“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” --Dr. Seuss, 'Happy Birthday to You!'"

(First of all...sorry it took so long to put this up! I got some new templates and I took a bit longer getting the pics ready but I really wanted to try them out! Hopefully I used the right size...we'll have to see when I post I guess! :)

Saturday was my beautiful little girl's second birthday and since it was Saturday we had her party then! It was a lot of fun, great food, super cute decorations (I had fun doing them too!), lots of great people and Evelyn had a great time! So here's some pics from the party!

Party Decorations and the Party Girl! :)

Decorating Pumpkins! They had a lot of fun with this.


Donut time! We used the little donuts for this cuz of the lil' kids but it was way too easy for the big kids! Especially the two "big mouthed" momma's on the bottom left :) They got their donuts no problem! :)


Evelyn wasn't too keen on us singing happy birthday to her but she loved opening her presents! :) She got lots of fun dolls and princess stuff as well as a stuffed Roo (from Winnie the Pooh) and Bullseye (From Toy Story). She's had lots of fun playing with her new toys!

Of course all the kids LOVED the pinata! Evelyn wasn't too sure about it at first and wouldn't take a turn, but then she saw the big kids do it with the blindfold so she had to do it WITH the blindfold (it fell down though). She's so silly! :) Jeremiah was hilarious though...he LOVED it! And he was so funny to watch and was SO into it!

We had a bit of trouble with the pinata actually staying up on the rope (it kept tearing through, sometimes without even hitting it, lame!) so my dad had to rig it up to last a little longer and luckily every kid got a turn! :)

It was a lot of fun but i think the best part was watching my dad. He LOVES being in charge of the pinata...look at that face! pure joy right there :) He loves messing around with the kids so this was right up his alley. I think he mighta had more fun than the kids! :)

So there you have it! That's pretty much all that went on. Evelyn said she enjoyed it so I think I'll call it a success :) I can't believe she's two already though! I can't say it seems like yesterday that she was just born, cuz it doesn't...it seems SO long ago since she was born! I can't really remember not having her in my life! I love her so much, and although she frustrates me a lot lately (I can now offically blame terrible twos! :) I couldn't imagine life without her and thank God every night for the blessing she is in my life. She is the most amazing, funny, gorgeous, wonderful little two year old ever and I'm so lucky to be her Momma! Love you, Evers!

Love is a flower which turns into fruit at marriage. --Finnish Proverb--

And finally the last part of our trip, which was actually the first! :) The wedding! Although I'll have to start before the wedding first.

A few days before we left to go down to Arkansas, Auntie Annie flew in and Auntie Monie, Kady, and Kellen drove down! It was so wonderful to have them here and I'm SO super happy that Annie came too! We didn't spend a horrible amount of time together but any time with Annie is great :) I miss her so much! I of course miss Monie too but I see her more than I get to see Annie and, of course, we all know Annie is my favorite ;) Love you Monie! :) And of course I love Mellisa and Emily too :) Anyway...so we spent a few days in MO with everybody...took some ADORABLE pics of the grand daughters for a project for Grammy....which I will post on my photography blog after I'm done with this one so check that out here! (I also have some new pics up of the Leonard Family which are FABULOUS so check those out too! And anyone who has facebook needs to go "like" my new ForEversAfter page here! I only have 13 fans so far so help me out! :)

Anywho...the day before the wedding we all drove down to Arkansas and met up with the fam down there for a little pre-wedding dinner and then went us girls went to our now family-of-a-sort/don't know what we'd be called-related (they were my new-grandma's daughter/son-in-law) house, which was on the lake and it was SO gorgeous! Such a beautiful location, beautiful house, beautiful drive (long but gorgeous!)...I just wanted to stop and take pics but couldn't :( We did get to swim at the lake the morning of the wedding...the girls had so much fun!

This is the view from their back porch...GORGEOUS right??

After the lake we packed up, went back to town, did a little shopping, went to our hotel room, got ready, and headed to the wedding! The wedding was at the Country Club and it was SO nice! Very simple/elegant/pretty and there were some great little details! Like on a couple of tables there was this sign...



and on the chairs were some goodie bags for the kids to keep them entertained during the ceremony! Such a great idea. The girls were pretty good during the ceremony and afterwards ate and then did this for the rest of the night...


...couldn't get them to stop! Pretty cute/funny though.


