...COUSIN OF THE BRIDE :)

Just hours after arriving home from Arizona, Ryan and I had an event to attend. I planned my trip out strategically so I could be in town for a birthday party that prior weekend and then this the week after. After a long flight delay, holdup, everything else, I made it home in one piece, in time to get a little rest before the big event. So what was this big event?! What did I NEED to make it home in time for?!

My cousin, Chelsea, was getting married to Kyle!!

Chelsea is my first cousin. She has been dating Kyle (who is also like a cousin now) for a few years and Chelsea has (they have) a little girl, Kayden. They got engaged earlier this year and Kyle, as sweet as he is, also asked Kayden. They planned their wedding for this date and I knew I could NOT miss it.

My cousins Kelli, Kari, Danny (Kari’s boyfriend), Ryan, and I had all planned to go together to the wedding. But due to last minute fill-ins and the Hawkeye game, we didn’t all get together as planned but the majority of us did. Kelli and I got ready for the wedding that day while Ryan and Danny pouted about the Iowa game and their loss in the living room and bedroom. Finally, when everyone started scrambling around and getting ready, my cousin Ashlee asked if her, Scott, and Faye could come over! Boy oh boy, we had a full house!!

After everyone got ready, not minus the mishaps—Ryan cut himself shaving and bled all over his pink dress shirt-- we all rushed out the door and piled in cars and headed to the wedding.

We got there, got our seats, moved around a few times, then finally settled in and got to watch Chelsea and Kyle wed!! It was a very short, very sweet, and PERFECT wedding ceremony. Chelsea looked gorgeous in her ivory colored dress and Kyle looked like a different guy all dressed up!! They had their (Chelsea’s) daughter walk down the isle with Chelsea and take Kyle’s arm also. She wasn’t the flower girl but part of the bride, which I found very cute and so true in more ways than one.

After the weddings and the greetings, we all headed to the reception to spend the rest of the evening eating yummy food, drinking, and dancing. We all laughed about our Uncle Randy’s speech to Kyle and enjoyed some of the stories that were told. It was a very good family-filled evening and we were blessed to be included. Congratulations, Chelsea and Kyle, and we all wish you a lifetime of happiness!!

MY little flower girl, Faye, and Scott

Ryan, myself, Kari, and Danny

We were still trying to get a "good" pic

Group shot--Ryan, myself, Kari, Danny, Scott, Ashlee, Kelli

Again...

All of us girl cousins plus Kyle

Kyle and some of us in the back...not sure who took this!

We were getting ready to leave and we looked over at the guys and they were all standing there, with their hands in their pockets, and all looked the same lol

BCF <3

The classy bathroom pic ;)

This is a terrible pic of Ryan but him and Danny apparently cant sit somewhere without destroying the tablecloth! Are they barbarians?!

Ryan and I

...THANKFUL FOR...

With Thanksgiving week (including Turkeyday and Black Friday) in full swing, my Facebook wall is blowing up with posts about what people are thankful for. If you have me as a friend on there, you’ve probably realized I have not done that though. I have refused to bore people with my “30 Days of Thanks” on Facebook due to a lack of time and lack of interest. Instead, I saved it all for my faithful blog followers..that’s you!

So, without further ado, here are just a few things I am thankful for, in no particular order…[I literally went through and mixed them up so nothing took priority (except Ryan) over anything else, so enjoy the chaos of this post ;)]

1.First and foremost, (and yes, this is in its proper place) I am thankful for my better half (Ryan) each and every single day. You have

probably heard entirely too much about him and what he means to me (skip over this meltdown sesh if so), but words are never enough. He truly is a saint—not only does he put up with my crazy, but he also loves me for it. He could choose any other girl in the world and he chose me--the girl who freaks out over nothing, who can’t ride in a car without getting anxiety, and who has listened to the Taylor Swift cd daily for over a year. I am nothing special but he certainly is and I am so thankful to have him in my life.

