Finally some pictures!

The beginning of March, Olivia and I went out to Nebraska for my sister's wedding. We were really busy! I had to make my bridesmaid's dress, Olivia's flower girl dress, the wedding cake, the groom's cake (which I pawned off on my baby sister) and take pictures. Here are just a few pictures. I'll post more pictures of the wedding party, etc., when I'm done editing them and my sister has seen them. Olivia loves hats. Here she is in her new Uncle Tyler's cowboy hat. All the groomsmen wore cowboy hats and boots.
Here is the groom's cake that I pawned off on Savanna. She and her mother-in-law made it and it turned out AWESOME!!!! It's red velvet. Everybody was taking pictures of it at the reception and it put my wedding cake to shame.

Here are the cakes together. I have two incredible aunts that helped me A TON with the wedding cake (and another extremely talented cake-maker aunt who offered advice via the phone). It was a lemon cake that I made totally from scratch. A lot of work, but soooo good.

Here's a picture of me and Olivia before the wedding. She did so good walking down the isle with her little ball of flowers (and a cracker in her hand). I smocked her dress and it turned out really cute. Again, my aunts helped me by putting the finished touches on her dress and mine (i.e. sewing on Olivia's sleeves and all the hand stitching...they also pressed my dress and did the finishing stitches on that, too.) I am not kidding when I say my aunts are super amazing women!

I don't want to this post to be too long, so I'll tell you more about the wedding another time, when I post the rest of the pictures. Let me just say that I will NOT be that involved in a wedding again at 7 weeks pregnant, even though I was happy to help my sister. Still, never again. I don't care if the bride is the Queen of England.

An attitude of gratitude

So, I've been doing a lot of contemplating these past couple of weeks about life, the world, the cosmos...all the big stuff. And I've come to a conclusion: one of the biggest problems with our society is that people aren't grateful enough for what they have.

If you're grateful, you don't:
*swindle millions from hard-working investors because you're own 7-figure salary isn't enough
*put your family in debt up to their eyeballs so you can keep up with the Jones's
*criticize the people around you
*look at the glass half empty

However, you will:
*be happy no matter what (almost)
*work hard and be pleased with your life
*love to be around and to be kind to people, who will have no choice but to love you back
*give others confidence because you have it yourself

I really could go on and on, but I think you get the point. I've definitely had some pretty trying times in life and with each experience, I've found that being grateful takes away much of the burden. I'm thankful for everything I have from the opportunity to be a mom (and even the challenges of getting there) to my quiet-running dishwasher. And I'm super thankful for my sense of humor. It's so much better living on the lighter side of life. What are you thankful for? I want to hear it.

Oh, baby!

So, the rumors are flying, stories are circulating and the questions keep coming. Let me just take a moment to address everything at once: YES, I AM PREGNANT!

I found out that I'm pregnant the first week of February. I admire those moms who can keep it a secret until their belly pops out, but I can't. Since we have to jump through so many hoops, as soon as I find out, I just want to yell it from the rooftops! I'm 8 weeks pregnant and due Oct. 19. (I'm told, Tiffy, that this is extremely close to when you are due...all I can say is FINALLY!) I've been sick for a couple of weeks already. Good times.

I heard the heartbeat last week for the first time, which is one of my favorite things. The baby is so tiny and doesn't look like a baby at all, really, but then you hear this fast ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom and know without doubt that there's a living, growing, tiny little life inside of you. I love that feeling.

Now you've all heard it from the horse's mouth! I have lots of other posts about my sister's wedding and my trip back to Nebraska to put up and I have to update my blog background and music. No telling when that will happen though, as Olivia's nap times have become my nap times. All I can say is someday...