Andrea's Big Day

Andrea and Zach got married on October 27.  The wedding was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!  Andrea did an amazing job on planning and organizing the wedding. 

Let's start from the beginning:
Andrea and I have known each other since we were in elementary school.  We played on the same YMCA volleyball team and went to Trinity United Methodist together.  We even competed against each other in high school golf tournaments.  We were never close friends more of just acquaintances in high school.  We both ended up going to Texas Tech and pledging the same sorority (separately).  Once we were Kappa Deltas we became very close and decided to live together for our sophomore year.  It's history from there, we continued to live together throughout college and remain best friends to this day.  I like to think God wanted us to be best friends. 

 


I love Andrea!  She's like a sister to me.  I can tell her anything and know that she will support me while always shooting me straight. She is trustworthy, honest, sincere, and just an all round great friend.




Okay, enough with the mushiness!  Andrea and Zach met through Brady and Kristen.  Zach and Brady have been best friends since high school.  Throughout the years we always noticed a spark between Zach and Andrea, but the timing was never right until May of 2010.  They started dating and it was meant to be!  Zach proposed at Enchanted Rock in Fredricksburg in February.

 Together, Andrea and Zach are a great couple!  They are always fun to hang out with. 

The wedding festivities began on Friday.  The girls had a bridal luncheon at Stanford House and went a had their nails done.  The Rehearsal dinner was at Pappasito's and it was delicious.  That night we stayed at a hotel in Fort Worth.

The next morning went to Shelton's to get our hair done.  Andrea made us these cute button ups with our initials---so cute!

 

Then we were off to the First Methodist-Arlington.  We finished getting ready and took pictures.  Andrea looked amazing!  Look how beautiful she is!

 

All dolled up!

 Mr. Spencer was so proud of Andrea!

 Look at that smile!

 

 

 

Next up was the reception at the T and P Station.  I have never been here before, but it is really cool venue.  Andrea's decor was great!  She did lots of fall colors and it looked fabulous. 

 

As soon as they are completed, I will add more pictures of actual ceremony and reception.  :)

I'm sooooo happy for Zach and Andrea! You guys make a beautiful couple!  Next stop..... BABIES! haha just kidding... You have plenty of time! 

We are pregnant!

Well.... if you haven't heard...... JERRY AND I ARE HAVING A BABY!!!

We are both so excited! Keeping it a secret has been so hard! 

Warning: This is a really long post.  I have been waiting for 8 weeks tell this exciting news!


So, lets start from the beginning.  Jerry and I decided we were ready to have kids back in January.  We thought about it and thought about it and decided to wait until summer to start trying.  I really wanted to have the baby close to April or May so I could use my summer as maternity leave. 

Fast forward to September 13 (Jerry's Birthday) around 5 AM.  I couldn't sleep any longer because I was so nervous about taking the pregnancy test.  Sure enough it was positive!! I could hardly believe it!  I even got Jerry up to make sure my eyes weren't lying to me.  Yep, that's two lines! 

 

We had our first sonogram on October 8.  Dr. Glenn said everything looked great!  We even got to hear the heart beat!  I think I'm about 8 weeks at this point and the baby was about the size of a raspberry or olive (according to my What to Expect When You're Expecting App.) 

 

Side note: I LOVE my doctor and her staff. She and her nurses are fabulous! Everyone is so nice and so happy for us at her office. Dr. Glenn also delivered Luke, my nephew, back in September. 

 

Dr. Glenn suggested we not make the big announcement until the next appointment.  This was VERY difficult to keep a secret.  I wanted to tell everyone, but Jerry and I resisted for the most part.  I especially wanted to tell my friends and coworkers. 

 

We decided to go ahead and tell our families.  I called my mom and sister on a three way call and told them the exciting news.  We bought "Grandma loves me!" and "I love Grandpa" bibs for Jane and Glenn.  Then we sent "Grandma loves me!, "I love Grandpa", and "My uncle is hot and single" bibs to Larry, Karen and Walker in Virginia.  It was really fun hearing everyone's reactions. 

