While I was gone....

In my absence from the blog world, here is what you missed:

I went to Destin with my mom and her girlfriends to celebrate her very special birthday. She has the sweetest, most fabulous group of friends, most of which I have known my entire life. I absolutely adore them all. It was so much fun to spend the weekend with them.

Some of the Bham girls and I went to a Friends of St. Jude event while Rick was traveling for work.

We also went to a couple weddings. One of which was my family friend, Renee's wedding in Bay St. Louis, MS. Renee is my best friend my entire life's older sister. She used to TORTURE us as kids, and is more like a sister to me than just a friend. This was a family affair and we couldn't be happier for Renee & Sam.

Rick, me, my bestie Traci, and my new bestie Paul, at Renee's wedding.

We became members at Trinity United Methodist Church in Homewood, and this was our 1st Easter as official members (and our 1st married Easter). We've been going to Trinity for years, and are so excited about our new Trinity family.

We also attended Cathleen & David's wedding here in Bham at The Club. Good times were had by all, but I didn't get a pic of the bride and groom.

The girls...

And the guys.

Early May we went to RailRoad Park to celebrate our FABULOUS friend Talty's birthday. It was a BEAUTIFUL day with kids, dogs, beer, BBQ, and most of all GREAT company. We had so much fun, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TALTY!!

It was also my WONDERFUL father-in-law's birthday, so in McKibbin fashion we headed to the lake to celebrate sweet John. We got him a kindle from all the kids and he was pretty excited.

Last but not least, we decided last minute to go to Hot Springs, AR to visit my parents for Memorial Day weekend. It was a nice relaxing weekend. As you can see Lilly LOVES the boat. My parents friends Bill & Penny took us out on their boat to watch the fireworks, and Rick and I agreed they were the best fireworks we've ever seen. So nice to watch them from the water, LOVE IT! So, that's what we've been doing. Nothing too exciting, but we enjoyed it all.

Will & Lacey

Rick and I are heading to Hattiesburg this weekend for our sweet friends Will & Lacey's wedding weekend! Looking forward to celebrating with this fabulous couple. CONGRATS FRIENDS see you in a few hours!!!

OUR WEDDING!!!

This was the most AMAZING, PERFECT, WONDERFUL, FABULOUS, SWEET, SPECIAL, UNBELIEVABLE DAY OF OUR LIVES!!! Rick and I are SO blessed to have been surrounded by so much love and support on such a special day. All of our friends and family from near and far, beautiful weather, and the man of my dreams, what more could I ask for? We had 13 bridesmaids, 13 groomsmen, 2 flower girls, 1 ring bearer, and 5 ushers. Just a small intimate affair, right? Ok, not really, but I wouldn't have changed a thing!! I seriously can not express in words how amazing this day was, and at the end of the day Rick and I are married. I am such a lucky girl! If you want to see the photographer's pictures click here. Thanks to all who worked so hard to make our day so perfect, my mom, Mrs. Maureen, Angie, all of my mom's friends, and so many more I am sure I have left out. None of it would have been possible without you all! Most of all THANK YOU RICK, for making me the happiest girl in the world!

The Rehearsal Dinner

Our rehearsal dinner was SO much fun!!! We had buses to take all our guest from the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, to Scranton's in Pascagoula. This was the first bus with the wedding party and dates.

