Jessica's Wedding

Jessica and her groom, Cody were married on Sunday April 14th.  We were there Friday to Monday.

It was a whirlwind trip.  Merry and Owen flew in a couple of days before we got there.Josh's parents, Jamiie, Jeremiah, Sally, and our family caravanned up to Missouri in 2 days.  We got there late Friday afternoon.  We basically went to work right away.  Picking up the wedding dress, running errands, and very late night craft projects.  I think we went to bed between Friday and Saturday night.  Sunday night was a little better but it was still about 1am because there was so much to clean up and pack.  

We all had lots of projects to do.  My main projects were #1 making Jessica a Chief's garter.  I think I spent less than $10 on supplies.  It had 2 little charms on it too ;)

Late night crafts and projects

And #2 making a cake topper.  They had a cheesecake and cookies for their "cake" instead of the traditional cake.  Since it was a cheese cake the topper had to be supper light.  Jessica had a garden/bird-ish theme to her wedding.

Cake topper

AmberDee and I made appointments for all the bridesmaids, mother of the bride, and AmberDee (the super helper) to get manicures per Jessica's request (although we didn't mind).  AmberDee wasn't able to get a mani because she is in school for nursing.  AmberDee and Jessica got Pedis.  Getting appointments on Friday for Saturday was no easy task.  It was homecoming weekend and we had to call over 10 places I think to find one that could take all of us.  And even when we found a place, 2 girls had to go else where because we ran out of time.  The rehearsal and dinner was that evening.  I still think we were 30-45 minutes late.  Ops! Well we were with the bride and nothing happens until she gets there anyways.  Lol!

Mani and Pedi time!! 

 Sunday was not different then every other day we were there. Super busy!  A lovely bride/bridesmaid breakfast at a local breakfast place.  Then Jessica was off with Jamiie to the hair dresser.  We all headed back to the house we were staying at to get us ready.  Hair products, bobby pins and make-up were flying everywhere!!  It was quite the girly morning :)

Getting ready for the BIG DAY!

 The beautiful bride getting her dress, veil and shoes on.  Jessica's veil was her mothers.  Plus it has the same ribbon border as my veil.  I love that we seem to love the same things :)

Bride getting ready

 It was a very, very windy cold day.  It was a little wet at times too.  But we all survived, the lake looked like an ocean (just Jessica was very happy about since it reminder her of home), and Jessica and Cody got Hitched!!!  Despite the weather, the pictures turned out great.  The photographer did a great job making our windy hair look good.

Waiting for it to be our turn to walk down the aisle

 Party time!!  After lots of pictures with the bridal party, we headed over to the reception site.  We eat, watch Jessica and Cody paint a unity cross picture and danced.  During the reception the sister snuck off to decorate the honeymoon hotel suite with flowers and candles.  It was a lot of fun :)

Reception Party Time!

March

March

March was a strange month for weather.  It was hot and it was cold.  I even woke up one morning to a thick layer of frost on my windshield.  I had to scrap it off before I could drive.

Dr. Seuss' Birthday
We started off the month by celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday.  Growing up I never really cared for his books but now I love them and so does the rest of my family.  The week leading up to his birthday, we read lots of Dr. Seuss books, we watched the Lorax (on Netflix)and Horton Hears a Who (which was one of the shared gifts from us to the kids).  On his birthday, we had Carter over for a Dr. Seuss dinner of green eggs and ham (an mashed potatoes).  The kids loved it. I think both, Josh and Carter, thought I was a bit strange. But they both said they enjoyed it by the end of the night.  We finished up by reading all the our Dr. Seuss books (5) plus the 2 we borrowed from the library.

Lego Class
Our Lego class is still going strong.  Landon looks forward to it every week, as well as many of the other kids.  I love teaching it, every week :)

Lego Class

 Everyday life

Fun around the house

 Red Robin
Gainesville now has a Red Robin.  I had never been to one but people around here seemed pretty excited.  Josh and I didn't really have any opinion about it one way or another... Until our friend Michelle told me that they were allowing you to sign up for a free meal.  So... I signed up our family.  Josh met us at the mall for lunch.  We had a lovely, yummy meal that was a little over $55 for free!!  How awesome is that?  The food was really good too!  So now I think I get why everyone was excited about Red Robin.  They have great service and awesome food! Plus they gave us some free food and I am always up for that!

