Jackie's Bachelorette Party

We had a good time celebrating the bride to be at her bachelorette party a few weeks ago.

Friday night we had dinner at my house and hung out and chatted until late.  

Jackie and her sister, Jennifer.

Cake balls I made.

 Saturday morning we had lunch at Max's Wine Dive.

Pot Pie.  All of their food was really good.

 After brunch we headed to Nail Bar for mani/pedis.

Then we went back to the house for happy hour, wine and cheese and a lingerie shower!

Dinner was at Del Frisco's Grill then we headed out to a few bars.  

I think everyone had a good time hanging out and celebrating "the last fling before the ring"!  The wedding is in 2 weeks.  I can't believe it is almost here!

Neil and Kaley Visit and St. Patty's Day Parade

Neil and Kaley were on Spring Break last week and spent a few days with us.  They came early Thursday and went to the Dallas Aquarium until I got back into town.  I have been wanting crawfish and thankfully they were up for it too so we went to eat crawfish Thursday night.  

Brett had to miss out on the Thursday night fun.  He was supposed to come home but instead got to spend his 2nd night (or hours) in a row on a couch at the hospital because they had a surgery go until 3am that night.  

 After crawfish Neil decided we needed some frozen yogurt so we went to Yumilicious. He got the largest cup available and filled it up! 

I had to work Friday morning so they went to the zoo until  I was done.  Then we went to the Arboretum that afternoon.

The feature at the Arboretum is tulips right now.  There are thousands and they are so pretty.

We had to go to the Apple store later that afternoon and were early for our appointment so guess what is next door-  Wild About Harry's!  At Neil's request (not mine for once) we had to get some frozen custard.  Neil and I  decided the love for ice cream must be genetic because we both could it multiple times a day and never get tired of it!

Neil went overboard again with the largest serving possible!

Friday was Neil's 20th birthday which I can hardly believe!

He wanted to go to Dave and Buster's.  We had a blast. 

Kaley and I couldn't stop playing a game where you drop coins into a big pile of coins and try to push them over edge for tickets.  She hit the jackpot and that was so much fun!!

Focused

Saturday morning Neil and Brett went in the jeep to pick up breakfast tacos.

Neil and Kaley had to head home Saturday morning so they missed out on the parade fun.    

Headed to the parade

Resting during the parade

Green and people everywhere!

"The Green Dog"
People were hilarious about Dot.  She was a hit.  Probably 50 people commented on the green dog.  I colored her with food coloring.  

Every year several miles of Greenville gets blocked off for the parade and all of the bars and restaurants have green beer and food and people have block parties and house parties.  It is crazy but lots of fun.  

After the parade we walked back down Greenville to 2 different house parties.  

Here are the dogs at the 2nd party.  We probably walked 4-5 miles that day and they were totally exhausted.   

We met up with Nelson and Winston at the 2nd party.
It was a long but fun day!

Jackie's Bridal Shower

In about a month I'll have a "sister"!  Jackie's bridal shower was this past weekend.  They got a lot of really nice gifts. 

Megan and her girls and her lack of an 18 week baby bump with her little boy!!!

Lots of pretty things for their new house!

Gran Gran checking it all out.

 I don't know if other places do it like this, but in Center we register at the local stores and someone goes and picks the gifts up the day of the shower.  They are not wrapped.  We display them for everyone to see.  It is a nice way to do things because the bride gets to visit instead of open gifts the entire shower and everyone gets to see the gifts for the bride and groom!

Clayton even got some man gifts from ACE Hardware.  He was totally against registering at all at first then he went to ACE Hardware and went crazy.  He later asked me if he could register at other places such as Cabella's.  I cracked up.  He was totally serious.  He said he needed to hunt to provide for his family.

Me and Mom :)

More man gifts.

Gran Gran and 2 of her girls. 

Jackie, The Bride!

The Bride to Be and her hostesses 

Opening gifts

I volunteered to make the cake.  I was pretty nervous but I was happy with the way it turned out and it tasted good too. The cake stand was made by my uncle Jimmy for Megan's wedding.  It made the cake look much cuter.  I used Kabob sticks and cut burlap and lace to make the banner.  Below are the links to the cake recipe I used:
White Wedding Cake
Wedding Cake Buttercream
How I iced the cake
I used 9 in cake pans.  Each one took an entire recipe so I quadrupled the cake recipe.  I then stacked two, put support sticks (cake pop sticks) and a 9 in round cardboard circle then stacked the last two.  I made the cakes and put a crumb coat of icing on the day before then made the icing the day of.  I didn't assemble it until I got there.  I ended up making 6 recipes of the icing.  I am not sure how many this will actually serve.  I would guess about 50-60.
This is a really good cake recipe that is pretty easy because it uses a box mix and adds additional ingredients.


Looking forward to Jackie and Clayton's big day!  It is going to be a really pretty, DIY, outdoor wedding with the reception in the barn.  I can't wait to see it all put together!

Babies!

Lots of babies in our lives these days!

This precious boy, Gavin Reese Montgomery, made his appearance at the beginning of February.  Ryan and Randi sound like they are loving life as parents and send me cute pics almost daily.  I hope we can get to Kentucky to meet him soon. 

Clayton and Jackie were planning on getting one of Bandit's puppies but somehow ended up with two at the last minute!  They are super cute and playful.  

Roux

Gumbo

I stopped on the way back to Dallas last week and got to hang out with this growing boy.  Drake will be 6 months in April and loved chillin' in my lap!

I don't think this is news to anyone who reads the blog, but speaking of babies we are having one of our own in August! 

We are so excited!  This is from the 12 week U/S.  I'm 16 weeks this week and we find out the gender next Friday!  

We both think it's a girl for some reason but of course we are just praying for a perfect, healthy baby no matter the gender.