A Surprise Ending..

They started off the night as an engaged couple at an engagement party and ended the night as married, Mr and Mrs.

So it was a surprise to most people attending the engagement party but the family knew they were gettin' hitched about a week ago. This weekend has been a whirlwind and a celebration of many sorts. Henry and Laulie's wedding weekend started off with catered mexican at Henry's house. Delicious food was enjoyed by all the family, both sides. The Morgan clan got to meet her family -brothers, sisters, parents, cousins, aunts, nieces, nephews. It was fun to meet her family and to see where she came from. They are a sweet addition to the family (or we are a crazy addition to her family...we will leave it somewhere in the middle). Saturday I baked with a friend all morning (5 hr to be exact) for a baby shower I was hosting with 2 other co-workers on Sunday. So it was baking to the extreme (we baked oreo balls, cookies on a stick, and brownie pops). After baking I showered up and we all met at the house where the engagement party was for a little run-through on the wedding (surprise!) and family pictures. We stood up on the balcony while Henry, Laulie, and John (friend who married them) stood on the front stairs. I dont want to see pics from the ceremony bc i boo-hoo'd the whole time--im sure those will be real pretty. Nothing like red eyes, tears, snot, and a red face to make some pretty wedding pictures. It was sweet and it was fun to watch peoples expression as they announced there were about to become Mr and Mrs. Some of their closest friends did not know so I zoned in on them to watch for fun expressions. After the party we went to Sevy's which is a nice steak restaurant here in dallas. It was just Henry, Laulie, and the kids. She has two daughters so its now a total of 8!

I kinda feel like the brady brunch on these mugs below.

:)

As we walked into the private room at Sevy's we found these cute mugs at all our place settings in addition to prayer/devotion book with our names on them. Such sweet gestures.

Ty even made the mug! Sweet Tybuds! Henry encouraged us to pray for each member on the mug when we drink from it. I think tybuds needs some prayers for good behavior :)

The rest of the family.

Andrew and I at dinner after the wedding.

Katie and I waiting on the newly married couple to arrive.

Sades and I at dinner.

Laulie's daughters, Francesca and Bailey.

These are some of the products Karyn and I baked (and wreaths) on saturday before the wedding.

I made this wreath to go over the mirror in the dining room at the shower. A yarn wreath-so fun and adds a good touch to the baby shower decor.

I made this burlap wreath for the front door for the baby shower. I think I might just keep it up for a little while to enjoy. It looks cuter on the door hung up properly :)

The cookies I made with a B for Baby Barraco. They turned out cute.

Oreo balls Karyn made--so cute and so so yum! We put all the fun baked goods in mason jars filled with pink and white gumballs, a cute touch for a baby girl shower!

I didnt take any more pics of the baby shower but hopefully Ill get them from a friend soon.

Sweet Visit Home

Hate that I didnt get any pics of me and tyler.

We loved our family time this weekend.

We had a great visit home this past weekend. We hung out with the family, Michele, Ellie, and little Tyler came in town to visit also. We did what we do best: shop, eat, go to weddings! We were in town to Joey and Lauren's wedding this weekend and we had a blast hanging out with some of our favorites! It was great to see all 4 of our favorite Kings! Its definitely been way too long and we loved hanging out with yall! The wedding was at Brentwood United Methodist with a Richland C.C reception. They had dueling pianos which was really fun-never seen that, we had a blast dancing! All in all, it was a short, sweet trip home!

Me and Michele before the wedding.

Taken by only the best photographer, 3 year old ellie!

:)

Birmingham to Celebrate

This weekend we went to Birmingham to see sweet Natalie get hitched! It was a perfect beginning to their marriage. The ceremony was beautiful and oh so special. She was one of the most beautiful brides Ive seen. What a fabulous weekend!

I got to spend the night with the bride on Friday night since my groom was not there yet. The bridesmaids Luncheon and Rehearsal Dinner were all so fabulous on Friday. They were filled with many sweet memories. Saturday was spent getting ready and countin' down the hours till the big I DO was said. Such a sweet time for such a sweet couple. I was honored to be a part of the whole weekend.

