Line Dances, Wedding Vows and an Anniversary

This past weekend, Jarrod and I made a trip to Beaumont to see my beautiful friend, Blaire, get married.

Me and Blaire

Blaire and me at my wedding.
I love Jarrod in the background of this photo...

We left work early Friday afternoon and headed towards Beaumont in order to attend the rehearsal dinner. The theme of the night was western and we were all asked to wear our cowboy boots. They served Texas barbeque and played country music all night long. It was such an easy going and fun time!

Me, Jarrod and John Wayne

The next day was the BIG day! Blaire looked absolutely stunning and both the church and reception were decorated beautifully. Jarrod and I had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed witnessing two of our good friends become a married couple. Congratulations, Blaire and Dave!

The bride and groom

Her cake looked like her dress

Jackie, me and Sara Beth

The next day was our anniversary. We made the hike back to Houston and started getting ready for our night out. Once all primped and pretty, we headed to Eddie V's for a seafood dinner. While at the restaurant, we opened our "paper" gifts to one another - I gave Jarrod tickets to a Spielberg and Williams concert at the Houston Symphony. Jarrod gave me tickets to a Broadway musical production of The Addams Family.

Our table at Eddie V's

Taking our first anniversary picture

Afterwords, we headed home to partake in our first anniversary cakes! For those of you who don't know, we didn't keep the cake topper from our wedding cake. It was too large to store in the freezer, and since Jarrod and I never really had any cake at our wedding, we went ahead and ate it while it was still fresh. I decided to call the baker of our wedding cakes and asked her to do smaller versions of them for our first anniversary. And they came out perfectly! They looked like small replicas of our wedding and groom's cakes and they tasted divine.

Wedding cake

Groom's Cake

Burnt Orange Velvet Cake

Anniversary cakes

Yummy!

Of course now I have two cakes that need to be consumed....This could end tragically. For my waistline.

Fill In The Blank {Friday}

Happy Friday, everyone!

The mister and I are leaving straight after work today to head to Austin for the weekend. I know...we go to Austin alot. But, this time we are not going for a football game. We are attending a wedding for one of Jarrod's hometown friends, Polly. I am really looking forward to it!

Speaking of weddings, we received our canvas print from our wedding photographer last night. I think it looks great! We took this photo in front of the Water Wall in Houston.

Photo by Helen Byrd Photography

Well, that is really all I've got for today...so...now for Fill in the Blank Friday! Link up with Lauren to participate in the fun!

1. My current obsession is  Pinterest! I am obsessed with pinning different recipes and future craft projects. Love it! 

2.  Family and friends  make me happy.

3. My greatest strength is  my ability to listen to others. 

4.  My desire for everything to be perfect  is my greatest weakness.

5. My life is  wonderful. I am truly blessed. 

6. In high school I was  average. I wasn't popular, but I wasn't an outcast either. I was also on the dance team. I love to dance. I actually really miss it.

7. When I'm super tired  I get cranky. And very, very quiet.

Fancy Feast, Fredericksburg and a Fiesta

Jarrod and I started off this past weekend with a fancy date night to celebrate six wonderful months of marriage. My super sweet husband made a surprise reservation to a restaurant called Mark's. Neither of us had ever been, but I had heard it was amazing. And it didn't disappoint.

I wanted to take a picture of the food, but I felt like I would look like a redneck. Seriously, this was a very nice restaurant. So you will just have to imagine oysters, pan-seared fish, shrimp and mashed potatoes with lobster. It was delish.

It basically looked like this...Yum!

The next day we packed up our suitcase, dropped off the pup at a friend's house (thanks Regina and Richard!) and began our hike to Fredericksburg for a wedding. The bride, Stephanie, and groom, Paul, are two of Jarrod's college drum line friends. It was a beautiful wedding, a fun reception and an awesome after party. I always enjoy hanging out with Jarrod's college friends. They are all such an amazing group of people - very down to earth and welcoming.

 

Hi, Bryan! You're on the blog!

