This past weekend me and my besties met in Dallas so we could meet Anabella Grace Smith.
Anabella Grace
And of course, we were smitten. She is such a sweet baby. I made the classic, non-mommy mistake of ringing the doorbell when we got there and immediately remembered you never do that in a home with a baby. But when Kori brought Anabella to the door, she was still snoozing.
Anabella is a very lucky baby. Her mom and dad are so in love with her and are going to be really great parents!
Daddy, baby and Mommy. Anabella doesn't looked thrilled about her face being smashed.
Me, Heather, Kori, Brittany and Megan
Kori and I have been best friends since we were 4 when we bonded over a pink, glittery crayon in children's church and I guess you could say we were the founders of this little family we made for ourselves. We've been through pretty much everything together and even though we are spread out over 2 states and 4 cities, we do our best to see each other as much as possible.
Heather is expected a little girl in October and it's going to be so much fun to watch these little ladies grow up!
It was also the most exciting game the Lady Hornets have played all year. Most of the games would only make it 4 or 5 innings before they run ruled the other team. Bryant won 8-4 which is the most runs they have allowed all year.
On Sunday, we had lunch at my grandma’s house for my brother and dad’s birthday. I got dad a beach tent that we can use at the wedding next year!
Abby and Carter helping dad blow out the candles
Today has been a very big day for Clark and I! This morning we made an offer on a lot! We are so so excited about building the house that we will start our marriage in. My dad is going to contract it for us so we can build it for way below market value. The owner of the lot countered so we have to do some research and then we are either going to counter or accept tomorrow.
We also booked the house and photographer for the wedding today! The house is in Destin, FL and it actually turned out to be a much better deal than the house we had originally picked out in Navarre Beach. Not only is the house cheaper but it’s in Destin which has much more stuff to do than Navarre Beach. Also, the owner of the house owns a tent that he rents for weddings for quite a bit less than a tent company would. For those of you who want to look for places to stay around our house, the address is 115 Sarasota St Miramar Beach, FL 32550. The date is still May 4, 2013.
I am most excited about the photographer! It is Pure 7 Studios; you can look at some of their recent work on their blog, http://www.pure7studios.com/blog/. Clark and I both fell in love with them! We met with 2 photographers while in Destin. We loved them both and their price was barely different so it was not an easy decision. It was actually Clark who decided for us, he liked Pure 7 just a little bit more and I was happy to not have to make the decision. For any Grandma's that want to have portraits taken, let me know and I will get you a price list, their family sessions are just as amazing as their weddings!
I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my chest today! It feels so good to finally have things finalized. Hopefully, we will get to accept the offer on the lot tomorrow and then we close in 2 weeks! I will put any wedding news on our website/app. If you want to download the app, it's called "appycouple" and our wedding code is 02594 or the website is clarkandjessica.appycouple.com.
This weekend is going to be great! As soon as C and I leave work we are heading up to Fayetteville to watch C's sister, Carly, play softball in the state championship. This is the third year in a row that Bryant has made it to the 'ship and hopefully this will be the third time they win the 'ship! The Lady Hornets have been ridiculously good this year and it has been so much fun to watch Carly and the whole team.
Carly ALWAYS smiles in softball, there are so many pictures of her catching and hitting a ball with a huge grin on her face. Carly and I are a lot alike, Clark says it's because we both have black hearts and no souls, but she is so unlike me when it comes to softball. First of all, she is good. But mostly it's her attitude. I had the WORST attitude when I played high school ball. I didn't even play for a real team, I went to a tiny private school and there weren't many other private schools for us to play. I would get so mad if I messed up, my lowest points were smacking a girl on the other team with my glove and hyperventilating in the dugout. Carly always has a good attitude, I'm sure she gets down on herself sometimes but she doesn't let it show.
The only really awful thing about going to Fayetteville is that we have to miss Clark's brother, Grant, graduating from college. For those of you who know Grant, you know that this degree is a long time in the making and we are so upset that we have to miss watching him get it! I made C decide on his own which one we were going to go to and he has been so torn up about it. It's going to be streamed online so we plan on watching it from the game. Grant promises that he is going to go back to school so we will not miss his next graduation no matter what!
I'll let you know how the game goes! Happy weekend everyone!
This past weekend was so much fun! On Saturday afternoon, we gathered at Heather’s parents’ house for her baby gender reveal. I won’t steal her blogging thunder by giving away all the details but I am SO excited for her and Adam and can’t wait to meet baby girl Fite!
Heather, Adam and Gussy dog
Brittany, Me, Heather and Stephanie
Saturday night was our engagement party. C and I are so blessed with the best family and friends that love and support us! Brittany, Heather, Stephanie, Rebecca, Debbie, and Elaine (who already had plans to go out of town and was missed!) hosted the party and it was a blast! It was at the Back Porch Grill in Hot Springs which I definitely recommend.
Brittany, Me, Stephanie and Heather
C and Me with our yummy cake!
After everyone ate, some people told stories about us. My favorite story was about C wrecking his mom’s car since he has always told me that he has never had a wreck. Heather’s mom told a story about me and Heather sneaking out of Heather’s room one night and leaving our muddy shoes on the windowsill which I thought was hilarious since I had just been thinking about that night at Heather’s reveal and wondering how many times she will catch her daughter sneaking out.
We also announced our date and location plans for the wedding which have subsequently fallen completely apart. My parents, C and I went down to Florida a couple weeks ago and I fell in love with a house in Navarre Beach. It was perfect and actually in our price range. I found the house on VRBO which is usually a fantastic place to find great deals but the owner of this house is a total liar. We originally just wanted to rent the house for 5 nights but he wanted us to do 7. We agreed to rent it for 7 nights but it had to be Sunday to Sunday. Well he demanded that we rent it Saturday to Saturday or rent it for 2 full weeks! Long story short, I told him that was not happening and either we got it for the dates we wanted or we would look somewhere else to which he won’t respond.
