NYC 2018: Part One

OH HEY. 

Man, this past weekend was such a good weekend. It did nothing but rain on Saturday, which was all the excuse Jeff and I needed to not ever leave the house. He watched (an absurd amount of) football all day, and I made significant strides on house organization. So we were both happy campers!

Today's little recap is WAY overdue, but I still want to make sure it's captured and documented and all the things (reading back about past trips is one of my favorite reasons to have a blog), so you're just going to have to pretend we went to NYC last week, not almost three months ago :) 

This little trip came to fruition in a roundabout way, honestly. At the beginning of the year, my dad and I were looking at the baseball schedule to decipher Games 8-10, knowing we needed to hit Game 10 by the time I turned 30 (this past June). We knew we wanted to go see the Yankees at some point, so my dad threw out the idea of going to see the Yankees as Game 10 ON my birthday. I thought it was a great idea!

Then my friend Ryan (we met at Baylor but he now lives in NYC) emailed about how he was turning 35 this June, was doing a big ole shindig for it, we were all invited up to New York and it happened to be the same weekend. That just made the idea a little greater. 

THEN I was thinking about how it's my 30th birthday weekend AND Father's Day weekend, so maybe dad and I should bring our plus ones and make an extended little weekend out of it. At this point Jeff had only been to NYC for about 8 hours (for a long layover), and my mom is always down for some shows, so the idea became even greater. 

And alas, the 30th birthday/Father's Day/Game 10 trip was born (and planned). 

And what do I mean by planned, you ask? 

I mean I made this here lil itinerary. Because I rarely do things without an itinerary. Just ask my sister. She loves to make fun of me for it :)

Honestly, it was a great itinerary (if I do say so myself), but it was jam.packed. Fully planned days and walking pretty much everywhere just about wore us all out. We slept hard each night. It's also why I'm only going to recap half of the trip today.

Nevertheless it was SUCH a good weekend and I loved that Jeff and I got to spend quality time with my parents. I just really like them. :)

Okay, so let's get started. 

We all took mid-morning flights on a Thursday from DFW to LGA, and landed around 3p. From there, we took a (terrifying, near death experience) cab ride straight to our Airbnb. When my mom, sister and I went to NYC back in 2013, we stayed in a hotel in Midtown and I absolutely LOVED the location. An Airbnb turned out to be cheaper for the four of us, so we found one in Hell's Kitchen (not far at all from Midtown and our other points of interest) and were quite pleased!

After getting settled, we walked to our first dinner reservation at The Smith. I reached out on Facebook for food recommendations (you people feel strongly about your NYC eats, by the way) and this was on the list. 

Plus, two of us thought it would be cool if the Smiths ate at the Smith!

...Okay fine. I was the only one who thought it was cool. 

While it was my first time trying this place, it definitely will not be my last. We had reservations (and I'm really glad we did!), so we walked right on in and sat down. All four of us had a little something different but it was all wonderful. My only complaint was it was quite loud. And I know, I know, it's a restaurant in NYC - what do I expect? But still - having a conversation was a bit challenging. 

So we took pictures of each side of the table instead! :)

The Smiths at the Smith! WHAT a knee slapper. 

Mom's fries showed up right before it was picture time so dad thought they needed a moment in the spotlight too.

After dinner, we planned to walk past Central Park, down Broadway, and straight into Times Square before heading home. We made it to the corner of Central Park and Broadway before dad and I had to stop again. 

Cause look what we found! 

We can spot it miles away y'all. It's basically our spiritual gift.

If you're headed to NYC soon, the place is called Grom and I would highly recommend it. We liked it so much we went about 3 or 4 times during our trip. I'm SO glad calories aren't a thing on vacation. 

<Note: this is likely also why my doctor asked how I gained so much weight in the first trimester if I was so sick all the time.>

We continued our walk down Broadway until we hit this beauty.

Hey there, Times Square. 

This tourist trap gives me life every time I see it. The colors, the sounds, the flashing blinking lights of so many advertisements at once I can barely be marketed to by any of them... it's all just so mesmerizing. 

But you couldn't PAY me to stand there on New Years Eve. Nope. Not a chance. 

They're so stinking cute.

