Waynchel Wedding Weekend

Ahh!! Rachel and Wayne are MARRIED! (Well, honestly they have been married for over two months now, but let's pretend like it's brand new). Their wedding weekend was seriously the best weekend ever. After deciding to move the wedding date up, we had a little over two weeks to get everything together. It was pretty stressful, but overall, the wedding was absolutely perfect. We headed to Abilene on Friday, June 1st to have Rachel's Bachelorette Party! We weren't really sure what we were going to do in Abilene, but we ended up having dinner at the Beehive and ended the night at The Warehouse. It was actually a ton of fun--a pleasant surprise.

The group before dinner

Em and the bride

Rach was very popular on the dance floor :)

The next day, we woke up early and attended the cutest little bridal brunch for Rachel. The food was A-mazing and we love any excuse to dress up and take pictures. 

The bride and bridesmaids!

As it turns out, I had sweet friend getting married on June 2nd (the day before Rach) in Abilene too! So in between all of Rachel's festivities, a few of us snuck away to celebrate Leah & Tyler's big day! They were married at the Paramount Theater and all the little details were just perfect--so Leah! 

All the Siggies at the wedding

You were SO gorgeous Mrs. Sutphen! So thankful to be able to celebrate your day with you!

We ended Saturday night with Waynchel's rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. It was really special to be able to be surrounded by all of their closest friends and family for a few hours. Wayne and Rachel are SO loved by so many people, it was really a special time of celebration.

With the groom at the rehearsal dinner. It is still hilarious to me that Wayne and I went to high school together, but were NOT friends. Crazy how life turns out! So thankful that we fixed that problem :)

Now, on to Sunday: WEDDING DAY! We woke up early to go out to the reception venue and set up all of the decorations and cute DIY crafts Rachel had made. 

The ladies in our Waynchel Wedding Weekend t-shirts, of course.

The bride with her momma and momma in law!

Then it was off to the church to get ready! Minus a few injuries, we had lots of fun hanging out and getting ready. The whole day was calm and relaxed!

This is the face of a super excited groom ready to see his soon-to-be wife!

Putting on THE dress. Commence the pictures and tears...

Stunning!

Look at how crafty our little bride is!

After their first look! They are just the cutest couple ever.

Getting ready to walk down the aisle!

So glad our sweet friends made the trip to Abilene for the wedding!

The Goodmans!

Wayne was a math major in college, and he loves pie....get it?

Cutting the cake

BM & MOH toasts

My dancing partner for the night--Kamryn, the flower girl!

I am so happy for you two! I am so glad I was able to be a part of your special celebration. You two are SO perfect for each other and I am so glad that you found each other!

For more pictures of the Waynchel wedding, check out their photographer's blog.

(or if you want to see the most hysterical pictures of a bridal party, check it out)

Cinco de P

Okay--you all know that I will find any excuse to throw a themed party. So when my friend Rachel got engaged, and we started planning her lingerie shower for a date in May, we all tried to be as creative as possible. Sooo after much brainstorming, we settled on a Cinco de Mayo themed lingerie shower (not-so-appropriately called "Cinco de Penis"--it WAS a lingerie shower after all!) 

Rachel's sister, Amanda, made this adorable colorful cake!! This is only the second cake she has made like this!! Isn't it great?!

We all had so much fun making crafts and setting up this totally Mexican affair!

As guests arrived, they signed a special book and left Rachel a note and/or their best "honeymoon night" advice.

We had a great spread of cookies, chips, Sharky's spicy ranch (duh), and Caldwell's famous margaritas. 

We also made our own little photobooth, complete with props and a chalk board!

With the beautiful bride-to-be!

We had so much fun watching Wayne's video and watching Rach open up all of her goodies! Then, when all the guests left, we had a little photobooth fun of our own :)

I know I might be biased, but I really feel like it was the best lingerie party ever. Thanks to everyone who came--we love you all!

