Keith and Karen's Wedding 1.8.11

Stephen, Martin, Millie, and Bella all got to be in the wedding.  What an honor!  I was able to sit and watch quite comfortably with Elaina, James and Lydia.  We sat next to Aunt Margaret which was a huge plus and she helped with Elaina.  Lydia, bless her heart, sat quietly the whole time in her car seat at my feet.  I had the hambone to keep occupied.  He didn't do bad at all.  I was so grateful for how everything worked out.

If you can find Martin in this picture, you will notice that he is winking.  Unbeknownst to Stephen and I, he winked the whole way down the isle.  You will see from the faces on the guests that it was quite humorous.

 There are the girls with the bridesmaids.

There is Stephen and Martin with the rest of the guys.

Here are some after the wedding photo's.  

 Mr. Herzog's entire side of the family.

 Mrs. Herzog's entire side of the family.

The Herzog immediate family.

Our little family.

 3 generations

 Keith and Karen with their flower girls and ring bearers.  I was so excited, because I was able to re-hem the girls dresses that they wore 2 years ago to 2 different weddings (when we bought them they were about 6 inches long and I hemmed them accordingly) and they still fit!  Yea- talk about saving money.  Oh, and Martin's suit unfortunately didn't fit him from 2 years ago. I prayed that the Lord would help me find one that would fit him for under $20.00.  I was so grateful to the Lord for answering my prayers, because He led me to this one at a resale shop for a total of $19.96.  Also, the black and white we wore the night before at the rehearsal dinner, what we didn't have, I was able to find at goodwill and resale shops.  I get so excited when I find great deals!

My sweetheart and me.

Rehearsal Dinner 1.7.11

Stephen and I had quite a fun opportunity.

Mrs. Herzog was doing so much for the wedding, and didn't have much time to focus on the rehearsal dinner. I asked her if I could do it for her and she said yes.  I was so excited!  My mind got to thinking right away of what we could do.  I knew she had lasagne's for supper, so I thought about going Italian with the decorations.  One of our favorite tings to eat is bread, dipped in olive oil with either fresh cracked pepper or herbs in the oil.  I decided to have that and salad with the lasagna.  As far as the decorations, I wanted to get some artificial grapes to drape around, but quickly found that was not economical.  They were way to expensive.  I talked with my mom in Guam (I wanted everything to be a surprise for Mrs. Herzog) and she suggested using fresh grapes.  I was thrilled with the idea.  Even though they were not in season, I managed to get plenty to use as decoration and doubled them as an appetizer!  We also put some cubed cheese on the platters of grapes and it looked so colorful.  We covered the tables in white butcher paper and put some crayons out for the people to color on the tables with.  The guests seemed to enjoy themselves and we had a great time as well!

 Stephen and the kids and I all wore black and white and were the servers throughout the evening.  There were just over 40 guests that were seated not including our family of 8 and the helpers in the kitchen.  The kids had a great time walking around serving drinks, offering pieces of lemon for their water or tea.  They helped pass out the plates of lasagna that we had on platters, and helped with refills.  It was quite a job remembering if someone wanted sweet or un-sweet tea and making sure it got to the correct destination without an accident of either them spilling it or attempting to take a sip before giving it to the recipient.  Thankfully we did not spill one drink, plate of lasagna or plate of pie.  Everything worked out quite well.

 This was an extra table we had in the corner.  We had extra loafs of french bread, grapes and cheese, olives, olive oil and lemons.  The beautiful framed "H" came from my Grandma Hawk.  She sent it to us for Christmas.  It make for a pretty display and was perfect not only for us in our home, but to use for decoration since the rehearsal dinner was for Keith Herzog.

 We had a display table of photographs of the weddings that had taken place in both Keith and Karen's family.  It is so beautiful thinking of the heritage we have received and the one we are leaving for our children. What a responsibility.

 Here is a table for 4 with the bread and olive oil and a little refill jar of oil, a candle, and the grape and cheese platter.

These are the plates of food that we served to everyone.  Sarah and Josh Masters and Andi Kendrick stayed in the kitchen and made the plates while Stephen and I and the kids passed them out.  It really went very smooth.  Thanks to Sarah, Josh and Andi for all your help!

I was so excited for this opportunity, and so grateful to the Lord for how everything worked out.  It was so much fun and I would love to do it again!

