Wedding Bells

Michael and I took a quick trip to Dallas on Saturday for a wedding.

It seems like our refrigerator has been full of wedding invites lately, 

and as soon as we take one down, another one comes in the mail.

It's such a happy time for many close friends and family in our lives. 

This wedding was extra special for a few reasons,

1) It was the wedding of my best friend's brother!

Aren't they the sweetest??

and 2) It was the first wedding I've been to of a youth kid I interned for.

So, I'm feeling a little old...

I lived with Scott and Claire the very first summer that I did a youth ministry internship.

Scott was our video guy, so we spent lots of time in the office together.

I don't know Abigail real well, but she is so sweet, and they are just perfect together!

It was a beautiful wedding, complete with several adorable DIYs by Abigail.

The happy couple

It was so much fun to see so many of our closest friends, 

and people that we considered family while we were at Memorial (and still do, really)

And of course we got to hang out with our twins.

 My biggest dilema was my outfit.

I had a real cute spring-y outfit all ready to go, and then I looked at my weather app.

It said it was going to be super cold in Dallas.

So I was forced to wear tights...which meant a different outfit.

Then I got there, and I was burning up. The entire time.

And there were exactly 2 people there wearing tights.

I was not happy.

Please tell me this happens to other people as well, and its not just me that's crazy.

Our 2nd dance together!!

Love these girls! Notice the sore thumb...

The perfect date

It was a very quick trip since we had to be back for church on Sunday,

but it was a beautiful wedding and well worth the drive!

5 Quick Pics

1. Buster all groomed up.

 Michael sent me this picture while I was giving blood on Sunday.

Isn't he the cutest?

2. Puppy Chow

I made this for Bible Study on Tuesday.

It really is a miracle that there was still some left when the kids got here, cause it was GOOD.

3. Puppy Friends

A girl in our youth group brought her puppy Truffles to Bible Study.

He is a toy poodle.

Him and Buster had so much fun together!

4. Statement Necklace

I bought this necklace almost a year ago.

I saw it on a fashion blogger, and at the time, it was the only alternative to the $150 JCrew version.

So I bought it.

And it sat in a drawer.

But this week, I finally found an outfit to wear it.

It was jangly, and a little big, but I love it.

5. Movie Date

 Michael and I finally got to see Safe Haven last night.

We were 2 of 5 people in the theater. 

2 people came in after us and sat in our same row...who does that??

Needing Some Clones

Do you ever have those days where you really wish you could be in several places at one time?

It might just be a problem for me and my "can't say no" self,

but this is something that happens pretty often with me. 

This past Sunday was a perfect example.

First, we were driving back from T3, and were a little behind schedule.

We were aiming to get back around 2 or 2:30, but didn't get back until 3:30.

Second, our church was having a blood drive, and I was signed up to donate at 3:00.

And third, one of my good friends from JV was having a baby shower from 2 to 4 at the church.

The good thing is that pretty much all of them were in the same place.

But it was crazy!

I ran into the church as soon as we got there because I had to pee SO BAD!

While in there, a Mom turned out the lights because she thought I was her daughter...

no words.

Then I run to the blood drive, and make it just in time!

I don't love giving blood, but I just feel like I have it, and people need it, so why not?

Plus the lady gave me a cute little bow for my bandage!

This is one of our youth girls who gave blood with me.

We were super excited about our bows!

After giving blood, I rushed over to the opposite side of the church where the baby shower was.

It was over.

All the decorations were down and they were packing up the gifts.

I was so sad.

Luckily, Meagan was still there so I got to catch up with her while I ate my cookies and drank some punch.

I felt like a total hot mess, and sort of like Jane of Jane By Design because I was running everywhere, all day.

It was probably not a good decision to give blood, since I was already so exhausted from the weekend, and I did feel a little light-headed during church,

but then I ate an entire Jason's Deli baked potato for dinner and I felt much better!

Even though it didn't all go exactly as I had planned,

I'm so glad that I made it to everything.

It was a crazy day, but completely worth it!

Teach the Truth

This weekend Michael took the teens to the T3 youth conference in Lewisville.

This was our group's 3rd year to go, Michael's 2nd, and my 1st.

I have been to a few different weekends like this, but this is probably the best one.

It was so nice to be able to send our kids to the different classes, and not have to worry about what they were being taught.

With other weekends like this we find ourselves having to explain several aspects of the weekend:

Praise teams, women's roles, etc.

There was none of that this weekend.

It was a conference grounded in the Word, and following the principles laid out by God.

It was amazing. And our kids learned SO MUCH.

The highlight of my weekend was spending time these girls!!

We spent over 8 hours in a car with each other and it was a blast.

We sang to all the songs of Les Mis, played several car games, and spent LOTS of time talking about boys.