After a quick stop for an actual rehearsal, we were off to Scranton's. I grew up going to Scranton's at least once a week. One of our close family friends/ one of my mom's best friends from high school owns Scranton's. My mom also was there accountant most of my life. Lots of memories there, so it was only appropriate to have the dinner there, not to mention I had to show the out of towners my ole stomping ground. Scranton's building was the fire dept, court house, and police dept back in the day, so its a pretty neat building, not to mention the food was AMAZING!
We decided to invite all out of town guest, the wedding party (plus dates), and everyone involved in the actual wedding, so we had a large dinner. 120 to be exact. I wasn't sure how it would all work out, but it was PERFECT! Seriously, so much fun. It was fun, casual, and we were surrounded by the most important people in our lives. Lots of hilarious, sweet, kind, fabulous speeches, here are a few comments about a few:
1. There was a top 10 list about me, loved it.
2. One speech started with: I was a 1 man wolf pack until I met Rick.
3. LOTS of talk about Rick's high school vehicle.
4. A VERY sweet one by my step-dad about how glad he was that we came into his life.
5. Another from one of my high school friends saying how glad they were that my step dad came into our lives as well, because we had LOTS of parties at my house when my mom was in Little Rock. Actually he said it was the best thing that happened to our high school. Lots of applause from the rest of my high school friends.
6. Lots of talk of Rick running into things.
7. One about a National Geographic show about an antelope getting attacked by an alligator on one end and lion on the other end, this some how related to marriage.
8. Last but not least, a really sweet speech from Rick that ended with, "And that's about it."
There were lots more, we were crying we were laughing so hard. We have AMAZING friends and family!!!!!
Here I am with a few bridesmaids, Traci, Fancy, and Taylor.
And a crew of our Bham friends.
I forgot to mention that my very talented friend Sam, created a slide show of pics from mine and Rick's entire lives. I cannot express to you how fabulous this was! When I get the cd from Sam, I will try to put that on here, because it was really AWESOME. Rick and I also introduced everyone to our wedding party, just so they would all know each other, and how we all know each other. After that, Rick's dad decided to intro all his friends from college. IT WAS HILARIOUS!!! Rick looked at me and said "What is John doing?" He was just having so much fun, he totally forgot to intro his brothers that came from Virginia and South Carolina. The entire night was just SO much fun. I wish we could have a rehearsal dinner every year! After all that perfectness it was back on the buses and back to the Beau. Rick and I had a BLAST!!!!
If you want to see the rest of the pics click here.

Wedding Welcome Bags

I was so excited about the welcome bag for the guest staying at the Beau Rivage for our wedding! I thought they turned our super cute, and we had fun making them too. Rick and I went to SAM's Club an stocked up on goodies, and it cost much less than I expected. So here is what we put in them: Cheez-it, bottled water, granola bars, chips or smartpop popcorn, Advil, mints, laffy taffy, assorted mini candy bars, sweetarts, and a weekend itinerary. I got plain white gift bags, navy and aqua tissue paper, and I printed labels myself. Here is the finished product:

Here is a close up of the label. Sorry I don't have a better picture, but after making 60, we were over it.

Our first wedding shower!

5 of my bridesmaids (and husbands) hosted Rick and I a wedding shower last weekend in Hattiesburg, and we had SO MUCH FUN!!! The location, the food, drinks, friends, it was PERFECT! There is nothing like have all these people that have meant so much to me for so long, totally welcome Rick in to the crew. It seemed like they had known him for years. It just made me so happy. Rick and I talked about how much fun we had on the way back to Bham and how lucky we are to have all these people who care so much about us in our lives. Thanks to all who traveled to be there, those that hosted, and those that came to be a part of our first shower. WE LOVE YOU!

Here we are with our host: Bonnie, Kelly, Chrissy aka "Fancy", Kristen, and Taylor.

Us with all the guys.

And the girls.

Don't we look like we had fun?

These are my friends from Goula: Martin, Kristen, Allison, and Aaron.

IP after party

After the wedding last weekend, we headed to the IP Casino where we were all staying to meet up with the crew. Good times were had by all!

Got to see my sweet maid of honor Traci and my friend Anastasia.
My fabulous fiance' and lifetime best friend are so funny together. They love to pick on each other, it means they like each other, I think? This makes me so happy!!!

Willis-Ashbaker Wedding

Last weekend we went to our friends Tom & Rachael's wedding in Pascagoula. Tom and I graduated high school together, and Rach and I have known each other since we were kids, and they both live in Bham now. This wedding was BEAUTIFUL! There were TONS of people there, one of which was my adorable mom!

And one of my best friends Aaron and his wife April. Funny note, Aaron and I were in preschool together at the same church where Tom & Rach were married. We sat together at the wedding and I thought my mom was going to cry. She said "I could just picture you and Aaron up there holding hands in the Christmas program when yall were 4." I am very lucky to have such an awesome life long friend.

You knew I had to toss in one if Ricky Bobby and me.

Oh, and my big teddy bear of a friend, Tanner! We were really good friends in college, and he just so happened to marry Rachael's sister. Tan and Katherine just had a little boy that looks JUST LIKE TANNER! It was so great to see him, and he reminded Rick that I was always just one of the guys. I am sure Rick was thrilled to hear that. LOVE IT!

I failed to get a picture of the bride and groom due to the large number of people there, so this is all I've got! The photographer did take one of RB and me with the happy couple so when I get that I will add that.

It was an awesome wedding, and great to see all the smiling faces of Goula. I LOVED catching up with all my friends parents too, they are such sweeties! Every time I see them they say, you know you and Rick can stay with us anytime. Just so sweet! Now the newlyweds are in the Dominican Republic at the same resort where RB and I got engaged!! CONGRATS ASHBAKERS!