A Party For Keith and Karen 1.2.11

Stephen and I wanted to have a party for both Keith and Karen instead of a shower just for girls.  We had some married couples, along with some single young people that came.  There was quite a good turnout and we had a really good time.  They received some nice things to decorate their house for Christmas next year, we had a bonfire, listened to 20 questions and answers that they were asked out loud about each other, and enjoyed some Mexican food.  It was a great evening!

Keith's Bachelor Party 1.1.11

Keith wanted to go golfing for his bachelor party, so all the guys that were going, met up at our house that morning to have breakfast.  Nathaniel Traylor brought all the food for waffles, pancakes, eggs and bacon.  He put together an outstanding breakfast.  It was quite a site watching all the guys in our kitchen trying to cook.  They sure had it going on!  At one point, Nathaniel asked Stephen for some pam and Stephen quickly starts looking all over the kitchen trying to figure out where I keep the pam.  He looks in the upper cabinets, the drawers, the lower cabinets, and since he can't find it any of those places he checks... under the sink.  Nathaniel starts to laugh and says "You know, I don't live here, but my guess is that it wouldn't be under the sink."  I came in at this point and asked what they were looking for and showed them the cabinet that I keep the pam in.  Stephen looked as cute to me in my kitchen as I probably look to him when I am in the shed at the farm looking for something.  I was proud of them all.  They did great!  They all ate, got full, then headed toward Stoneham to go golf.  

 Stephen making waffles.

 Buzzing around in the kitchen.

Chanse and Cole Boy actually in the kitchen cooking.  I had to get a picture for their mom.

 Keith and Stephen.

 Papa Troy and Mr. Chandler.

 Uncle Richard, Shan and Nate.

 Matt Hurley, the back of Karen and Jacob.

Mr. Traylor, Keith, Kevin, Sarah, Cole Boy

Now you have to understand that golfing isn't Stephen's favorite thing to do, but he wanted to be there for Keith so while they were all gone, he asked Sarah and I to make up a scavenger hunt for them to do when they got back (which was something he really wanted to do...lots of action and physical energy expelled :)  It took us the entire time they were gone (which was about 5 hours) to figure out just what we were going to do, plan out how to do it, get it done, and watch the little ones.  Sarah and I really did have a great time.  I always enjoy being with her, and going around the farm with all our kids in the little red truck hiding close pins was great fun.  We hid 10 of them for each team (that being a total of 20) and then came up with clues to point the teams in the right direction.  It only took them a little over an hour to find all the close pins.

 This was Kevin's team:

Jacob, Whistler, Stephen, Martin, Kevin and Chanse.

This was Keith's team:

Cole, Josh, Keith Shan, Lane and Kerry.

Our Way Home 12.23.10

On our way home, Stephen said that we could go up to Colorado Springs and see Jerry and Erin and their new baby girl.  I was so excited and grateful for the last minute change of plans.  We only spent about an hour and a half there, but it was nice getting to see them and their daughter, Elizabeth Madison Piper Roland.

 There is Millie and James excited to see her "AuntieEM" and little Piper.

 Uncle Jerry let the kids play with some of his army things down in the basement.  They had a blast running around down there in between all the boxes.

Erin and I with our new little babies.  Lydia was 4 months old and Piper was 2 weeks old.  I forget how little they are when they are first born.

Thanks Jerry and Erin for the visit.  It was so much fun getting to see where they lived and their house that I have herd so much about.

On our way home we did a lot of driving straight...meaning not to many stops.  The kids were getting the cooped up feeling and kind of cabin fever feeling.  We did find a park one time and stopped and played for 30 minutes or so.  

 That night we made it to Wichita Falls, TX and we celebrated Brian Forbes birthday for him.  I think it has been a tradition for him to go to a fun pizza place for his birthday for quite some time.  (He was actually up in the north with his family for Christmas, we were just thinking of him and the birthdays we had celebrated with him in the past).  We were in need of expelling some energy and in need of some supper, so we put the tree together and found a Chuckie Cheeses.  It was nice because it was close to closing time by the time we got there and the dinner rush was gone.  Thank you Stephen and Happy Birthday Brian!

More of the Colorado Vacation

Sorry it has been such a long time since posting.  I have attempted to do this for days now, and just haven't had the time.  This is a collage that Stephen and I made up of our family on the Colorado trip.  We only included pictures of our family and one group shot that you can see in the center.  There are tons more, but I think I will leave it at this since I want to do a post on so many other things that have happened since Christmas.  We truly had a wonderful time in the beautiful winter wonderland.  We hope to go back when the kids are about 4 or 5 years older.