co-ed shower

here are some pics from our co-ed shower we had on september 23. to all who were unable to attend, we're sorry you missed a great party! the food was great, we had a wonderful turn-out and we got to play some fun games! the pics are of me and matt in front of the tasty food, me and three of my bridesmaids, matt with a mouthful of double bubble bubble gum (he had to chew a piece each time he missed and answer to a question about me), me having to figure out which leg was matt's just by feeling, and us opening presents. thanks to all who made it so much fun!

engagement photos

i promised you i'd post them, so here they are...
well, some of them, at least. this is the link to the slideshow our photographer made for us from a few of our engagement pics taken last friday at the dallas arboretum. for those who are curious, his name is steve colwill, he can be found at poeticexposure.com.

it's better if you have your speakers on...enjoy! click on the link below:
engagement photos

or, type in:
http://www.poeticexposure.com/jessica_and_james

lexi and the bee?

sunday i continued on my "busy" streak as matt and i attended our first premarital class, then headed to lexi's last puppy class (she is scheduled to graduate next sunday!), before i left early to go to my sister, sarah's, baby shower. i had lots of fun, but i was tired at the end of the day! monday turned out to be an exciting day as well, since it was my first official night as a "real" nurse (with no preceptor, trainer, etc.). of course, lexi made sure that i didn't get all the attention. apparently, while i was sleeping and she was playing outside, she decided to eat, or attempt to eat, a bee, wasp or some other sort of stinging insect. when i woke up to let her back in i thought she had something in her mouth. when i reached in her mouth to remove the foreign object, i realized that it was her face that was so swollen (it's her left side, you can see it in the picture)! she won herself a trip to the vet, only to get weighed (the pic of her in the leash) so i could give her some benadryl with her dinner to decrease the swelling since she didn't seem to be having any other problems. for those that are curious, she weighed in a 39.8 lbs...a far cry from the 11 lbs she was when we brought her home on june 17th! the benadryl worked marvelously and lexi no longer has any swelling or signs of problems from the encounter, and hopefully she has learned not to play with stinging-type insects! my night at work went well too, if any of you were concerned about that ;)
fyi-matt and i take our engagement pics this friday (weather permitting) so i will try to have a few of those up as soon as possible afterwards!

busy, busy

today was a very busy day! i spent the morning at the wedding site with my mom and two of my bridesmaids looking for decorating ideas and such while matt was a at work. after that, we both ended up meeting at my house where i was going to work on making practice bouquets for the wedding with elizabeth, one of the bridesmaids, and he had to watch my sister's 3 kids. it worked out well, with my niece helping me and elizabeth making the bouquets and the two boys taking lexi on a walk with matt. afterwards we watched the incredibles and made chocolate chip cookies (after dinner, of course!). after my sister came to pick up the kids, matt and i headed to garland to watch the plano east senior high school football game and see my brother play snare drum on the drumline in the band. he did great and PESH won 40-7! it turned out to be a great day for everyone (and how could it not be with flowers, football and cookies involved?!) :)

birthdays!

this weekend we got to celebrate my mother and sister's birthdays. lexi enjoyed it because she got to play with all 4 of the kiddos and her doggie cousin bailey. we had lots of fun too, catching up with my family and getting to visit with everyone. the pictures you see are of the birthday girls (31 & 50 years young); me, sarah & liv; my mom with my nephew ben; and my dad with liv. in the next few months there will be many more pictures of birthdays since we have four coming up in november and a new birthday due sometime in october (sarah & ray are due to have their baby #2). i'll keep you posted!

a well-trained dog...

...is a lot of work! but we are finding that the training is already paying off (yay!). lexi now knows how to sit, lay, stay, "take it" and she is getting very good at playing fetch. we are still working on "drop it" and "leave it" and a few other more tricky commands. however, we are happy to report that she now only has to be in her crate while no one is at the house with her, which means that housetraining is pretty much "done." now the big challenge is making sure that she is chewing on the proper chew toys and not anything else. she knows what she's not allowed to chew on, until she finds something else new and has to be reminded to "drop it" or "leave it." no real complaints, though, since she will now sit and stay with a verbal command only and knows that she cannot go outside, come inside or eat her dinner until she is given the command from one of us. we still have 3 more training lessons left, and then it's just up to us to make sure it sticks through repetition. hopefully, she will be a very well-trained, well-behaved dog when those of you who haven't met her are introduced to her!