Show Us Your Wedding Party & Flowers

This is the whole wedding party after the ceremony in front of First Baptist Church, Wichita Falls, TX where I grew up attending church and we were married. I had 4 bridesmaids, 2 maids of honor, 4 house party members, and Trey had 4 groomsmen, 2 best men, 4 ushers, 1 flower girl and 1 ring bearer. That makes for a lot of people!

Here is another group shot inside the church.


Here is my handsome hubby. He looks so young here, but it wasn't that long ago! We were married September 8, 2007.



And here is my brother with my husband.

And here are just the girls. I had the bridesmaids wear a champagne color dress with orange shoes (so cute) and the house party wear a persimmon color with bronze shoes. I got married in September so I wanted Fall colors.





This is my sister in law Jennie. You can see her dress better and the bridesmaid's bouquet better.


My cutie pie flower girl.

And my oh so handsome ring bearer, my nephew, who was only 11 months old but did a fantastic job walking down the aisle.


These were the flowers at the front on the church. Curly willow with berries and orange calla lilies and roses and all sorts of other flowers that were in my bouquet.
My bouquet. It had orange roses, orange calla lilies, berries, pheasant feathers, and lots of other flowers. I loved it! I interviewed three florists before finally deciding on one and when she brought the flowers in the day of the wedding I was blown away. They were th most beautiful flowers I have even seen.


Here is a picture of the interior of the church during the ceremony. Aren't those chandeliers beautiful? (The picture has a weird line down it from the scanner, sorry)

These were our programs. I made them and they took soooo long to make, but I couldn't find any I liked and was very particular about everything being orange and brown. I had to make 450, yes, 450 of them!

Here we are leaving the church. We had orange rose petals thrown on us.


I had a dream wedding and everything was so beautiful. I married the most wonderful man and that is really what made it so special.

Our Crawling Baby!

Yep, that's right, Ella is now a crawler!!! For the last couple of days she has been getting on her knees and sticking her bottom way up in the air. See...

Then, yesterday, she got on all fours and just hung out. She didn't crawl, she just sat there and rocked back and forth.

(She has already got the posing down!)

And finally today she started scooching forward and by tonight she was in a full blown crawl. She just loves her daddy!

Yes, I know this picture is blurry. That is for you to see that she is in motion!!! I don't use a flash on my camera and I didn't have it set to take motion pictures, so when she moved it was blurry. I didn't so this on purpose, it was an accident and this was the only one I got of her on the move. It is hard to juggle between watching your baby crawl for the first time, cheering her on and snapping pictures at the same time!

When we went in for our 6 month appointment our doctor told me she would be crawling any day now. Less than a week later, she is doing it!! We are so excited for every stage that she goes through and it is so fun watching her grown and learn new things! I can't wait to see her speed crawling through the house with those chunky little legs!

Oh, and I know what you are thinking...does she just let her baby hang out around the house all day in a diaper? And the answer is yes! It is Texas, it is hot! Plus, I don't have to do near as much laundry this way. She has a million clothes and we get dressed up enough. Some days it is just nice to hang out and relax.

Another Baby Shower For Hunter

My mom came in town Friday to spend the day with Ella and I and to go to Jennie's second baby shower for Hunter on Saturday. We had a great time and she just loves Ella to death. Friday we went to eat lunch with my brother Kyle at Gloria's Mexican Restaurant. It is so delicious and I love their salsa. Kyle gets off early on Fridays so after we ate we went to World Market so I could finish up my buying for Jennie's present. I am glad he went with us because he knew exactly what Jennie wanted or I would have been wondering around debating on what to get for an hour or so.


Saturday my sister and nephew came over to my house a little before the shower so we could all eat lunch and head over to the shower together. My mom used her new GPS to navigate our way to the shower and I must say it is a handy little invention. ESPECIALLY for my mom who gets lost all the time. What a miracle she didn't this time. Ella and Caleb had a chance to hang out before we left. Caleb just loves "baby Ella" as he calls her and Ella just loves to watch Caleb play. Unfortunately for Caleb, Ella also loves to grab things, including hair.

And she is teething so she likes to chew on things. Anyways, back to the shower. Here are the cute baskets my sister and I got for Jennie. They were filled with lots of goodies!
And here are the letters I made for Hunter's room. I think they turned out so cute and his room is going to be precious.

And here we are ready to head to the shower. Caleb wasn't feeling very good so he and Trey stayed home and played.
Me and my girl.


Jennie had a great shower and got tons of stuff. She has so many outfits for Hunter she will have to change him three times a day just to make sure he wears all of them! My mom got her the cutest mirror and made burp cloths and bought a toy stuffed deer head like this. She got the bear head at the last shower. Aren't these cute? My brother is a bug hunter so they are hanging animal heads on the wall. Not the real kind though, stuffed animals! Hunter is going to be such a boy!


