kristen & stu are engaged!!

We are SO excited that our close friends Kristen and Stuart got engaged last weekend!! Stuart did such a good job of keeping it a surprise from everyone and the ring he picked out - BEAUTIFUL! We are really happy for you both!!


It just looks perfect on her hand! Its a radiant with two smaller radiants on the side - diamonds all around. Love it!!
She's been doing a lot of this lately ;-)

Brooke, Kristen, Brooke and Lindsay celebrating the good news at Dave's...

I made her do cheesy ring pictures...

Sweet friends...
more cheesy ring pics...
The happy couple!
Congrats you two! We are looking forward to next Spring!!

99

Well, we are 99 days away from our wedding and so excited! To celebrate us being in the double digit countdown, David surprised me this morning with my two favorite breakfast treats!

a starbucks latte

&

chick-n-minis from chick-fil-a

Thanks so much Dave!! I hope these next 99 days FLY by (with just enough time to get everything under control)!

shutters!

Last night I went to Austin for my cousin's graduation from pharmacy school. Congrats Ginger! When I came home today - I drove up to new shutters on our future home! I was so excited - I have been telling Dave for a while I thought shutters would be cute on his house. So we went and picked them out a few weeks ago and he put them up this morning!

snuggles

Me and Addison after our slumber party last weekend!
My precious niece was in town last weekend. I could hardly keep from spending every minute with her. She is 7 months old and TOO cute! As you can see, she has a beautiful smile with two little teeth up front.

So on Friday night, instead of going out, I opted for some more time with Addi. She was not having it sleeping in the precious new baby bed my mom put in my old room...so I put her in the big girl bed with me and she fell fast asleep on her side with her hands on both of my cheeks. Now I am not in any hurry to be a mom yet (want to quality time with my future husband first), but moments like these completely melt my heart. Needless to say, Addison slept like a rock throughout the night and I was scared to death the whole time of rolling on top of her. But I love the look on her face the next morning - like, Dad! We had a slumber party!! I slept in the big girl bed! Well and I think my face says it all - little tired, but would do it again in a heartbeat. I love that baby girl! Can't wait for her to come back to Texas!

Still waiting on the pictures from mom - will post them asap! We have a ton from Addison's visit, Mike's Birthday and Mother's Day.

roles, races & relaxation

This week has been a little crazy at work, so I am just now getting to the blog. But I could not go without telling about the awesome weekend we had out in Jonesboro, Louisiana. We vacation in Jonesboro because our dear friends, Grayson and Ashley Allen, live there.

We got in Friday night and they had a yummy taco dinner waiting for us. I bet we spend 2-3 hours at the dining table, eating and catching up. They have such a fun, comfortable home. I love to pick Ashley's brain about weddings, marriage, being a wife, etc. So we had a slumber party in their bedroom while the boys bunked up in the guest bedroom. Ashley and I stayed up even later talking about china, silverware and all the fun stuff. Turns out, we registered for the same formal silverware!

The next morning Dave and I convinced them to show us their wedding video. It was great - their wedding was pre-kristen and dave, so it was fun to see Dave's toast and all of them celebrating. They had a beautiful wedding - cannot believe they planned it all in 4 1/2 months! Then we took off to Ruston to have lunch at this cute little patio restaurant. We talked for several more hours about honeymoons & vacations with them in the future. This is something Dave and I are really looking forward to! We stayed so long that we caught the Kentucky Derby right before we left. We all bet with others in the restaurant and Ashley almost won with Eight Belles. Unfortunately, the poor horse had to be euthanized (sp?) due to a serious fall.

After getting snocones and heading back to Jonesboro, we cooked dinner. Us girls prepared the sides and I am really excited because Ashley taught me how to cut an avocado. The boys grilled steaks and we went back to the dining table for several more hours of marriage talk. This time, we discussed marital roles. It was so interesting to hear them talk specifically about how their backgrounds shaped so much of their expectations of each other. Dave and I are currently trying to look beyond the big day and really prepare for marriage, so we were hanging on to their every word. It was fun to talk about how our relationship will play out, particularly with us working together. We also talked about spiritual roles and how that can be a little confusing at first. Dave and I often talk about our love languages...how we feel loved, not how we show love. It is important to practice your spouse's love language and not your own. We realized we needed to figure out each other's spiritual languages too. i.e. what motivates you spiritually? They gave us some great advice and perspective on how some stuff will be figured out quickly and other stuff will take years...and that is the beauty of marriage - it is never a finished product.

It was a wonderful getaway and we look forward to many more in the near future!

11 months and counting...

Yea! Just got a fun text message from Lauren saying that their wedding date will be April 11, 2009. Love spring weddings! Pretty sure Dave would have preferred this spring had it been feasible to plan one that fast. The ceremony will be at Marty Leonard Chapel and the reception and the McDavid Studio at Bass Hall! GORGEOUS! Can't wait!!

On a sidenote - would love to say Happy Birthday to Brett and Karol! Brett is Dave's brother and Karol is my stepmom. We hate we can't celebrate with either one in person - but wish you many blessings on your special day!