Red Robin Lunch

St Patrick's Day
 I love St Patrick's Day.  I always have.  I am Irish. I had an Irish maiden name.  I always get pretty into St Patrick's Day, well I wear green and since Josh and I have been married we almost always have corned beef and cabbage at least once in March.  I LOVE corned beef and cabbage.  Which is kind of funny because I remember it being a big family tradition things growing up and I hated it!  Oh well, I guess that is why it is always good to keep trying things, because you never know when you will start liking them.

St Patrick's Day fun and crafts

Painting
We have been working on the play area in the back yard.  Arabella and I painted the inside of the playhouse/fort.  We used left over paint that we have collected.  So one great part was the project was free :)
There is now a green, red, blue, and purple wall.  While I was painting, a little bird came to keep me company and sing me a song.  It was such a treat!

More Corks & Colors painting fun :)

Family Fun Day
We had to do some work in Niceville.  It was only going to take an hour or so but we could stay.  So instead of dreading a 8 hour drive to and from Niceville, Josh thought we should just make a family fun day out of it.  We went to the Florida Caverns.  Unfortunately, it was spring break so the tickets for the caverns (which you can not buy in advanced) were sold out by the time we got there.  We still had a lot of fun.  We walked on the nature trails and found caves to explore ourselves.  We will be planning another trip there so we can go in the caverns but for a family fun day it was a perfect outing!

Florida Caverns

Easter
The Saturday before Easter/Resurrection Sunday, we joined many other friends at Mrs Jean's house for a pot luck lunch, games and egg hunt.  She host this every year and it is always a blast.  This year was no different.

Lunch, Dancing with Daddy, and Games at Mrs Jean's

Eggs!!!

Enjoying wide open spaces and the goats.  Especially the mommy with her baby.

Anyone interested in a "Apple" that tastes a lot like a potato?!?

 Sally and Jeremiah came to visit for Easter weekend.  We were glad to have them visit although it was much too short of a visit.  Thank Sally for taking our pictures! :)

Resurection Sunday family pictures :)

Spring Break and Jessica's visit, bachelorette and bridal shower

We spent our Spring break mostly in the Panhandle.  Jessica flew down for her Spring break.  Since it was the only time most of us would be together before the wedding we decided it was the perfect time to have her bachelorette party and bridal shower.  The only thing missing was Merry.

We had a sister only bachelorette party.  We rented a hotel room next to the beach.  We were a little mischievous in our event planning but not too much.  First, we went shopping for Jessica to pick out some new pretty outfits for her honeymoon.  Then we blindfolded her for most of the evening getting to and from places so each place could be a surprise.  We ate at a local Japanese Steak House, which we pick because both Sally and I did on the night of our bachelorette party so I guess it is now a tradition of the Williams girls.  We also gave Jessica a scavenger hunt.  It was fun evening.

Jessica's dinner with the sisters (Merry in spirit) and Mom

Silly, playful, and a bit mischievous fun :)

The next morning, we got ready went to church.  After church we went out to dinner.  Then the sister's went to church to get Jessica's afternoon tea party bridal shower ready.  Jessica loves tea and she loves delicate, pretty, and vintage things so a tea party was perfect.  Lots of ladies were so helpful in helping us decorate and in letting us borrow their gorgeous full tea sets.  It was so much fun!

Tea Time

Josh, Jeremiah and Sally headed home after the weekend.  The kids and I enjoyed a few more days in the panhandle before heading back home.  It was a great trip getting to spend time with my family.

February Wrap Up

Painting

  Corks & Colors

I love working at Corks and Colors.  My boss is awesome, my co workers (although I rarely see them) are great and I get to paint and get paid for it all.  The other paintings below were parts of the wall mural I helped paint with Ashley Bolin for the boys room.  It was also tons of fun :)

The kids came to work with me one day.  They painted ceramic dolphins, Bella's is purple and Landon's is half blue and half red.  

 Lego Class

 Lego class is going so well.  3 of these pictures were taken on our "house" week.  The kids were asked to build a house after reading  The Best Place by Susan Meddaugh.  I loved all the house.  Some of the kids choose to work in groups.  I am impressed every week how well the kids work together.

