doc the halloween puppy.

is he a bat? or a gargoyle? we don't really know. all we know is he hated it. so precious. and suuuper scary.

office halloween costume contest and....ellie and i win!

i'm normally not all about costume contests, but i couldn't pass up the great many things you can do with a pregnant belly. of course, a pregnant nun was the first suggestion. i thought about dressing in all green and painting my belly green for a pea in the pod. i also thought about dressing in all blue and making my belly a fish bowl. but ultimately, what you see here won out. a bun in the oven. it's really supposed to be a cupcake, and we determined it almost looks like a coconut cream pie. but you get the picture. anyway, everything is entirely homemade with the help of landon and my mom. it was landon's idea to cut the roaster pan to fit around my waist like a tray for the cupcake. and mom made and painted everything. do you see the chef hat?! i think it's phenomenal. made out of construction paper and paper towels. love it. the whole thing cost about $5 - $3 for face paint and $2 for the pan. a pretty good return considering...I WON FIRST PLACE! ask me what first place is. A NIGHTS STAY AT THE MANSION ON TURTLE CREEK - just the only five-star hotel in dallas where the room rates start at $415. hello?! awesome. the other prizes were great too. honorable mentions were gift certificates to breadwinners, third place (which ended up split in a tie) was eight cinemark movie tickets and eight consession coupons and second place was two massages at a great spa here in uptown. incredible, huh? it was lots of fun. i don't want to work now... i think i'll dress up again tonight when i open the door for trick or treaters. i want to make doc some bat wings. i think it'd be perfect.

happy halloween!

(oh, and we're still not FOR sure on ellie, but... we're calling her that some. just to test it out.)

today, i have one word and one word only.

that word is this:

ROMO.

love it. love it so much.

it appears the world stopped on tuesday, oct. 24.

no one has blogged since then.

i'm about to break the silence.

be ready.

how big is my heart?

today i left my house without socks. i'm wearing my crocs (greatest invention EVER), and i meant to get some socks from downstairs before i walked out the door. well, i forgot. i was at the light at first and preston when i noticed.

i decided i would stop at the super target in frisco, buy something for lunch and pick up a pair of socks. the socks i bought are super cool, but that is so not the point of the story.

when i was ready to check out, i went to a lane manned by an african lady wearing a scarf over her head. she was smiling brightly, and talking to another lady in front of me about how much she liked halloween because of how sweet all the children are that come to her door. she was quite pleasant.

apparently last night was the end of ramadan, and she had a big party at her house. she told us she had 270 people over. my heaven! that is a lot of people. she said,"the children were so happy. we ate, and just spent time together."

i was really loving this lady, and i asked her how she managed to get 270 people into her house. that's a lot of people, even for a big house. and i got the impression she doesn't have a big house.

she said, "we were crowded. but it's not the house. it's the heart."

i love it.

landon and i were just discussing whether or not we'd be able to entertain in our new apartment - whether or not it'd be big enough. we figured we could probably seat 12 people comfortably. i would venture to guess the target lady's house is not much larger than our apartment, but she welcomed 270.

the fact that her heart was big enough to embrace 270 people at once was evident on her face and in her sweet spirit.

and i wondered, how big is my heart?

monumental moment.

this weekend there was a monumental moment in the baby realm. and as i asked natalie, is there really any realm but the baby realm at this point? of course not.

i was away in fredericksburg, texas with the ladies of san angelo first assembly on what was aptly named "whatever" weekend. it was their women's retreat, and i promise some photos and an update just as soon as i am able.

i was working friday night on my session for saturday morning ("whatever is pure"), and finally retired to bed around 2 a.m. everyone else in my room (kylah, jenny, amy and sheena) was already sleeping, but after i'd taken out my contacts, turned out the lights and crawled into bed, i felt something. baby girl was kicking. now, that wasn't the biggest thing. she's been kicking me for a few weeks now. and everytime she kicks, i instinctively put my hand on my belly. but this time, i felt it from the outside.

she's big and strong enough now that i can feel her kicks from the outside.

