Show Us Your Life: Wedding tips, vendors, etc...

I am linking up with Kelly's Korner today for SUYL: Wedding stuff!

I got married almost 2 years ago and had the most perfect wedding. I was obsessed with planning my wedding. I loved every minute of it, although, it was very stressful. I was engaged for 6 months so I got on the ball with planning for my dream wedding!

I had the BEST photographers from Fairy Tale Photography in the Dallas, TX area!! I HIGHLY recommend them! The photographer that did my wedding is Lauren Ashley. I also had the BEST cinematographers from Media Blend Studios.  Click HERE to view the trailer from my wedding. Here are some pictures from my wedding...

If anyone is planning on getting married in the North Texas area any time soon, let me know and I have PLENTY more recommendations!!! 

Christmas 2011

We had a laid back Christmas this year. We spent most of the day at home as a family. Ava woke up around 8am and nursed then we got up to open presents.

This is from my phone so the quality is bad

Christmas was fun this year with Ava. We didn't go all out and get her a bunch of gifts since she is only 2 months old and wouldn't have a clue what was going on. It would be silly to wrap a bunch of presents and open them myself and Ava would be clueless the whole time. Ha! We did fill her stocking with some things that she needed like paci wipes, socks, and a car seat toy and bath toy.

I got Bryce some 5 finger shoes , socks, and two flashlights. He got me a camera lens, camera case, and a Nutcracker! 

Isn't she just the cutest thing ever?

After we opened gifts, we made a big breakfast then got ready to head up to the hospital. A friend of mine had her baby a few days before Christmas and she was still in the hospital so we went to visit them.   Baby Charleston Gus seemed so tiny compared to Ava. He weighed a little more than Ava when she was born. Its hard to believe that Ava was that small. And it was only 2 months ago!! Time has gone way to fast. 

Christmas night, we made dinner which consisted of turkey and dressing! I have never made my own turkey and dressing before so I was concerned as to how it would turn out. Surprisingly, it turned out amazing!! I was really impressed! Bryce made the turkey on the grill and I made the dressing. Yum! It was so good. It was the most tender turkey I have ever had. 


We got to skype our families that night and it was really great to see everyone. This time of year makes it really hard to be away from family but only a couple more weeks till we get to go home for a whole month!! 

Brussels, Belgium

On Christmas Eve, we took a trip to Belgium to a Christmas Market. Our plan was to hit up 3 countries in 1 day. France, Belgium, and Luxemburg. Our GPS messed up when we were in Belgium so we had to just come on home after the Christmas Market.

It took about 4 hours to get to Belgium. We stayed for about 2 hours and drove 4 more hours back home. It was a long trip! We got to experience Belgium waffles.. oh. my. word. I can not say enough good things about their waffles. I have never had a waffle that tasted so amazing. We didn’t even have to put anything on it, like syrup or sugar. It was amazing all by itself. Mmm..I’m craving one right now!!!

Ava got this warm suit from my aunt and we wanted to try it on her to see if it would fit but it is still a bit too big. 

 The small shacks on the right are where all the vendors are for the market. They sell clothes, scarfs and hats, ornaments, Christmas gifts, and food. The food is the reason we go to the markets. ha! 

Belgium Chocolate! YUM! 

Ice skating rink. Bryce wishes he would have brought his skates. That would have been fun! 

I really liked the Christmas Market. It might be my favorite one to date. There was great food and lots of fun things to do!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! 

"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. "

Isaiah 9:6

Lately

Life has been pretty busy around here lately with Christmas parties, shopping, Christmas Markets, and more shopping. Ava is growing by the day and it makes me sad. She has been doing some pretty exciting things like rolling her tongue when she talks to us and stands and "walks" to me with support, big girl! She is a very smart little girl.

She has quite the squeal.  If she is upset, she will be sure to let us know. She is a little diva, I tell ya! She has really started "talking" a lot lately. She is in love with her play mat and will kick her legs, smile and talk to it the whole time we lay her on it. Its the cutest thing.

Bryce and I booked our tickets to go home to TEXAS on January 16th!! Only 24 days left!! I can hardly contain myself! I am so excited. I can't wait for our families to meet Ava Drew. We will be home for one month. We will spend half the time in Amarillo at Bryce's families house and the other half at my families house in Sherman. We may go to Tyler for a few days to show Ava off to some of our family that lives down there. My SIL had a baby boy 13 days after Ava was born and they live in Tyler so it will be fun for baby Luke and Ava to meet. 

Sweet girl. 

Strasbourg Christmas Market

We went to the Strasbourg Christmas Market in France on Saturday. It was beautiful! There were a ton of people there so it was a little crazy. It was pretty cold so I carried Ava in the baby carrier and she stayed nice and warm under my coat. 

Isn't this just beautiful?

On our way to the Christmas Market. Everything was covered in lights!

Christmas Carolers 

Beautiful Christmas Tree

I loved the chandeliers! So pretty! 

 The Market surrounded this beautiful church.

This is how they make a hot wine drink. Its kind of like Gluh Wein. (hot wine). Underneath these cups is a big pitcher. The lady put a bunch of sugar cubes in the medal tray and then poured wine on top of it and lit it on fire so the sugar would melt down into the pitcher. It was pretty neat to watch! You can see the blue flame from the fire. 

Gingerbread Man! 

We thought this tree looked really pretty!

