Another Young wedding

We had such a wonderful weekend in Fort Worth celebrating Andrew's brother's wedding! I also had a birthday last week and we celebrated when we met up with his parents on Friday. We had a wonderful lunch at Mi Cocina in downtown Fort Worth and then it was off to get ready for the rehearsal.

The rehearsal and wedding ceremony were at The First United Methodist Church, a beautiful chapel in the heart of downtown.

This is Andrew's youngest brother and his girlfriend Baylie in the pictures with us, not the ones that got married. I just realized we didn't get a picture with the bride and groom at the rehearsal but they were busy visiting with everyone. 

The rehearsal dinner was at the Reata downtown and then afterwards a cocktail party on the rooftop where we could watch the fireworks. I did a terrible job of taking pictures after we left the church. 

Finally a picture of the bride and groom!

The ceremony was beautiful and was followed by a reception at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. 

There were different flavored cakes on each table and you could go around and taste different ones. And even take some home!

We had so much fun dancing! The whole wedding party danced to "Footloose" and then it just went downhill from there.. Ha 

It was such a wonderful weekend and we were so glad to be a part of it! Best wishes to the happy couple!

{photo credit to my mother-in-law, Lori Young for some of these photos}

Happy Birthday Avery Mae!

Can't believe Avery Mae turned TWO this past Friday! She is just the sweetest most fun-loving dog that I have ever had and I just love her to pieces! People tell us all the time that when we have kids that Avery will be "just a dog", but I know there will always be a special place in my heart for our fearless, chicken chasin', squirrel lovin', daddy kissin', duck huntin', accident prone little chocolate dog.

This is a photo collage I made and posted to Facebook on Friday:

And then Andrew made one too - and I had to include it because he had some pictures of her duck hunting that I didn't have. They had a great duck season this year and it finally clicked with Avery why she was there and she did awesome!

And yes, I did make her a little birthday cake on Friday.

She loved it! It's so easy to make. Here is the recipe I used for all you fellow dog lovers:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1 cup shredded carrots
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8" round pan (I used a 6") or an 8x4 inch loaf pan. Combine all ingredients. Pour batter into pan and bake for about 30 minutes.

I also combined some peanut butter and honey and used for icing. Add a dog treat on top and there you have it! Super super easy!

Friday night we took the Ranger and rode some trails behind Andrew's parent's house. It was such a fun and laid back weekend. Here is one of seventeen attempts to get a selfie of us on the Ranger - I just love it :)

 Hope you all enjoyed your weekend and your week has gotten off to a great start!

-Laura

Smoky Mountains 2013-14

We made it to the Smoky Mountains! could have been the caption for this year's trip... Andrew and I were both sick with the flu only 3 days before we were supposed to leave for the near 11 hour drive. Thankfully, he got better before we left and I was feeling somewhat better - at least well enough to sleep during the ride. It was so wonderful to get to spend time with my family. We make this trip once a year and have since I can remember. We had a wonderful trip and even got some snow! Since snow can make driving up and down mountain roads kinda tricky, we did stay in a lot but we had a cabin with the most incredible views so we didn't mind :)

Ober Gatlinburg tram (view from our front porch)

And we also made the annual trip to Cade's cove where the wildlife is protected and the deer will literally let you walk right up to them.

And a few family photos - smiling and shaking in our boots because we are standing out in 12 degree weather so my mom will have a picture of everyone together.

Andrew and I have ridden the Sky Lift together on the last three trips over these past few years. I love that I have these pictures to look back from each trip. This year we rode in the daytime - apparently we aren't as brave as we used to be to ride up with temperatures dropping in the teens.

2011

2012

2013

We ended the trip by watching the Saints win in a Wildcard match-up against the Philadelphia Eagles! We got to watch the game on the big screen since there was literally a theatre in the cabin we were staying in. Sorry for the poor quality of this picture - it was taken on the reverse camera on my cell phone :) But I couldn't help but sharing - this was probably Andrew's favorite part of the whole trip. And I found it amazing that I remembered to bring my jersey along since I packed in a flu-induced stupor.

We were so blessed to get to spend such quality time with each other and with our families this holiday season. It was so hard the leave the beautiful snow covered mountains (and the beautiful bathroom I had with a fireplace over the bathtub :) but back to the real word we must go!