Rooting for the Rangers

Last night I got to experience my very first Major League Baseball game! My wonderful friend, Angeleque, called me at 5 PM yesterday asking if Chris and I would like to join her, Hunter and their friend, Ross, for the Rangers game. :)

At first, we were thinking it may not be the best idea based on how far the stadium is from us and that it was a "school night". However, Angeleque convinced us we needed to go because we would be in fantastic seats, therefore it would be more than worth it for us to make the trip. At that point, how could we refuse?!

Chris and I "sucked it up" and drove the 45 minutes to Arlington and met everyone at the Ballpark. Ang wasn't kidding- we were in the 4th row from the field! We were right next to the third base and by the Mariners dugout. I really can't imagine a better first-time experience! :)

Hunter, Angeleque, Chris and I showing off our GREAT SEATS!

Our pitcher, Holland, getting the strikeouts...
Hunter and Angeleque

Us in the stands

PS- Rangers completely spanked the Mariners 7-1. :)

Carroll High School Class of '99 Reunion...and Mom's Kidney Stones

This past weekend was my 10 year reunion (that's right...it's been 10 whole years since my high school graduation...wow)! I was a little worried Chris would get bored or I would run out of people to talk to, but we had a blast!

Everything kicked off Friday night when we met people at a club called Aria. Seeing as Chris and I had to drive into Corpus from Dallas that afternoon, we got to the bar a little later than I would've wanted, but we still had plenty of time to get reacquainted with old buddies. Friday was so much fun, I couldn't wait for Saturday night!

Chris and I got to the Ortiz Center early to help set up that last-minute details for the reunion (like blowing up the balloons), changed and were ready to party. The entire room looked great! The two gals, Amy and Jessica, did a fantastic job making all the decorations and getting everything organized.

I really can't express how great it was seeing so many familiar faces and hearing what everyone has been doing over the last ten years. For the most part, everyone looked the same...just a little more polished. ;) Chris enjoyed meeting all my fellow Tigers and made a few friends of his own.

Overall, a truly awesome time with my 99ers- completely surpassed all my expectations! Can't wait for the next reunion! :)

Ryan and I working the sign-in table

The reunion committee- Ryan, Amy, Jessica, Luis, Kristin and me!The Tigerette group shot~
My hubby and I at the reunion

Michelle, Ryan and I at Havana (the after reunion party)

So, here I was thinking this was an amazing weekend and then *dun, dun, dun* my mom had kidney stones. Yup, she and I were talking about the reunion on Sunday when all of the sudden she said her side was hurting. She tried to wait it out, but it only got worse, so we took her to the emergency room. When they said it was kidney stones, I was relieved to know it wasn't something more serious. Thankfully, she was able to pass the stone later that day so she didn't have to suffer for very long.

So, aside from my mom dealing with that awful pain and scaring me...the weekend was a success. :)

Photo Shoot: Jacob :)

Today, J&C Photography met Sarah, Andy and their cutie son, Jacob, at the Dallas Arboretum for Jacob's nine month photos. Seeing as it's been so hot lately, I was a little worried Mr. Jacob may not be too excited to take photos.

Lucky for us, Jacob was as cool as could be! He flashed that little smile to Chris over and over, making the job easy for us. :) We couldn't have asked for a better shoot (well, maybe if it weren't as hot and humid...).

Below are a few photos, a sneak peak if you will, for the Mutschellers~

The photos should be done in the next week or so. We hope you guys like them! We had a great time and loved meeting all of you! Great job, Jacob! :)

Beautiful Bridals

On Sunday, June 21st, Chris and I (AKA, J&C Photography) took Misty's bridal portraits! It was our first chance to take bridals and I'm so happy my sis-in-law was my first subject. :) Misty did a great job and looked be-a-utiful. :)

Below are some of my favorites from the shoot~

Chris and I had a great time with Misty and Christopher's mom on the shoot! We hope they like the photos. :)

Baking Bites

For those of you who know me, you know I despise cooking, however, I LOVE to bake. Since Chris and I have been so busy, I haven't had a chance to share a few of the treats I've made over the past few months. Below are some pictures of the goodies I've made for various occasions~

My flag cake for our "After the Wedding" breakfast on July 5th. It's a coconut cake with cool whip instead of icing. I'd never made a coconut cake and was worried about how it would turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised- it was so yummy!!! :)

Chris and I were invited to our first neighborhood party (held on June 13th) and were told there would be quite a few kids in attendance, so I wanted to bring something fun for them to eat. The day before the party, Martha Stewart was on the Today Show showcasing some neat ideas for cupcakes. One that Martha mentioned was an ice cream cupcake! That dessert looked so cute I just knew that would be the perfect thing to take to the party! When I got home on Friday, I googled other recipes and decided to do my own interpretation. Here are the results~

It's a strawberry cupcake with Wilton's whipped icing and a few pink sprinkles on top of regular ice cream cones.

