We hit the busiest time of year in our family. We get to do a lot of celebrating in October, and I love it! Joe and I semi-celebrate closing for our house (long story - it was a huge ordeal), our anniversary (which ended up being a different day than we planned), and Conner's birthday (also a different day than we planned). All these events are back to back days. The boy's birthday is obviously our favorite so our anniversary is always overshadowed by that. Seems to work out perfect though since Nana and Papa are up for Conner's birthday, they always love to babysit and give Joe and myself a chance to have a date night for our anniversary.
Since today is our anniversary, I'll start with that before hopping over to Conner's birthday party recap. So alittle anniversary story- Joe and I had actually planned for a year and a half to get married on the 13th, but after setting up for the ceremony and reception on the 12th, we decided at the last minute to make our rehearsal the real deal. We had the best little place picked out to get married outside under the fall leaves and by a stream. Seriously, the place was perfection. Curious on what it looked like? You can find some pics here. The weather on the other hand was not. The forecast called for 100% rain all day and cold temps that day which crushed my dreams of an outdoor wedding with the fall colors.
So I had spent all day Friday setting up for the wedding to be inside while the weather that entire day was perfect.. sunny, warm (enough), and beautiful. After Joe got off work he came to help me set up the remaining items before we had to get ready for the rehearsal. But as we got ready for the rehearsal, I became an emotional wreck since all I wanted was an outdoor wedding, and there was no chance of it. And this is when Joe sat down with me, let me finish crying, and simply suggested we get married that night down by the marina. Joe took what seemed like a hopeless situation for me at the time and gave me my outdoor wedding - unplanned. unexpected. and perfect.
We talked to family, friends and the pastor that were en route to what was supposed to be the rehearsal and quickly told them to go to the marina. Let me tell you - I don't think my dad was anywhere close to a happy camper for changing the plans, but Joe reminded me that this is our wedding and nobody was going to take that away from us. So my dad walked me down the sidewalk, gave me away, and then introduced himself to Joe's dad for the first time. How did I forget that he hadn't even been introduced to Joe's dad!? It makes me laugh still that they met during the wedding.
We still carried out the planned wedding ceremony and reception on the 13th since we still had guests coming for that and everything was paid for. Which just makes it even better that Joe and I were married twice within 24 hours and I got great use out that awesome dress.
Anyway, happy anniversary to the man who still makes my heart smile.
Now let's talk Conner.
We had an amazing turnout to Conner's 2nd birthday this weekend. That little boy is loved by more people than he even knows and it was obvious by the friends and family that were able to come.
I have a serious thing for birthdays. I love celebrating them. Joe, not so much, but he let's me do my thing when it comes to birthdays. I may have gone overboard with Conner's first birthday (is that even possible?) but I toned it down a tiny bit this year. We'll just take a quick look back at Conner's first birthday to give you an idea. We did a country fair theme for his 1st birthday.
This year, we decided on a John Deere theme. Papa B. even let us take his Deere tractor out into his rye field right where he hunts just so I could get a picture to use for the invites. This is huge when you impede on someone's hunting ground with all your scent right before the season opens.
We kept the decorations to a minimum this year (no straw bales, homemade signs, etc like last year) and still tried to keep a nice spread of food. We did a chili bar and bbq pork sliders along with veggies, salad, apples/dip, cornbread and coleslaw. For the dessert table we had "haybales" (rice krispy treats), "tractor tires" (chocolate covered doughnuts) and some awesome looking cupcakes that my mom and I made. We played up the drinks too with "diesel fuel" (iced tea w/ lemonade), "antifreeze" (green Hawaiian punch) and a "water tank" (self explanatory).
With Conner being a little more into gifts this year, it made it a lot more fun. He did great at tearing them open but quickly decided to go back to running his Tonka truck throughout the house - something he does every waking moment he's at home. With all the kids there, we were more than covered with help opening the remaining gifts. Everyone got to have fun helping open the gifts and playing with them too!
Since today is our anniversary, I'll start with that before hopping over to Conner's birthday party recap. So a
So I had spent all day Friday setting up for the wedding to be inside while the weather that entire day was perfect.. sunny, warm (enough), and beautiful. After Joe got off work he came to help me set up the remaining items before we had to get ready for the rehearsal. But as we got ready for the rehearsal, I became an emotional wreck since all I wanted was an outdoor wedding, and there was no chance of it. And this is when Joe sat down with me, let me finish crying, and simply suggested we get married that night down by the marina. Joe took what seemed like a hopeless situation for me at the time and gave me my outdoor wedding - unplanned. unexpected. and perfect.
We talked to family, friends and the pastor that were en route to what was supposed to be the rehearsal and quickly told them to go to the marina. Let me tell you - I don't think my dad was anywhere close to a happy camper for changing the plans, but Joe reminded me that this is our wedding and nobody was going to take that away from us. So my dad walked me down the sidewalk, gave me away, and then introduced himself to Joe's dad for the first time. How did I forget that he hadn't even been introduced to Joe's dad!? It makes me laugh still that they met during the wedding.
We still carried out the planned wedding ceremony and reception on the 13th since we still had guests coming for that and everything was paid for. Which just makes it even better that Joe and I were married twice within 24 hours and I got great use out that awesome dress.
Anyway, happy anniversary to the man who still makes my heart smile.
Now let's talk Conner.
We had an amazing turnout to Conner's 2nd birthday this weekend. That little boy is loved by more people than he even knows and it was obvious by the friends and family that were able to come.
I have a serious thing for birthdays. I love celebrating them. Joe, not so much, but he let's me do my thing when it comes to birthdays. I may have gone overboard with Conner's first birthday (is that even possible?) but I toned it down a tiny bit this year. We'll just take a quick look back at Conner's first birthday to give you an idea. We did a country fair theme for his 1st birthday.
This year, we decided on a John Deere theme. Papa B. even let us take his Deere tractor out into his rye field right where he hunts just so I could get a picture to use for the invites. This is huge when you impede on someone's hunting ground with all your scent right before the season opens.
We kept the decorations to a minimum this year (no straw bales, homemade signs, etc like last year) and still tried to keep a nice spread of food. We did a chili bar and bbq pork sliders along with veggies, salad, apples/dip, cornbread and coleslaw. For the dessert table we had "haybales" (rice krispy treats), "tractor tires" (chocolate covered doughnuts) and some awesome looking cupcakes that my mom and I made. We played up the drinks too with "diesel fuel" (iced tea w/ lemonade), "antifreeze" (green Hawaiian punch) and a "water tank" (self explanatory).
With Conner being a little more into gifts this year, it made it a lot more fun. He did great at tearing them open but quickly decided to go back to running his Tonka truck throughout the house - something he does every waking moment he's at home. With all the kids there, we were more than covered with help opening the remaining gifts. Everyone got to have fun helping open the gifts and playing with them too!
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