Celebrating Sarah

Today, Aubrey and I hosted a bridal shower for Sarah (a.k.a. Kubal). I absolutely adore this sweet girl. She and I go back to the summer of 2007, my second summer at Camp Zephyr and her first. We were instant friends that summer, working out after our long days of lifeguarding and chatting about how similar our lives are. Seriously, let me just tell ya...

1. We are both blonde
2. We are both the oldest daughters
3. We are both Czech
4. We both played many sports in high school
5. We both dated idiot boys in high school (blah!)
6. We both went to Hermann Sons Youth Camp as kids (but didn't know each other)
7. We both met, fell in love with, and will be marrying boys from Camp Zephyr (5 weeks apart)
8. We're both crazy about our puppy dogs
9. We like the same colors
10. We love chip and dip
11. We're both bridesmaids in each others' weddings

And the list goes on...and on...and on...!!!

I was super pumped when Aubrey and I decided to host the shower at my apartment. This was my first official "party" to host in this apt. I got to use some of my new dishes (I mean, come on. The wedding is in 13 days) and this also forced me to deep clean the apt. Never a bad thing, right?

Here's a few pictures from today. Not quite sure how I didn't get a picture of Kubal and I together. I know we took a few, I guess just not with my iPhone. LOVE YOU SARAH KUBALA-ALMOST-LEWIS!!!!!

{Some of the shower spread}

{Drinks}

{Cute table decor!}

{The cute bride-to-be}

{Hostesses with the mostest!}

{Brook was super tired after a fun-filled afternoon}

Happy bridal shower Kubal!!! Love you!

What a weekend!

I will embarrassingly admit that I am just now starting to recover from the royal wedding. After waking up at 4 a.m. on Friday morning to watch the couple's nuptials live and working all day (Fridays always being the hardest day of the week to get through), I was plum tuckered out! I don't know why I just wrote that. Anyway...

 {How incredibly gorgeous was she?}

On Saturday morning, my momma drove into Corpus Christi. She and I went to lunch with Luke's aunt, Brenda, to plan the wedding rehearsal dinner (It's going to rock!). After this, we met up with my baby sister, Becca, to help her find outfits for her senior pictures that were scheduled to be taken Sunday morning. The rest of the evening was spent prepping wedding invites to be sent out. Oh my goodness, this process is draining! I will be the happiest bride once this task is behind me!!

On Sunday, mom, Becca, and I woke up early for Becca's senior pictures. One of my wedding photographers, Jamie, took her pictures and I already know they are going to be amazing!!! We had such a fun time. Of course, these pictures don't do any justice because they were taken from my iPhone, but I just love this young lady. I can't believe the last Martisek girl is about to graduate from high school! What a beautiful young woman, both inside and out.

After Becca's pictures, we all went back to my apartment to get ready for my last bridal shower. My awesome Corpus Christi girls put together a sweet shower for me today and I feel very blessed to have them in my life down here in South Texas. Quite a few of them are friends that I made back in my Zephyr days, only making our connection that much stronger. I love how God provides in this way. Thank you to all of my beautiful friends that made this final shower so special. I love you all very much and I can't wait to celebrate with you all in less than two months!!

{Cute food and decor!}

{So sweet}

{I love our bath towels!!}

{Some of my beautiful friends at the shower}

{So happy my mom and Becca could be at the shower}

After my mom and Becca took off to go back to Hallettsville, Luke and I went to dinner with our favorite married couple, Jay and Morgan. Jay has completed two tours to Iraq in the Army and his father is a Navy captain who has served on many tours, so our dinner conversation usually involves some military talk. This evening we had actually been talking about Osama bin Laden and whether or not he is still alive, what our government was keeping from us, why he hadn't been killed yet, etc. How crazy that on our way home we found out that bin Laden had just been killed?! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!! Finally, we have some justice for 9/11! I know that this awful man's death does not bring the thousands of men, women, and children that were killed almost a decade ago back to life, but I do pray that their families will sleep a little more peacefully tonight knowing that this murderer is no longer walking on the earth. But seriously, how ironic that we happened to be talking about exactly this right before it was announced! Crazy.

What a weekend, right? I hope you've had a relaxing one and that you have a great start to your week. And happy 1st of May! I always love the fresh start of a new month. Do you have anything extremely cool/fun/exciting planned for May? If so, I'd love to hear about it!

"And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me!!!"

9 weeks and counting!

{Easter lunch at Rudy's BBQ}

I was just sitting on the couch, looking at my calendar, and thinking about how busy my weekends are going to be all the way up to the wedding. I've always known that time was going to fly by quickly, but actually looking at the calendar has made this truth even that much more real. Here's what life looks like for me up until the wedding:

• April 23 & 24--This current weekend a.k.a. Easter
• April 30 & May 1--Becca's graduation pictures in CC
• May 7 & 8--last wedding dress fitting & Mother's Day
• May 14 & 15--TAMUCC's gradutation weekend (Yay Kubal and Erika!!)
• May 21 & 22--Beach to Bay 2011 and my bridal portraits
• May 28 & 29--Becca's high school graduation weekend
• June 4 & 5--Bachelorette Party weekend in Houston
• June 11 & 12--Kubal's bridal shower
• June 18 & 19--the last weekend before the wedding a.k.a. MAJOR WEDDING PREP!
• June 24 & 25--THE BIG DAY!!!!!

