2 YEARS

Happy Anniversary to us! 

 

 

 It's hard to believe it's been two years since this day.  These two years have marked happy times, challenging times, and a little bit of everything in between.  We have experienced sadness and heartache.  Success and failure.  We have been blessed beyond measure. 

 

Today, the gravity of the vows we made two years ago feels so much more tangible. The meaning of sacrificial love feels so much deeper.  I am thankful for that.  Thankful to live those vows.  Thankful to give and receive that kind of love. Thankful we have each other.

 

 

 

K is such a blessing to me. Gentle, kind, and exceedingly patient.

We are truly blessed beyond measure.

Life in Pictures

Despite the blog silence (or maybe as evidenced by the blog silence), life here has felt full lately.  Here are a few of the high notes...

K turns 30

K's mom and I teamed up to plan a surprise birthday party for K at our favorite mexican restaurant in SA, La Fonda on Main.  The party was a success, the birthday boy was surprised, and I took exactly one picture.  Oh well, we'll always have this picture of the cake and I'm told K looked very surprised as we walked in : )

Deer Valley

K's other birthday gift was a ski trip to Deer Valley.  Our sweet friends let us use their house as a gift to K.  The weather couldn't have been better and the skiing was amazing.

Valentine's Day

Do you all make a big deal out of Valentine's Day?  I feel like it doesn't end up being that big of a deal for us.  It feels kind of forced to do nice things for each other because you're supposed to on this "holiday."  This year, Valentine's Day was so off my radar I actually planned to take dinner to a friend whose husband is deployed.  And then I kind of forgot about dinner for us.  

We ended up with this pancetta-spinach-whole wheat pasta creation that was actually pretty yummy.  And a good representation of our combined tastes.  K thinks everything better with bacon.  I think everything's better with spinach.  This time we both won :)  

March?

And then there was the whole month of March.  I don't really know what happened, but March flew by.  We got sick, K switched teams and has been working every weekend, and we tried out best to carve out some time together in between.

Easter

March ended on a high note - Easter,  a visit from my mom, and a great Easter brunch with friends.  We opted for another al fresco Easter celebration and the weather totally cooperated.  On the menu?  To start - caramelized bacon (this was to.die.for) and Trader Joe's Rosemary Almonds.  For lunch - rack of lamb persillade, green beans gremolata, braised carrots and parsnips, buttermilk mashed potatoes, and fluffy rolls.  Plus, deviled eggs (thanks, Meghann!) and a frittata (thanks, Dom!).  For dessert - easter egg sugar cookies (that we scattered in 'nests' on the table), Mary Carolyn's coconut cake, and Deb's carrot cake.  I'm still full, but it was a wonderful Easter.  

Hallelujah!  He is Risen!  Hallelujah!  

  

Celebrating Ellen's Little Pumpkin

My dear friend Ellen is expecting a baby and I got to travel to Dallas a couple weeks ago to celebrate  her "little pumpkin."  Here are a few pictures from the shower (which was organized by 13 hostesses!).

My contributions were "little pumpkin" muffins and the flowers, which were truly a Dow-Waldrep effort : )

It was such a fun day and such a joy to be able to celebrate this happy occasion with Ellen.  Can't wait for the arrival of Baby Peeps in February!

Little Pumpkin Muffins
*My friend Chaiss posted this recipe on her blog a while back.  It's been my go to pumpkin bread ever since*

2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
3 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl.  In a standing mixer, combine pumpkin, oil, water and sugar.  Mix well.  Add the eggs one at a time and mix well.  Slowly add the dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.  Fold in pecans.  Pour into loaf pans and bake at 350 for 1 hour.  Make 3 loaves.

This time, I poured the bread into mini-muffin tins and baked for 12-15 minutes.  In addition to adding pecans to the batter, I also chopped up some smaller pieces for sprinkling on top.

Farewell to the Karnes

Our dear friends Jon and Caroline (and Wylie and Baby Girl and Moser) are moving this week.  We are so sad to see them go.  We met them within weeks of moving to San Antonio and have been so blessed by their friendship over the past two years.  Has it really been two years since we moved here!?!

Since the Karnes will be heading back to Maine, we thought it appropriate to send them off with a proper New England-style clam bake.  We had so much fun!

Yum!  Can you believe the size of that lobster!?  I can't believe we pulled this off.  The closest I've ever come to a clam bake is a crawfish boil, so I feel like this was a huge accomplishment ; )  I'm so glad our New Englander friends Deb and Nick helped us pull this off. 

Here's a shot of the table before we ate.  Still loving our spot under the trees.  Can you believe we ate outside at 5:00 in the Texas heat?  I seriously love this tree.

Yum!  Somebody loved his corn! 

