The past 2 weekends

*Just to warn you, this is a very long post!*

Last weekend (June 19th weekend) Derek, Zoe, and I went back to Derek's hometown (Galva, KS). His parents, sister, brother in law, nieces, nephew, grandparents, and some aunts, uncles, and cousins still live there so we had a nice weekend spending time with all of them. I unfortanantly don't have a single picture from the weekend. It's a small town so I just left my purse in my car all weekend with my phone and camera in it. We got there pretty late Friday night so after talking to his parents for a little while, we went over to one of his friends house to talk to some friends and have a couple drinks. Saturday we spent the day playing with his nieces and nephew, sister, and brother in law at his aunt and uncles awesome pool. That night we had a bbq over there for his grandpa's 80th. We hung out with family and friends that night and headed home after breakfast on Sunday. We both had a great time and were sad to leave.

This weekend (June 26th weekend) we stayed in KC. My sister came to town Friday night so we met her and my brother and some of her friends at a bar and had some drinks. Saturday Derek and I headed to the pool after Amber left to meet up with her friends and then hung out until his friend Nick from Wichita got to town with his girlfriend. They didn't get here till almost 10 so we headed to P&L as soon as they got to town. We got down there right as a concert was getting out so it took us forever to find parking. We eventually made it inside and had a good time at Howl at the Moon bar. We had lunch with them Sunday before they left town and then Derek and I were on the hunt for me cowboy boots. After trying the mall, Tj Maxx, Shoe Carnival, and Von Maur, I finally gave up. I guess they aren't in style anymore?? We got home in time to shower and then we headed to the Tim McGraw/Lady Antebellum concert. The concert was sssooo good. I didn't ever want it to end. Love and Theft was the opening group and then Lady Antebellum came on. I thought they were awesome and will be buying their CD this week. After they were done we figured Tim would come on in 10-15 min. I didnt even think I had time to go to the bathroom cause there was NO way I was missing him come on stage. It was close to an hour before he came on stage!! Come to find out, he is in a movie with Gwyneth Paltrow so they recorded us audience to air in the movie!! They had us scream really loud a few times and then we had to chant "Kelly, Kelly" (Gwyneth Paltrows characters name) a few times too. I can't wait to watch the movie and see if we made it on there. We stood right next to a guy who was holding up a 21 Bday sign so we'll be easy to spot! Tim FINALLY came out and he was AWESOME! I am pretty sure he saw me because he said Happy Birthday man to the guy standing right next to me :) We didn't get home till midnight so we both are pretty tired today after our very eventful weekend. Can't wait for our 3 day weekend! We will be heading to my aunt and uncles in Springfield, MO and I can't wait!!!!

Love and Theft

Lady Antebellum

Tim McGraw

July 17

I finally made the big calls yesterday...set up appts to try on dresses!!!! Both of my sisters will be in town July 17 so I figured that would be the perfect time to go try on dresses. I think we'll leave the boys in charge of the kids :) My first stop will be at Bridal Extraordinare because I know lots of people who have gotten their dress from there (including my sister). I figure we will meet the boys and kids for lunch after that appt and then my next appt is at Nolte's. I have never heard of this store but I found a couple dresses online and it said this store carried some of the line. I haven't made an appt yet but I am thinking of making one at Mia's too. I am hoping I find my dress at one of the first 2 stores but I am thinking I can always cancel the appt if I end up finding one. Can't wait!!

In other wedding news, we are still on the search for a church and videographer. Who knew finding a church could be so hard! We are going to Manhattan the weekend of July 10 and will hopefully take a look at a couple of churches we have found. I have contacted 2 videographers but they are both SO expensive! I need to call them today and see if I can work something out with them. We will also meet with the florist who we hope will do the wedding the weekend of the 10th. I think thats about it going on right now wedding wise. Here are a couple pictures of flowers and things I have found that I like. Centerpiece I like

I like these yellow flowers. I think a bunch of them in a vase would be cute for centerpieces

Love this cake

Bouquet I like but with yellow flowers

Wedding colors!!

As soon as we got engaged I started googling different wedding colors and was set on...

Purple and green. I love the color purple (been a k-state fan since the day I was born) and I thought it would be pretty in April with green. Well...as I was watching Tori and Dean last night (one of the many reality shows I watch) they renewed their vows and I absolutely LOVED their wedding. So our colors are now going to be...

Yellow, grey, and white. I've been thinking for a little while that I really wanted yellow but I didn't know what color to do with it. I finally feel like these are the right colors and I already have ideas for the centerpieces, flowers, cake, AND invitations (none of which I knew when I was going to do purple and green). I think my stress level finally went from a 10 to 3. Now I just need to go dress shopping!!!

Announcing....

...Our bridal party!!! Derek was boring and just called all his groomsmen and asked them to be in our wedding but I sent these to my bridesmaids and flowergirls/ring bearers

I ordered them online so I never got to see them in person so I had Amber take some pics. I am very happy with how they turned out. I hear they didn't taste so well though. haha!

Since our bridal party has all said they would be in our wedding, I can finally announce who they all are! My bridesmaids are....

My sister Amy
My sister Amber
My cousin Kayla
Derek's sister Jaime

My friend Cortney My friend Kassie

Derek's groomsmen are...

His friend Nathan

His friend Courtney

My brother Tony
His friend Hoppes

His friend Seth

Derek's cousin Kyle

Our ADORABLE flowergirls and ring bearers are our nieces and nephews!