 

Fast forward to November 2:  We headed up to the doctor for our next visit.  I was nervous, but very excited.  We had our sonogram and the baby was jumping around like crazy!  It was so funny!  We were able to see the babies head, fingers, foot, and umbilical cord.  It's amazing how fast he/she grows!  Dr. Glenn said the baby was the size of an orange!   I was relieved to hear everything looked great!  In this picture, the baby is about 11 1/2 weeks. 

 

 

In typical "Cheesy Carolyn" fashion, I decided to put this picture on facebook once we got the green light to tell everyone. 

 

We have also been taking weekly pictures.  I know I'm not showing, but it's still fun taking belly pictures. 

 

Weeks 1-7 were great!  Then Mr. Nausea came by for a visit.  Basically for 3 weeks all I ate was peanut butter and jelly, cereal, and chicken fingers.  This was not a fun part. 

 

A friend of mine from college is having a baby and she post the questions below every so often.  I thought it was cute, so I'm going to do the same thing. 

 

How far along: 11 weeks and 5 days

 

Maternity Clothes: No, just doing the old rubber band trick on my pants

 

Sleep: I've been waking up at strange times 2, 3, 6.  Not sure what this is about

 

Missing anything: Jimmy John's Beach Club :/

 

Food Cravings: I'm getting to where I can eat normal/ healthy food again (for the most part.) However, all I want to eat is starchy foods- tortillas, bread, crackers, etc.  Also, Ginger Ale is a life saver! 

 

Exercise:  I'm trying to still work out 3-4 times a week.  I just make sure my heart rate does not go over 140 beats per minute.  I'm sticking with Body Pump twice a week and walks or eliptical twice a week.

 

Food Aversions: baked chicken

 

Symptoms: occasional waves of nausea

 

Have you started to show yet: no, I just look like I've been eating too many doughnuts

 

Happy or Moody: Happy and very emotional. 

 

Looking forward to: Finding out the gender on November 30.  I'm also looking forward to Cindy and Chris' wedding! 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Luke is here!!!

At 4:15 am I got a text message from Lauren saying, "Heading to the hospital.  I will call you when I get there, not sure what I'm dialated to." 

I jumped out of bed and into the shower.  I was so excited!  I got another text from Lauren at 4:38 am saying, "Might want to head in, I'm 8cm." 

Turns out Lauren was a couple minutes away from not getting an epidural.  Fortunately, she was able to get good stuff.  Meanwhile, I am racing down I-30 to downtown Fort Worth!  I was not going to miss seeing my nephew being born!  I arrived at Baylor around 5:10 and Luke was born 20 minutes later. 

I was lucky enough to be in the room to see the birth.  I will admit, I was really not sure about being in the room.  However, I'm so glad a got to be a part of Luke's birth.  It wasn't scary or gross... it was amazing... a miracle!  After 3 pushes, Luke was born at 5:30 AM.  He is 8lbs2oz and 20 in. 

I was so proud of my sister!  She was calm, cool, and collected!  She is the best mommy in the whole world and I'm so excited for her and Dave!

 Here are some pictures:

 

 

Funny story: Lauren and Dave got stopped on the way to the hospital! Dave told the officer, "My wife is in labor!" Fortunately, the officer let them go. I'm not sure they would have made it to hospital otherwise!

I don't have a picture of Claire and Luke together.  As soon as I do, I will post it!  :)

Fall Festivities!

This fall is going to be very busy and I CAN'T WAIT!   My sister's baby Luke is due in the middle of October, Andrea is getting married on October 27, our friends- Kyle and Cathy's baby is due at the end of October, and Cindy is getting married on November 17. 

 

I am soooooo excited to meet Baby Luke!  Lauren asked if I would like to be in the room when Luke was being delivered.  Although the birthing process is very intense, I would love to experience this with my sister. 

 

This past weekend we had a baby shower for Lauren at our house.  The shower was great!  Lauren has a great group of friends!  I don't know what I was thinking, but I forgot to take pictures of when there were actual guest at the shower.... :/  I promise there were people there! 

Here are some pictures:

 

 

My mom made the Luke banner-

 

We had more food- it was just in the oven baking. 

My mom, Lauren, and I:

 

 

A few weeks ago Andrea had her bridal shower.  The hostesses were so creative and had the cutest decorations!  This a picture of the bridesmaids, minus Megan.   

