New Dress

I ordered a new dress yesterday for the wedding that we are going to next weekend. Tell me what you think:

I loved the back too!

I paid $4 extra to have it sent with 3-4 day shipping which made it right under $50. Since we are leaving bright and early Fri morning, I thought that I should be safe.

I haven't been to a wedding that I have not been in, in about 2 years, so let me know if you think this is appropriate.

Addiction...

The first step in recovery is to admit that you have a problem. Well, I have a problem.

I am seriously addicted to the game Ranch Rush. I was playing games online the other night on yahoo, just playing all of the free games, and came across this. I have since downloaded it on my iPod and have been playing it non stop. It's seriously a problem. When I find a new game, I want to get through all of the levels and win. I did this last year with Critter Creatures on my phone . We headed to the beach and I started playing it when we left Calera, and did not stop playing it until we could see the water. I I guess that's why the numbers on my phone are now rubbed off. also got addicted to Hot Dog Bush on Yahoo at work.I never knew that I was quite so determined to finish a game. It's quite ridiculous!!! Go see for yourself...

Oxford trip

Next weekend, Kent is in a wedding in Oxford, MS. It's a guy that he's been great friends with since high school, but life has seperated them throughout the years. I've met the bride and groom on multiple occasions, but we don't really get together with them that often. So, I thought that I was in a dillema next weekend. A couple of weeks ago, we went to a couples shower and to be honest, I felt out of place. I have never been that great blending in with a huge group of people that I do not know. I am a little reserved, and just kind of soak everyone in for a while before I will open up. As I've said before, Kent is quite the socialphobe when it comes to big get togethers, so I wasn't looking forward to the shower. Well, it came and went and I was introduced to all of the people taking part in the wedding. (There are 12 bridesmaids and 12 groomsmen.) We had a good time and Kent got to reconnect with some old friends that he hasn't seen in years. I still felt a little out of place since I really didn't know anyone there besides my husband.
I found out last weekend that we have to be in Oxford at 9am on Fri morning for Kent to play golf with all of the groomsmen. I was really bummed since I've never been there and had no clue what I was going to do all day and we can't check in the hotel until 3pm. Then I remembered my friend Suzanne lived there. I emailed her to see if there was anything to do by myself all day. Well, Suzanne gave me the hookup! She has recommended that I start by going to Bottletree Bakery for breakfast (featured on Oprah), she recommended a spa for a mani, pedi, massage, multiple shops to check out in the square, and plenty of options for a great spot to eat lunch. Now, the trip that I was once dreading is turning into a day of pampering myself. So, thanks Suzanne!

Summer

Things I love about summer:
-Riding to work with my sunroof open.
-Going to the beach every chance we get. Even if it's just for the day. (Yes, we've done that on 3 different Saturdays now.)
-Sonic and their new Cherry Limeade Chiller.
-Colorful flowers in my flower beds.
-Bright colored clothing-yellow is my fave right now.
-Homemade ice cream
-ice cream in general, every day...
-So You Think You Can Dance


What are some of your summer faves?

Happy 2nd Birthday!

My niece's 2nd birthday was Friday, so her party was tonight. She is oh so precious! She really didn't want to look at the camera at all and said cheese while looking at the ground, but I did get some cute pics of her playing! She has a new found obsession with Dora and especially Boots, so she got a brand new Dora chair:

After everyone ate, Kali had two kiddie pools set up with bubble bath and a slide. Aubrey loved the bubbles!

Don't you just love those curls!?!

Then it was time for presents. She actually wore her crown this year for more than 10 seconds. You can also see her new crab sand box in the background. too cute! We had a turtle when we were kids, so my older sis bought the crab and I supplied the sand.

She had a puppy dog theme and the cake turned out really cute too!

Introducing...

Lily Pads & Lollipops is our new online store for all of your baby and toddler gift needs! We can customize anything you see in our store to fit your color scheme, or you can just let us know what you want and we will do our best to make it perfect for you! Every item is handmade, so no two items are exactly alike. Eventually, we are going to work our way up to making crib bedding and all of the accessories to go along with it. We take great pride in our inventory and are dedicated to meeting all of our customers expectations.

We have started two websites. Loni has taken the reign on our own domain website:
http://lilypadsandlollipops.com/
I am working on our store through etsy:
http://lilypadsandlollipops.etsy.com/

Right now, each store has a few different items, and we are going to continue to add more items as the days go by.
Please feel free to message me with any ideas or custom orders and we would be more than happy to create something special just for you.
If you are interested in ordering something and you see me all of the time, feel free to just let me know, that way you won't have to pay for shipping.
Thank you all so much for your support, and please feel free to tell all of your friends!

Happy 4th!