she kicked a ton, and i was beaming to myself in the dark as i felt her little hands and feet waving around inside me.

saturday night she did it again, and kylah, amy and delana got to feel it - confirming that she really is kicking harder.

i texted landon when it first happened on friday night. he didn't answer. it was 2 a.m. but i talked to him about it the next day, and then texted him sunday to tell him the girls had felt it. he was jealous. poor daddy.

so last night i told him to be ready. when we lay down, i said, put your hand on my belly and be patient.

so...he did that. we laid there for a few minutes, and we didn't feel anything. then, after awhile, landon goes, "what was that!?!" and i started laughing uncontrollably. "it was your baby girl." i couldn't stop laughing because it's such an amazing moment to feel your baby and have your husband feel her at the same time for the first time. then he started getting frustrated 'cause i wouldn't stop laughing. he wanted to feel her again.

i finally calmed down, and she waited a few more minutes then kicked again. "amazing," landon said.

it was awesome.

landon has now officially felt his daughter move.

i can't wait to lay down again tonight.

we love you, perfect baby girl. and we're so glad you're growing bigger and stronger inside there. we can't wait to touch you skin-to-skin. i can't imagine the miracle.

happy anniversary to us!

the beginning portion of our day was spend away from each other. i was helping arrange flowers for molly's wedding the next day, and landon had some work things to do. he also checked us into our hotel in frisco. little did i know, he was making things beautiful for me in that hotel also. we had a great dinner at the keg then retired to our hotel. the place was covered in tea light candles and rose petals. it was gorgeous. i also got the most beautiful amethyst necklace. it's the february birthstone so it's for my baby and my husband. so great. i love it more than any other one i saw myself. landon is so good at picking things for me. i got him a (waay boring in comparison) wallet that he badly needed. he seems to like it so that's good. we ate some bites of our cake, which tastes AT LEAST as good as it did one year ago. landon said, "i think it tastes even better!" thank you again, jackie spratt. we watched father of the bride II (how appropriate). then we slept in a really fabulously comfortable bed, and enjoyed a great early-morning breakfast while we watched the rain fall outside. it was an amazing anniversary. of course, i cried because i love landon so much. he's such an amazing husband. i'm not sure what i did to deserve him, but i'm sure glad i did it.

the top of our cake and our wedding invitation. ah, the memories.
the top of the top. i love the coarse sugar.
my wedding dress! if only i could put it on...
handsome husband at dinner.
me at dinner.
take two: had to get the food in there.
landon and i with full tummies.
my necklace! isn't it beautiful?
a hottie with a wallet.
me and my necklace.
my roses and some of my candles.
rose petals on the bed. mmmm...
our piece of cake in a tupperware. we didn't eat anywhere near all of that -- that's why i didn't bring the whole top.
close up of my pretty flowers.
me taking a bite of cake. it's hard to feed someone and take their picture from six inches away at the same time.
see what i mean? (landon taking a bite.)

molly's wedding pictures -- finally.

the wedding was really beautiful. molly looked like a queen. her dress was magnificent. the chapel was perfect. the reception was so romantic and the food there was yummy. also, i can officially add molly to the list of people whose wedding cakes actually tasted as good as they looked. the list is short, believe me. the cake was so pretty and tasted just as good! here are the photos:

pretty wedding napkins.
these are the bouquets and the altar arrangment sitting on the piano at the reception. all the flowers were done beautifully by my highly talented mother.
nat, molly and me.
the bride is always ready for a photo. =) they were so good lookin.
mike, the best man, and me. don't you love the pink vests?
nat and me.
baby e.j. look at his hair!
baby e.j. and mama, lori.
the groom's cake. fab.
the bride's cake. SO fab.
the first dance.
the bride's bouquet. it was so beautiful. good job, mom!
the flower girl. she caught the bouquet. i made the toss bouquet...

another pregnant pic.

dang... this is at molly's wedding rehearsal.

i PROMISE the wedding and anniversary pics tonight. this week has been nutso.

oh, my goodness. i really AM pregnant.