2.My grandma. Honest to God, my Grandma Pudge is truly one of my best friends. That sounds absolutely nuts to a lot of people I’m sure and probably doesn’t sound believable to others but believe it! She is one of the only people, and maybe THE only person, that truly understands me. She always seems to “get” why I am upset, why I am frustrated, why I am happy and always knows just what to say to counteract it if necessary. Just from a simple phone call, she can tell from the tone of my voice if something is going on or not, and whether or not she needs to intervene—which sometimes just means telling me to calm down. From taking me to Sikeston, MO (8 hours away) to watch a high school boyfriend’s baseball games for an entire week and letting us switch hotels 3 times to follow the boys, to being able to say exactly the right thing when I am crying, she is amazing and for her, I am thankful.

3.My beauty products! I know this may sound slightly materialistic and fake but that’s ok because I truly am thankful for these things. More specifically, I am thankful for Clinique for making a face wash system that (sometimes) works on my face, MAC for making makeup that hides what the Clinque didn’t fix, and the tanning bed for making it all look just a little better. Oh, and Covergirl for literally making the only eye liner that doesn’t make my eyes water and appears to make me look less tired every morning, now that deserves thanks! Without these things, most of my confidence (and probably Ryan) would be gone, so for them, I am thankful! : )

4.Itunes. And no, I don’t consider being thankful for Itunes being materialistic. To me, Itunes is like having a therapist, and who wouldn’t be thankful for their therapist?! I listen to my music every.single.day…multiples.times.a.day. Music is what makes me happy, what makes car rides and parties more enjoyable, and what makes me think I can sing like Taylor Swift, Lil Wayne, and Adele and for that, and them, I am thankful.

5.I am thankful for my family. It sounds so cliché but they have truly made me who I am today. My stepdad is the kindest, most understanding, and caring person you will ever meet. He has everyone’s best interest in mind and that is hard to manage with such a big family. He would put himself last in any situation if it meant pushing us ahead. He has such a good work ethic and is truly a good role model for all of us. My mom would give me the world if she was able. She is always there for us no matter what and truly loves us unconditionally. She is still the one I call when I have a cold or the one I call when I’m leaving school crying because I had such a bad day. She handpicks the majority of our Christmas/birthday presents and literally makes us cupcakes/cookies/whatever for every single holiday, birthday, anniversary, Hawkeye party celebration. That sounds so minor, but getting a handmade card from your mom and cookies cut into “happy birthday, Audrie” means a lot and never fails to put a smile on my face. My brother(s) and sister(s), especially Abigal and Vinny are amazing as well. We are all sooo different, yet so alike in certain ways. Abigal and I were blessed to be born less than 2 years apart, giving me a partner through life, and Vinny is so sweet and so funny, he is a blessing just to be around! And Abigal, thank you for giving me Sol, that also is a pure form of love. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever loved anything (yet) before it was born before him!

6.My Blackberry. If there was an ode written for love of a Blackberry I would enter it here. My Blackberry provides me with reading material, music-on-the-go, updates in people’s lives (via Facebook), and communication. I cannot get through a single day without Facebook stalking, blog reading, Pandora listening, and bbm’ing my cousins. So thanks, crackberry.

7.Dezi and Bella, aka the bitches, aka Debbie and Bill, aka c u next Tuesday and Stanker, aka the girls. These two little rug rats are my (and Ryan’s) world. They have taught me to put others, including them, before myself, they have taught me to use my time more wisely and actually have a schedule, and they have taught me what unconditional love really looks like; they are the purest form of unconditional love there is. I honestly never thought I could love something so small and so “animal-like” so much but I WAY underestimated myself and my capacity to love them. I love their sweet personalities, I love their laziness, I love their “guard dog” mentality but their “stuffed animal” look, I love their wild hair 99% of the time… I love everything about them!

8.Target’s $17 yoga pants: capri and full length. Target’s yoga pants are every girl’s dream. They are comfort approved, wallet approved, period approved, workout approved, and guy approved. If you don’t own a pair, Target is open late for the holidays, go now. And if you do, I’m sure they are on your top 10 things to be thankful for too. So thanks, Target.