Love this shot of the guys.

Thanks to Deb and Nick for helping us host this little sendoff dinner.  It was such a fun way to celebrate our friends.  Jon, Caroline, and Wylie (and Baby Girl and Moser) we will miss you so much!

Happy Fourth!

Big Weekend in the Big D

We had a great trip to Dallas last weekend to celebrate Kyle's high school graduation.  Congratulations, Kyle!  It was such a fun weekend and K and I are so proud of Kyle - his accomplishments at ESD, his acceptance to SMU, and most of all the godly man he has become.  If there was ever a high schooler that deserved to be celebrated, it is Kyle.  And celebrate we did!

Saturday night Kathryn and David hosted a fabulous graduation party for Kyle.  The menu featured all of Kyle's favorites - tenderloin and turkey sliders, spinach and artichoke dip, five cheese macaroni and cheese, grilled vegetables, and a "pizza bar."  Kathryn made all of the food herself (with the help of the family) and for dessert we had an assortment of homemade cookies prepared by family and friends and my personal favorite Pacuigo!  Here are a few shots of Kyle's party.

In the front of the house,  the balloon arch, pennants and sign were meant to celebrate Kyle's history at ESD.

Aren't these pennants a fun idea?  

The balloons had LED lights inside, so the driveway was lined with lights once the sun set.

The rest of the house was decorated to celebrate Kyle's future at SMU.  Go ponies!

And because we love Kyle (and can't say no to Kathryn), Kristen and I baked and iced about 150 graduation cap sugar cookies.  Thanks for your help Ashley!

Congrats, Kyle!  We are so very proud of you!

Little Ditty about Zach and Dianne . . .

We took a road trip to Dallas this weekend to celebrate the wedding of one of my law school friends.  It was a beautiful, heartfelt and joyful wedding and we were so glad to share in their day.

And the wedding was gorgeous!  Congratulations, Zach and Dianne!

Sip and See

Our dear friends and neighbors recently welcomed a baby girl into their family.  It has been so fun to watch them adjust to life with little Miss Charlotte and even more fun to see how much they love and enjoy their new baby girl.  She is precious and they are understandably smitten.

This weekend we hosted a sip and see to celebrate Charlotte's arrival.  It was such a joyful occasion and we were so happy we could provide a place for friends to gather and celebrate this beautiful baby girl.  Here are a few pictures from the day . . .

I found the template for the invitations on Etsy and worked with

Jayme Marie to customize everything.  She did a great job, don't you think?

We served a light, cocktail-style buffet which included: our favorite ham sliders, herbed goat cheese and cucumber sandwiches, strawberries with lime curd, caprese bites, and smoked salmon dip.  For dessert?  Mini carrot cake cupcakes from Kate's Frosting of course.  Here are a few shots of the table before guests arrived.

Isn't the tiered tray fun?  Our friend Deb let us borrow it for the day.  

I loved having something that added height to the table.

Yum!  K loves these ham sliders so much he actually broke his 
Paleo man diet for the day (well maybe the weekend) to enjoy a few. 

And, since it was a sip and see, we also took some time to plan a fun drink menu.  We had homemade raspberry almond ice tea and Kir Royales to quench everyone's thirst.  Here's the "bar" set up.

K and I are so fortunate to have so many generous friends.  The drink tub was borrowed from our friend 
Ann at church and K's parents supplied the fun pink linens and all of the silver goblets and champagne flutes.  

I just love the elegant touch Kathryn's silver and crystal added to Charlotte's party.

Last, but not least, we sent everyone home with a little dessert for the road.

I made these colorful pineapple shaped sugar cookies to coordinate with 

the invitations and to symbolize Charlotte's "welcome." 

We had so much fun celebrating the Watson family and cannot wait to watch Miss Charlotte grow!

Anniversary Surprises

K and I celebrated our first anniversary earlier this week by doing what we do best - eating out. We planned to visit the new San Antonio location of one of our Dallas favorites, Perry's Steakhouse. It has been at least two years since I've been to Perry's and I was pretty excited about enjoying a big juicy steak and all of the yummy sides. Dinner was wonderful, as expected, but the highlight of the night ended up being the surprise scavenger hunt K planned for me.

As we approached our first anniversary, K and I decided to limit our gift giving to traditional anniversary gifts. For the first year, this means paper. For my part, I surprised K by framing the scripture verses read at our wedding with one of our wedding invitations.

I was really curious to see what K would come up with. He's terrible at keeping secrets and was at one time dubbed "the world's worst liar." I mention this not to complain (these are not bad personality traits), but to give a little background on K's secret-keeping abilities. In the weeks leading up to our anniversary, K was silent about our anniversary, gifts, or related plans. Then, as the day drew near, K started grinning whenever I mentioned our anniversary. One night he actually started spontaneously giggling in response to something I said only to explain that it would make sense soon. The suspense of what he had planned was killing me.