After the shower we all came home and relaxed for a bit and Ella was in serious need of a nap. She did so great at the shower though and lots of people held her and passed her around. She is just such a happy baby it just makes me overjoyed! My mom left with my sister to stay a few nights with her and Trey and I relaxed and watch "New In Town". It was a pretty cute movie, not the great, but good if there is nothing on TV and you have watched all the other movies out that you want to see. We had a great weekend and now we are back to our weekly routines. Can't wait until next weekend. We don't have anything planned, I just love having Trey home all day with us.

Show Us Your Life - Wedding Dresses

Yesterday on Kelly's Korner was Show Us Your Wedding Dress. Okay, so I am a day late, but ya know what they say...better late than never. I was really looking forward to this post too, but my mom came in to town and I was busy cleaning and just forgot to do it. So, anyways, on to WEDDING DRESSES!!!!

I LOVED my wedding dress. My best friend Summer, and maid of honor, had been wedding dress shopping with another of our friends and she saw this dress and she said she knew it was for me. Well, she kind of told me what it looked like, but when you enter a store and EVERYTHING is white and lacy and on and on, it is hard to find something you have a vague description of. Well, anyways, I find a dress I love and try it on, perfect. So, I try on about 35 more to humor my mother, but I still love the first one. So, I called my to maid of honors to tell them to come see what they think. Summer walked in and said "Oh My Gosh!!! That is the dress I picked out for you!". So, I got the dress and still love it.

I am not a frilly, sparkly, lots of froo-froo girl (I know, shocking right?). So the top of the dress has a sweetheart neckline with rouching and a long full skirt with a chapel length train and on the skirt was to swarovski crystal broaches. Very classic, and simply elegant...love it. Not to mention, it gave me great cleavage (Trey loved it!). The dress had its own petticoat, and I wore another one beneath that, so needless to say, it was VERY HEAVY!! Up at the front of the church with all of those lights on us and my very heavy dress I just kept telling myself not to seat of I would ruin my makeup! =)

Sorry this is not a very clear picture, I scanned it in. These are from my bridal portraits. You will notice my bouquet is different in my wedding pictures, I changed my mind...more on that next week. I also decided I didn't like my hair blonde and dyed it brown a month before the wedding. I mean, isn't that what bridal portraits are for, a trial run to make sure you like everything before the big day?

6 Month Dr. Appointment

We went to the doctor yesterday for our 6 month check up. Ella now weighs 20 pounds 15 ounces and is 27" long. She is in the 95% percentile for both height and weight. She is my little sumo baby and I just love it! I mean, up until 3 weeks ago the only thing she has had is breast milk, so I must have some good stuff in order to fatten her up like that. I feed her every 3-3-1/2 hours, like the doctor tells me to. She just told me that breast babies are bigger.

We showed the doctor how Ella can sit up on her own, roll over both ways, crawl backwards and how she likes to pull up if she is holding your hands. And we showed her Ella's TWO teeth that are coming in! (picture to come soon if I can get that little booger to open her mouth long enough!) The doctor was impressed (I am sure she says this to all moms to further inflate their egos about their children, but I will just pretend that she doesn't). Then, it was that time...the time we dread, me more than her because she doesn't know what's coming...SHOTS! She had to get three and she cried a big cry for about 5 seconds, then it was all over and I picked up my chunky baby and headed out of there. I strapped her in her car seat and she was asleep in 4 minutes.

Don't you wish you could get over something so fast? And not even have a memory of it? Must be nice. So, we headed to WalMart for some groceries. My mom is coming in town tomorrow morning for my sister-in-law's baby shower on Saturday. Ella and I are very excited about this and I think Ella may want a new dress to wear to the occasion. And we all know what Ella wants Ella gets. =)

Sunday Fun Day!

We had a nice little Sunday afternoon here at the Calhoun house. We went to church, the service was great and it is nice to see everyone in Sunday school. We have been going here over a year and it seems in that time the Sunday school class has really expanded. The first Sunday we went we were one of three couples there. This Sunday we arrived a little late and there were only 4 seats empty and like 11 couples there. It is nice to see it growing and we really like being around other parents and couples our age.

Well, after church I convinced my hubby to go take some pictures with me at the park behind our house. I mean, all men LOVE taking pictures so it is never hard to get them to do it, right?? They turned out soo good.

My hair was a little blah because of the humidity, but oh well, they are still cute!

Later in the day, we decided it was time to give Ella a taste of her first food from a baby jar, squash. So, we stripped her down (it is much easier to feed a naked baby) and got her ready.

Here it was, the first bite. All the deliciousness of baby food...
and here is her reaction...PRICELESS!
I mean, it really makes you want to eat it doesn't it?

Poor thing! She will be eating squash for the next week, then it will be on to carrots. I can't wait to see those expressions!

Saturday's Events

Today was a great day. Trey has been working a lot this week, so it was nice to have a full day together. We woke up around 9, yes, Praise Jesus Ella is a good sleeper, and did nothing for a good while. Then, Trey asked me to cute his hair. Yes, I cut his hair. Can you believe he lets me??? =) I was the one that suggested it because I just could not see him spending the usual $20 on a hair cute when all the girl does is put on a guard to cut the whole bottom half, then use her fingers to cut the top. I can do that! And the first time I cut if we went to Wichita and my mom and his mom both complimented on how good his hair looked...and they didn't know I had done it. My mom made so fun much of me when I told her. Now, would I ever let Trey cut mine, NOPE! I will stick to the professionals, but mine is long so it doesn't count.