We had such a great weekend for the 4th! My sister in law has a place on the Warrior River, so we joined them (and about 25 other people) for the weekend. Kent was in charge of smoking the Boston Butts, so he was totally in chef mode all day on Friday. While he tended to the smoker, I joined the teens on the boat for some kneeboarding. I have only been one time in my life and that was when I was 19. Well, 7 years later, I still had the skill. For a little while anyway. Lindsey (my almost 15yr old niece) reminded me how to. I wiped out one really good time and they told me that I rolled about 3 times on the water before I finally almost drowned. I went one more time before I called it quits. It was soooo much fun though! Kent rode on the waverunner a lot and took our nephew our for a ride. He had to come back to the smoker and check on the temperature of the meat. It was time to take the smaller ones off and wrap them in foil, so he continued working with his lifejacket on. The men up on the porch were making fun of him since he looked absolutely ridiculous wearing swimming trunks, a life jacket and his leather work gloves. They were all saying that he was ready for any type of situation. Then Kent goes to his truck and pulls out his hard hat and proceeds to wear it the rest of the day-even while riding the waverunner! Hilarious!!!
We brought our dogs with us so that we could stay close and not have to get up early on Sat morning just to drive right back. Let me tell you, they were wiped out! They both slept in their crates in our room, and neither one of us heard a peep out of them until the sun came up. We got ready and went back out to the river for more fun in the sun and food! My BFF even came! Heather, I don't know what to think seeing you 3 times in one week. It's almost like before you left me...I digress.
Anyway, we had such a great time sunning, eating way too much food, and talking! After lunch, we went back out on the boat and everyone got to see me ride the inner tube. Again, I wiped out 3 times and was absolutely spent! I still don't believe it was fair to put me on the edge though, especially with 5 people on it. I relived some of my childhood. Heather had to get off of the boat because baby Addison wanted to be stationary for a while, so we traded a couple of people and were off again. Lindsey and two of her friends were trying to perfect the 3 on 1 kneeboard trick since they did it last year. It was so much fun just riding and watching them try to manuever each other. They finally got it when Bobby told them they had 2 more attempts and we were calling it quits. And we got the pictures to prove it!

Lindsey's boyfriend rode the wakeboard on the way back in, and I got some pretty cool shots of him jumping the waves:

We have enough baked beans left over to last a lifetime so if anyone wants a bowl, just let me know. I woke this morning moving just a tad bit slower than normal, but we had such a great time and I can't wait til we do it again!!!

Wedding Picture Carnival

I was so excited to see that Rachel @ In His Hands decided to do a Wedding Picture Carnival. Even though I over indulged myself last October for our anniversary, I thought that I would join in. So without further ado...

Kent and I were married on Fort Morgan beach, October 13, 2007. As a little girl, I always dreamed of the big church wedding with the poofy princess dress, that is until I met my husband. He's not really into large gatherings, he's quite a social-phobe. Anyway, he suggested that we get married on the beach after his mom did, and I decided that was a great idea! Fort Morgan is about a 3.5-5 hour drive for all of our friends and family, plus stay a couple extra days and you can have your vacation too! We rented two houses directly on the beach, one for my family and one for his. There was an empty lot right beside us, so we set up the reception there. I did most everything. I picked out all of the decorations, had a couple of friends come over early in the day to help with the centerpieces and decorations, so I was my own wedding coordinator. A little stressful, but everything turned out exactly the way I wanted it. I decided that we would see each other before the wedding, because I wasn't going to stay cooped up in the house since we were on the beach. Prior to finishing getting ready, I learned that my wedding cake was locked in the delivery van. Kent came to the rescue and broke into it, so this is him seeing me for the first time and telling me how he broke into the van:

He even teared up a little. :) My new in laws and family built this awesome arbor and table for our sand ceremony from bamboo the morning of the wedding. I loved it!

See the oil rig off in the background-Kent LOVED this!

We sent out about 75 invitations, and I think that just about everyone showed up. I bought a guest book with slots for polaroid pics of each family and it was completely full plus some stuck in at the end. I counted 102 people and I am sure everyone didn't sign in. We didn't have enough chairs, but the actual ceremony didn't last long, so it wasn't too bad for them. I turned out to be a very non-traditional bride. I walked down the aisle to "Waltz With Me" by Tonic. Our sand ceremony song was "Feels Like Home" by Chantel Kreviazuk... and we left to "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder. The weather was perfect and it was definitely a day I will never forget a single detail of!

My sisters were my maid and matron of honor. Their dresses were going to be handmade by my mom's neighbor, until I saw the finished product and cried my eyes out on the way home. I felt terrible but didn't want to say anything, so my mom and sister's went to David's and bought these as a back up. Man was I glad! My flowers turned out great since the florist lost my order and they were a last minute throw together. Talk about crying my eyes out! I had given them a picture of the exact bouquet I wanted and they lost it! It's pretty good to have been described over the phone!

After the ceremony was over, we walked down the beach and had some sunset pictures made:

At the reception, mosquitos were terrible! My sister's back was solid welps and my arms were ridiculous! I was so glad that many of my coworkers were able to come! We had such a great time! Feasting on boiled shrimp, chicken fingers, corn on the cob and green beans! I love fireworks and really wanted to have them at our reception, but it was definitely not in the budget. I settle for sparklers as we left and I love this picture:

I love the way everything turned out even though we had a few bumps in the road that day. (lost flower order, late photographer due to traffic, and cake locked in the delivery van.) But all of that makes for a great part of "Our Story!"