A Beautiful Day for a Beautiful Bride-To-Be

As I posted in the past my little sister is getting married in August [and boy has it crept up fast!] so this past weekend I had a bridal shower for her at our house.

It was a beautiful day with the perfect amount of people that I didn't feel completely overwhelmed! And with the help of a few key people, there was only minimal chaos before most of the people even showed up so the party turned out to be a huge success! Unfortunately since I was so busy I missed meeting a lot of people on the grooms side that I didn't get a chance to meet at the engagement party. But I barely even got to say hi to my own family. In the few big events we've already hosted at our house I've learned (as much as I LOVE hosting) you don't really get to enjoy your time with the guests because you are too busy making sure they are enjoying their time.

Each bridesmaid helped by making a dish


Joe's mom made a beautiful and delicious cake!


the favors (the fans were perfect for the warm day)


The Bridal Party
(L to R; Tracy, Sandy, me, Jen, Katie, Jaime, Rosa, & Becky)

our moms side of the family (L) and our dads side of the family (R)


Joe's family

Jen's friends and bridesmaids

All I hoped for was a nice day for my sister and that she got!

Along with lots and lots of nice presents!

Here are just a few:

One of Joe's mom's gifts were a couple bins of holiday decorations (what a great idea!)


Her China!


Our Auntie crocheted her a blanket


As part of their gift I made them their Christmas tree skirt and stockings and I made Jen a wristlet to use for carrying her essentials on their wedding day. (Photos courtesy of Aunt Rachel b/c my camera crapped out by this point already!) There was also an apron I need to get a picture of. (I was sewing like a mad-woman the last few weeks!)


And this was the beautiful end product of all the unwrapping!

And I need to add a special thank you to my cousins Amanda and Callie for taking my camera hostage and taking all the pictures for me! Otherwise, much like the engagement party, I'd only have 2! And to my Aunt Rachel for always taking pictures (a few of which I borrowed!)

And I will end with a Sangria recipe that I tried for the first time and got rave reviews.

(btw - these beverage dispensers and the tent are the best party investments we made this year; I think almost everyone asked where I got these so I'll let you in on that secret as well; Bed Bath and Beyond but I also just recently saw them at Costco)

Strawberry Sangria

Ingredients:
- 1 bottle (750 ml) of Rosé wine (white zinfandel works well also)
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 cups strawberry lemonade (or strawberry based juice drink)
- 1 cup sliced strawberries (may use frozen strawberries in a pinch)
- 2 cups ginger ale
- I added: raspberries, kiwi

Preparation:
Pour wine in the pitcher and add sliced strawberries (and other optional fruit). Next add sugar, strawberry lemonade and stir gently. Add ginger ale just before serving.
*Chill overnight for best results.

Memorial Day weekend

* As is typical of me, this is 2 weeks late....

Memorial Day is one of my favorite weekends of the year. Besides the obvious celebration of honoring all our soldiers (which we should do everyday, not just one weekend a year) for me it is also the unofficial start of summer. And typically it is a beautiful weekend and this year was no exception.

So we spent as much time as we could outside. Oliver was so excited to practice the agility he's been learning and to try out his new pool!

Roxy didn't want to go in the pool but she was happy to lifeguard for her brother!

We also babysat our nieces [which is always a fun time!] so SIL and BIL could go out for their 6th wedding anniversary.

Caroline made the mistake of asking Uncle Dave to fix her headband after it fell off:

Clearly his fashion sense is a bit outdated!

Oh, and it's also our 2nd anniversary as home owners (I promise to put more posts of the house up soooooon!)