this is the first full body shot anyone's taken of me (no, not off me) since i've been pregnant. this was sunday. arranging flowers for molly's wedding. aren't they so lovely? my mom is a flower genius.

awww...

i love molly. look what went up on her blog on thursday. so sweet.

and a coming attraction, or two.

check back tonight for photos and rundown of an AMAZING first anniversary as well as a lovely wedding for my dear friend molly. see you then.

dangerous.

today my darling husband drove all the way from prosper to dallas just to eat lunch with me on his day off. we had california pizza kitchen, and it was a fantastic way to break up my day - a sleepy monday after a long weekend.

here's where the trouble begins: i ordered a pepperoni pizza, and at cpk they come with six pieces. usually i can eat four, and up to now in my pregnancy, it would've only been three. until the past few days, i've only been able to eat small amounts because i'd get full quick. well, i ate five pieces today. and landon laughed at me and said, "you could've eaten that whole thing, the last piece, if the waiter hadn't taken it away, couldn't you?"

umm... yes.

he said it was good. that it meant i was feeding our baby.

but this cannot become the norm. entire pizzas? i'll be a cow and a half before the next 17 weeks are up.

anyone wanna walk? i really need a walk... oh, and some serious tums, too.

baby name update.

currently, it's a pretty close between elizabeth kate and elizabeth claire. ellie is the landslide favorite for a first name, though. the middle name is the only catch. oh, me and landon? we still have no idea. this is everyone else's opinion. also, i've been instructed by several people to tell them as soon as i know. something about monograming or something. does that mean i can't wait until she's born to decide?

this time last year...

...i was unable to imagine that this moment would ever come. it was the day before my wedding, and, unfortunately, i had the typical bride's breakdown. this place looked nothing like it does in this photo. that was a huge debacle, and i was so hysterical that i was actually entertaining the idea that we'd call everyone that night and tell them it was moved to the church. that would have been more of a disaster than...well, anything else i can think of. as it turned out, the day of i was standing in the middle of the yard, putting floating fresh gardenias into beautiful vases filled with water, and thinking, "i'm getting married here. today. today is my wedding day, and i'm getting married here. this is so beautiful." and it was. look at it! those boys in those brown suits and the handsome preacher worked harder than i thought possible to make it like a fairytale. and everyone looked so good. God was there. the one prayer i remember praying the most was, "God, i want people to see You and feel You at this wedding." man, did He come through. i may be biased, but it's my favorite wedding of all time.


landon, there were hardly any words to describe how honored and excited i was to become your wife one year ago tomorrow. and today, after a year has flown past and we've already been through so much, there are fewer words to describe it. i thought my heart was overflowing then...i had no idea. i love you more now than i could've imagined i would on our wedding day. i am proud to be your wife. i can't wait for what our second year holds - the extension of our already incredible family. i love you with all my heart, 'til death do us part.

lennon and christal's wedding.

get ready. there are lots o' photos. i had to get this up before the lots more o' photos i'll take this weekend for molly's wedding festivities. only a week and a day late. not too bad... it was a beautiful wedding. the chapel in arlington was awesome. christal looked like a bride from a magazine. in these photos, i'm the only one who wasn't in the wedding. that's why everyone else looks so much lovlier than i. enjoy.

yummy cake and a look at why using silk flowers for decorating is a great idea.
pumpkin cheesecakes for the groom. mmm..
first appearance as man and wife. she's so beautiful.
ej, lando and 'thew dawg. hotties.
my husband practically preaching the best man speech. can you tell he's a pastor? it was the greatest best man speech i've ever heard, by the way.
the beautiful bride and groom. ay...they're so gorgeous.
me and my honey. you can't tell, but he has his hands on our daughter.
landon and my pretty sister-in-law, kylah.
me and kylah. (she liked this pose.)
papa, landon and nanny. these are delana's parents. the epitome of sweet grandparents.
oh, man. aren't they handsome? landon and his dad. david did our wedding, and he did this one as well. he's so good. like father like son.
landon and delana. love this picture.
delana and her boys. it's not obvious they're related. no...
lennon (the groom), delana, matthew and me.
kylah, christal (the bride) and me.