Phil, Mitchell & Cam: My New BFF's

During one of my random visits to Abilene last spring, my old boss and co-workers mentioned that they would be coming to Dallas to see the filming of "Inside the Actor's Studio" for Modern Family. They said they would get me an extra ticket, but I honestly didn't even give it another thought. 

A few weeks later, I found out this was for real and that I would be seeing Ty Burrell (Phil), Jesse Tyler Furgeson (Mitchell) and Eric Stonestreet (Cam)! I'm not the most religious watcher of Modern Family, but if you know me, you know that I am a fan of any/all celebs. Before we went over to watch the show being filmed, we went to dinner at Private Social, a restaurant owned by Tiffany Derry from Top Chef! 

She was so sweet and let us even come back into the kitchen--and of course take a picture!

This is the best photo I could get from the nosebleed seats, but it was so fun to watch them be interviewed!

They were so funny and overall the night was so much fun!

Easter 2012

This year on Easter, my parents came in town and we joined my aunt and cousins for Sunday church and lunch at their house. Even though our traditions are pretty low-key, I love any excuse to get together and spend time with my family. We enjoyed Granny's special (slightly creepy) bunny cake, and of course a custom Easter basket from the Easter bunny!

I love my sweet cousin Caroline! 

So thankful for my sweet family and the ability to celebrate Jesus' resurrection together!

My Friend Rachel

It’s been sooo long since I last posted, I’m not even sure where to start. Life has been crazy busy—but I am not complaining. Busy is always better than bored in my book. So, I have some good news and bad news…and doesn’t everyone want to start off with bad news? So here goes. At the end of March, my friend Rachel found a mass on her jaw. It was the strangest thing because (turns out) it had been there for over a year and it didn’t cause her any pain. After several weeks of tests, the doctors decided to go ahead and do surgery to try to remove it. After about 8 hours in surgery, they could only remove 90% of it because it was entangled with her facial nerves, which, if cut, could leave her face paralyzed. We made a quick Friday day trip to see Rach and she looked amazing!!!!! We could not stop talking about how great she looked after surgery. What a trooper!

                            

So fast forward a few weeks after several trips to doctors in Abilene and Houston, Rachel got the results that the mass on her jaw was a malignant tumor. The type of cancer she has is a very long complicated word, but we like to refer to it as weird cheek cancer. The doctors at MD Anderson decided that the best plan of action was to do another surgery to remove the remaining tumor, followed by 8 weeks of radiation in Houston. Now, here is where the whole plan gets a little tricky. Rachel and her fiancé Wayne were planning to get married at the beginning of August…which would prove to be a little bit tricky in the middle of radiation treatment. So, why put off a good thing, right? Waynechel decided to move the wedding up to June 3^rd…About 3 weeks after she got the treatment plan. Those few weeks were CrAzy—complete with frantic planning, crying, adjusting, phone calls and mass emails (both wedding & cancer related).

You see, having a 23-year-old friend with cancer is a tricky, tricky thing. Obviously, no one would choose this path for themselves or someone they love, so it is a hard pill to swallow. Cancer is just a heavy word that leaves a pretty nasty taste in your mouth (no pun intended). These last few weeks/months haven’t been easy for Rachel, Wayne or their families, but I honestly can’t think of a person with a stronger drive and support system to face something like this. I am SO thankful that Rachel has Wayne to stand by her side (as her husband, no less!) through all of the weeks of horrible-ness to come. It is just another testament to God’s perfect timing. We are all confident that Rachel is going to pull through this battle cancer-free, and it will just add to the powerful testimony she will be able to share with people one day.

So, the wedding I mentioned earlier… it was pretty much the best weekend ever. Rachel and Wayne’s wedding was on Sunday, June 3^rd, and that blog post is definitely on its way.

Please keep Rachel in your prayers over the next few weeks as she will be living in Abilene and Houston, undergoing radiation, and trying to soak up time as a newlywed with her sweet new husband (husband!!!!).