The Wedding/ Vow Renewal

So we have truly been blessed through the life group that we joined this time last year. We have grown to love these people who we just happened to be grouped with (well, actually, I'm sure God put us together, knowing that we would grow together, laugh together, challenge each other, cry together, hurt together, etc.)

A truly hysterical member of our group has been Nikki Cole and her husband, Kelly. This lady makes me laugh until I cry at things that would normally be so mundane, and I count myself blessed to know her.

Anyhow, Nikki and Kelly eloped 5 years ago. They lived in Mississippi at the time, and about 3 years ago decided to have a vow renewal to celebrate with friends and family. Well, along comes Hurricane Katrina, and ruins the whole thing!! Nikki was still thinking that they could pull it off when Kelly drove her by the church they were going to use for the ceremony and pointed out that it was no longer there.

Fast forward 2 years, and Nikki and Kelly are chatting with the life group about how they never got a wedding ceremony, and Nikki never got to where her dress, etc. Someone came up with idea to throw them a wedding celebration!! Amanda took it from there.... (Another life group member, Amanda is a detail-oriented wedding nazi. No, I'm kidding, she's a detail-oriented wedding angel. With a loud voice when you're not paying attention.)

So this past weekend was the wedding, and we spent Friday night setting everything up, and then had a girls' night with mani/ pedis, wine and brownies.



There's Nikki, Jae and Amanda showing off their gorgeous nails.



There's Debbie G who did all of our nails and Christy. Holler. (She got some straight-up black nail polish, which looked way chic. I commented on how good it looked in front of Johnny- her husband- and he looked at me as if I was the one who had coerced his sweet wife into painting her nails black, and I should be punished for said offense. I am here to set the record straight, Johnny. Sorry to rat you out Christy... It was her idea!!! And in fact, she brought her own nail polish for the occasion!! I still think it looks fab-o!)

Anywho. We had a blast!! The next day was the wedding/ vow renewal.



Here's Brian Belflower, our life group leader, conducting the ceremony for Nikki and Kelly (who looked great, by the way!!) If you've been following the days that I've mentioned, you'll have noted the irony that Dallas was, in fact, feeling the affect of Hurricane Ike on Saturday night when the ceremony took place. Luckily, no churches were blown away here, and the show did go on!

The whole weekend was a wonderful reminder of what blessings God has provided for all of us. What wonderful friends, what wonderful leaders, what wonderful spouses. I feel like I speak for all of us when I say that despite trials and tribulations that we all feel from time to time, everything melts away when you get to witness the sort of love that we did this weekend. Two people who've been married for 5 years, and are still willing to stand up and do it all over again. They know how life can beat you down, and they're wanting to stand up in front of everyone and say "I choose you. I choose this life we have together, even when it's hard. Even when I don't like you sometimes. Even when everything else tries to get the better of us, I choose us."

I'm a sucker for a happy ending. Nikki and Kelly, thank you for allowing us to share in your joy.

You've got to try this!!!

So I have a (new) obsessive past time for boring, lonely lunches at PRstore!! (First it was tetris, then it was Facebook, then it was blog stalking, then it was streaming shows on hulu.com and now its www.yearbookyourself.com!)

Check this out!! How hot am I??!??!



I know, right?! How is it possible to look so smokin'?!??! AND, check out my rockin' hubby:



Oh yeah, he's a hottie. So this is my new 'bored at the office' past time. Be careful, there's a chance that once I've run out of family members, I may pull your photos from FaceBook and start using those. I've already done my mom's...




Sweet action! So beware! And go to www.yearbookyourself.com to have a little fun of your own!!

Baby Fever!!

So, I have baby fever. Not a big shocker to those of you who spend ANY amount of time with me, but there you go... Although it's not time for Brian and me to have kiddos yet, it's still something I think about on a daily basis. You know- the "will I be a good mommy?" and "what would we name him/ her?" or "would s/he be more like me or more like Brian?" and of course "please, God, don't let me have an ugly baby!!" (This sounds very shallow, and I'll admit, it is shallow, but I don't want to be one of those moms who says "Look at my kid!! Isn't he precious?!?!" And everyone else is thinking "Holy cow, does this lady have eyes? Can she see her kid?") Truly, as long as s/he's healthy, I'll be happy!!

In the meantime, I spend as much time with my friends' kids as I can. My friends are great parents, and I'm currently enjoying being the cool "aunt" (better than "mom's friend") and being able to spoil their kids rotten. And teaching them things they probably shouldn't know... ("Madison, see if you can spit in that washer board hole without hitting the board!") Hehehe.

So I got to spend most of the weekend with our fabulous friends, and here are some shots of their precious children!!:


Me and Joey Stout (for some reason I can't get this picture to rotate...)


Joey and me again


Madison Luedke on the playground at church- this kid LOVES the playground.


My friend Amanda's other child, Brandon... oh wait, that would be her husband, Brandon.