Fun-filled Night of Girl Talk and Pillow Fights

We decided to host a Pajama Party for Lexi's birthday. She's at an age where all the girls are quite ready for sleepovers, so we thought we'd enjoy all the fun of the sleepover and all sleep in our own beds with a Pajama party. Lexi was thrilled that she'd get to stay up way past her bedtime. I'd call it a win!

A Bunch of Crazies - My Favorite Kind!

I adore these people.

 We have our quirks. Our stories. We might even be a little crazy. They are my family.

The Vaudrin (pronounced "vō-dren") Family, that is.

These are a few of my favorite things: Summer Blog Swap!

I participated in another of Meredith's famous blog swaps.  It's like a party in your mailbox!  If you get the chance, you should play along sometime.  This time, the theme was "A Few of My Favorite Things".  We were matched up with a partner and we were to send a brown paper package with something orange, something funny, something we love, something that cost $1, and something sweet to our partner.  If you want more info, you can check out {the rules}!  Then, we all participate in {the link up} to show what everyone sent and received.

I was matched up with {Kelly}.  I've never met her, so I did a little blog stalking research.  (I kid! I kid!)  Part of the fun of this was to getting to know someone new!  I found out she and her hubby like to do home improvement projects, like Jeremy and me, and that she loves her pooch, Bridger.  Kelly is super sweet and patient.  I got a little side-tracked on getting my package to the post office on time, but it DID arrive!

In my haste, I forgot to take a pic of the contents of my brown paper package I mailed, but Kelly said I could borrow hers.  Thanks, Kelly!  Here's what I sent:

Something orange:  An orange lobster doggie toy for her beloved dog, Bridger

Something funny:  A set of "Greetings from Crazyville" note cards.  They totally resonated with my life and pretty much every girlfriend I know!  I should pick up an extra pack for my {50 Things in 365 Days-49. Send 10 Just for Fun Cards}.  Hope you like them, Kelly, and hope they help you keep in touch with the important people in your life.  :)

Something that costs $1: A cute little cardboard box.  It's take-out box-esque and matched everything perfectly.  It's holding the Jelly Bellies (we'll get to those in a sec), but maybe it'll be useful for containing some other treasure.

Something I love:  Popcorn.  Most Sunday nights it's what's for dinner.  On occasion I've been known to go to the movies just for the popcorn.  Sad, but true.

Something sweet:  1 lb of Tropical Jelly Belly Jelly Beans.  As much as I like popcorn and a host of other foods, I still believe jelly beans in general should taste like fruit.

And because I'm ridiculous an overachiever ...

Something extra:  A fun see-through orange with colorful dotted bangle bracelet

Something extra:  A pair of hot pink earrings to match the summery bracelet

Something Orange: Extra Dessert Delights Dreamsicle gum

Something Funny: Talladega Nights.  I've never seen it, but Ricky Bobby claims it's the best movie ever made... course it's his ballad, so he might be a tad biased!  Looks like a good reason to pop some popcorn and laugh. 

Something that costs $1: A Target shopping bag, which happens to be perfect for cultivating my inner green person.

Something that I love: Essie polish in a juicy coral shade.  Helllloooo, summer time fingers and toes!

Something Sweet: Big box of Starburst, which will be perfect for snacks on our road trip to New Mexico coming up this weekend!

Thanks for the brown paper package all tied up with string of goodies, Kelly!  Nice "meeting" you.  Maybe one day, we'll meet in real life!

Taking the doors off!

Tonight was girls night out with my best girl...

We went bowling with bumpers, of course.  And Lexi scored 82!

 This girl is so hilarious!  Here is a sampling of some of the gems she came up with while we were out:

Lexi:  Do you think you could take me on a date, say for example, to see some Israelites?

Lexi:  I'm going to Facebook my friend.  He's a boy.  His name is Jimmy.  Jimmy John.
Me:  Does he make sandwiches?
Lexi:  Yes.  Yes he does.

Lexi:  Do you wanna take all the doors off your car and make a motorcycle?

Lexi:  Can we get an earing fo my dog named Bella?