After the hair cut Trey cooked some good hamburgers on the grill. Then, we headed off to Hobby Lobby, Kirklands, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Sonic, because I was dieing for a cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper..MMMM. (Isn't he such a good husband going all these girly places with me? He did make a remark in Kirkland that he was the only guy there until we saw another fellow pushing a baby stroller with his wife. I am sure they exchanged glances when we weren't looking!)

I was looking for decorative items for our bedroom since it is in the process of getting a makeover. But ya know what, decorating on a budget is not nearly as easy as not having a budget. I will admit, back when I was working I was a big fan of spending money, especially on accessories. Well, those days are long gone, but my taste is still pretty expensive. I managed to pick out the most expensive items, which Trey told me we would not be getting. Oh well. I'll keep looking for now. I would much rather stay home with Ella than buy a $500 cabinet which I would get sick of anyways (it such was pretty though).

And speaking of Ella, you didn't think I could post without going on and on about her, did you? She had a great time shopping. She loves strangers in the stores who show her extra attention, you know my girl like the spotlight! She just smiles and hams it up. She ever did a little motor-boating for one lady! And here are some recent pics of my beautiful baby...enjoy.

Our Time In Wichita

Ella and I left for Wichita Falls last Wednesday morning at 9:30 and have been going non-stop ever since! We arrived Wednesday, went to eat with my parents at Pioneer, and then ran a million errands with my mom to try and get ready for Jennie's baby shower I was hostessing on Saturday.


It seemed we ran all over town and Ella napped in her car seat while mom and I loaded and unloaded her from store to store in the 104 degree weather. Wow! It was so HOT! Wednesday and Thursday night we got stuff ready and I made a diaper cake and wrapped so many presents. Dad played with Ella and entertained her. He is soo crazy about her! Here is a pic of the diaper cake I made. These are so cute and make great centerpieces.



Thursday I got my hair done...finally. I had bad roots. Which seems to happen when you have dark brown hair and try to get your hair blonder for the summer. Oh well, Trey and my dad love it like this. Soon though I will get sick of the upkeep and go back to brown. We all went and ate lunch at the Oyster Bar. I love their hush puppies.

Friday night I went to dinner with my two of my best friends, Beth and Julie. We went to Los Tres Amigos, which by the way, has the worst service imaginable. My mom and I went there a few years ago and sat for 15 minutes and no one ever helped us so we finally got up and left. Not much has changed. I waited 10 minutes to place my drink order and another 10 once I told him what I wanted. I did get a large frozen margarita and it was oh so delicious! Anyways...back to my friends. Beth and I have been best friends basically since birth and Julie and I became friends when we were around 19. They loved on Ella and told me how beautiful she is and got her to laugh and smile and just made faces at her. It was nice to see them and go eat with them. Now that I have a baby it seems like it is always couples or a family outing, so it was nice to just be with the girls!

Saturday was the big event...Jennie's baby shower!!! Everything was so great, the house we had it at (Chuck & Cathy Heydrick) was just beautiful, there was a great turnout and Kyle and Jennie got a lot of great stuff for baby Hunter! Watching Kyle and Trey load Jennie's car afterwards was a sight to behold, but they managed to get it all in! Ella was so tired so Trey and I took her back to my parent's house and put that baby girl to sleep. She didn't sleep well, or nap well the whole time we were in town. My amazing baby who sleeps from 10:30 pm to 9:00 am disappeared and turned into a baby who wakes up at 1:00 am 3:00 am and 7:00 am and does not want to go back to sleep after that. (I think I know why now though...more on that later)

Here is my sister, my mom, my sister in law, me, Ella, and my brother.

And here is the expectant couple. Jennie is 33 weeks pregnant, so we will be meeting Hunter soon!!
The food...yummy!And here is a close up of the cake. It had a baby deer on top with a fence around the bottom. You can't see it, but it had a 'No Hunting' signs on it. Hunter is definitely going to be a big hunter with my brother as his Dad and especially with my Dad as his Grandpa. He doesn't stand a chance.
Kyle did a great job entertaining Ella until she just got too fussy and I had to take her. Don't they look like they are having fun?

Sunday we celebrated my mom's birthday. My dad and brother cooked steaks and shrimp on the grill and I was stuffed! Us kids got mom a new Coach purse and Dad got her a GPS. That woman can get lost better than anyone. She has been to our house numerous times and still got lost the last time she came. Now, if only she will remember that she has it and will use it! We finally left around 4:30, had to stop at Kyle and Jennies to get Trey's truck and made it home around 7:45. Whew...we were all pooped.

So, now we are back to our usual daytime schedule. It's so good to see my parents and get to spend time with them and let them love on Ella, but it is good to be home too.