My BFF’s Bridal Shower

Remember months back when I announced that my BFF from High School was getting married and I was going to be in her wedding? Well, I can hardly believe it, but the wedding is 1 short month away!!!!!! Time flies. Anyway, this past Sunday was her Bridal Shower that was given by her Mom and Sister/Maid of Honor. Since all her family lives here in New Mexico she flew in from Nevada for her shower and then her Fiancé and his Best Man drove out to drive back all their lovely shower gifts back to Nevada. I am beyond excited that I was still here in New Mexico to be able to attend her Bridal Shower. I love Bridal Showers and Weddings because there is so much Love going around. I guess you can say I love, love! It was a lovely evening and even better that I got to see my sweet BFF one last time before her wedding weekend. Love you my beautiful BFF and I could not be any happier for you. You are marrying an AWESOME man and I have never seen you happier. I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness!

I totally forgot to pull out my camera until the very end of the shower while she was opening all her gifts! Guess I was enjoying my company way too much to think about pictures. Anyway, the majority of the pics are all of her opening her gifts, but you get the point. Enjoy…

Here is the Stunning Bride to Be, her sister Adela assisting her while she opens her gifts, and her niece Alicia keeping records of the gifts given. I have known her niece since she was 4 so it is still shocks me to think of her as a teenager!

Kitchen stuff,

and more kitchen stuff. I love Bridal Showers!

A couple sentimental gifts from her sister were some beautiful engraved Champagne Flutes for the Wedding Reception and the Unity Candles for during the Wedding Ceremony. Awe!

This was seriously the Sweetest Thing ever. Her fiancé snuck in, at the very bottom of her card box, a card for his bride to be. It was basically stating how lucky he is to have her and how he can not wait to become her husband. She read it aloud to us and I think all us guests were in tears. It was such a beautiful moment for her and I am 110% positive she is marrying the perfect man for her! I honestly can’t explain how happy I am for the two of them and how honored I am to stand beside them on their wedding day!

Candie, Nicole and Stephanie - The Bride to be with two of our old High School friends. It was so awesome to catch up with all these ladies!

Left: Juanita (Candie’s Mom), Candie’s Godmother Candie (Hint who she was named after), and Candies Aunt.

Right: Juanita, Candie and Candie.

Candie and Candie. Love this picture.

Candie and her sweet Fiancé Toby. The guys (Toby, their Best Man and her Dad) disappeared during the actual shower but I was lucky enough to stay after the shower to hang out with the lovely couple and to chit chat with Candies Mom and Dad. I have known Candie and her family for 12+ years so they are practically my family too!

Me and my Bestie! Love this girl soooooo much!!!!!!

5 weeks till the big day Mr. and Mrs. Baptist! Can’t wait, Love you both!!!!!!!!!!!!

Moving Progress…

We are T minus 2 days until moving day. As you can guess, things are chaotic around here. I really have no business sitting here blogging right now, but this is how I deal with things. I like to write out, document and mentally process what is going on around here. So it feeds peoples curiosity while helping me cope through this. Win win in my opinion. I really blog for myself than any other reason, its my public journal. Anyway, things around here are actually going rather well. We have packed everything that can be packed and we have unassembled all the furniture that needs to be unassembled; so now we basically wait until the moving truck gets here. Some really awesome friends are coming over tomorrow night to help Brandon move all the furniture from up stairs downstairs that way when we get the moving truck Friday morning all we have to do is load it up with no worrying about the stairs. At this point we are as organized as we will be and as mentally prepared as possible. Can’t wait to see how this next week pans out.

The plans as of now, are the following: Brandon’s Dad gets in Friday morning. While the kids and I go pick him up from the airport, Brandon and some more really awesome friends will be busy loading up the moving truck and trailer. If the truck gets loaded by 3pm, Brandon and his Dad will head up to our new home that afternoon. Brandon is driving the U-Haul pulling a U-Haul trailer and Brandon’s Dad will be driving Brandon’s car. If the truck is not loaded by 3pm Friday, then they will leave at 6am Saturday morning. As for the kids and I, we will be heading up Sunday after church. My mom actually got the week off from work so she is going to accompany the kids and I and stay at our new home until late Wednesday. The main reason for us staying behind for a day or two is to keep the kids out of the way while the moving truck is being unloaded. Crazy next couple days, but I am definitely ready to get this move done and focus on setting up our new home! Please keep us all in your prayers.

Here is the current state of our house….

 

Furniture everywhere,

The playroom is bare,

Boxes are in every corner,

And every Closet and Cabinet is empty.

We have a few random plastic cups and we are eating off paper plates and plastic silver ware. Classy, I know.