Due to an unfortunate incident involving Justus' phone, a pocket and a washing machine, Lexi has inherited his cell phone.  She put it in her purse and had to pull it out to "text" Daddy and FaceTime her friends.  Think her parents are slightly techie?  um... maybe!

 We dished up some FroYo at Swirrl and then walked down to Charming Charlie, where she proceeded to try on and model the entire inventory.

It was adorable!

We had such an amazing time together.  I love her!

Festivities!

I feel like I've been absent from the blogging world.

I've missed it!

I've missed y'all!

(and I have a special giveaway announcement coming up, too.)

I've had some celebrating to do.  My birthday was May 20.  My mom instilled in me a love for birthdays and celebrating, so the party just ended Wednesday night.  I know it's almost a month later.  Don't judge.

My birthday was filled with texts, phone calls, and Facebook wall posts.  It was fun to hear from so many people.  I was giddy all day.  Virginia took me to lunch at {100% Taquito}.  I have a minor obsession with that place and Virginia has never been, but I think I made a believer out of her.  It wasn't hard.  The tacos speak for themselves.

The kiddos each chose a pair of earrings for me.  So sweet!

Jeremy and his mom got me the camera bag I asked for!

But, my goodness, it was not canary yellow like the picture seemed.  It was a whole lot more mustard-y.  So it's going back and a pewter one is on the way.

Some of my friends brought gifts by my house.  Super sweet!

Meredith brought a fun nail color...

...complete with birthday balloon!

(And I know that she was crazy-busy that day, so it meant a lot that she stopped by to do that.)

 Ambre brought this cool sign.  She has all kinds of neat Bible verses and quotes around her house.

 I like having the reminder, too.  I may need to expand my collection of scripture-inspired decor!

Helen gave me this pretty and yummy Scentsy warmer.  {Scentsy}, where have you been all my life?  (That's a link to her consultant page.  Check it out!)

When I got home from work, the Carlisle family joined us for dinner at our place.  Jeremy made filet minon, roasted asparagus, and pita crisps.  He is a fantastic cook!

But that's not all...

Jeremy bought two dozen cake balls from Angie's Cake.  And they are TO DIE FOR!

My tummy is rumbling just looking at these photos again....

Top:  vanilla, Middle:  birthday cake, Bottom:  chocolate

Top: snickers, Middle: lemon, Bottom: s'mores

I had to make more cake balls after seeing these pictures.  Wish I had more pictures of the evening with friend and the delicious food to show you!

So.... that was pretty much an incredible day!  But it didn't end there.  The next day, my BFF & Sister, Jill, came to visit with my nephew, {Aaron} for the weekend.  I was beside myself when I found a great deal on tickets just a couple days before my birthday.  At last check, they had been $800!  What?!?  They dropped drastically, so she snatched one up.

We planned a little Girls Night Out.  We started out with dinner at Char House and watching the {JJ Worthen} trio play.  They played my current song obsession, Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'", just for me.  P.S.  JJ is Jess' husband, so she has a little pull that way. ;) 

me, Jess, Jill, Christie

 After that, we got our groove on, which was great!  Lots of fun.  (...except for being stepped on with a stiletto just 3/4" from my surgery site on my foot.  Yikes!  She was nice about it, but I had a perfect stiletto-shaped indented print in my foot the next morning.  It later turned into massive swelling.  Oy!  Totally worth it, though.)  Jill got to stay until Tuesday and it was so great to spend time with her.

The day Jill left, I met up with Amy for dinner at Japaneiros.  We talked life and mommyhood.  It was awesome to get to know her better and she surprised my by buying it as my birthday dinner!

The celebration was set on To Be Continued for a bit.  Life and travels got in the way, but we finished up this week!

Monday night, the girls from my small group went to dinner with me at Yia Yia Mary's.  I've been meaning to go there for years and hadnt' made it over there until Monday.  It was everything my inner Greek girl could hope for!

Gina, Martha, Ambre, me, Heidi, Erin
We had Saganaki Cheese-fried cheese fried tableside! Opa!

And last, but not least, on Wednesday, I had a Birthday dinner date at Japaneiro's with my mentor from church.  (Don't go judging on the Japaneiro's thing, either. I {heart} that place!)  Diana and I both have May birthdays, so we decided a while ago that we'd have to celebrate together!

