weekend in wichita ;-)

So this past weekend was our first wedding shower in Wichita! It was also my family's first time to visit Kansas! They absolutely loved it thanks to the hospitality of the Buchanans and their sweet friends. We arrived to our hotel with a goodie bag in each room! It was a very special weekend we will never forget!

Dave and I on the Buchanan's front porch. Janie plants the most beautiful flowers!

Some of the girls before our delicious dinner!! Mom, Marianne, Me, Julie, Aunt Laura and Janie

This is me and Grayson (Little G) before dinner. He was showing me how is vacuum cleaner worked. He needs it outside to get all the poop up - so he told us. Ha! So cute!! Notice how Uncle Brett gelled his hair like Uncle Brett's.

Julie and I working on the salad. I LOVE this salad and want to learn how to make it - especially because Dave loves it so much!

Janie and Aunt Laura came up with the sweetest theme for the weekend, 'Planting the seed of love.' They incorporated the theme into the place settings and dessert! This was dessert - ice cream with crushed cookies in a pot...it was DELICIOUS and cute too!

Saturday morning, we had a ladies shower. It was SO special. I must say, I am getting one amazing mother in law, because her friends were SO kind to me. We had a delicious lunch and fun time visiting together. They wanted to hear all about our story - so it was fun, when Dave arrived at the end, they all sat around to listen to our 'love story' as they called it. It was almost overwhelming how much they genuinely cared. Then we opened our gifts - a Kitchen Aid Mixer and our set of knives!! So fun!

Then I got to meet with the 'Plate Ladies'. A sweet, sweet time I will always remember. These are the women Janie has been in a Bible Study with for about 30 years. They always share with each new bride in their families about marriage and a specific verse that has helped them throughout their own marriage. It was so special to listen to these women tell me about their own marriages - struggles and blessings. Sweet Julie and Kristi also shared important verses and lessons from their marriages. Then they presented me with a beautiful Christmas plate with our names and 'established August 30, 2008.' It was so neat - on the back it had the ladies' names and their verses. I was just overwhelmed with the love they had shown for a girl they had just met. They were so kind to include my mom, sister, stepmom and grandmother in this intimate moment.

Saturday night was our couple's shower. Here is the younger group - Paige, Barry, Julie, Jerry, Carl, Sarah, Dave, Me, Kristi, Scott, Marianne and Norm. A very fun group!!

Terry, Mom and Me - Me blocking the KU for our house divided flag ;-)

Us being cheesy with our flag. Dave said I couldn't put a #1 because we didn't win a championship. I said, fine, I can put a gun's up!

This was such a cute shower - it was a tailgate party theme! For KU and Tech! These sweet KU fans gathered up all this Tech gear for the party. It was really cute and very sweet because this is serious KU country!

We got a very cool copper drink bin on an iron stand! It was so cool - not expected and really nice! They filled it with cute aprons and tons of grilling stuff! We can't wait to have everyone over to cook out!

Then we got a fire pit!! I am so excited about this gift!! My dad has one and I think they are SO COOL!! I can't wait for us to use it in the fall when it gets a little cooler outside!

Half of my sweet family - Terry, Dave, Me, Mom, Marianne and Norm. Thanks so much for coming up Norm!! Everyone loved you!

My other sweet half of the family - Norm, Marianne, Dad, Dave, Me, Karol and Nona. Love how Dad, Karol and Nona dressed in TTU colors!! So fitting!

My soon to be family!! Aunt Laura, Jerry, Julie, David, Me, Janie and Van (minus Grayson and Brett). Brett had a formal and since he missed his last one to be at our engagement, we let him skip this! But he was so sweet to drive in for dinner Friday night.

This is Me and Kristi - Scott's sweet wife. Scott and David have known each other since birth and Scott's parents hosted our shower at their home. It was such a special shower because after opening our gifts, all of the people in the room shared marital advice with David and I. We were so blessed with this advice...some funny, some serious. Well to my surprise, Kristi wrote it all down in a sweet card. A card, I will cherish forever. Thanks so much Kristi!! She was also a blessing throughout the whole day as she went through all of it 3 years ago when she married Scott. It was just fun to have her there to encourage me throughout the whole day.

This weekend was just amazing!! We were 'showered' with much more than gifts - although we loved them - but also love, encouragement and advice we will always cherish.