Baby Shower at the Titus'

Saturday was a wonderful day of spending time with friends and family at a baby shower hosted by the Titus' family, Lauren, and Jen.  The house was lovely, the decorations beautiful, the food delicious, and the company perfect.  They certainly spoiled our new little family.  We are just overwhelmed with gratitude for all the family and friends we have anxiously awaiting Baby Boy's birth with us.

 The sweet framed clothesline with messages on it for Baby B

 All the yummy food!

 "Sweet Baby Boy"  There were candles burning in the little glasses :)

 Beautiful little details

 Me, Chris, Krista

 The Hostesses with the Mostesses: Lauren, Jen, Aunt Patty, Bailey, Quincy, and Susan

 Sweet Brandon Family

 Funny onesie Krista made

 Jeremiah loved this bib!

Aunt Patty, JB, mom, and Marcy

Surprise Baby Shower!

Last week I got the chance to visit Jeremiah's parents.  He had to stay home and work unfortunately, but I had a great time!  His mom - Twila, sister - Jaime, and cousins - Joan, Michelle, Dessie, and Cora threw me a surprise baby shower!  Every afternoon I would take a nap and wake up in time for dinner.  One day I woke up thinking we were going to have a girls' night since the boys went out to a baseball game.  Little did I know "girls' night" really meant Baby Shower. :) 

 Jaime and Cora hanging out in the kitchen

Dessie and Michelle preparing snacks

 All the yummy food

 Cakes!  The BBB is for Baby Boy Bastian

 Twila and me

The cute runners, bow ties, and mustaches Michelle made for the party :)... and Cora peeking between all the presents!

 So pretty!

 I obviously loved this gift :)

Bucking broncs and boots outfit from Nana :)

Thanks girls for making me feel so special and welcomed into your family.  It was a really fun week!  We can't wait for you all to meet Baby B!

An Evening at the Golf Range

Wednesday night I made an early dinner and we ventured out to the golf range for Jeremiah to practice his new swing.  My job in these outings is usually to record a few of his swings for him to upload and examine later.  However, this time I just tagged along to some time outside and a pretty place to read my book.

I got a few shots of him, though.  I couldn't resist; he looked so good in his new golf shoes! ;)

Besides that good lookin' swing and those awesome shoes of course, notice the beautiful sky in the background.  And it was slightly windy!  We don't get many evenings like this in mid July in Texas, so this one was particularly noteworthy.

Making My Own Stationery

I love monogrammed and personalized stationery.  I often walk in the the paper stores in Fort Worth just to walk around and touch all of the pretty paper.  Unfortunately, by the time you purchase the stationary and order the personalization you are usually up to a fairly high price.  But I discovered when planning my wedding that with a good printer, full ink cartridges, and some pretty paper, I could create some cool stuff!  I had some leftover blank RSVP cards from the wedding that I kept for a special occasion... like a baby!  Earlier this week I tried to design my own thank yous for Baby Bastian's precious gifts.  These were the kind of cards I bought at Michael's or Target.  Or Hobby Lobby.  I can't remember where.


http://www.gartnerstudios.com/shop/pearl-ivory-border-all-purpose-cards-carte-de-reponse-d-un-bord-en-ivoire-perle.html

Then I got online at www.gartnerstudios.com and downloaded a simple template in Microsoft Word that fit the cards.  I played with different designs, fonts, and images in Word and viola!  Look at this!

I'm no graphic designer or anything, but I was pleased with the results.  And I did it all in comfort of my own home with the help of my creative partner, Maximus.  He suggested the giraffes.

Blog Addiction

This summer I planned to update our blog as much as possible with our daily activities and such.  However, instead of updating our blog, I've been going blog crazy reading other people's blogs!   I think it's because I'm at such a transition point in my life.  Turning 30, getting married, and expecting a baby all in the past 6 months will certainly change your daily routine and your interests.  For example, last summer

I was doing a lot of shopping for this...