O yeah,

Eating out at some of our very favorite local Restaurants has been a MUST!

Going Away Party #2 :(

If you keep up with our blog regularly, you know that some of our wonderful friends threw us a “going away” party last Tuesday. Well, my parents and sister co-hosted a 2nd “going away” party for us yesterday for all our family. I was pretty stoked for this since there was a lot of my extended family coming who I don’t get to see as often as I would like.

I know I say this over and over, but Brandon and I are blessed beyond words by the wonderful people God has placed in our lives. We had an overwhelming turn out at yesterdays festivities and were very touched by all the sweet blessings and well wishes we were given for our family as we embark on this new adventure that God is leading us on. I am truly thankful for the amazing life and the irreplaceable loving family we have.

My Parents and Sister were so generous for opening up their home and taking the time to throw us a great “farewell” party. I teased my Mom multiple times yesterday for crying but I think all the teasing came from me trying to hide my own emotions. As excited as I am to move on and start fresh, I have a rock in my heart weighing my excitement. The “rock” is my Mom, Dad, and Sister. These three people are so instrumental in my life and they play a huge role in who I am today. Not to mention how much my kids adore them. As I sit here writing with tears streaming down my cheeks, I honestly can’t picture my family not being right down the street anymore. I guess you can call it denial. So before I move on to the picture fun from yesterday, I would like to take a brief moment to Thank my parents and sister for being so amazing:

Mom, Dad & Jessica-

You 3 have no idea just how much you mean to me, and I am positive I haven’t told you enough. You have seen me in my absolute worst of times and have been there to share in some of the best moments of my life. You have helped shape me and guide me into the women I am today and for that all I can say is ‘Thank You’. Thank you for never giving up on me and for giving me support and encouragement when I desperately needed it. I know I can be ignorant, arrogant, selfish, rude and unappreciative at times, but I love you more than you’ll ever know and I thank you for continuing to love me at my absolute worst. Thank you so much for NEVER failing to be there when I need you the most. You guys will be MISSED BEYOND WORDS. I love and adore you all!

Love, Ness

After wiping the tears from my view, here are some pictures from yesterdays festivities…

My Sister’s wonderful in-laws (Jan & Lance) brought this beautiful and AMAZINGLY GIGANTIC edible arrangement. Jan honestly has a heart of gold. She is one of the most selfless giving individuals I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She is basically like family to me and I’m honored to have her in my life. She also got us this awesome gift bag full of road trip fun and goodies for the kids and I for our drive up to our new home. Thank you so much for everything Bollinger Family. You all will be very missed!

The adorable flower cupcakes my sweet sister ordered!

Boy O Boy was there food! Yum!!

Our family hardly gets the pleasure of ALL getting together at once anymore so it was so nice to catch up with everyone! As you can tell the conversations lasted well into the night! Nothing better than family…absolutely nothing!

Of course the jumper was a must! The kids played on this nonstop.

Josiah, Autumn & Abigail

Abigail, Alicia & Autumn

My Beautiful Aunties!

 

The jumping seriously lasted well into the night.

Cutie pie Marissa. She has the most loving personality I have ever seen in a 2 year old.

Autumn and Marissa were little buddies all night. They are precious!

Uncle Gary, Mom, Brandon and Jessica.

Worlds BEST MOM!!!!!!!

and World’s BEST SISTER. I tell you, I am one lucky lady!

Me, Jessica, Auntie Bella aka nina, and Mom

Owen and Bernadette were busy playing while we were cleaning up the ‘aftermath’ from the party. She was so sweet and patient with Mr. Owen.

 

The party was a BLAST. It started at 4pm and Brandon, the kids and I didn’t get home until after 11pm. So much fun and worth every second of it.  Unfortunately it was Saturday night so the kids were really upset when we woke them at 7am for church this morning. There were moody zombies this morning. Here is what I mean…

This was Autumn’s pre-church melt down.

And we had to pry Owen off the couch to get in the car.

O’ well, guess that’s what happens after 7 hours of fun and nonstop playing outside in 100 degree weather. After church things were not much different…

Poor kid got his first terrible Head Ache. I’m pretty sure it was a migraine. A little Gatorade, lunch, and a nice loooonnnngggg nap in a quiet dark room did the trick!

 

A HUGE Thanks again to my Mom, Dad & Sister for the wonderful party. Everything was wonderful. You all are AMAZING and you will be missed beyond words. LOVE LOVE LOVE you!!!!!!!!!

You know the saying, “You never know what you have until its gone”? Well, I know what I have and I am not looking forward to it being gone :”(