Chris made the icing while I made the cupcakes, so we made a great team getting these done in time for the party. :) We had 24 cupcake cones total.

Easter cupcakes! I absolutely LOVE making these. My mom used to make them for me to take to my class when I was in elementary school and they always received rave reviews. I just think they're adorable...plus I love coconut and the "grass" shavings are so tasty!

Even though I didn't have any kids to make these for, I decided to make a few for Chris and I to take to work. I'll look for any excuse to make a cute cupcake. ;)

Now that we have a real kitchen, I look forward to all the fun new treats I can whip up! :)

Moving On Up...

I mentioned I would work to catch up on the updates, so here's one attempt to keep my promise. :)

On May 28th, Chris and I met Mary Jane Carlino (our realtor) to sign all the papers to close on our house. I was a little nervous since everyone said there were a zillion papers to sign and that unexpected requests can sometimes come up, but we were pleasantly surprised...it wasn't too bad!

Looking everything over...

So, after months and months of looking for our first home, Chris and I were finally able to sign the papers to make our home legally ours! :)

Our first photo as "official" homeowners
Of course when you get a new place to live, the inevitable must occur...moving. Ugh...after years of moving in and out of apartments, the one thing that kept me going was knowing this would be the last time I would have to move for AT LEAST five years (at least, that's the hope).

Chris and I were lucky to have the help of my parents and many of our friends with this move. We rented a U-Haul truck, loaded it up and headed from Dallas to McKinney within and hour and a half and unloading the truck took a little over half an hour...not too shabby if you ask me. :)

Our full U-Haul truck...it was supposed to be enough for a three bedroom place. Obviously, they were wrong since Chris and I moved from a one bedroom apartment...

Some of the moving crew- My dad, Shamrock, Chris and our friends, Adam and Justin- before we began unloading the truck

Almost the entire moving group-our friends, Justin, Adam, Gene and Mary Jane Carlino, my parents, Shamrock, me and Chris- in front of our new house. Missing from this photo are Casey, Stephanie and their daughter, Arabella Holland (they helped load, but made it to the house after we finished unloading)

Since they didn't make the group shot, I still wanted to show the Holland family since they were such a great help that day. :)

Miss Arabella

Arabella, Casey and Stephanie Holland

Thanks, again, to all of our friends for all of their help with our move! We really couldn't have done it all in one day without you! :)

Thank you, Mary Jane, for all of your hard work on getting us our first home. Even though we made you look at what was probably over fifty houses (no exaggeration there) you never made us feel like we were putting you out. You were a great realtor and we can't wait to give you more business. :) Thanks, also, to both you and Gene for your help moving as well as for all of the wonderful things you've done for us...we are truly grateful.

Thank you to my parents for driving all the way from Corpus just to come help us pack and be there for our big move, along with cleaning the apartment. It really meant so much to have you both there for this milestone in Chris' and my life. Thanks to Christopher's mom for your help with cleaning, too! Because of everyone's efforts on Sunday, we were able to clean that entire apartment in three hours flat. :)

Sunday Fun with Dave and Andrea

So, after all the craziness that has been the month of June, Chris and I have finally been able to take a minute to relax. :)

Saturday we spent our day at home. I watched "Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone" on TV (and caught a nap in the middle of it) while Chris put our gameroom media console together. It was so nice to just do whatever we wanted and not have somewhere we had to be or something we HAD to do...