And a little of this...

 Looking at places like this...

To make an event like this... 

Check.

But this summer I'm doing a lot of shopping for this...

And doing a little of this...

Looking at places like this...

To make an event like this....

God has been so gracious during this time in my life and the past year has held a lot of new events for us.  I've been so excited to learn about wedding planning, being married, being pregnant, and being a homemaker.  Because of this new excitement I love reading about other people's similar experiences.  I've been hooked on The Pioneer Woman's blog lately for two reasons: 1) She makes me laugh.  2)  She makes great food.  In fact I've made the most amazing chicken fried steak from her recipe.  She even inspired me to go out an buy my very own cast iron skillet.  Jeremiah came into the living room the other day as I was watching her cooking show on Food Network.  He asked, "Oh, is that the Pioneer Woman?"  like he finally got to meet the goddess who has been teaching his wife to make great food.  Thanks for all the great food tips, Ree.  I feel like we're great friends.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Sarah pointed me toward a blog called A Holy Experience.  (Think Pioneer Woman but in Canada.)  She's married to a farmer like Ree's married to a rancher, and she also home schools her whole bunch of kids.  These are her own words... 

"I weep wonder when I read how God’s changing lives through those humble pages and it’s just proof that God really does use broken, messed up, and fallible lives anyways.

… and honestly?   the only words that really matter?
Are the ones I live.
This convicts me.
I keep writing it out here everyday, the words I am seeking to live — about this wondrously messy, everyday-holy life….
about finding the beauty and quiet,
about slowing to see the sacred in the chaos,
the Cross in the clothespin,
the flame in the bush…
Just listening – laundry, liturgy, life, — all of life, holy ground.
A holy experience — because God has flaming bushes everywhere.
It’d be pure grace to walk a bit, you and I  – to live the words together…"

I started reading a book she wrote called One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are and have since been inspired to see God's grace in all the little things in life.

Today I found a blog called Everyday Occasions by Jenny Hobick.  She is a former event planner turned mother/home entertainment planner.  I really love her simple entertaining style.  Plus her daughter, Emma, is just so stinkin' cute!













 I haven't even mentioned all the blogs I love reading because I really know the people who write them!  Check out the Blogs We Follow on the right side of my page to get a taste of some of my real friends' lives.  Time to get back to reading!

Fourth of July

The Fourth fell this year in the smack dab middle of the week, so that meant no traveling to the farm for us or taking a weekend trip anywhere.  We decided to make the most of it, though, by inviting over some friends to grill, eat good food, and play bocci ball (thanks to Sam and Lauren).  Krista, Raul, Lauren, Sam, Chase, Holly, and her little niece came over to join us. 

 This is precious Bella blowing her bubbles.  Earlier in the evening Bella was well entertained by Miles & Maximus.  Or I should say Bella entertained them. :)  She gave them a taste of what having a child around the house would be like.  She loved Maximus, but he wanted no part of her.  He would hiss at her, and she would shake her finger at him saying, "You be nice!"  Jeremiah and I saw that our nursery received the kid stamp of approval because Bella read all the books and played with all the stuffed animals. 

 Sam and Jeremiah are showing off their bocci ball talents.

Not only can my husband play a mean game of bocci ball, he can juggle them, too!  Who knew?!  Side note: I don't know how to turn a movie when it is uploaded, but I'll try to figure that out and change it.  When the sun went down we saw a great fireworks show sitting in the Christ Chapel parking lot.  The most memorable story of the night was Jeremiah's truck's sensitive alarm.  We had the tailgate down and sat in the back.  Every fifth firework or so, his truck alarm would go off because of the boom.  We just pretended we were honking at the fireworks, ha!  Apparently Baby Boy can hear and detect light, so that was technically his first fireworks show.  But, I didn't feel any kicks.  Maybe he was struggling to find room from all that food I ate.  Happy Birthday America!