So we are back at the beginning when it comes to houses. I promise I have seen every house on the Alabama and Florida Gulf Coast. I’m so frustrated and exhausted; I really thought we would have a house booked by now. I’m pretty much stuck until we book the house and we are having a much harder time than I thought finding what we want.
We are still planning on May 4, 2013. I am hoping that we can have the house, photographer and planner booked by the end of this month and at that point it’s just working out the details. I realize that this is still a year away so it seems like I should have plenty of time but doing a destination wedding means everything has to be done a few months earlier than usual.
I’ll keep you updated on the progress but for now here is my favorite contestant and performance from this years’ The Voice. I loooourve her!
I know that this shindig is our wedding so we could get married in Alaska next to a polar bear if we really wanted but I don’t really like the way Alaskans talk. Instead, we decided a while back that we wanted a beach wedding. At first Clark was a little against it. He is much more of a people pleaser than I am and was worried that people would be upset if they weren’t able to make it. I just reminded him that it’s OUR wedding and having our closest family and friends there will be enough.
Growing up, I always thought I would have a huge wedding where hundreds of people could look at me and tell me how beautiful I am. But after being in and going to that exact wedding about 30 times, I realized that isn’t really what I want. I’m not trying to bash anyone’s wedding, I don’t think there is anything wrong with having a huge wedding; it’s just not what I want. And if you can only get exactly what you want one time, it should be on your wedding day.
I’m not really into surprises so before we got engaged, I sat down with a calendar and we came up with a plan. I didn’t tell him when or how to propose (I tried but he wouldn’t allow it) but we did both agree that if we were going to get married 9-10 hours away, we wanted everyone to have at least a year to save money and vacation time so that isn’t an obstacle. We aren’t thinking anywhere crazy, probably Destin or Gulf Shores, definitely somewhere close enough to drive. We are also going to try to plan it when most hotels and condos have their “mid-season” rates, usually in between spring break and Memorial Day. We are planning on either April 27 or May 4, 2013, we haven’t booked anything but I am hoping that since it's over a year away that one of those dates will be open.
I hate that we have to wait that long but it’s worth it for us to have the perfect day with the people we love the most.
And just for fun, here's is a video of what happened on the way to Destin last year...
I can't wait to see what memories we will make with both of our families on the next trip!
Soooo………..I’m back and I’M ENGAGED! This weekend Clark popped the question with this stunner of a ring!
And I’m sure you want to hear the story of how he did it so here you go....
This past weekend Clark and I went to Fayetteville for the Razorback baseball game. We stayed with my bestie Heather and her husband Adam. My friends Brittany and Stephanie were supposed to come with us but backed out (and I was ticked). Friday night we stayed up talking with Heather and Adam until probably midnight. During this conversation, they all lied to me approximately 100 times.
Saturday morning we got up and went to Common Grounds for a delicious brunch with Heather and Adam. Then Heather said she had to take some work stuff to Fed Ex and go get her oil changed. So Clark and I went to campus because he said he wanted to walk around and see some of the parts that he never gets to see. I showed him the library (even though I only went there once, I remembered it), Old Main, and Spoofers Stone. Then he said he wanted to go to the football stadium. I whined because I have been to the stadium a million times and even on the field before but I finally agreed. As we are walking into the stadium, I tell him the story of how I was supposed to be on the field for the Tennessee game in 2006 when ESPN Gameday was there but I had a spinal tap the day before and projectile vomited right as I walked in the gate. I even pointed to where I was standing when I puked (so romantic).
We start walking out onto the field (illegal) and he just keeps walking, I finally said something about us getting caught and he said he just wanted to take a picture of the hog in the middle. When we get to the 50 yard line, he started making an incredibly sweet speech (that neither one of us really remembers) then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes and as we start walking off the field, people started popping up from the entrance and yelling. Clark and Heather had schemed to get my very best friends (minus one) to Fayetteville (I immediately felt bad for all the smack talk I did about them backing out on us). Kori and Chad even drove all the way from Dallas! It was seriously perfect!
Brittany, Kori, Clark, Me, Heather and Stephanie
We ended the night on Heather’s back porch just eating and talking and having a blast!
Part of the reason I am an awful blogger is because I never take pictures. This was one of the main reasons that I wanted to blog because I thought it would encourage me to take more pictures. For instance, my brother got married last weekend, I took a total of 4 pictures, 2 weren’t even for me and they were all taken with my phone because I left my camera battery plugged into my wall at home. Here are the 2 pictures I took for myself and 1 that I stole from my friend Heather.
Heather, me, Stephanie and Britt
Our youth pastor Jay and his wife Gina who raised most of the people in this picture
My bff Heather and me
I’ve also gone to every Razorback game this season except the Tennessee game and here are the only pictures I have taken thus far.
Me and Clark at the South Carolina game
Me and Clark, I think this is the Auburn game
Carter and Joe Adams, who he was obviously terrified of in this moment but is now obsessed with. Anytime there is football on TV, he assumes it is Joe Adams
Most of the pictures that I take are of my niece and nephew, here are a couple of the most adorable ones.
Abby and my Aunt Elaine's horses
Carter in his Razorback uniform
I got my camera battery out of the wall and put it in my camera so here’s hoping that I actually start snapping some photos!
My name is Jessica, I live in Central Arkansas. I like God, The Hogs, my job, my family and friends, living in the South and Clark. I also like to smile, smiling's my favorite. I like to make other people smile too. This probably won't be deep but sometimes the shallow end is a little clearer.