It had been a while since we'd seen each other, so it was great to catch up!

Whew!  Party animal, right?!?  And completely spoiled beyong belief.  No wonder I'm tired!

Don't forget about the giveaway announcement!  Stay tuned... it may even be tonight.  I cannot wait to tell you about it!

{{WR}} "The Dob's" Wedding

Remember Rob doB and Whitney?  We did the behind the scenes work for them to {get engaged}...

Well, NOW they're married!  And the wedding was incredibly fun!

But let's back it up a bit.

At their engagement party, Rob gave Jeremy a puzzle maze to solve.

 There may or may not have been some serious frustration involved here.

Inside was a card asking Jeremy to be a groomsman.

JJ got one, too!

(Jeremy's has a photo from when he and Rob went skydiving.  I cannot vouch for JJ's photo.)

Fast forward to the rehearsal.  It was perfect May in Texas weather...

I don't know the story on the hat.  I wish I did so I could tell you.

Parents of the bride and groom

 All the guys managed to avoid getting sunburned on their wakeboarding outing earlier that day.

Groom with his father-in-law and cousin.  Happiness! 

Rob's parents put together a photo slide show of Rob and Whitney growing up for the rehearsal and the cutest personal poem with a stream of Chicago-themed gifts for the couple.

After a delicious dinner at Berryhill, Rob gave the guys their groomsman gifts.

Jeremy was astounded because it was pretty much his favorite thing on earth... an Apple product.  This, my friends, is an AppleTV.  What is an AppleTV, you ask?  It's okay, I had to ask, too.  Basically, it is a device that connects your television to the internet so that you can stream Netflix, YouTube, etc.  You can even rent movies from AppleTV.  I admit, like all other Apple products, it's a pretty cool device.

JJ was pretty excited about his AppleTV, too.  His expression reads more "enthused" than "astounded", though.

On their wedding day, after the bride and groom's first look, it was time for wedding party photos.  The {photographer} had spotted a really cool wooden fence as a background, so we hiked over for some pictures.

This moment just cracked me up!  I'm not sure if we're going Monkee's walk or Red Rover here or something entirely different, but it was too classic not to snap a picture.

Whitney was stunning.

Somewhere right around here, Taylor (the photographer) started saying, "I love your wedding!  It's so much fun!"  It may have been all the hilarious comments she was getting.  She hadn't seen anything yet.

And where these guys go, silliness follows closely behind!

Beautiful!

That's my guy... lookin' good!

The courtyard they married in was such a beautiful venue.

They branded their whole wedding.  Super clever... notice how it changes after the ceremony.

Waiting for his bride...

This is where I fell prey to "short person who isn't allowed to wear heels for several more weeks at the end of the row" syndrome and didn't get any pictures of Whitney during the ceremony.

The ceremony was beautiful and personal.  I loved that there was a perfect combination of seriousness, joy and laughter throughout.

Afterwards, we were invited inside for a reception of all kinds of mouth-watering food, drinks, and desserts.

Seriously, check out this cake...

I told you they branded their wedding!  So amazing.

And they had Marble Slab on site, which was awesome.

Each table had a small notebook with a question on the front.  Ours said, "If Rob and Whitney had a celebrity couple name, what would it be?"  For me, this was a no brainer, you see, I started using it the moment they were engaged:  Rob doB and Whit doB.  It's catching on... promise.

The first dance!

It was choreographed.  They played it up.  It.was.adorable.

And a dip to end the dance.

Father-Daughter Dance

Mother-Son Dance

And then, I don't have any photos because we got out on the floor and had a B-L-A-S-T.  Once the DJ got everyone going on the Cupid Shuffle, then came out to make sure we all knew how to Dougie, the rest was a whole lot of silliness and fun.  I cannot wait to see the official wedding photos!  The ones of these two guys are going to be a serious riot.

It was fun getting to know Jess & JJ better, too!

This is Jill.  We went to the same college, but not at the same time.  Her hubby, Josh, is Rob's best friend and the best man.  It was great to see them again!  Those two totally make me laugh.

We went outside to see the newlyweds off under a canopy of sparklers.

It was such a fun wedding and I'm looking forward to many more fun times with Rob doB and Whit doB!