At this point we just walked in some random stores around the area (the Christmas shop, M&M Factory, etc.) and found a shop that let us load up on Yankees gear for that weekend. 

And then? We were beat. We walked home, got in jammies, watched TV and went to bed at a reasonable hour. Y'all - this is part of the reason I love traveling with my parents - my inner grandma doesn't have to pretend to be hip or cool or anything. Inner grandma can go to bed at 10p and is fully supported by the family. YES, Lord.

On Friday morning we woke up fairly early and were out of the house by 9a. We had a big day ahead! Being that 1) I love itineraries, and 2) Jeff had never been to NYC, I took my tour guide job very seriously. He needed to see all the things. 

And sure, you basically can't ever see all the NYC things unless you actually live there, but hey, a girl can try. 

Our first stop was Sarabeth's for breakfast. Another highly recommended location and another HUGE win! It is located right across from Central Park, has really delicious breakfast food, and is a cute little restaurant where you can easily talk to the other people at your table. :) Man, I'm starting to realize that my inner grandma is really coming out to play...

After Sarabeth's, we headed out to get lost in Central Park. Which is easy to do, by the way. Every time I come to New York, I will always carve out a portion of a day to walk through the park. It just makes me so HAPPY. Just walking around. There's just so much to see (from skylines to nature to people) and so much ground to cover.

And so many bridges to pose in front of! Also, I thought my mom and I took a picture in front of the Home Alone bridge back in 2013, but we actually were mistaken. Jeff did serious research on this, y'all. We did find the actual bridge, and you can still take a picture of it, but you cannot stand under it. Because it's now a swamp. So, just in case you were curious (probably not), this indeed is just a random bridge.

We talked, we strolled, we took pictures - and we located about 50% of the Central Park bathrooms. Ah, pregnancy. 

One bathroom, however, ended up being in the Central Park Zoo - of which I had no idea was actually a thing. I have been to Central Park several times, but had never come across the zoo inside. We didn't partake in any animal watching, but we did find a coffee shop, which like ice cream, makes my family (namely me and my parents) stop dead in our tracks. 

Waiting for our coffees :) 

OH, and we also found a gift shop. Jeff went to the restroom and met up with us in the shop later, and by the time he got there I was holding a stuffed lion that I just could not let go of. Maybe because I had a stuffed Simba that I slept with for approximately 15 years of my life. Maybe it was because I'm pregnant and feeling all nostalgic. Maybe it was because it had big brown plastic eyes that melted my heart. Either way, the hubs bought it for me. :)

Last day of my twenties and I'm in Central Park with an iced coffee and a cute little stuffed animal. I am a happy human. That will probably always be part kid.

Speaking of which, just in case you're wondering, no this stuffed animal is not for my unborn child. His name is Louie and he sleeps with us. You know what else sleeps with us? Our pregnancy pillow. And our two large dogs. Man, Jeff is a lucky man. 

We continued to stroll and found Balto - a statue and story my family doesn't let me live down. Long story short, when we went to NY when I was little I made my family walk ALL OVER that park until we found the blasted Balto statue. The movie had just come out and I was dead set on finding the statue. I guess they didn't have park maps back then? 

We climbed rock mountains...

Enjoyed the pretty park benches...

Made friends with headless people...

Y'all. So you could obviously hear these people talking to each other, and my mom was all like "where are those voices coming from? How are they doing that?" 

Precious Susie. She thought they were robots. Or maybe she thought they were actual headless people, I'm not sure. 

You could spend an entire day in Central Park, but alas, we only had a few hours before we had to head to Rockefeller Center. It was Top of the Rock time!

I've done the Top of the Rock almost every time I've been to New York, but it just never gets old to me. 

Oh, and we totally took (and bought!) the tourist pictures. When we do NYC, we DO NYC.

Then for our candid one, we tried to recreate this infamous picture:

<source>

How'd we do? :)

We'll just call it the modern day version :)

After hearing the history, watching the videos, and taking our awesome pictures, we headed up to the top! 

 The city is a beauty, I'll give her that. 

Pardon Jeff's excessive squat. When you have tall man problems you tend to cover up the Empire State Building even if you squat like a normal person. 

However, while so many people were waiting "patiently" for their turn at the window, Jeff had tall man perks and just took his pictures above everyone's head.