My two sweeties in front of the Christmas tree. Bryce joked about Ava looking like a boy! ha! This will be one of the ONLY pictures I have of her without a bow. Sorry sweet girl, I will try not to do it again!! 

2 month check up and cookie party

Ava Drew had her 2 month well check up yesterday. Everything looks great! Poor little girl had to get 5 shots. She was not happy at all about that. Here are her stats...

Wight: 10 pounds 2 oz- 21th percentile

Height: 23 inches- 57th percentile

Head Circumference: 37 cm-3rd percentile (inaccurate) 

Her head is actually bigger but the nurse who measured her did it differently than the previous nurses. Last month, she was in the 98% range for her head and this month, she is in the 3%. ha! Her head is neither big nor small. It fits her little body so we are not concerned about it at all. And neither is the doctor. 

It was so sad to see Ava get her shots. Actually, I didn't see her. Bryce was with her. I had to stand away from her because I am horrible with shots. I probably would have passed out! But right after she got her shots, she cried and cried. I have never heard her cry like that. It was the saddest thing in the world. I just held her and cuddled her and that's all she wanted. Poor baby girl!!

This picture is from my iphone so the quality isn't that great.

Today, Ava and I went to a cookie decorating party at one of my good friends house. There were about 5 moms there with their kids. It was so fun! Of course Ava wasn't big enough to decorate cookies but we watched from a distance! It was nice to visit with the ladies there! 

This sweet girl slept through most of it. 

 Harrison and Addeline making cookies. I just love Harri's hair! 

 All the kids decorating the cookies.

The finished product! 

Just another day...

Today was just a normal day for us. Today is Bryce's Saturday so he got to spend the day with Ava and I. Ava was up at around 9:30am and after I fed her, Bryce and I got ready to go to Ramstein to run some errands. We checked the mail, went to the thrift shop,  went to Starbucks to get coffee, then we went to the BX.

I found Ava some plain onesies to monogram. After the BX, we came home and I fixed Chicken Pesto Pasta. I got the recipe off of Pinterest. We weren't disappointed! It was pretty delicious!!

Source: makeandtakes.com via Elizabeth from Pinterest

I need to get this onesie monogrammed!! 

After dinner, I cleaned up while Ava sat in her daddy's lap while he played some video games. Overall, it was a great day! I love days like this where all I do is spend time with my little family.

Just look at these precious thigh-high socks!! Precious! I love 'em!! 

Ava is 2 months old

Ava is 2 months old today! I can not believe it! It seems like time has flown by so fast but then again, it feels like you have been in my heart forever!!

Our sweet baby girl!! 

She loves her paci 

 I just love those big dark blue eyes! 

Here's what Ava Drew has been up to this month...

You are wearing 0-3 to 3 month clothing.

You are wearing a size 1 diaper.

I don't know exactly how much you weigh but I'm guessing around 10 pounds.

You nurse exclusively and nursing really well. You nurse every 3 hours during the day.

You still sleep in our room at night in your pack and play. We will move you into your room when you start sleeping through the night. 

Lately, you have been sleeping 6-7 hours straight at night.

We have started giving you breast milk bottles occasionally this month and you have done really well. You are kind of picky and will only take them if they are really warm. 

You REALLY love your play mat. There is a star on it and it sings and lights up and you coo and smile the whole time you are on you mat. You also kick your legs and move your arms non-stop. 

You love to be rocked to sleep.  I only rock you at night before you go to bed. 

You are so strong! You are putting weight on your legs to where it looks like you are standing up when we are holding you. You can really hold you head up well, too. 

You still love your paci. You have to have it when you fall asleep but once you are asleep, you spit it out. You don't care for it as much when you are awake. 

You are SO happy after you are done nursing. Your daddy and I play with you and you will just smile and coo the whole time. We love it!!!

You have gotten better at riding in the car. You used to scream until you wore yourself out and fell right to sleep. Now, you are usually quiet the whole time unless you are hungry.  You usually sleep the whole time. 

You absolutely LOVE taking baths. 

You don't really like to be cuddled or kissed on unless you just woke up.

Its pretty easy to get a smile out of you. All I have to say is "hey pretty girl". Works every time! 

We love you SO much Ava Drew!!! We don't know what we ever did without you! You have been a joy to our family and we can't wait to see the lady you become. 

Kaiserslautern Christmas Market and Birth Announcement

Can you believe its already December? Unbelievable!!

Yesterday, Bryce, Ava and I went to the K-town Christmas Market. We decided we wanted to hit up a Christmas Market yesterday afternoon and Kaiserslautern was the closest one. Its right down the road. We didn't stay for very long because it was pretty small but we had a great time.

This is the pizza that I had! It was garlic toast with cheese and salami on top! YUM!!!

Up close of the pizza

We sat around the fire while drinking our Chai Mango Lattes. They were delicious.

Nativity Scene

A booth that sold lots of different little trinkets

Me and Ava Drew. She stayed bundled up under my jacket and stayed nice and warm.

This is strawberry chocolate covered strawberries and bananas. Not as good as I expected.

This is the dampfnudel. Its bread with a salty crust on the bottom with vanilla cream sauce. So good!

Ava made the front page of the Kaiserslautern American (the newspaper). This is a blurry picture because it is from my phone but it gives you an idea of what it looks like. You can go here to see the birth announcement online.