Peyton

Paxton Aiden

Halle
Harper
Hazel

The rest of the party (ushers, candle lighters, etc)...TBA!

*I added Kyle on this post. Derek hadn't officially asked him so I didn't want to put it up. He has officially been asked and said yes!

My 24th B-day/Memorial Weekend

This past weekend we celebrated my 24th birthday! It happened to fall on Memorial weekend so we had a long weekend of celebrations. I talked Derek into letting me have my birthday present early (that's what he gets for telling me he already had it. I HATE waiting)! He got me a 60 min. massage and Tim Mcgraw/Lady Antebellem tickets!!!! I beg him every night to give me a massage so I think he thought the 60 min. massage might get him out of doing it for one night...yeah right! I am SO excited to see Tim Mcgraw. My first CD was a Tim Mcgraw CD that I got back in 6th grade and I have loved him every since.

How could you NOT like this good lookin cowboy?!

Friday night Derek made me pork chops, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob while we waiting for my friend Casey and her friend Katie to get to town. YUM! We all met my friend Lindsey and some of her friends at a bar and sat on the patio and enjoyed a couple drinks. She was so thoughtful and ordered me a tequila shot at midnight. We called it an early night and headed home around 1. Saturday morning my sister Amy called and said she was making a last minute trip to KC for the weekend. woo hoo!!! Us girls did some shopping till Amber and Aiden made it to town and then played with little man before Cortney got there and then we got ready and headed to dinner at Mi Ranchito.

Amy and the kids finally made it to town while we were at dinner so we all headed back to my place to pre drink and hang out with them. We live a good 30 min. from P&L so we decided to stay closer to home and went to a bar called Raouls. It wasn't quite like the bars at P&L but the owner gave us a VIP table for free so we had a good time. Paxton had us up bright and early Sunday morning to head to the pool. We swam, layed out, ate some hambugers and hot dogs, and tried to get rid of our hangovers! Everyone headed home that afternoon and I was sssooo sad to see them all go. I am so thankful for my friends and family and that they all came to help me celebrate my birthday. You guys are the best and I love you all!

"We're camping"

(2010)

The 3rd annual Long Family Vacation was a succuess! We got to Manhattan Saturday and talked and hung out with my dad, his girlfriend Kelly, my brother Tony, his girlfriend Heather, Amber, and Aiden before we had to meet with the cake lady. After meeting and trying some cake, we officially decided to use Creative Cakes and Cookies. I had never tried fondant but I knew I wanted it as our frosting because it's smooth and pretty. It has a chewy taste but luckily she said she puts buttercream frosting underneath it so you taste it as well. Saturday afternoon Amber, Aiden and myself went to a graduation party and then ran some errands. Poor Aiden was a trooper all day but then his fever came back so they headed home early.

Sunday, Derek and I went to a church we thought we might use for our ceremony (First Presbyterian). It is a beautiful church from the outside but it's pretty small inside so I don't think we are going to use it. We are still on the hunt for a church! After church, we changed and headed out to Milford. It was cloudy that morning but it cleared off and was perfect weather. Amy, Josh, and the kids got there and we headed straight to the beach! Since Aiden still had a fever, Amber decided to let him nap before heading to Milford. When they arrived, they met us down at the beach. That night we grilled out, had a couple drinks, and us adults just chatted by the fire after the kids had went to bed. Monday we fished, hung out at the beach, and layed on a big blanket in the shade, ate smores, and just relaxed! Tuesday was cloudy so we left earlier then we had planned. Overall, it was a very relaxing and fun vacation. "We're camping" was our favorite phrase. Anytime the kids would get dirty, and something gross happened to any of us, we would use camping as our excuse to just let it go! I was sad we didn't get a picture as a whole family since Amber and Aiden left early Monday since he still wasn't feeling good and all the family was always fishing or golfing during the day! Here are a couple pics...

Pax working on a sand castle (so sad I didn't get 1 single picture of Aiden)

Helping papa get the fishing poles ready

Harper taking a nap down at the beach

Relaxing under the trees

Heellloooo 4 day weekend :)

I have been waiting for this weekend for the like 5 months! We decided to stay in KC tonight and sleep in our own bed but will be heading to Manhattan in the morning. Tonight we enjoyed a beer on the deck when we got off work and then headed to Jack Stack Barbeque

I'm not a huge fan of barbeque food but Jack Stack had the most AMAZING cheesy corn. I could have ate a bowl of it like the picture above! Next time, I am just getting the corn and their fries.

Tomorrow we are heading to Manhattan. We are supposed to meet with the lady that is going to make our cake. I am going to sound like a picky eater but I'm not a huge fan of cake either! Since I don't know what I want the cake to look like yet, we are just going to try the cake and see some of the cakes she has done. From her website creativecakesandcookies.org, it looks like she is VERY good.

Sunday is when we head to Milford lake to "camp" with my dads side of the family. When I say camp, I mean brand new log cabins, AC, plasma TVs with cable...you get the picture. This will be the 3rd year we have went and we all have a blast. We go fishing, hang out at the beach, golf, we have big dinners out on the huge deck, and then we sit by the campfire and roast marshmellows and chat. It's not Mexico or anything but it's nice to get away for awhile. Pictures to come next week!

(2008)

(2009)