Uncle Wull

My brother got married! It was so beautiful and meaningful and I'll post about it once I get some pictures (send me pictures if you read this and you have some!). I was too busy bridesmaiding and socializing to take any pictures.

My sister-in-law (yea!) gave us such cool bridesmaid gifts. First, she gave us monogrammed travel jewelry cases.


So fun. I'm already planning to use it for my trip.

AND she went to this place downtown, The Beaded Frog, and designed earrings for us! She designed them, they were specially made for us and they are beautiful! Isn't that a cool gift? I had no idea there was a place in Greenville that did this.I put this picture in so you can see the earrings. Except you can't really see them unless you make it really big. But you can see my hair- I was very pleased with the girl who did it. And you can't see how ginormous I am because my arm is blocking my belly. And I'm talking to Jennifer who is due one week after me and doesn't look nearly as ginormous as I do. (Its her second also.)

Pics From a Spring Evening

I haven't done many pictures lately so here you go....

Picnicking with Daddy

My baby girl who is growing up way too fast

Family picture at Movies In The Park

32.5 Weeks

Meal Planning

Tonight I made potatoes out of a box. I actually cringed as I made them. The "potatoes" looked like potato chips and the "cheese" was a powder. I got them basically free since our Food Lion has been having some triple coupon weeks but I still was wondering what in the world I was putting into my body and my daughter's body (J was at class).

I've been working on simplifying my meal planning. I'm trying very hard to keep our grocery bill under $200 a month. I have found a system that is really working for me although I realize some of you will think its totally boring. That is ok- its not for everyone.

Basically I'm compiling 30 recipes (my goal is 30- I'm still working on it) that we love and will plan my meals for the month from those recipes. I do like to try new recipes but I'm limiting myself to one new recipe (main or side dish) a week. We don't eat the meals in the same order and we will probably never need all 30 but I like having that many to choose from. I'm putting my tried and true recipes together in my recipe notebook that I received at a wedding shower. I'm tired of having my recipes scattered through out many cookbooks, half pieces of paper, recipe cards and my favorites folder on my computer.

This has really helped our grocery budget because I'm cooking the same recipes every month. So I have most of the ingredients on hand. That spice I bought a bottle of but only used 1/2 tsp- I can use another 1/2 tsp and it costs me nothing that month.

So there you have it. Do you have a method for planning meals? Organizing recipes? I'm always looking to make this a more enjoyable, easier process.

Jill's Wedding

Jill got married um back in December but I never talked about it or really shared any pictures. Since this is my blog and I feel like doing that today, I am disregarding blogging rule #43 about sharing current events. Current enough.

G105 together again. We drove up the mountain and rehearsed how Jilly would get married. Then we headed to the camping ground (okok it was the lodge at the camping ground) for some Woodland's BBQ and bluegrass music. And lots of Craig's family talking for a long time.

Afterwards the girls took Jill out drinking for the last (and first) time as a single gal. And its by Lowe's the food place not Lowe's the hardware place.

Jill got married at 8pm on New Year's Eve. Craig & Jill invited about eighthundredbazillion people to their church that seats two hundred and parks twenty. They arranged to have a shuttle from the reception (bottom of hill with parking) up to the church (top of hill) and back down. The first thing Craig says to Jill after they marry and return to the bride's room was "Man the parking situation worked out GREAT!"

Jill danced with her dad. He wore sneakers. He never left the dance floor from this moment on. He danced his little heart out. We partied till the new year came and rang it in monogrammed style.

Happy 2008!

Making my way to Hawaii one baby step at a time

I sold my first item on Craigslist! I found our old antenna for our tv and I didn't really think anyone would want it but I just wanted to see what all was involved with posting something for sale on Craigslist. What do you know? Someone wanted that antenna. We met at Target and I am now $5 closer to Hawaii!!! *looking around to see what else I can list on Craigslist*



So we have enough miles to fly to Hawaii and back for free. For all you people who have been to Hawaii or have looked into it, how much money do you think we'll need for a week of lodging, transportation, food and fun stuff? And a helicopter ride. Because this may be my only chance to ever go to Hawaii and I want to see it from a helicopter.

Grant is Gone

My father-in-law sawed off the letters spelling Grant in the third bedroom this week. We've got a tiny bit of patching to do and then painting and it would be nice if we had a name to put back up in that space. Unfortunately, Jonathan & I can't seem to find any names that we both like :)

So I'm asking you for help. I'm not asking for YOUR names that you want to use for future daughters. Just leave us some name suggestions for our baby girl.

Last time we did this, Adam & Andrea found the name Kiran and left it for us and we knew that was it. So I'm hopeful this will work again.

What is our baby girl's name?