9.Ryan and I’s jobs. Just watching the nightly news and seeing the sky high unemployment rate makes me thankful for both Ryan and I’s jobs. I am blessed to be able to do what I love, and Ryan is blessed to make enough money for me to be able to do what I love. We are both fortunate in this aspect of our lives and though we may complain about working, we would complain more if we weren’t able. Also, without out our jobs, I wouldn’t be able to afford some of the other things on this list, so for our jobs, I am very thankful.

10.Friends and cousins. I believe the saying “you are who you surround yourself with” holds true. I truly believe I have some of the best and most beautiful friends/cousins a girl could ask for, both inside and out. They are smart, funny, and fun, but most importantly, they are loyal. They are loyal in the sense that they are always there when I need them, and so loyal that they would stick up for me “even when they know I’m wrong.” I have high standards for friends but also hold high quality over high quantity. I feel like I’ve picked my wolf pack pretty wisely thanks to my high standards and am blessed to have every single one of them in my life and thankful they have chosen to remain there.

So, these are all just a FEW things I am thankful for, of course my list could go on and on. I am thankful for so many things and blessed to have such wonderful family and friends in my life; thank you all!!

...IN LOVE WITH MY LITTLE PEANUT!!

On the 28th of October, my sister gave birth to a healthy and precious little boy!! Solomon Davis arrived into this world that afternoon and the following day at 3pm, they were released to go home! Abigal and Nathan took their sweet little bundle of joy back home and began family life.

Not knowing for sure when he was coming, I bought my plane ticket to go visit (see below posts, they live in Arizona) for the following week after he was due. Of course he would come exactly when scheduled since I bought my ticket late, but that’s ok, I was still MORE than excited to meet him!!

Abigal, Nathan, and Sol picked me up at the airport late the evening I arrived. I was sooo excited for the last hour or so of the flight I could barely sit still. I wanted to see Abigal badly (it has been several months) but could hardly wait to hold that new baby!! The minute I got there I ran to the bathroom to wash my hands and then cuddled the little guy and didn’t want to put him back in his car seat. Sooo tiny, sweet, and adorable.That evening we got home and all got ready for bed as it was pretty late. I cuddled Sol as much as I could before nearly passing out from being so exhausted.

The following few days we did a lot of lounging around, cooking, cuddling, and running errands. Of course, with a new baby and Nathan back to work, I was there more to visit and help out than to sitesee anyway. I loved just sitting around, feeding and dressing him, and helping out Abigal in any way I could.

However, we didn’t stay cooped up in the house the entire time. We did a couple of really cool things that Abigal knew were right up my alley of “fun”. One day, we went to a pottery painting place. I have never been to one of these places and have always seen them on movies and thought “that looks fun!” I always LOVED art classes in high school and loved painting and pottery the most, so this was absolutely perfect. It was literally one of the most fun things I have done in sooo long. Basically, you walk in and look around and pick out whatever you feel like you want to paint that day. Then you get your colors, paint brushes, stencils, whatever you feel like you want to decorate your pottery with. Then, you paint away! This, of course, is the most fun part. It was not only fun to “concentrate” and try to make a real masterpiece (haha) but also relaxing. There were only about 5 people in there besides Abigal and I and it was so calm. Abigal and I just chatted away about everything from Sol to jobs and even made fun of the ladies’ behind us awkward conversation. We even went and ordered soda and salads from a nearby health food store and brought it back to eat while we painted. About 4 hours after we began, we finally had everything painted and were ready to give it to the lady and head home. She then has to fire it, which takes a few days, and said she would call us later in the week when it was finished. I was soo excited to get all my things back and see the final product!! (oh, and the final products are dishwasher and microwave safe so you can use them all the time, how cool is that?)

