Corpus Family Vacation and Borchard Family Pictures

Ok, I’m really getting caught up now!!!  The first full week of July, Henry and I took 2 different trips; one to Corpus and one to New Orleans/Mississippi.  Well, this post is on the Corpus part of that trip; NO/MS is to come on Thursday.

So, July 2nd, we loaded up the car, including Ember, and we headed down to Corpus.  This was Ember’s first REALLY long car ride.  Henry and I were both really surprised at how well she did.  Were were planning to make 3 stops, but ended up only having to make 2 because she slept sooooooo hard on the first part of the trip.  She even ate her lunch in the moving car :)It’s quite odd looking at these pictures as I share these with you because she’s grown so much more since I took these pictures!

Anyway, when we arrived in Corpus on Friday, the first order of business was family pictures!  Bellezza Photography took the photos, and Kateri did a great job!  See, Hurricane Alex had made landfall the day before, so she was fighting some pretty tough winds to get good pictures of us.  You can check out the results by clicking here.  Here’s one teaser picture, but you have to go to the link above or the picture below to see more :)

Kateri did a great job, and I’m so glad that we have family pictures now!  Apparently no professional pics have been taken since Justine was a baby or earlier.  Glad that there’s record of her being here now :)  Hehe!

Moving on, we were also impressed with how well Ember did in Corpus with her daily routine.  She had nooooo problem at all with the new surroundings and getting some good sleep.     Most of all, she had lots of fun playing with Eddie and Velma’s dog Boomer!  He’s a Lab/Weimer mix and so so sweet!

So what did WE do in Corpus?  Well, ummmm, I have absolutely 0 pictures of that :/  Sorry.  Mostly it was hanging out with family, swimming in the pool, and cooking meals.  Nothing specifically planned or any outings.  It was a good time though.  Ember and I did sleep through the July 4th fireworks though :)  I feel bad that I have no pics, but I just never had my camera around me during our stay.  Most of the pics above are from my phone anyways.

Anyway, we had a good time, and Ember was super cute on the car ride home! She loves her Daddy lots! Ok, well this ended up being all about Ember, sorry!  We had a great time in Corpus though!

My 26th birthday

Again…lateness.  I’m getting caught up, I promise.

Sunday June 27th was my 26th birthday.  Yep, that means next year is my golden birthday!  27 on the 27th!  I’m excited about that one!  Anyway, after trying out Ouisie’s Table for Katie and David’s rehearsal dinner, I was looking for a good reason to go back there.  Their food is terrific!  So, for dinner, my parents, Melanie & Steve, Ashlee & Phil, Alicia & Ralph, Justine, and 2 of the Borchards friends joined Henry and I for dinner.  Everything was so delicious!  If you haven’t tried this delicious restaurant, you totally should :)The soon-to-be-wed peeps :)   So, if you haven’t seen Justine lately, this picture should be the most shocking thing in this entire post.  Seriously, how did she get to be that grown up?!   To be able to celebrate with friends, Henry and I planned dinner at Amazon Grill that following Tuesday. Again, if you haven’t tried this place either, you totally should!  Henry and I love that place!  It’s an order-at –the-counter style restaurant.  Anyway, Kevin & Melissa, Kristen & Matt, Desirae & Jeremy, and Anne & Scott joined us for dinner :)  Yes, I did say Anne and Scott!  They are in town through November on a special assignment for Anne for work.  So awesome to be able to do things with them so EASILY!  Sorry, no pics from this dinner :/

Thanks to all who sent cards and joined me for dinner for my birthday!  I had a blast celebrating my 26th :)

Now we get to look forward to celebrating Henry’s 28th on October 7th :)

Chase is in the Army

This is yet another LATE post considering when Chase left.  Sorry :/Anyway, I may have told some people, but, my cousin, Chase, has officially left for Basic Training (BT) in the Army!  He left on June 22nd.  Ronnie, Teresa, Ashlee, Phillip, Mom, Dad and I all went to the airport to see him off.  He actually began BT on June 28th, and he will have graduation on September 2nd.  From there, he will continue on in his job training that will go throughout Fall.

