catch up

My goodness, I have much to catch up on! Since my last post, lots of stuff has gone on! I've had a birthday (You better believe I milked it for all it's worth!!), Clay had a bday, and I've gone to Mexico on a cruise with my mom and sister! My sweet boyfriend had flowers sent up to the hospital for me (and made a delicious raspberry chocolate cheesecake!) since I had to work on my bday. They were absolutely beautiful!
Here's a close up, there were lots of buds that opened up later that week...it was fun to watch them open!!

We went to J. Clyde for Clay's bday. We heard they had a good dinner menu, don't go there on a Monday, cause that's the only night they don't serve from it!!! Yes we learned this the hard way...
Laura, Barb, and me
Last friday morning we headed down to Mobile to stay the night with one of mom's old sorority sisters from college before getting on the boat. We got up Saturday morning and had plans to do some shopping before going to the boat dock, but we found out I had a flat tire...off to Wal-Mart we went to get that fixed. Mom wanted to properly document this occasion:
When we finally got on the ship, of course we did the safety check thing where you go to your stations and try your lifejackets on:
The first day was spent on the boat where one of my favorite bathing suits broke in front of everyone, yeah that was fun... but the second day we got rerouted to Key West thanks to hurricane Dolly
What better place to milk your bday than a cruise! (thanks Laura!) Those were our waiters behind me
We enjoyed the dressy night!
me, mom, and the big bus!

We were all about laying out...fortunately we remembered our sunscreen! I swear some people were frying themselves welcoming the skin cancer!!! It was crazy!
Laura and I both wanted these cute cover-up wrap things and found some in Mexico!
When we were in Cozumel, we took pics with an underwater camera since we went snorkeling and kayaking. I haven't gotten those pics back, but I'm excited to see how they'll turn out!

Sips n Strokes!

Kelley, Julie, Laura, and I went to sips n strokes last night and it was an absolute blast!!! It's this class where everyone paints the same pic and a lady teaches as you go. We were all first-timers, but our pics all ended up real cute!

Here's our hesitant/ nervous faces!
My palate at the beginning!!
My complete creation! The name of the painting is "Funky Trees"
These white boards were on the walls to paint so we decided we'd leave our mark! Now if anyone else comes, they'll have to add their hand print!
Post hand-printing! We did this during one of our breaks waiting on our canvas to dry!
My palate after all the mixing! We created lots of fun colors!

We decided it was lots of fun and want to make it out there more often!!!

Katie and Geoff's wedding!

Katie and Geoff's wedding was so sweet. It was in Nac. I left work early Friday morning so I could get home, pack, shower, and get to the airport about 6 to get on my plane. When we landed in DFW, Sarah and Chad picked me up and we started the trek to nac. I realized after the rehearsal dinner when us girls were just hanging out at Katie's that I had gone 32 hours on no sleep. That would explain the massive bags under my eyes in the following pics.

The cute couple that picked me up and let me hang with for the weekend! Thanks! :)
You better believe I'm holding some coffee!! I think I drank about 6-7 cups Friday alone!
Sarah and I pre-rehearsal dinner! Oh the memories we had in room 445 back in the day!! :)
I'd say the three of us have been through a lot...we've been neighbors, roomies, best friends, worst enemies, partners in crime, you name it!
Me and the amazing Brianne! I sure do miss this girl!
Sarah and I at nacogdoches' fireworks show! I didn't think we'd get to watch them, but was excited when we all made the decision to go!!! I love fireworks!
Katie's last night as a Kasselman! Geoff came over to get his putters for the guys golf game!
Geoff and his boys. I'd have to say they look pretty cool
Bride and bridesmaids...minus a couple!
The pretty bride!
This is one of the funniest guys you'll possibly ever meet! Justin! At the reception

I'm real excited to see the pics the photographer took...we did a lot of cute shots with Katie including, my favorite a jump pic! Pretty sure I was the ONLY bridesmaid excited about it! We also did jump pics with the groomsmen too! Sure hope they turn out good!

Well that's the last of the weddings for now! At the reception, someone asked me when the next wedding was and for the first time in a long time, I actually didn't know. At least I have a break for a little while!

Children of the DR

Dominican children are beautiful! There is Spanish, Indian, and French heritage on the island, so that makes for a beautiful mixture! Such a variety of faces!

This is after I killed my leg trying to school the little kids at soccer. This friend felt sorry for me!
This mom called me over and said "a photo?" so I HAD to take a pic with her and the cutie pie. I was amazed at the patience these people had. They hung out at the clinic all day waiting to be seen. Reminds me I need to slow down a lot and just enjoy the present instead of rushing into the next thing!
The day of the amazingly well-behaved children!! They just sat and colored forever! They loved trying to learn English and laughing at our attempts at Spanish!
Every day we played baseball with the kids during lunch. Did you know that an average of 2 players on each MLB team came from the DR?
Little Jessica. This was the day the children were little heathens. We found her with another girl holding her in a head-lock. We def loved on her for a long time!!!
Sweet Kellie. I think this pic could win a photo contest. Don't you?