A week later was the  bachelorette party! The bachelorette party was in Dallas and we had a blast! I can't wait for Andrea's wedding! She is going to make a beautiful bride! 

 

I am so excited about this fall!  So many milestones for my friends and their families!  I feel lucky to be apart of their special time!

Port A 2012- GO USA!

This summer, we went on our annual Port Aransas beach trip.  As usual, it was fabulous!  We had a great time and our house was amazing!  We went through the same company we usually use- Port Aransas Escapes.  If you ever need to plan a fun family/friend vacation to the beach, I definitely recommend this company.  Here are some pictures of the house:

The Coral Reef:

Living Room/ kitchen table:

Kitchen:

Andrea and Zach's room:

 Kristen and Brady's room:

Me, Jerry, and Cindy's room:

 Megan and JB's room:

We were at the beach during the Olympics.  Most everything was an Olympic theme.  Can you say Fab 5???

This is a picture of Jerry and I trying to do the Micheal Phelps warm up:

Not going to lie, my shoulder was bit sore after doing his arm flap warm up. ha ha

 While at the beach, we enjoyed swimming in the ocean, playing beach volleyball, and just enjoying each others company.  I love just hanging out at the house and beach.  I wish we lived closer together so we could see each other more! 

Of course it wouldn't be Port Aransas without a few dance parties. Typically, the dance party consisted of someone calling out an Olympic sport and you had to dance/ act like you were doing the sport.  I'm thinking the picture below was the basketball dance. 

Love those moves Jerry!

 This years beach shirt.   I love the colors!

 It was a great trip!  I can't wait for next year!

Doggie haircuts gone wrong!

As you may know, I have two dogs- Lucy and Rowdy.  They are both labs and they shed like CRAZY!  It drives me nuts!  I feel like I am constantly sweeping or vacuuming our wood floors.  Side note:  Dogs with light colored hair and dark wood floors do not mix! 

The past few years, Jerry and I have been getting Lucy and Rowdy shaved at Pet's Mart.  The dogs looked ridiculous, but my sanity was worth them looking stupid.  Each time we went it was a huge ordeal and not to mention very expensive.  Enough was enough... I decided to buy my own dog shaver and do it myself.  I got my very own shaver off Amazon's Deal of the Day.  The shaver was usually $100, but I got it for $50. 

Rowdy was up first.  He did pretty well considering it was Rowdy.  Jerry was also able to help me with Rowdy.  Sure, Rowdy might look like he has hives due to the lack of experience in shaving dogs, but who really cares!  Here is a before and after: 

Jerry had to leave to meet his friends for lunch.  So that left me to shave Lucy.  After I shaved Lucy, I decided it was time to nice glass of ice water.  I tried to open the back door and it was LOCKED!  Jerry had accidentally locked me out!


 No biggie right... just use your cell phone to call him..... it's was inside on the kitchen table. 

I know what your thinking.... Go out the gate and use your neighbors phone to call Jerry... Well guess what, there is a huge lock on the gates to our back yard. 

Climb the fence??  I tried... way to high!  Knowing me I would break my ankle. 

Scream for help?  I didn't scream, but I used a loud voice to see if any of my neighbors were around.  No one in sight! 

I even tried to get Rowdy, who was inside, to unlock the door.  No luck. 

I finally came to the conclusion that I was stuck until Jerry came home.  What to do on this awesomely HOT summer afternoon?  I picked up the backyard, which took a total 5 minutes.  Next, I tied string around my rosemary bush, which took a total of 2 minutes.  The rest of the time I just waited with Lucy while rowdy watched us from inside in the AC. 

2 1/2 hours later, Jerry finally came home! His first words were, "You're still out there????" 

I said, "Umm yah, you locked me out!" 

Jerry: "No I didn't"

Carolyn:  "Oh really, because I locked myself out??"

I could see the wheels turning and Jerry realized he accidentally locked me out.  He felt really bad.  It's just natural habit to shut the door and lock it behind you.  I've done the same thing to him, except I was just in the other room. 

It's just one of those things you can laugh about after a couple of hours or so.  Jerry didn't mean to...I hope ;) 

So, in the future, when I decide to shave the dogs, I will be sure to keep my phone outside with me! 

Oh and here is a before and after of Lucy, in case you are interested:

Don't worry, I won't be quiting my day job!