Our little girl is going to be SET y'all. She'll be able to perch up on those shoulders and see the world :)

We then went to the very tippy top (did you know there are actually three levels?) which has no glass. Every other time I've come to NY it's been bitterly cold and windy, so the top levels have always been closed. But not in June!

Same location, but a little different weather conditions and attire from this one we took 4.5 years earlier... :)

After we saw all there was to see, we headed back down and through the NBC studios gift shop where it took serious restraint to not buy all the Friends paraphernalia, as well as things like this:

And all the women said Amen. 

And all their husbands rolled their eyes.

We then headed straight out of the building to see the Radio City Music Hall, and then around the corner to grab some sweet treats at Magnolia Bakery.

Y'all. At this point, we were exhausted. We had pretty much walked ourselves silly. So we got our treats, went back into Rockefeller, found a Starbucks, and sat our little selves down while we rebooted on cupcakes and coffee.

Not pictured: Dad's banana pudding - because he ate it before we even checked out.

And honestly - Magnolia was good and much needed at the time, but I've had better treats in my day. You just can't really beat baked goods from the south. 

After we got back on our feet (and cried a little from the pain), we headed back to the apartment to freshen up for dinner. Thanks to your recommendations, we set out for John's Pizzeria (commonly referred to as 'the old church that now sells pizza'). John's doesn't take reservations, and there was quite a line when we got there, but we really only waited 20-30 minutes for a table. 

We then devoured delicious pizza in a really cool atmosphere. I would definitely recommend this place (and I do think it's worth the wait). It's an old cathedral type building, and we sat on the second level so we had some really cool architectural views. 

Too bad dad was more interested in the pizza view. :)

After dinner, the boys went back to the apartment to watch baseball while the girls had a date night! My mom bought us tickets to Frozen on Broadway for my birthday! The theatre was about 5 steps away from the pizza place, so we excitedly just hopped on over!

This show is fairly new so I want to give you my honest thoughts: 

GO SEE IT. 

It is a true Disney on Broadway masterpiece, and I can say this because my reviews of the Disney show we saw the next night are far from beaming. But this one. MAN. The music was good, the theatrics were great, we laughed, we oohed and aahed, and just when you think you are so beyond sick of "Let It Go," Caissie Levy knocks it out of the park and makes you wish you could rewatch it over and over again. 

OH, and spoiler alert here, but in case you aren't happy enough when it ends, you get snowed on and it makes the whole audience turn into giddy five year olds. 

See? Giddy. 

And in the event you thought it was just a little snow... 

It's basically a full-on blizzard. Bless the sweet souls who have to vacuum after every show. 

We walked back to the apartment, and at this point, I thought I had completely run out of gas. Just call me the little engine that couldn't. BUT, after we got back to the apartment, we learned that Ryan and the whole gang were right around the corner from where we were staying, so Jeff and I went to say hi.

And when I walked in everyone had party hats and yelled happy birthday :)

I have good people. 

The faces of a freshly 35 year old and an almost 30 year old! Love sharing a birthday month with this one. He does life really well.

I wrapped up the evening with a Schmackary's ice cream sandwich (complete with candle) and a really happy heart. 

It was an extremely exhilarating (and exhausting) last day of my twenties. The next day, I woke up to a whole new decade :) 

But that's enough for today. More on that later this week. 

Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

Until next time,

Katy

Date Night: Texas State Fair

"Our State Fair is a great State Fair...."

If you know what song that is - you are basically my soulmate. Because that song was in my head the entire 5 hours we were at the fair grounds. 

So last year, I made the State Fair a "Friday Favorite" - but considering it now holds the title of "top three date nights" for two years in a row now, I decided it needed its own post. 

-Annual Big Tex Picture-

The past two years we've gone the Friday night before OU/TX weekend, and the crowds are shockingly small. And even though both years were on the same weekend, last year I was in shorts and a t-shirt, this year I was in jeans and a puffer. Ah, Texas. 

But both years I was in boots. #yeehaw

Side note: we also always take two empty Dr. Pepper cans and get half off admission. Yes, please. 

So we didn't necessarily plan to do this, but we ended up taking the same "route" as last year. Which actually made things quite easy (and you remember where the restrooms are!). Nevertheless, this is the first thing this guy will always do when he walks in the fair grounds. 