Another day (the day before I was to leave) Abigal wanted to take me to Whiskey Row which was in a town a little bit further away. Basically, it is a street with a bunch of little shops and such. We had lunch and spent the day walking around there, going in and out of little shops (even a cool pet boutique) and buying random things; all the while baby Sol slept. After spending the entire day out and about we headed back home for the afternoon. We weren’t in the car but 4 minutes and Sol started absolutely screeeaming. He was mad and I had never heard him cry like that before. We tried talking to him and reaching back and giving him his pacifier but none of it worked. Finally, going about 75 down the interstate, I said I would climb in the back with him and see if I could get him to calm down. So you can picture how graceful that was. Here is Abigal driving down the interstate, me all in her business and feet flying everything, trying to dive in the back seat, and Sol screaming at the top of his lungs. Of course I had the tightest pair of jeans and boots on that I own, making the dive to the backseat even more difficult and dangerous. I’m pretty sure if there was a tape recording of this we would be famous for the utter chaos. Long story short, he was fine, he just is spoiled from being held all day and didn’t want to be in his car seat! Little turd.

Besides those few adventures and other random things here and there such as dr. appointments, we really just all enjoyed our time together. We watched a few movies and Abigal and I stayed up way too late on several nights literally just talking and laughing. I’m sure this didn’t help her sleep situation with a new baby but hey, I was there to help, so it was like he had THREE people taking care of him temporarily. By the end of all of it, Sol recognized my voice which made me super happy!! The first time I knew he recognized it was when he was fussing and I had just gotten out of the shower and walked over to him and started talking to him and he instantly stopped. I told Abigal how excited I was and she noted that he probably recognized it because he hasn’t been around anyone other than Nathan and her since he was born, no one at all. Also, a few days into it, Abigal and Sol had gotten up for the morning and I heard her and yelled at her that I was awake so she didn’t have to be quiet and she said “OMG Sol just heard your voice and opened his eyes the instant he heard you” it totally melted my heart. <3 I am so so so glad I went down there to visit and despite the trouble I had getting back home and how much I missed Ryan and the girls, NOTHING compares to being able to see him when he is just that little and being able to spend quality time with family. My little peanut will never be that little again and I may not see him for several months so it was definitely worth it. THE WHOLE REASON I WENT DOWN THERE

POTTERY PAINTING

What to choose, what to choose??

Such a cute little store!!

Finally chose my creations..before

a work in progress

ready to be fired

All of my creations ready to be fired--my soup bowl, Ryan's pizza plate, Dezi and Bella's ornament

Yay!! So proud of myself

My soup cup. I wrote a quote from "The Notebook" on it that I love :)

This little heart actually sticks up in my dish..like it looks like you could pull it out but you can't, obviously.

Sleeping baby

Still snoozin'

Abi's products ready to be fired. She made a plate and a coffee mug and we put Sol's hand and foot print on it :)

RANDOM PICS

The day I left Ryan had to work so I spent the day with a friend and her fam before she took me to the airport. She is so stinkin' cute, she literally smiles when she sees a flash on a camera every single time..I was impressed :)

The sandwich I ordered one day for lunch..literally could not fit my mouth around it!

A picture I took for the girls, Yorkshire Drive :)

My luggage tag

What I got to stare at on the plane, an exit isle.

The library where Abigal lives. If this was in MY town, I'd go there all the time! So jealous!!

The little shops on Whiskey Row

A pig on Whiskey Row. Keepin' it classy ;)

MOUNTAIN PICS

This is how goofy Abigal and I are—Abigal hates Nathan’s dog, Kit. She wants nothing to do with him and tells him to get away from her every chance she gets. She even said that one time when they were up in the mountains he ran off and she contemplated not telling Nathan for awhile so he would be long gone, but as you could guess, she is not that mean. I love tiramisu cake pops from Starbucks but they have a dark chocolate piece on the center that I hate, we even contemplated him “accidentally” getting into the chocolate and well, croaking. BUT, since these are both cruel and unusual punishment and something we would never ever actually do, we decided we would start blaming Kit for everything, I mean everything. The light turning red when we were driving? Kit’s fault. Forgetting to take the trash out? Kit’s fault. Me forgetting to pack a razor? Obviously Kit’s fault. The wild fire up in the mountains? Kit caused it. The long line at Target? Kit.

So we are hoping Nathan will get the picture that Kit is causing all these problems, like world hunger, and give him to his parents.

Who is to blame for all my typos in this post? Kit of course!