Ronnie, Teresa and Ashlee have already received a couple letters from him, and he seems to be doing well.  He’s set some goals for himself in his PT test in order to pass with flying colors.

Here’s some more pics of Chase’s departure from IAH! Chase has a very WELL PACKED backpack.  This is all he was allowed to take, so Teresa helped him pack it to the max!

Now, here is where I need your participation MORE THAN EVER!  If you’d like, please leave a comment of some kind to Chase.  I will print this post and it’s comments and send to Chase.  Any words of encouragement that you’d like give him would be much appreciated :)  Thanks!

Ann’s Baby Shower

Yes, I’m even super late on this post, too.  Seeing as how Abigail has already arrived and I haven’t even posted about the shower yet, I’d say that’s pretty well behind.

Regardless, here’s some of the fun details!

Adrienne and I had some fun planning this for Ann.  Our menu consisted of the following:

Pampered Chef Chicken Club Crescents (individual sized instead of in ring form)

Hummus

Spinach and Bacon Dip

Fruit and Vegetables

Cotton Candy Jelly Bellies

Lime Jelly Bellies

M&M Pretzels

Almond White Cake with Raspberry Filling

Almond Sugar Cookies

Fat Free White Milk

1% Chocolate Milk

1% Strawberry Milk

Pink Lemonade

Tea

Lime Water

Adrienne also brought some great arrangements of flowers to accent our display of food and drinks :)

Along our accent wall in our dining room, I hung some green fabric that matched the invitations.  I also printed some pics of Ann and Adam’s wedding as well as some maternity pics and hung those on the green fabric as well.

I think the best part of everything set up though was THE CAKE!!! We were able to order a delicious cake from Kakes by Klassic!  She did an absolute fabulous job and matched the invitation PERFECTLY!  Best of all, it tasted AMAZING!

Here’s a look at the fun we had :)

To D.C. to meet Addison Joy

Well, Henry and I are back from our week+ long vacay, but there will be more to come on that.  I have more stuff to catch up on from May and June, believe it or not. 

I am elated that Kelly and Matthew have a their new bundle of joy as of April 1, 2010, and, to somewhat fulfill my excitement, I booked a trip to meet her in May.  I was there for 4 days just after Carissa’s baby shower.  That said, I’m seriously ashamed that I have been so incredibly busy that I couldn’t post about this fabulous trip until nearly one month later.  So wrong!!!  Nonetheless, I’m glad I can share some about her, but just know that this info on her development is OF COURSE outdated, and you should see the Grant Gang’s blog for more updates on how she is now :)

I left Houston EARLY early on Monday morning and flew to D.C.  I met Kelly and Addison at a Metro stop NE of DC, and we traveled back to her apartment.  Unfortunately, Matthew had to be away for training with work for 11 days, so I didn’t get to see him.  Kelly, Addison, Piper and I hung out for 4 days and pretty much just played with Addison and did stuff for her.  That’s the fun of it!!! :)  Throughout my stay, I think Kelly would agree that the pic below is her absolute favorite:At the time, Kelly didn’t have any pictures to prove Addison was smiling, but I caught her in a full grin while she talked on the phone with her Daddy :)

Here’s a fun video of Addison and you can catch glimpses of Piper playing with Addison!

Addison was able to talk to her Mia, too!  Mia is Kelly’s mom :)

Addison was also working very hard on rolling over from her stomach to her back.  She successfully did this the day after I left :)

Here’s a few other fun glimpses at Addison:”I’m ready for toe-touches, Mom!”  Big beautiful eyes This crunchy paper on her belly was lots of fun for her to play with. Check out the length on this almost 2 month old :) Mommy playing with her sweet girl.

And because Piper matters, too ;)Here’s some of my faves of me and the sweet girl :)  Pretty soon I’ll be able to show you how much she’s changed with info on her from this past weekend :)