Mom and Lee were able to come down for the wedding also so it was great to hang out with them. We went to Hot and Hot after the wedding to get Shrimp and Grits. Well what do you know--they werent on the menu!! I tried and tried to get the waiter to put in a special order since we were all the way from Dallas but no such luck. What a let down. After we went to Samford to stroll down memory lane. Oh so fun. We visited Mr Beeson, the Chi O and Sigma Chi house and just looked at all the new additions to the campus. We loved driving around Samford. We even made it before the gates closed but Im sure we could have used Andrew's SU card he STILL has in his wallet to get in...ha!

And a great ending to the weekend-got to my Thomas Powell. We were able to hang out with Laura, JD, and Thomas for about an hr which was awesome!!!!! He is just P-R-E-C-I-O-U-S!!!! I do believe is going to be long and lean :) He was so sweet. We even got Andrew to hold his first newborn baby after some peer pressure! Thanks Lo for hanging out! I loved loved loved meeting my new favorite little Thomas!

I only have one picture from the wedding unfortunately (and its an iphone pic)...doesn't do justice of how incredibly beautiful Natalie was--stunning!

Our little visit to Samford:

Oh the memories....

No Values Violations for us!

Its like I meant to blend in...

Giving Mr Beeson some lovin'

Until we meet again Samford..it was great seeing you!

Catching Up

Its been since Christmas...

We have had lots of fun things going on, little time to blog.

Picture update:

NYE 2010 with Gores, Timbrells, Stewarts, and Whitcombs

Mansion Dance Party

:)

Our Caregroup men (+luke) on snow day 2011.

Our Caregroup girls on Snow Day 2011

Love this group of ladies...they are fabulous!

Went to flag pole hill right next to our house for some sledding. It was a fun day (After I got done with work of course). I had a blast in the snow with some favorite girls of mine.

Breckenridge, CO 2011

Taking a much needed break.

My favorite ski bunnies! I love these girls. They made the trip a blast.

Amber, Missy, Magen, Leslie

First day at Breck, checking out our place.

Me and Les

Hitting the slopes.

John, Andrew, Missy

Gores and Morgans

Group pic!

Morgans! We love to ski!

:)

A White Christmas

Christmas Eve

(Sadly this is the only picture of us from the whole trip)

We had a fabulous white Christmas in TN and KY but no pictures to show of the snow. Andrew and I were home in Nashville for a little less than a week and it was so great to be home-considering i havent been home since 2/10. It was a whirlwind of a trip, had 5 Christmases (including 2 here in dallas) so needless to say were exhausted. We spent Christmas Eve/morning in KY with my sister, tyler, and the kids. It was fun to see the kids light up on Christmas morning. Thanks for letting us spend it with yall, Beams! We had a great Christmas Eve dinner at Tyler's parents house where princess Ellie stole the show. She must have known Santa was on his way!! We woke up bright and early the next morning to find all the fun stuff Santa left.

Before we left for KY, we were in TN. My mom threw a fun get together so we could see some of our friends. It was fun catching up with everyone. My sister, tyler, and the kids were in town a few days before Christmas and Santa brought one present early.

They loved their gator. It ranked as "favorite gift" this year. Way to go Santa!!

(It was a white Christmas, i promise)

Ellie got even more princess attire (As if she doesnt have enough). She wears here princess outfits daily, surprisingly she doesn't sleep in them..yet. She is a princess thats for sure--as evidenced by her command to Andrew at Christmas Eve dinner while in her princess outfit and standing in her chair, "Andrew, lift my cup" (so she could take a drink without lift a thumb). Oh she is my favorite princess!

Love yall, thanks for a merry merry and fun Christmas!

The day we flew out, I was able to see some of my favorite girlfriends. It was short but such as sweet time (yes, there were tears involved bc I was so happy to see them). Thankfully, we will get to most of them again soon for the baby shower! Cant wait to celebrate. I love our breakfast tradition, lets never let it end (and sorry for the cheesy tears..katie, i know what you are thinking-cheeseball!). All in all, it was a fabulous trip.

November--Thanksgiving!

Im very thankful for many things this year--our sweet Lord, Andrew, health, family, loving friends, a job, a new dog, our house...and many other things! This was our first holiday in our new house so it was a fun opportunity to host a turkey feast. Which is exactly what we did--host a feast! We had so much food and so much fun. I took off a few days from work to cook and I got a little Martha Stewart bug in me.