And the word "awkward" was used at least 1,000 times.

It's their favorite.

We also stopped at Braum's, which none of them had ever been to!!

It was perfect, as always.

The only challenge of the weekend was the girls' housing.

There were 15 of us, in one house, sharing one bathroom.

Talk about crazy!

I was definitely the bathroom police all weekend, no fun.

Our sweet host parents made it completely worth it though.

They were so kind and hospitable, filling us up with delicious food, and giving us free reigns over their house.

They were so wonderful, and we couldn't have asked for a better place to stay!

It was a great weekend, and our teens came home with more knowledge about how to evangelize, and share the truth with their friends. 

These kids make me so proud all the time!

I know they are going to do great things this year.

I'm so happy that I got to go to T3 this year.

I love spending time with the teens, but I love spending time with this guy even more!

Hope your weekend was as blessed as mine!!

Love is in the Air

I just love Valentine's Day.

Everyone wears shades of pink, red, and purple.

There are flowers and candy everywhere.

And everyone talks in poem...at least on their statuses.

Its a very mushy day, and I love every minute.

I also love this new app that I found - Red Stamp.

Its a greeting card maker.

You can make free little cards and send them to people via text, email, or social media.

Who wouldn't want a text greeting card on a happy-lovey day like today.

Hope your heart is full of love today, and that you share some of it with someone special!!

Showing Appreciation

This past Saturday the youth group put on an Appreciation Lunch for all the Elders, Deacons, Ministry Leaders and their families.

As with any event like this, my main focus was the decorations.

Myself and one of the Senior girls came up with the theme, 

and then a small group of girls helped me to put it all together on Friday night.

Since it is so close to Valentine's Day, we wanted to incorporate hearts,

but wanted to avoid the lovey-dovey sweetheart theme that we did last year in this post.

So I came up with a conversation heart theme.

1) Because I am obsessed with them.

And by obsessed I mean I have probably eaten 5 bags if not more of them this year alone.

and 2) because they say "Valentine Friends" to me.

I was very happy with how it all turned out!
The lunch was a huge success as well.
We had a catered meal that was served by our teens,
and then each teen spoke about one of the families that was in attendance to thank them for their work and service to the church and our Lord.
They all did such a wonderful job, even if they were nervous to speak in front of everyone.
It did get a little awkward when the adults started appreciating myself and Michael, because that was not the purpose of the luncheon at all, but their words were kind and appreciated nonetheless.

We are so thankful to the many leaders that serve our church,
and give of their time and energy to help share Christ with our community!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

As you might have guessed from the title, 

today is my Mom's birthday!!

If you don't know her, you are missing out BIG!

She is pretty great!

She is (most) everything that I am, and everything that I one day hope to be!

To honor her, I made this collage.

 Please excuse our early 90s hair-dos...

And vests...

And turtlenecks...

It was a rough time.

I love you Mom!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Week in Review

This week has been a roller coaster.

To say the least.

On Monday, if I even thought about my test I wanted to (slash most times did) start crying.

It was scary.

That night I purchased some practice exams, and I felt a little better.

I took off of work the rest of the week so that I could focus on studying.

I had kept myself on a strict schedule:

Morning - study flash cards and sheets of each model.

Afternoon - take a 200 question practice exam.

Evening - Study the ones I missed on the practice exam.

Night - Take a 100 question practice exam.

Before bed - Read articles about the models.

*Of course, I left some time in there to watch the Bachelor too!

These were my friends for the week. 

Those are all the models of Family Therapy.

They equal about half of the sheets I had to study.

They took forever to make, but I really think they helped on the actual exam.

By Thursday, this helped to give me some confidence:

If they thought I was ready to take the exam, surely I was.

But then I got to the test.

And it was really hard.

And I said "What the heck is it talking about?" on almost every question.

Once I had actually answered them all, and was going back through checking them, I felt a little better.

In the end, I will be surprised if I pass.

But I will be more surprised if I fail.

So that's a good sign...right??

The highlight of my week was getting these beautiful flowers from my family.

Oh course, I was too scared to open the door when the florist came,

(I never answer the door when I'm home alone)

so I didn't get them until late on Tuesday,

they are so happy and comforting just the same. 

This verse was also a great comfort to me during the week:

These words, as well as many words from family friends gave me so much encouragement.

On Tuesday, Michael posted a status about me studying for my test, and I immediately felt the peace from so many peoples' prayers going up on my behalf.

Not only did people pray though, but I got so many texts, emails, facebook posts and messages, tweets, and calls of support and encouragement that I was on cloud nine.

I'm so thankful for all the wonderful people in my life that are there for me,

whether I pass or I fail.

God is so good, and it is all in His hands now.

And I leave you with this.

Stylish, classy Buster.

It was fun being a stay-at-home Mom to him this week!