When I arrived home on Monday night, I played it cool and feigned disinterest in his gift. Inside I was dying to say "Let's exchange gifts RIGHT NOW!!!" Before I had the chance to say anything, K presented me with a simple white card with a handwritten note . . . It said, among other things that my gift could be found at the end of a scavenger hunt! How fun is that?

The scavenger hunt took me around our house and was filled with fun personal messages and inside jokes. There was a card in the dishwasher where K does some of his best housework despite the effects of the "forcefield;" a card on our newly hung porch swing (hung 18 months after it was purchased); a card where we keep Lucy's leash (our walks with Lucy double as our time spent solving the world's problems); and cards in a few other locations around the house.

At the end of the paper trail? A garment bag filled with new outfits hanging in the closet! My heart leapt when I saw the Neiman Marcus bag. K went shopping for me in the dress section of my favorite store! I have not had a new dress or top or other fun clothes in ages (and I truly love new clothes), so this was such a treat!

K's gift was thoughtful, creative and fun and made for a very memorable first anniversary. K did a great job keeping the secret and pulled off an amazing anniversary surprise. I can't wait to celebrate 60 or so more anniversaries just as special as this first one!

Our Wedding- The Reception

After the emotions and weightiness of our wedding ceremony, we were ready to let loose and celebrate our marriage at the reception. In planning the reception, our goals were simple - we wanted our guests to be comfortable and we wanted to everyone to have fun.

Our experience has been that the band plays a big part in setting the tone of a reception or party, so we spent a lot of time looking for a band that we thought embodied fun. For us that meant a Southern Motown band and Mo' Sol, the band that we booked, definitely fit the bill.

Once we secured Mo' Sol, we felt like we had the fun factor covered and moved on to making sure each of our guest's needs would be met. This meant selecting a yummy menu, planning seating, and lots of time selecting linens, flowers and considering the overall look of the reception. Here's how it all turned out . . .

Views from each end of the terrace. It was a windy afternoon on Sarasota Bay, so some of the chairs are leaning to keep the tablecloths from blowing away! I'm sure the wind was a nightmare for our wedding coordinator and the caterer, but it made the temperatures on the dance floor much more bearable : )

Photo Credits: Ken Luallen

Our florist, Tiger Lily, suggested using these candelabras as platforms for the flower arrangements. I thought they added an elegant touch to the tables and made conversation a little easier. Wouldn't you love to have one or two of those at home? Photo Credit: Ken Luallen

In addition to flowers, each table was adorned with cut crystal votives, gold charger plates and personalized menus. To keep the menus from flying away, we decided to tuck them into the napkins and wrapped the entire package with a monogrammed ribbon. Photo Credits: Ken Luallen

We decided to do both a bride's cake and a groom's cake. This is traditional in Texas and lots of places in the South, but we raised a few eyebrows in Sarasota - our caterer, florist and wedding planner (all transplants from the North) were somewhat unfamiliar with the tradition. We loved the classic white cake and the Duke Blue Devils cake our baker, Cakes by Ron, created for the occasion. The best part was both cakes tasted as good as they looked!Photo Credit: Ken Luallen

Photo Credit: Ken Luallen

It was so much fun to see everything come together. All of the time we put in on the planning side of things really paid off and we were so pleased with the look and feel of our reception. The best part was that we were able to truly enjoy it. We visited with friends, ate a delicious dinner and danced the night away.

Time for our first dance!
Photo Credit: Ken Luallen

Photo Credit: Ken Luallen

Cutting the Cake
Photo Credit: Ken Luallen


Dancing the night away!Photo Credits: Ken Luallen

Photo Credits: Ken Luallen

Photo Credit: Ken Luallen

Photo Credit: Ken Luallen

If I could, I would relive our reception every anniversary for the next 60 years. It was that much fun. This first year of marriage has also been a lot of fun. K and I have learned a lot about each other, grown in our relationship with Christ and laughed more than I ever thought possible. We have also weathered some tough times along the way. Through it all, I have been repeatedly reminded of the amazing blessings that come with marriage - the love, support and devotion of a spouse should mirror the love of Christ and that is a wonderful thing indeed.

Last night before bed, I asked K what surprised him most about me this year. His answer? The fact that I can cook so well. (He is such a guy!) Then K posed the same question to me. There were two things that really surprised me - how much he really does love his sleep and his seemingly limitless patience. I am grateful for his patience every day. I love him so much! Happy Anniversary, K!


*Want to see more?  You can check out our ceremony, rehearsal dinner, bridesmaids luncheon, paper selections, and planning drama.