Saturday night we headed to the Irish Rover for my band's show. Even though this gig wasn't quite as crazy as the last, we still had a good time. I also learned that taking shots before singing equals bad vocals. :/ Oh, well...you live and you learn. ;)

Sunday Chris, Shamrock and I headed to Ft. Worth to have lunch with our friends, Dave and Andrea. It's been quite some time since we all had a chance to hang out, so I was really excited to catch up! Since we were headed up there to eat, Chris and I decided to leave the house early and visit the Stockyards to see if we could catch the cattle drive. We actually made it on time and watched as the longhorns walked by...all two minutes of it. Although it went by quickly, I'm still glad we were able to see it...finally.

Then we were off to Joe T. Garcia's to meet Dave and Andrea! It was so great to be able to see them again- it really had been too long since we'd last hung out. I'm happy to report that they're expecting their first child (a girl they're naming Violet Claire) in October! I knew Andrea was expecting, but it didn't fully set in until I saw her cute baby bump. She is such a pretty pregnant lady...and SO tiny for being five months along (I swear she looks like she's barely in her third month!). Chris and I really enjoyed our time with them and can't wait to do it again soon! :)

PS- I did a mini-photo shoot of the two of them and will have the photos posted on the blog soon. :)

Congratulations, Angeleque and Hunter! :)

Chris and I wanted to say CONGRATS to our wonderful friends, Angeleque and Hunter, on their engagement!!! :) We couldn't be happier for these two and can't wait to hear more about the big proposal! We love you both!!!!

Hunter, welcome to our UT family!!! :)

Happy Birthday, Dad!!!! :)

I just wanted to take some time to wish my wonderful, amazing, super-supportive dad a happy 58th birthday!!!!

I hope you have a fantastic day and an even better 58th year! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Misty and JD's Wedding!!!!

This past weekend was the big event- Misty and JD finally tied the knot! :)

Friday evening was the rehearsal and the dinner was held at the Landon Winery in downtown McKinney. Everyone enjoyed the food, drinks and company. There was even live music that had people dancing on the sidewalks.* :) PS- If you're ever there, try their "Yellow Rose" wine...it's SOOO tasty. ;)

Saturday was the big day!!!! The ceremony and reception were both held at the Myers Event Center in McKinney, TX. The ceremony was held outside in front of a lake and gazebo. Misty and Chris arrived in a horse-drawn carriage and Chris proudly walked her down the aisle. Misty was so beautiful and JD looked like he was going to melt when he saw her (and that had nothing to do with the heat...). The ceremony was very touching, sweet and heartfelt...all the ingredients to make me cry...nice job, guys. ;) *

After the "I Do's" everyone headed inside for a nice cool blast of A/C, drinks, dinner, cake and dancing! Everything was beautiful and everyone had a great time! Other than the fire alarm going off (which didn't stop ANYONE from dancing...we're hardcore party animals), everything went off without a hitch! Misty and JD were both beaming and you could just feel the love in the air. :) The reception ended at 11 PM and we sent the happy couple off with a bubble send off!

Sunday Chris and I hosted (although Christopher's mom did most of the cooking) an "after the wedding" breakfast for family at our new home. A lot of prep went into getting the place ready for people to visit.

My parents came in town for the wedding Thursday night as well as to help Chris and I get the house in order. Seriously, we put them to work the minute they arrived (around 11:30 PM on Thursday) and had them working until the hour before we were expecting our breakfast peeps. Christopher's mom worked her butt off on getting our drapes made in time to make our house feel more like a home. Without our parents' help, there's no way Chris and I could've pulled off the breakfast, so a special thank you for all of your love, support, time, effort and sweat to get out home in tip-top shape. We love you!!! And thank you to all of our breakfast guests- we were so glad you could make it out and be the first to visit our happy home. :)

So a great weekend with family and friends to celebrate the union of two wonderful people! Congratulations, Misty & JD!!! :)

*Photos to be posted soon

Quick Update and Birthday Wishes!

So, it's been, what, like two months since our last posting? Yeah, I thought I'd give all of your eyes a break from reading about us. ;)

Sorry it's been so long, but with us preparing for the move, moving, unpacking and trying to furnish the house, we've been a little too busy to update the blog. After this weekend, though (which is Christopher's sister, Misty's, wedding!!!) we'll definitely fill everyone in on what we've been up to!

I just wanted to give a "shout out" to one of my besties, Angeleque-
Happy 27th birthday! Hope this year is a fantabulous one!!!! :) Love you!

Most recent photo I had handy of Ang and I :)