I got the Martha bug last weekend when I decided to make this wreath.

I had seen her make it on one of her shows on saturday morning using real cranberries. I thought I could make the bead one but Michael's disappointed me with not having the beads and some other necessary items for the wreath. So I spent my saturday doing it with real cranberries...

The beginning stage....

The final product

It was definitely a much longer time consuming project than I thought but its pretty and was a festive touch to thanksgiving.

I also got a little festive with ty....oh so handsome Christmas Ty!

Tuesday - Thursday I cooked and cooked and cooked some more! We had a plentiful spread of great food: onion/tomato tart, veggies/hummus, corn bread dressing, corn souflee, mashed potatoes, green bean almondine, Tom the turkey, another stuffing from sadie, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and pecan pie. All so delicious! It was fun to cook and spend the days with Ty. I had my week "to-do list" which helped me to be organized...thanks to Annie (annies eats blog) for the idea! Loved her thanksgiving breakdown.

Dining room

Yummy onion/tomato tart Kellie and I learned to make at the Sur La Table cooking class.

So delicious. First time to make home made pastry dough...wasnt as bad of a disaster as i thought it would be.

Our first turkey!

The Turkey Carver

"Tom the turkey" was so yum.

I named him bc we got a little personal over the days while he was brining. I had to make sure he knew he had to be moist and delicious for a turkey feast. He listened and performed well.

Thanks Tom!

Cooking away!

Ty loves being in the kitchen while we cook away. He loved all his special treats over thanksgiving. He makes an appearance in every picture...love him! He has been so much fun!

The spread! mmm mmm mmmm!

We hope yall had a very merry and happy thanksgiving too!! We cant wait to go home for Christmas and see everyone at home. We have decided to spend Christmas eve/day up in KY with tyler, my sister, and the kids since its so much fun to see their fun faces on Christmas morning! Happy Thanksgiving from Dallas!!!

November-A Progressive Dinner

At Ocean Prime for Dessert

A few weekends ago, Andrew and I celebrated my bday with a fun dinner. Andrew had made reservations at an excellent restaurant (Fix Sixy by wolfgang puck) that I had wanted to go to (have had apps and drinks there but never dinner). I requested this place about a month in advance so he made reservations. The week of my bday I didnt feel like going there so we cancelled. Where to go?? I had no idea...I had heard of this new asian place but also another steak/seafood place I wanted to do. Whats a girl to do with so many good places to eat?!?! When we left the house we had still not decided. Im definitely the person who looks at a menu online before we go so I know what Im getting and what kind of food the place has. Well...Te'ian has no menu online (for a good reason!). The other place was Ocean Prime...you are bound to have a good dinner there. So we started off at Capital Grill for a drink. I was trying to make Andrew decide on where we were going to eat. After much discussion and indecisiveness...he said, well you love asian so lets go asian! So we did indeed. We had no reservations so I was hoping that would be ok. Well....we certainly didnt need reservations. There were probably only about 3 tables filled in the place. We sat down, looked at the menu...now im looking for the good sushi but its no where to be found. They have a very interesting menu...one thats really hard to understand and read. I felt terrible for choosing this place and immediately wanted to leave bc well...what are we going to end up eating? I was starving and wanting a great meal. So then the waiter tries to tell us how to read the menu and some specials. She ends of ordering for us bc we have No idea what to order. She did a fairly good job. The appetizers were the much preferred meals....over the main entree we split. Anyways, we left feeling not so satisfied. So what do we decide?? We went straight to Ocean Prime (which is where we should have gone in the first place). We get a drink, sit down at a table and tell our waiter our story. Andrew gets lobster bisque and I get an amazing dessert. The waiter ends up bringing out a bday drink....their signature martini, berries and bubbles. Delicious. Champagne + strawberries + martini'sk type drink + dry ice = berries and bubbles. It was great. The dessert was even better. And the lobster bisque was delicious. Needless to say, our next fun dinner out will be at Ocean Prime. And I will forever let Andrew decide where to eat (bc at Te'ian he said that he really wanted to go to Ocean Prime but decided on Te'ain for me bc of my asian love!).

Berries and Bubbles