So, the ceremony was simple/short/and so cute! They were adorable up there and so happy! I'm so happy my Gramps found someone to be with...they are such a funny little couple, totally acting like teenagers/lovey dovey/cute. :) (Just fyi for those who don't know....my Grandpa married a lady named Fern, who's husband passed away quite a few years ago...she and her husband have pretty much been lifelong friends with my Grandma and Grandpa so both families know each other super well and get along and such...so my Grandpa went down to Arkansas last spring...his bro/some fam/Fern and some of her fam live there...to get a little change of pace/find a woman! :) so he started dating Fern, they got engaged, took awhile to pick a date and now are married! there you go :)

Anyway.......so after the ceremony there was a yummy dinner followed by a couple toasts and then some DELICIOUS cake....seriously so good! Then there was lots of visiting/chatting/congratulating/etc. and then it was all over!





The next day Evelyn and I said good-bye to the fam and headed off to Alabama! I was kinda sad to miss the after-wedding breakfast, which was held at this Mill near our new fam's awesome house and it was SO awesome/gorgeous! It was one of the places I wanted to stop and take pics...it's next to this river and there's a one lane wood bridge over it and then the mill is right there and it's just so picturesque! Here's a pic I found online...


So yeah...that's pretty much all that went on in Arkansas! It was a great little trip, loved being with the fam, totally gorgeous area...even driving across on my way to Alabama was GORGEOUS! Such a pretty state!

anywho... :) Have a great weekend! This weekend is Evelyn's birthday so we got a fun little party planned and lots of fun stuff to blog about so keep posted!

"We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend."

(Ok so I've had this post written for WEEKS and posted some pics on it and then after these it wouldn't let me post any more! So I've tried and tried and now I'm giving up....so here it is finally!)

The next part of our trip was Mississippi! My bestie Gwyn moved back a week or so before I got there (she was supposed to be earlier so don't think me too horrible for visiting a week after moving in!). Her husband got home sometime in August and they just got back to Mississippi awhile ago, which so jealous her hubby is home but also so happy! She had a little boy in January (her husband left before that but was able to come visit after he was born) so I'm so glad they are all together again :)

Anyway...so we got to Mississippi on Thursday and stayed an entire week and it was fabulous! We had so much fun with them and I'm so glad we were able to visit! Evelyn loves Gwyn's kids, especially Langston and Veronika (the baby, Rhett...well Everett...isn't as exciting at the big kids yet....although he IS a big boy!!! He's one of the biggest babies I've seen/held...and boy is he heavy! I don't know how Gwyn does it! He's SO cute though!). Luckily they all get along pretty well...there were a couple instances but all kids have their moments.


I'm super glad they get along though because...awesome news here!...Gwyn and her hubby got orders to go to Camp Lejuene in North Carolina which is where we are going too!!!! We were so super duper excited when her husband found out while I was there! I was hoping so bad that they would and it's happening! It's pretty funny though...her husband and Mark both entered into the Navy at the same time..went to OCS together, were roommates for a bit, then we all went to CECOS in CA together, got stationed in Mississippi together (although different battalions), and now we are going to be stationed in NC together! So super happy!!!!

Anyway...back to the trip :) We didn't do a whole lot of exciting stuff but still had fun....we went to the beach once (gorgeous weather but a bit hot!), went to a splash pad twice (way fun! I wish more places had those!), played outside A LOT, went to the park A LOT, and hung out a lot! :) It was a great! Evelyn loved it, loved being in a bigger house and sleeping on an actual bed...although she did have a bit of a hard time with naps and wasn't too happy with me when I put her in bed and shut the door, can't do that here in MO! :) She lived though and took a nap which is what she needed so oh well!

at the splash pad! So fun!

And of course the beach is always fun! Evelyn adores Langston, followed him around everywhere!!!

I got to see some of my other friends while I was there too, which was great, and got to go on a couple "dates" with my other bestie, Chelsea! She stayed in MS and recently had a baby, Avery, SOOO cute! I took a few pics of her but also not done editing those...half way! :) Anyway, Chelsea and I went to dinner one night and then too a movie and had so much fun! She's taking classes right now and then just had the baby so she doesn't get out much so I was more than willing to be that excuse for her! She's so awesome and I'm excited to go back and be a bad friend and distract her from her studies :)

Let's see....there's not too much else to embellish on except talk about a yummy, yum dinner Gwyn and I made! I got this yummy baked potato soup recipe from "Our Best Bites" which we made and then I made some YUMMY pretzel rolls, which I've been wanting to make for awhile and they were so worth it! Oh my gosh yummy...seriously a must have.



So yeah! There's my awesome trip! Well except the Arkansas part but that's still being edited too....I have a LOT of pics to edit right now! So here's some more from MS!

Art project time!