Summer & Jon's wedding

Last weekend we went to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for my sweet step-sisters wedding, and what a weekend! We stayed at the Beau Rivage, crawfish boil for the rehearsal dinner, good friends, new friends, family, wedding, beautiful weather, beautiful bride, FABULOUS WEEKEND WITH A FABULOUS COUPLE!!!

The happy, beautiful couple.
Ceremony in the backyard, PERFECT!
My georgous sister.

My Love!

Most of the bridesmaids in our yellow dresses.

A Chicago Bachelorette Weekend for sis

We got back from the Dominican at 12am Friday morning, I unpacked the swim suits, washed a load of clothes, repacked with sweaters, took a 5 hour nap, then I was back at the airport for my 10am flight to Chicago for my sweet step-sister Summer's Bachelorette weekend. I have to say I was EXHAUSTED and less than thrilled to be traveling again so soon, but it was WELL WORTH IT!!! What a weekend, I had a BLAST in the big city. I had more fun than I ever imagined. I didn't really know any of the girls going other than Summer and Stef, but we all were instant best friends, and I couldn't have picked a better group to be with. Friday, after shopping, Summer's Chi town friends hosted a shower, then we went to a fabulous bar. This bar had an adult game room (like chuck e cheese for adults), another area was a dueling piano bar, and downstairs was a dance club. I need one of these places in Bham. Saturday, was more shopping, then resting, then the DRAG SHOW!!!! I LOVED THE DRAG SHOW!!! I am telling you these men look hotter than some women I have met, and they really know how to work it!! I cannot express how much fun this was. After all that, it was off to a few bars, then night 2 of late night pizza. Enjoy the pics:

This really was the PERFECT weekend!!! The perfect ending to the perfect weekend was, in the cab ride Sunday, Summer puked in her cowboy boot she was carrying. Stef and I could not believe this was happening, but it was AWESOME!! I love you Summer and can't wait until the wedding next weekend!!!

Heather & Walker's wedding, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

We had a BLAST at the Excellence Resort Punta Cana, with all our friends celebrating The Adams/May Wedding!!! As you can see I took WAY TOO MANY pics. Everything was perfect and this was the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to by far. The trip was awesome, and I'm not just saying that because I came back engaged. It was definitely a trip to remember. Enjoy the pics:

Congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Walker May, we adore you both! Thanks for providing the scene for our engagement (Rick asked Walker's permission to do it on his wedding trip, but waited until everyone from the wedding left Punta Cana).

WE ARE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!

While we were in the Dominican Republic for Walker & Heather's wedding ( I will post that later), Rick asked me to marry him, and I said YES!!!! We stayed a few extra days after everyone else left Punta Cana, and they day they all left we got engaged. We were sitting on the beach after dinner, the nightly show, and the beach party, and I said OK, I need to go to the ladies room, so lets go back to the room. He said well before we go, I need to ask you something. He dropped to one knee, and said "Will you marry me?" I thought he was kidding. I said, this is not a funny joke! He said I'm not kidding, and he reached in his pocket and put the most beautiful ring I have ever seen (I couldn't see it at the time because it was dark) on my finger. I have never been happier in my entire life!!!

This was the day after.

Isn't it AMAZING???
I just couldn't resist!!

I haven't stopped smiling yet!

I feel so lucky, happy, blessed, wonderful, excited, loved, I could go on for days. I just adore Rick, and can't wait to be his wife. We are thinking August, yes August of this year, but I will keep you posted.

Showering Rachael & Tom

Last weekend we helped host a wedding shower for our friends Tom & Rachael at Rojo here in Birmingham. Tom and I graduated high school together, and Rach & my parents are friends from high school. Another happy Pascagoula couple (but here in Bham). We are so excited for them (especially since we set them up), and can't wait for the wedding May 8, in Goula.

This is the only pic I have from the shower, and I look HORRIBLE, Sorry!

Heather's Bachelorette

Last weekend Kelly and I headed to Nashville to celebrate Heather's last nights as a single lady.

Party's not complete without a limo.
I was so excited to see Cam!

A friend of ours owns the Stage on Broadway, and was nice enough to reserve us some prime tables. THANKS BRAD!!! (As you can see heather was excited about this)

What a fun night, that's all I have to say. Now just counting down the days until we all are in the Dominican Republic!!!!