We returned on Sunday, picked up the pup and then I headed over to a birthday party for this pretty lady:

I love this gal. Blaire is such a sweet friend. I met her while I was going to Second Baptist. We were both fairly new to the single's class. She randomly called me one afternoon to discuss wardrobe selections for the New Year's Eve party that was that night. We have been good friends ever since.

Anyways, her boyfriend, Dave, cooked up some fajitas for everyone as we all sat around catching up and sharing stories. Jarrod joined the birthday festivities after his regular sand volleyball game with his energy league. All around a great time. I hope you had an awesome birthday, Blaire!

That was our weekend. It was a lot of fun, but it went by way too fast. 

Snapshots of Our Trip to Ruidoso

Jarrod and I returned from our trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico yesterday afternoon. The trip was so relaxing and the weather was beautiful! It was hard to come back to the sweltering Texas heat.

We flew into El Paso before making the 2 hour drive to Ruidoso. I must mention that the plane ride to El Paso was horrible. There was a lot of turbulence towards the end of the flight and when we landed the plane jumped and swerved. It was not fun. At all.

Anyways, after the horrible plane ride we rented a car and began the hike to Ruidoso.

Jarrod is really excited about driving to Ruidoso...

...but, then again, so am I

Welcome to New Mexico, Jarrod!

Welcome to New Mexico, Kimberly!

A cross on top of a large hill. I thought it was pretty

View of the mountains

Once in Ruidoso, we found the cabin we would be staying at (thank you Nana and Pop) and found a local restaraunt to eat at. After that we were exhausted and called it a day.

Jarrod and I at the Country Club near the cabin

The next day we decided we would go see the horse races and visit the casino for some gambling! I have never been to a horse race, so I had no idea what to expect. It was a lot of fun. On the last race I told Jarrod to bet on horse #8 - because "the number 8 has always been good to us." And the horse won! We left $0.30 richer after it was all said and done.

Our bet

Our horse

And they're off!

Our horse won!

After the horse races we headed over to the rehearsal dinner for our friends who were getting married. We had a great time mingling with some of Jarrod's coworkers and polka dancing!

The next day was the wedding. The ceremony took place in Mescalero, New Mexico at an Apache mission. It was absolutely gorgeous.

View of the church from the highway

St. Joseph's Apache Mission

View from inside

Husband and wife!

The reception was back in Ruidoso at a local inn. There was a lot of dancing, laughing and just all around good times.

Jarrod and I at the wedding reception

My Jones soda bottle cap fortune from the reception

It was a wonderful weekend and it was a great time to just relax with my hubby. Now it is back to the grind and the every day routine!

The Royal Wedding

Like most of the world, Jarrod and I watched as Kate Middleton walked down the aisle to marry Prince William this past Friday. We didn't wake up early to watch, but we did catch a few minutes of it as we got ready for work. We saw their first kiss live and then watched them say their vows after we got home.

Everything was beautiful - I particularly loved her dress. I was surprised that it wasn't as bold as Princess Diana's dress, but it was definitely classic and timeless. Truly fit for a princess. It was very lovely.

Watching the wedding reminded me of a joke between me and my cousin, Julia. While visiting her in Italy about two years ago, I confessed that, like every little girl, I had dreamed of marrying Prince William when I was younger. I wanted to be a princess. I mean, I certainly acted the part - all I needed was the official title! We both agreed that I was destined for royalty and we devised an imaginary plan to accomplish just this.

Julia was to start a bakery in London. She would quickly make a name for herself and the locals would not be able to resist her delicious treats. As such, the prince would become a regular visitor of her bakery. Then, one day, while the prince was selecting his desserts, Julia would slyly suggest that her cousin would be a perfect match for him. Enter me. Beautiful as ever. He wouldn't be able to resist.

It was foolproof.

But, as fate would have it, I met a Texas grad at a Baylor happy hour. And the mission was aborted soon after. Obviously. And I have been thanking God ever since.