One Special Weekend

This weekend was one incredibly special and fun weekend! My mom and grandmother made it in town this past week and helped me pull together final pieces for the nursery and get organized. We also got to take a peek at Kate - I scheduled a 4D ultrasound and invited all the fam to come see her as well. It was tons of fun! Some of my dearest friends in the world hosted a baby shower for me on Saturday morning and I got to hang out with so many people who mean so much to me and celebrate Kate on the way! The shower was just adorable and Gretchen, Delana and Kami did an amazing job with everything. The florals by New Leaf were amazing and we had great food and a yummy cake from Amy Cakes. I got to see so many people that I had not seen in forever - including my freshman college roommate, Andi Sue! I think it's been about five or six years since we've seen each other - maybe longer! And, I got to spend some much needed catch up time with Gretchen who came in town from D.C. for the shower! It's been at least two years since we've seen each other and it was so great to be with her! So many people came to celebrate this exciting time and I feel so grateful to have the support and love of such wonderful friends and family. We can't wait to introduce our Kate to all of those that mean so much to us! Kyle's grandmother, Aunt Janet and Aunt Sandy also came in town from Kansas for the shower as well and we got to spend lots of time with them as well! These are only a few snapshots I have from the weekend and the shower. My camera was slowly dying during the shower, so I'll be posting others that were taken a little later. Stay tuned!

Our First Shower!

This weekend was our very first baby shower! It was so much fun and we will always remember it. Kyle's firm threw this one for us and Gary (Kyle's boss) and his wife, along with Richard and Becky Books, hosted it for us! The theme was all "Bs"..."balloons, boas, beer, barbecue and of course lots of baby stuff!" Pink balloons and frilly boas dressed the tables and everyone enjoyed yummy BBQ before indulging in this spectacular cake. Isn't it cute!

It was so great to celebrate our joy with so many of our friends. Here's a few pics of us unwrapping gifts -- we got so much good stuff, including a cute diaper bag, bottles galore, cute outfits and hats, blankets, toys, lots of diapers and the list goes on. Kyle also got a bottle of Knob Creek, cigars and a sippy cup ; ) This clever gift came from Frank and was a refreshing gift for Kyle to unwrap after seeing so much girly stuff! Oh yeah, and the 8x10 framed picture we unwrapped was hysterical! This was intended to be a joke and everyone got a kick out of us showing this beauty off -- it's a picture of Richard Books from several years ago! In the midst of unwrapping it, I kept thinking..."Should I know this person???" Kyle knew exactly who it was and everyone got lots of laughs admiring it!

It was a fun night and we feel so grateful to have the support of such wonderful people in our lives! We can't wait to introduce Kate to all of them! By the way, the precious little girl I'm kissing is Miss Lauren, daughter of Kami and Eric. She's so beautiful with her big blue eyes! She's growing up so fast and is turning one this week! She and Kate are sure to be great friends!

Kate's Bedding

I mentioned in a previous post the we ordered our crib bedding for Kate through a company I found online - Mod Pea Pod (www.modpeapod.com). It's a great site if you know anyone looking for custom bedding at an extremely affordable price! Our bedding came in about a week ago and here it is!!! So excited to show it off! I was so anxious to post these pics tonight but realized that the battery on my new camera needed to be charged...so, these photos are from my iPhone : (

I love the monogram on the bumper -- crazy to actually see her initials. Funny story behind the little pink dog. For those of you that know, we have a precious Westie named Cooper and he's been the center of our attention now for 5+ years. We're used to buying toys similar to this for him quite frequently but on our latest outing, Kyle spotted this pink puppy and insisted that it was something Kate should have. Only problem is...it looks so similar to a toy we would bring home for Cooper and, even worse, it barks! It makes these barking noises and I know Cooper is going to go crazy when he sees or hears it. Heavens!!!

I've also posted a random tutu pic! This is Kate's first tutu and I fell in love with it when I saw it several months ago and had to have it. Isn't it just adorable?!

More nursery photos to come...my mom and grandmother will be coming in town in less than 2 weeks and they are going to be such a big help to me in putting the final finishing touches on everything. More to come...

Big Easter Weekend

[Alli (Kyle's sister), Kyle and Kay (Kyle's mom)]


[Kevin (Kyle's dad), Kay, Me (with what looks like a basketball size belly - gees!) and Kyle]


[Kyle, me, Alli and Brian (Alli's husband)]


We had such a beautiful Easter in Oklahoma City! The temperature was close to 85, sunny and blue skies! The wind was a different story...so windy here...as you can probably tell from some of these photos. And, these photos might be the first that I've posted where you can definitely see the belly I've got going. Yikes!

We went to church with Kyle's family. Kinda neat seeing all sorts of little girls in their Easter dresses (so, so cute!)...and hard to believe we'll have Kate with us this time next year. After church, we had lunch and Kyle took off to play golf with his dad. I think this is the first time he's played golf this year, so he was super excited!