Valentine's Day

The kids woke up to a heart shaped bagel with pink cream cheese.  We watched Charlie Brown's Valentine's day movie, we had lots of heart shape lunch items (yay for cookie cutters), we made Daddy a special Valentine's day picture, and had a a few heart shape things at dinner.  I didn't take pictures of all our Valentine Day events.  We had fun and always enjoy any extra excuse to love on each other.

Josh surprised me a few days before Valentine's day with a surprise date on the town.  We ate at Harry's and walked around downtown together.  Josh also got my tennis bracelet, he bought as my 21st birthday gift fixed.  About 5 years ago I broke it.  Due to the coming of a certain little boy, I forgot about getting it fixed and there always seemed like there was something better to spend money on.  I was so happy because I love my diamond tennis bracelet.

Happy Valentine's Day

 Arabella and her sweet girlie-ness

Arabella and her favorite doll, Dora getting a mani and pedi.

Arabella and her baby

Everyday Life at the Williams'

Lots of dress up and Legos, as always, filled out February.  Snuggles, naps, some walks, and silly antics were also a big part of our February.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Arabella!!

We had a  little birthday celebration at our house for Arabella at home.  We had her favorite dinner- chicken and rice with ice cream for dessert.  We also gave Arabella her present from Daddy, Mommy, and Landon.  Arabella LOVES playing house, taking care of babies and playing in kitchens.  I had thought maybe we would buy one but they are expensive and the used ones weren't anything that was that exciting to me.  Being a big fan of Pinterest and being crafty I thought maybe we could make one.  I searched the Internet and Pinterest. There were so many ideas on how to make one and most were under $75.  I looked for months and months for a used piece of furniture that was solid wood and inexpensive.  I wasn't  having much luck with my two specifications.  Finally, at the end of September, I found a lady who was moving and trying to quickly get rid of all her furniture.  So for $20 I got this TV stand/entertainment center.  There is a shelf in the middle that is sitting on top of the whole thing.  I was super excited! But now, what do I do with it?

 



We had planned to make this a Christmas present.  Well, with holidays and a wedding I didn't get to it.  So 2nd birthday present it is. :)
Aunt Merry moved and she had some left over magnetic paint.  Sweet! Maybe we can make the refrigerator door magnetic?
A family friend/ architect, Linda, had a bag of knobs and pulls.  Ooo, controls for a oven? Knobs for the sinks?

After a bit of wood cutting and glueing 

A few of the knobs Linda gave us made into oven controls and the microwave door.

Brian, Josh's co-ower of his painting/ landscape business, had some left over paint.  Paint the whole piece.
I had plenty of craft paint and fabric to do little details. Josh had scrap wood. We had a few old CDs we didn't need

So we bought- a pull for the fridge door, a ceramic dish,  a bit more fabric, a little bit of paint and a sealer.
Total cost-$52 dollars

Josh did some woodwork and took my sketch into reality! Josh, Landon and I sanded the wood.  Josh, Landon and I painted. I painted and painted and painted. Josh and I added hardware.  I sewed. I glued. I painted a bit more. Josh and I sealed the whole thing, in hopes to make all that painting last a bit longer.

Daddy designed and created the sink all by himself.  Mommy was super happy and impressed! 

In all things, give thanks.  

Microwave and Oven

The refrigerator and yes, it is magnetic

A place to put all the food 

Josh remembered we had a rack which was rarely used from a toaster oven we no longer had.

Did I mention it has a light already built into it?

The (Christmas present from Daddy and Mommy) pots and pans look great

AND.....IT IS DONE!

Welcome to Arabella's kitchen!

Landon and Arabella love it :)

A couple of weeks later, we drove up to the panhandle to have a birthday party and celebrate with family.  Josh drove up a couple of days after us since he had to work and could only visit on the weekend. Arabella received some great presents, mostly fun stuff for her kitchen.  We were able to Skype with Aunt Jessica and Great Grandma Williams. Our good friends the Richards were also able to come help celebrate. 

Colorful cupcakes 

Williams family 2013

Tucked out after partying 

It was a fun visit

The kids and I were able to come in time to see Grandpa Williams in a Barbershop event.  The event was a tribute to Frank Sinatra. It was awesome as always! Landon and Arabella were amazingly well behaved and listened to the whole 2.5 hour long event.