He's kind of obsessed with the prize-winning fried foods. Like the dedication is borderline unfortunate. We sniff out those things like dad gum blood hounds. And he won't stop until he's tried all that interest him. Sigh.

Now me? I'm pretty easy. I require a corny dog. Plain and simple. 

Who's high maintenance now? Huh? HUH? :)

After "dinner" we head to take our annual Big Tex picture (pictured above). This year we almost missed the sunlight due to the fried food search of 2016 - but at each booth I kept (not so) subtly pointing that out so we made it in time for our picture. :)

After Big Tex, we make our way around to the Magnolia Beer Garden which is one of my very favorite stops. It's always decorated in extreme fall manner with the cutest little "patio" feel. And twinkle lights come on after dark!

This place makes for some great people-watching ...as I'm sure you can imagine :) This year a parade happened to be going past us so we grabbed a drink and watched the lil show. 

My future husband is smokin'. 

Anywho - so after the beer garden we head on over to the auto show (insert fake and practiced enthusiasm here). Last year we stayed for a while, but this year we just took a quick stroll. And sure enough, when we walked out of the exhibit there was a fireworks/cirque de soleil show going on in the water right next door! So many fun surprises at the fair. You really never quite know what you're gonna get.
#thefairislikeaboxofchocolates

After the car show we make our way around to the wine festival. We only stopped this year for a potty break, and on my way to bathroom I see THIS.

I know her! I had the same dance teacher for 15 years growing up (her name is Miss Keely and she is the best in America), and this beautiful girl is her daughter! It's really cool to see blown up pictures of people you know in random public places :)

Next stop was one of my favorite stops - the petting zoo!!! (insert Katy vigorously clapping) I'm like a 5-year old. Give me all the animals.

So the first animal we saw when we walked in was a kangaroo - and I immediately started tearing up. I've been missing Australia a lot this past week, and when I saw this guy hopping around, it tugged on all the heart strings. 

You can't really tell in this picture, but he's sniffing my hand and saying things like, "oh hey you hung out with my cousin in Sydney and my bestie in Adelaide!" It actually made me sad to see them in Texas. Let the roos go home, mate.

We had to fight to let the baby goats eat. There were so many babies - but the big goats kept shoving them out of the way. Made me wanna drop kick them into the buffalo cage and give them a taste of their own medicine. But I refrained.

After the animals we washed our hands about 17 times, and then Jeff realized he hadn't eaten in over an hour. (It is considered a BIG problem at the fair if you give your stomach enough time to digest food before cramming more in.) SO, we took off to get him some dessert. And what did he choose?

Pecan pie poppers.

This boy loves him some pecan pie. I swear I turned around one minute later and all four of them were gone. Twas quite impressive.

We always end the night with a couple rides - you know, those that toss you upside down and all around. And this year I realized I laugh really hard on rides.
 Which means I have my mouth open the majority of the ride.
Which means I tend to drool on rides.
Which means Jeff doesn't like to sit next to me on rides.

Do they cover that in premarital counseling?

Anywho - this year we decided to end the night with some carnival games (which we didn't do last year). So at first I was all like, eh, this'll be entertaining... because I have extremely limited (i.e. none at all) hand and eye coordination. So I never win any prizes.

Lucky for me I have an extremely talented fiance!

He was a pitcher in his high school days so the first game we chose involved throwing a ball at three milk jugs (you had to knock them all down) and he made it happen!

SO THEY GAVE US A GIANT TIGER.

Y'all - I was expecting like a purse-sized stuffed unicorn and they hand him a giant white tiger that causes us to walk around the rest of the carni games like this.

I mean, never in my life.

We played a couple more games to no avail and then ended the night on a game where Jeff had to throw some balls and crack four plates. And that he did. So we got Brooklyn a fuzzy pink raccoon :)

And then I was all like "look at me with my schnazzy prizes my future hubby won me." #proud

Needless to say, we had some serious fun and got some good ole laughs at the carnival section. We will most definitely be keeping that in the fair date night rotation.

Then I brought the giant tiger home, and I'm pretty sure my pup thought he was being replaced.

Is that not the saddest little face you've ever seen?!