Holy moly, right?! These last 9 weeks before the big day are going to fly by! Although I've been engaged for 17 months, I know that once we're married and I look back on this time in my life, I'll miss it. This stage of mine and Luke's relationship will only happen once and I can't believe it has almost come and gone. It feels like just yesterday that I was leaving for college, crying in Luke's arms and talking about how it would be FOREVER before we'd be able to get married. This all seems so silly now. In 9 weeks, we will be husband and wife. It will be our favorite time of the year: summer, complete with scorching sunshine, humidity, and sticker burs. We'll be married on June 25th, exactly 5 days from the 6 year anniversary of the day we met (June 30, 2005). Please excuse my sentiment. I'm a little emotional about all of this. I can't wait to be Mrs. Luke Riley Hinton. SO SOON!! :)

Hope you all had a blessed Easter weekend. HE IS RISEN!

My First Bridal Shower!

A week ago yesterday, I attended my first bridal shower. I've had many friends get married over the past few months and because of this, I've been able to look through many Facebook albums of shower pictures. Attending your own shower always looked like fun, but I had no idea how much fun I was actually going to have!

 {At my first bridal shower in Beeville}

22 amazing women hosted my shower at FBC Beeville, the church and church school I grew up in. Every last one of these women have watched me grow up, from the nursery to now. They have been my family, Sunday school teachers, elementary school teachers, and my second, third, and fourth mothers! They will never truly know how much they have blessed my life, every last second of it. To have them throw a shower in my honor means the world to me and I am better because of the example of love, service, and faith they have set for me over the years.

{Hostesses (missing a few)}

After catching up with everyone, my Aunt Kathy opened up with a word of prayer. She said such a sweet blessing over Luke and me! Then, my kindergarten teacher, Juanita Blanton, said another really sweet prayer. Again, these are women of faith and integrity that have helped raised me. What a blessing!! We ate some really amazing food and I got to catch up with friends and family I hadn't been able to see in a while. After eating and cutting cake, I was told it was time to start opening gifts. Since Emily and Claire couldn't be at this shower, Becca did a great job of standing in as my MOH and writing down all of the gifts received. Thanks Becca Roo!

{4 of my 8 bridesmaids. Love you girls!!}

{Beautiful shower cake!}

{Love you baby sister}

{The platter to match my casual dishes!}

{Towels!}

{Corningware! Get ready for Thanksgiving Aunt Kathy!!}

I had a fabulous time and Luke and I were given some really awesome gifts! We feel extremely blessed to have so many supportive people in our lives. And the best part is that I know this isn't a "one time, just because you're getting married" type thing. These are the friends and family that are forever, that will be loving and supporting us throughout our marriage. 

Thanks again ladies for all of your hard work and for the awesome shower!  I love you all!!

The Ultimate To-Do List!

{Luke and I dancing at his cousin's wedding in August 2009. Can't wait to dance at our own wedding!}

Wedding planning progress is blissful! Planning a wedding is sort of like having the most LEGIT to-do list and the day you get married is the day your to-do list is complete. Oh, how I am anticipating that day!! But until then, I am loving the high I get from marking items off my monstrous list!

Want to hear a crazy story? This week, my caterer canceled. Yup, the person we had chosen to cook food for our many guests canceled. She had a pretty solid reason for having to do so, but still, can you imagine the panic I felt?!?! The good news is that just a couple of short days later we had selected and given a deposit to a new caterer. Praise the Lord!! Werner's Catering will be providing appetizers for the cocktail hour and dinner for the evening. Y'all better get ready to eat some amazing food and to be stuffed afterward!

We have also selected a florist for the wedding. (About time, I know, I know...) I'm so excited to finally have this item marked off the list! Darla and her team with A Perfect Petal will be creating the beautiful arrangements and I know they are going to make the Ranch just beautiful.

Other items on the to-do lost: book wedding make-up consultation, order invitations, attend first wedding shower in two weeks(yay!!), and look into the marriage license requirements for San Patricio county. Since we're getting married in Mathis technically, I've got figure out where to order our marriage license at, ha!

Gotta keep checking of items on the biggest to-do list of my life. I'm loving it!!

Showered with love

I've been so giddy the last couple of days!! On Sunday, Luke showed up at my doorstep with flowers! I knew he was driving into town to hang out with me, but the flowers were totally unexpected. I'm a huge flower lover and he definitely knows the way to my heart. See how pretty these are??

Another little unexpected gift was a new iPhone 4! Today at work I found out that some of my co-workers had been having trouble getting ahold of me while I was out of the office because of my cell phone being "long distance" from Corpus Christi. This got me to thinking, when my clients call me, are they having to pay long distance fees? That is NOT ok! So after talking to my manager and director, we decided it was time for me to get a local cell number. Luke went with me and we both transferred over to Verizon, who gives me a discount for working with the company I do. We're now on the same cell plan and on top of that, Luke bought me a new iPhone 4! Now, Luke will have reception out at camp and we can have FaceTime calls!! He's such a sweetie pie. :)

 {Woohoo!!!}

And speaking of showers, there are some amazing ladies in Beeville, Texas that are planning my first bridal shower. I'm so excited!! It will be on March 19th at the church I grew up in, FBC Beeville. My sweet aunts and a few other ladies will be hostessing and I just know it is going to be a beautiful shower. I can't wait! I'm sure there will be a blog post to tell you all about it, pictures included!