Wedding Shower!

This past Saturday I helped host a bridal shower for my future sister-in-law Ashley. I am SUPER excited she is going to be marrying my brother Kyle (and keeping him in line) so I really wanted to make the shower speical for her. She is one of the nicest, sweetest people you could meet and she deserved a special day. The shower was held at her parent's house and I was in charge of the decorations. With some help from the maid of honor, my brother (thr groom-to-be) and the bride-to-be herself we made tissue paper floating orbs, hung up streamers and bells and put together a candy bar. A few weeks ago I was freaking out over doing decorations (mainly because I have champagne ideas on a beer budget!) but we made it work and it was beautiful.

The cake! So yummy, it was lemon cake with butter cream icing.

The Bride-to-be's chair! Like the umbrella? Granny bought it and I thought that she was going to shiv me if I didn't hang it up even though I was not prepared to hang up an umbrella and there was no "easy" way to do it. Luckily I am smart and was able to Macguyver it up there.

 

The Maid-of-honor's chair.

Decorations! We hung these with fishing line, genius! They are still hanging up because they liked them so much!

My brother Kyle decorated the front banister. Not bad for someone with only one X chromosome. ;)

Candy Bar! When I first mentioned this to my husband he thought we were literally going to make a giant candy bar. Then I showed him pictures. This was a HUGE hit and like the decorations the candy table is still up at their house. We had Kyle and Ashley tell us their favorite candies and we tried to get as many as we could.

The Happy Couple!

The party went great, the food was fantastic (he aunt made most of it, it was delish!), the sangria was tasty and everyone had a good time.

Opening up my gift: a chips and dip bowl. The girl is gonna have to learn how to make guac now that she is part of the family! Or at least have something to serve it in when I come over and bring it. :)

My cousin Caroline, the flower girl, my Aunt Karen and me.

SUPER excited over her mixer! She is so cute.

Ok, so picture taking did not go so well because there were 50 million cameras and no one knew which way to look. This is, Amanda (a bridesmaid) Anne (the bride-te-be's mom), Candace and Anna (sisters of the bride and bridesmaids) Ashley, my mom and me (also going to be a bridesmaid). 

 

We had a great day and then Ashley and I had a great time talking by the pool and getting to know each other a little better. I stayed way to late, but then I got to see the special end they have planned for their wedding: chinese lanterns! They are going to have all the guests light them and let them go at the end of the wedding. And for the eco-friendly, they are biodegradeable. :)

Just like in "Tangled".

 

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Dear Blog,

As we get closer and closer to Christmas more decorations go up, Wesley gets more and more excited and I try to find more ways for our family to make fun holiday memories together. My husband had very different Christmases (at least how he remembers it) from how I did. It is sometimes a battle to kick to Grinch out of him but in the end he usually enjoys the efforts I make and the torture I put him through to make our holidays merry.

I just finished writing out the Christmas cards (going in the mail today!) and I have almost all the gifts for the family and am going to ship those off too. It will be a huge relief to get those sent off. This week we did a couple projects for the holidays.

First, we made Whoopie Pies. For those who don't know, a whoopie pie is two chocolate cakes with a marshmallow cream filling. These can vary but the kind we make are chocolate with marshmallow fluff/icing filling. They are super good and go really fast around here (especially when you are sharing them with friends). It took me quite a while to get the recipe from my mother in law, in fact it took 4 years of marriage and a deployment to get them but it was worth it. My husband says they are better than his mom's when I make them but I think that is only because I double the icing recipe so there is LOTS of fluffy filling. Anyway, here it is for anyone who wants to make a super special treat this holiday season. Williams-Sonoma is selling them on their website-12 for $50. This recipe makes about 16 and will cost you only a fraction of that!

Whoopie Pies:
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla (use a good vanilla like Burbon vanilla, not an extract or imitation vanilla!)
Beat until mixed.


Then add:
2 cups of flour
1.5 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp of cocoa
1 cup of whole milk (I have used 2% and it has turned out fine)
Mix all ingredients together and drop by measured tbsp onto parchment lined cookie sheet. 
*I like to use my Pampered Chef large scoop, it's perfect!*
Bake in a 400 degree oven for 8-9 minutes.


While baking make the filling:
1.5 cups of shortening
12 tablespoons of Marshmallow Fluff
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1.5 cups of confectionary sugar


When cakes are cool slather on the filling and make into little sandwiches. Enjoy! 


Other holiday projects for us have been making paper chains to decorate the windows. It is fun and colorful and a great way to spend some family time together. Just cut up construction paper into strips that are 1 inch by 8 inches (you can make them bigger or smaller, but I like that size and it's easy based on the size of the construction paper- 12 x 8). Then make them into a circle and tape or glue or staple them together. Link as you go!

Window treatments, paper chains.

Our "winter" wreath, hanging inside on the back door.

Henry, Santa's little helper, spreading the Christmas cheer!

My "Pottery Barn" table decorations. Love it!

Our Christmas tree. A little eclectic, a lot of fun!