Krystal and Bryan say "I Do"

My sister and her fiance just recently tied the knot.  Her wedding was the culmination of 10 months worth of design and hard work.  After choosing her venue, Castle Ladyhawke, she had a vision and set forth to turn that vision into a reality.  All the countless hours of design, creating, building and labor really paid off  because the event was nothing short of perfection.  Simply stated it was gorgeous!

We kicked the wedding weekend off Friday night with a Welcome Dinner, hosted by Bryan's parents.  The night was fun, casual and provided a great opportunity for us to meet Bryan's side of the family and some of their friends from up north.  The menu was southern cooking (bbq pork, fried chicken, hamburgers, mac & cheese, baked beans, coleslaw, sweet tea and apple pie with ice cream for dessert).

Several months back Bryan's parents asked me to help plan the event, immediately I said yes, after all I do love planning parties!  There wasn't too much left to do after choosing the venu, Bear Lake Reserve Lake Club, and picking a menu.  For the centerpieces we went with something very simple, yet they looked beautiful on the tables.  My mother was the brainchild behind them and helped me make sure everything looked perfect.  For table favors, we went with individual bags of smores that guests could prepare on the fire down at the beach, which was right outside of the Lake Club. Trey put together an amazing slidshow of the two of them growing up and of their time together as a couple.  It was a great evening and a perfect way to kick of the weekend.

Saturday morning we headed over to the castle first thing and began setting up.  To give you an idea my family drove 5 cars and my dad pulled a tralier behind his truck and all of our vehicles including the trailer will completely filled with things for the wedding and reception.  Fortunately we have some really great family and friends who volunteered to help and spent a good bit of their day helping set everything up.  There is no way we could have pulled everything off if it hadn't been for their help.

The wedding was at 5:00 pm, with Lexie getting to be the flower girl, me as Maid of Honor and our cousin Brad as the wedding officiant.  What a beautiful ceremony.  Brad is absolutely amazing when he preaches, and I just love to hear his messages.  Following the ceremony was a cocktail hour and then dinner under a tent.  After dinner everyone gathered in the great hall for toasts (which I was incredibly nervous to give) and the cutting of the cake.

Krystal and Bryan opted for three smaller wedding cakes instead of the traditional multi-tiered wedding cake.  These cakes were not only stunning but were probably the best tasting wedding cakes I have ever had.  Yes, I am not ashamed to admit I had at least 3 full pieces of cake.  I mean I had to try all the flavors to see which one was the best.  Even having 3 pieces of cake I think I missed the strawberry layer.  The cakes were from Callie's Confections.  Oh, so what was my favorite???  Probably the chocolate, which tasted like it was laced with peanut butter.  I'm not exaggerating best wedding cake ever and I have tried a lot of wedding cakes!  After cake we danced on the lower deck and bid them farewell with a sparkler send off, which looked awesome in person, I hope the photographer was able to get some cool pictures.

Cake table before the Ceremony

Cake table during the Reception

I'm so happy for my sister and new brother-in-law.  They really do make the perfect couple and I hope their marriage is filled with blessings.  They're off to the Big Island and Kauai for their 10 night honeymoon.  Yes, I'm jealous of their trip, I know its going to be amazing!  Congratulations Krystal and Bryan!!!!

The favors were handmade coasters (by my Dad) made from trees growing on his property.

This was where the place cards for dinner were displayed - designed by Krystal and made by my Dad.

This was in the great room where some people ate dinner and also where toasts were given and the cake was displayed/cut.

Lexie and Emory Go Fishing

Lexie had her friend Emory over this morning to go fishing.  All morning before Emory arrived Lexie practiced casting her pole off the back porch.  She surprisingly got the hang of it pretty quick.  As soon as Emory arrived we headed towards Papaw's stocked pond.  It was the perfect day to fish, overcast so we didn't get too hot and no bugs.

The fish weren't bitting right away so we decided to give them a little fish food to pique their interest.  Kristen (Emory's mom) and I got our first bite while Trey took the girls to get the food.  I was so excited, however as I was reeling in the fish (on a children's pole) something happened and I lost the fish along with my hook and bobber.  About 20 minutes later we saw my bobber swimming down the lake.  Poor fish!  We weren't able to get him back to get the hook out.  I still feel bad about it! 

