together. It was quite entertaining! After being timid about this much bigger dog at first, Harley warmed up and they had a blast together. We filled up the little baby pool that they have in their back yard and the dogs had fun splashing around in it, so we decided to take them to a pond in the Roush's neighborhood that they let Tegan swim in. This was Harley's first time to go swimming and she was a pro! She followed Tegan around like a shadow jumping around in the mud and swimming to get sticks in the water. It was so fun to watch. I so wish I would have had my camera! You can imagine though that they got FILTHY!!! We hosed them off when we got back to the house, but the smell of the pond remained... Joey wrapped Harley up in a towel to take her home and she fell asleep before we even got out of the neighborhood. She was pooped. Here's a picture of her when we got home.

Pre-bath photo. This picture does not do her justice... she looked like a stray dog.

Harley got a bath and a nap before the Roush's came over to our house for dinner. We ate and then drove to Baylor campus to watch the fireworks. They were beautiful. It was a great 4th of July with sweet new friends. We met Rich and Megan a little over a year ago when we were both in the same premarital education class together. We are so thankful that we both live in Waco and are blessed to have them as friends. Since we didn't get any pictures of the four of us this weekend, here is one from Baylor Homecoming last fall. I promise I will get better at taking pictures...