Saturday, October 31, 2009

Surprise Engagement Party!

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I got a email from my one of my PG girlfriends and the annoucement was... MY DAUGHTER IS GETTING ENGAGED!!!! This was SUPER exciting because I've known her daughter for over 10 years now and it's been such a joy to watch her grow up into the lovely young woman that she is today and that she has found the Man of her dreams!

The announcement was even more exciting because her boyfriend wanted to surprise her with an engagement party after they arrived home to her parents house because he knew she would be over the moon excited and would want to share it with all their friends. I thought that was so thoughtful of him to think of that, but that's nothing.... wait until you hear about earlier in the day!

My girlfriend is amazing at decorating using everyday items you wouldn't dream of using for a decoration but she can look at it and turn it into something glamorous! All of the guests brought a food dish to share.
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The mood lighting is ready....
the food table is ready... ha ha... seriously, look at all that food... we all brought waaaaay toooo much. ha ha But hey, we know how to celebrate memories don't we!?


the champagne to toast is ready... see what I mean by how clever she is with decorating!


the guests are ready...



the little people are ready...



Surprise! They're here!

She was so suprised by the party! Here she is hugging her best friend ~ Shyla, who flew in from Boston to do some very stealth Nancy Drew work because she is a professional photographer! The boyfriend flew her out to photograph their day visiting local wineries and staked out a secret place to do the proposal and the best friend was hiding in the bushes with her long camera lens capturing all the beautiful memories all undetected by her friend.



This is a champagne cake from her favorite local bakery and I MUST say, it was moist, the flavor was delicious and worth the $$$!




Here we are all sharing how we know the kids and how happy we are to be included in this memorable day...




Congratulations honey! I'm so happy for you!

Showing off the ring!
My beautiful friend! I'm so happy for your family because I think your daughter has made a great choice!

My best friends!

Here are the pictures Shyla took from her secret place in the bushes! And yes, he is singing her a song while he plays the guitar. I KNOW, how romantic huh! And when he's not singing to her, he is singing to missionary kids. Yep, this couple love God and are loving on his people around the world!



The next day they all took a long drive and found a beautiful barn to take some engagement photos and here are a few from the day. They look like they could be in a magazine, wow they are going to have beautiful children!
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To see more of the pictures and of Shyla's work, here is her blog and she is located in Boston for you East Coast folks!

Congratulations and thank you again for inviting me!!!

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Finally feels like Autumn!

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It's finally starting to feel like Autumn here as the high temps are below 70 degrees, I lurve it!
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This week we carved pumpkins...



and then I made some Italian Wedding soup
using this recipe from Whole Foods. I wish I could grocery shop there all the time because when I walk through the door, I hear singing and it's not the piped in stuff... it's angelic... especially when I walk past the butcher case and bakery!
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This recipe is very easy and I took it to the next level of EASIER because I used meatballs I already had in the freezer! TIP - when you make meatballs, make them smaller than usual so you have more versital uses for them other than spaghetti, such as soup, meatball sandwiches, etc. and when you cook them, do it in the oven by baking them closed together - they'll shrink up - on a greased cookie sheet at 375 - 400 degrees and adjust your time according to your size of meatball. Mine are usually done in less than 20 minutes and you don't even have to rotate them, just leave them alone.
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Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Wedding Day - Part 1

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The Wedding day - Part 1



Well I learned through this that you can only post soooo many pictures in a single post and pictures take up a lot of memory so I started over and broke these out into 2 parts. Part 2 has LOTS more pictures so keep scrolling down and you'll see the next post.


We had to be at the resort by 9am - camera ready and when I arrived.... these ladies were NOT camera ready. Rather than get mad, I started taking pictures... ha ha!



Here's my sister Melody, who bless her heart, ran all over the place that morning to finish preparations and got ready in record time.


The photographer wanted to take pictures of the brides dress and shoes away from all the mirrors in the bridal room so I was the official dress security person.. i.e. "Janeen could you PLEASE help him and don't let anything happen to that dress!"

Sure, not a problem! It was fun to watch him set up shots and I got to learn a few ideas along the way. He was quick and professsional - he even laid down in a pond of standing water from where the sprinklers had been on to get a shot of her dress leaving his dress shirt dirty and wet. Now that's what I call doing what ever it takes to get the shot!





While we were outside I took some more shots of my family and relatives that were arriving. Guess what boys, your second Cousins!


My brother and his sons


My Aunt and my Mom


First cousins!
My cousin Jennifer, Kristin and my sister Melody and Me

My cousin Jennifer and my brother

My cousin Kristin and I

My Girl and my Mom

We walked in to the Men's lounge to see what was going on and was greeted with... "Hey this is the Men's Lounge.. girls keep out!" After giving them the evil eye, they changed their tune and asked me if I would like to join them! ha ha


My Brother and Dad


My Boy and my Nephew, Nicholas


My Brother and I



My Brother, my Nephew and my Brother-in-law

My Dad and Me


My Parents

Then I returned to the bridal room and baby Adrina was getting all prettied up by her other Grandma Carolyn and Great Grandma Ann!



Came back outside and everything was getting into full swing! It's almost time to go!
Here are the bride and grooms Mom's!

One last shot of my family before we begin!
I lurve this picture! I'm going to get a large picture done and frame it for my parents!





Continue scrolling down to the next post for Part 2!

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