When the girls got back they threw out some food and before long more fish started bitting.  What we discovered is that Lexie and Emory love casting their poles and reeling in a fish, however, both were nervous to touch the fish.  Lexie was absolutely terrified and wouldn't even stand close to one so we could take a picture.  Emory on the other hand eventually worked up the courage to touch one.

Kristen was awesome, she baited the hook, with a live worm, and even learned to take a fish off the hook and throw it back into the water.  I was too much of a chicken to do either.  I tried for a split second to bait a hook but those worms really creep me out!  I guess we all know where Lexie gets it from!

Apple Festival 2012

Every year for as long as I can remember we have looked forward to the Apple Festival.  It is a great way to kick off Labor Day weekend and bid summer farewell.  Why do we love it?  Because we can drink an apple cider slushy from every apple orchard all in one place, we can buy our favorite Honey Crisp apples, run into people we haven't seen since last year, eat fair type food and the list goes on!

Why does Lexie love it so much?  Because of the kiddie rides!  Last year she wanted so badly to ride the swings but she just wasn't tall enough.  As soon as she heard the festival was coming to town she immediately started asking if she was old enough to ride "those swings" this year.  Needless to say one of our first stops was the kiddie area and fortunately she had grown so much this past year she was tall enough to ride.  She pretty much spent all her allotted tickets riding the swings over and over.

You're probably wondering, what about Addie, what was her favorite part?  Getting to drink pure apple juice.  We've never really allowed the kids to drink sugary drinks.  They pretty much stick to water, however, in the last couple of months we have started allowing Lexie to have one sugar drink a day.  Anyways, she was so thirsty because it was very humid and she saw her big sister drinking out of a cool apple shaped cup (her allotted sugar drink for the day) and the look on her face said it all...she was dying to try it.  So, without thinking of any possible consequences or diluting it with water I let her try the apple juice.

Of course she loved it and proceeded to down the remainder, which was a good bit.  About an hour later all the sugar kicked in and she was literally running circles around the kiddie area, with me following closely behind.  I was exhausted, but it was hilarious to watch her react to all the sugar she consumed.

It was a fun night, one we will not forget!

Lexie Visits NYC

In early May we decided to take Lexie on a mini-vacation to NYC.  The occasion was for my sister's, bridal shower.  This was Lexie and Trey's first visit to the big apple and more importantly this trip marked Lexie's first time on an airplane.  

Her excitement for this vacation began several weeks before the actual trip.  She has always been fascinated with airplanes especially since Aunt Krystal and Uncle Bryan always seem to be on them.  I think before the trip she actually thought that they lived on one.  In fact, one day she asked me would they be flying down on the airplane to pick her up.  We tried to explain that a pilot would pick us up in Charlotte and drop us off in NYC but I'm not sure it clicked until the first leg of our trip.  

We scheduled our flight during nap time, in hopes of her sleeping on the plane.  I gave her some benadryl about 45 minutes before take-off to help her sleep.  My little plan back fired though because it seems benadryl has an opposite effect on her and she was so excited she never stopped talking the entire flight.    

Other than seeing Krystal and Bryan there were three very specific things Lexie was looking forward to doing while in the city.  Meeting Mickey and Minnie Mouse, meeting Hello Kitty and riding a ferris wheel.  From the moment we got in the cab at the airport that is all we heard.  The first morning there we set off to accomplish the things on Lexie's check-list.  

Our first stop was the American Girl's doll store.  She loves the magazines that come in the mail from this store and has a bitty baby.  I think she was surprised to see there was an actual store with nothing but baby dolls and accessories.  She had the best time playing with the dolls and their accessories.  And yes, we did come home with a set of bitty twins, a blonde and a brunette named Shelly and Molly!

Our next mission was to find the characters!  Of course once we found them we stopped to pose for a picture.  Mickey and Minnie made the biggest impression because they picked her up.  She wasn't quite sure why there were two Hello Kitty's and was therefore a little nervous when meeting them.  We told her they were twins!