Home projects are moving along for us...the goal is to have them all completed in the next two weeks. That's a pretty big goal! It was a busy weekend. Kyle and I also spent our Saturday in birthing classes. We weren't sure if we were going to even attend the classes but thought, well, we might as well get all the information we can! It was an interesting experience - probably learned about some things I'd rather have gone into labor without knowing -- but oh, well! Guess I'm completely informed now!

We also got all of our crib bedding in this weekend that we were having made and the nursery is even further along. I know I've been promising pictures of how the nursery is developing and I promise to show soon!

Emily Turns 30!

Emily is one of my dear friends from college who I don't get to see near enough. We had so much fun this weekend celebrating her big 30 birthday bash! Em was a little under the weather though -- a stomach bug of sorts -- which isn't any fun when it's your b'day! We had a great time at dinner and then headed to Edmond to Nothing But Class for a fun-filled night of hilariousness as we all attempted to learn some pretty sweet routines! I'm sure I would have had all the moves down -- HA!! -- but for my state of being! Being almost 7 months pregnant made things a little more difficult, to say the least, but still a really fun time. And, I had to miss out on enjoying Em's famous margaritas -- bummer! Here's a few pics of our crew. Good times were had by all. Happy Birthday Em!

Brides of North Texas - Launch Party!

So, it's been about a couple of months since the launch party for the inaugural issue Brides of North Texas magazine! What an amazing night! Many of you know that we've been working on this project for over a year and it was so great to see the culmination of it all come together. We've partnered with some of DFW's best wedding pros and thanks to their incredible talent, the magazine is drop dead gorgeous and the best resource any North Texas bride could have! This premier issue also features about 100 pages of North Texas weddings (in addition to all kinds of other awesome editorial content) and gives brides a priceless glimpse inside each wedding to see all of the beautiful details and the wedding pros who made it all happen. Probably the most memorable moment from the night was sharing a toast with the crowd as the highly-anticipated magazines were passed around to everyone.

Here's some of my favorite pics from the evening - captured by Stella Shot Me! The launch was held at the NYLO Hotel in Las Colinas, which just opened several months ago as well, and sponsored by Ciroc vodka. We were so thankful to have the support of so many wonderful people in the industry, not to mention our friends and family who have supported us every step of the way!

Kami (my business partner) and I are so ecstatic about what's ahead for Brides of North Texas and couldn't have asked for a better launch! Cheers!

More Nursery Items

Just thought I'd share a few more pics of items to fill the nursery. We are in the process of putting it all together now but the room is definitely still under construction. Kyle has even gone to great lengths to add crown molding to the nursery (in addition to the rest of the entire house that didn't have it). Kyle's also been busy scraping the popcorn off the remaining ceilings in the house that had it. Amazing how one room (or a baby) will spur on so many home improvement projects. He's got a lot on his plate, for sure! I guess there's hardly a chance of us getting to these things once baby Kate arrives, so we're trying to be productive now! I just wish I could help out more with the projects! it's all kinda exciting!

In any event, here's the glider we chose in a mint green, soft plush material -- it also has a matching ottoman. The crib is one of of my favorites! It's really going to be beautiful and a focal in the room with the fabulous bedding that's on it's way! Hooray! Since we're expecting a little girl, the chandelier was a must, right??? We're also using an old antique dresser that we own for the changing table and it's also in the antique white color.

I know we've really only shown bits and pieces of everything, so we'll definitely post pics of the nursery coming together very, very, very soon.

Feels like Winter!

So today is technically the first day of Spring but it sure feels like Winter! Unbelievable! Here's a few pics of the snowfall we've been getting all day and it's still coming down! Yesterday, we had 70+ degree weather and today is snowy and freezing outside...only in Oklahoma! I couldn't be more ready for Spring to arrive!

Kyle and I are just hanging out at the house and doing all sorts of projects that are on the to-do list to get done before Kate's arrival. The nursery is coming together - slowly but surely (I'll post pics soon) and there's tons of other home improvement projects that we've decided to tackle! Feeling lots of movement from Kate today which is crazy weird but fun! She moves around quite a bit and usually wakes me up in the morning with her movements.

Oh...and speaking of Winter (and since I feel the need to play a little catch up on life's happenings since I just started this blog), I've posted one more random pic from our company's holiday party! I"m so proud of our crew and think we make an incredible team! This is everyone that works to make Brides of Oklahoma and Brides of North Texas what it is -- and, their spouses! There's one new person missing - Gerardo (our web and software developer) -- but he wasn't with us over the holidays! From left to right, Kami (my business partner) and her husband Eric, me and Kyle, Alli (mag editor and bride editorial director) and her husband Brian, Carri (sales and production executive) and her significant other Spencer, Meagan (TX sales executive) and her significant other Jason. We all went to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Iron Starr, and then had King's Limousine (one of our awesome partners) take us around town to look at Christmas lights! Cheers and please bring on Spring!!!!