Next on the list was riding the ferris wheel at the Toys R Us in Times Square.  This is a pretty cool ferris wheel because the seats are cars with different toy themes.  She really wanted to ride in either the My Little Pony or Cabbage Patch Kids, however, they don't let you pick.  We got in a the ET car, which was a little disappointing for her since she has no idea who he is, but once the ride started she didn't care because she was having so much fun enjoying the view of all the toys!

After leaving Toys R Us we went next door to the Disney Store.  Upstairs they had all the princess dress up clothes and shoes.  She had so much fun trying on the outfits and waving their wands in front of the magical mirror at the store!  Let me tell you even I thought the magic mirror was pretty cool.  Depending one whose wand you were waving a picture of that princess magically appeared and told you a little bit about their story.

By mid afternoon we were getting a little tired and wanted to find a place we could take her to run around and play.  A couple of blocks from Times Square you can find Bryant Park. This was the perfect place to find a shady spot and relax.  While we enjoyed a bottle water and a homemade strawberry peanut butter ice cream sandwich Lexie played in the fountain with some of the other kids.  

We hung out in the park until Bryan got off work and came to meet us.  By this time was were all exhausted from the heat and looking for a place we could kill some time, while Krystal, Mimi, and Gigi finished shopping.  So we headed back to Times Square and checked out the Ripley's Museum.  Oddly enough Lexie was most fascinated with the torture mechanism's section!  Regardless she and Bryan had fun playing and we were able to catch a break from the 100 degree temperatures.

On Saturday we headed out of the city and into Farmington, Connecticut for Krystal's bridal shower.  Fortunately Lexie was so exhausted from the day before she slept the 2 hour trip it took to get there.  Bryan's mom and sister Stephanie threw the shower and it was so nice!

We had lunch on an enclosed patio followed by gifts.  They even had a special kid friendly meal and goodie bag for Lexie. When it came time for Krystal to open gifts Lexie was told she could help, which ended up meaning Lexie opened all the gifts for her.  Lexie had a great time tearing open packages but I think was a little confused that she didn't get any toys.  At the end she wanted to sing Happy Birthday to Krystal.  I mean why else was she getting presents!  Haha!  She was so confused, just the day before she was asking why were were all going to take a shower with Krystal and why she had to wear a dress in the shower!  The innocence of children is just so precious.

We returned to Hendersonville Sunday afternoon, again during nap time.  This time there was no benadryl given and once in the air she gave into to her exhaustion from the excitement of the weekend coupled with getting to spend the night at Krystal and Bryan's the night before, where she got to stay up until midnight and then get up at 3:30am and watch TV!

It was a fun trip, she did an amazing job flying and is already asking to go back!

Our First Dance Recital

Memorial Day weekend marked our family's first dance recital experience.  This past year Lexie was able to take a combo preschool tap/ballet class as well as tumble bugs, which is an introduction to basic tumbling.

She loved both classes and looked forward to them each Monday.  If I had to pick a favorite, just from observation I would go with tumble bugs.  Anytime we would ask her to show us what she had learned she would immediately get down in the floor and show us a front roll or attempt a cartwheel.

I wasn't sure what I expected from the actual recital, would she freeze with stage fright, would she remember any of her moves, would she actually even go out on stage, would there be tears, would she love it????  It could have gone any way, but fortunately she LOVED it!  She still asks me when does she get to dance on the big stage again.  Here are a few pictures from the big day.

Final Pose from her Tumble Bugs Routine
Her class was the very first performance of the recital!

I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself for getting her hair into a bun, I wasn't sure I could do it....Thanks Melissa for the sock bun tip, I YouTubed a video tutorial 30 minutes before showtime!

I love her eyes in this picture, I think sometimes she would get bored in ballet, it wasn't fast moving enough for her personality



She really enjoyed the finale, it was more of a hip hop routine and she is begging to get to take hip hop next year.

Posing with her flowers afterwards, she felt so special, a big thank you to her great grandparents, grandparents and aunts for coming to support her.