So the tiger now sits in the corner of Jeff's living room rather than at my house. No need to give my street dog any insecurities.

Ahhh I just love the fair so much. If you haven't been - you need to go (you still have a couple weeks!). And if you've never made a date night out of it, we highly suggest it. It's just the perfect place to act like a couple of kids. Sometimes adulting just needs to go by the wayside a lil bit.

Looking forward to many more fair date nights (and useless giant stuffed animals) with this one :)

Happy hump day everyone!

Until next time,
Katy

The One Where We Got Engaged

Now who's excited for this post?!? 

(stands on tippy toes and eagerly raises hand)
Me me me me me!

Y'all. 9.10.16 takes the lead for being the best day of my life.

 

Yes, I have a pretty (okay, flippin gorgeous) ring. Yes, we get to plan a wedding. But people - I get to wake up to THIS MAN for the rest of my life. He's seriously a better man than I could have ever picked for myself, and I'm so beyond thankful that the good Lord put us together. 

Something tells me you want me to cut the sap and get to the story. :) Well fine. But y'all best grab a large cup of coffee and settle on in because it'll probably be lengthy. And while I'm writing this partially because I've been asked where this post is about 472 times, I'm mainly writing it so we can go re-read our story as many times as we want for the next umpteen jillion years. Therefore I can't leave any little detail out :)

First off - you get pictures with this post because THIS GIRL spent three hours of her Saturday becoming one with all things shrub-like and bug-like. Thanks to Jeff's planning and her picture-taking, we forever have this beautiful day captured. We love her so much.  

So it all started early last week when I was still in Australia. Actually - that's a lie. It all started back in June when Jeff bought the ring and started planning (seriously - so many secrets kept from Katy!), but I'll get to those points as they come.

So early last week, I asked Jeff if he was going to pick me up when I landed on Wednesday. He said he had a meeting at work (this was actually true) but that he was planning a date night for us on Saturday. I reminded him that 1) we've just been traveling all over the world and our date night budget now consists of the dollar menu at Mickey D's, and 2) that my mom's birthday was the following Sunday and we were doing a family dinner on Saturday night. 

Then I woke up the next day (we'll say it was probably Tuesday-ish) and my mom texted me saying that dad wanted to take her on a date at their favorite restaurant Saturday night, so she wanted a girls date Saturday morning with mani/pedis and brunch (not unusual for the females in my family so I didn't think anything of it). So I texted Jeff and said we could still do a (cheap) date night. 

Please note: The whole time in Australia, Kristie knew everything about everything and wedding talk came up approximately every 5 hours and I legitimately thought she knew nothing. As in, was kind of sad that I had been out of the country for so long and she still knew nothing. She is sneaky.  

The night I land home (so Wednesday), Jeff came over after work to help me unpack, and I asked what our plan was on Saturday. He told me he thought we could knock an item off my 30 Before Thirty list and have a picnic in the Dallas Arboretum. Pretty smart, right? 

Well it was pretty smart. But you want to know the reaction in my head? "It's approximately one thousand degrees outside and you want to have a PICNIC?!" Y'all I tried so hard to get out of this picnic. I first look at the weather and told him the forecast said rain. He said it was only supposed to rain in the morning. My thought, "oh good, so extreme humidity and we'll be sitting in mud." Then I pull out the big guns and tell him I'm a-okay with just having date night watching college football (yes, like I actually suggested this), and he told me he didn't really care about the game that week. 

....so I accepted that I was going on a picnic.
....and I'm so glad I did.

Cut to Saturday morning and I spend the day with mom/Amy and we get our nails did and have some lunch. Which looking back, I chipped my nails (on my left hand) at a store right around the nail salon, and while I wasn't going to get them fixed (the chips weren't that bad), mom and Amy were quite persistent and made me get them fixed since we were "right there." #thanksgirls

After lunch they drop me off  around 2 o'clock because "mom had to go get ready for her date night." Jeff tells me we're going to picnic around 3p (the picnic was going to be appetizers and then we were going to get dinner at a Mexican restaurant so I could get my post-Australian fix). Well I thought he meant we were LEAVING at 3, but he meant he wanted to be ARRIVING at 3, so needless to say when he showed up at my apartment at 2:40, I was still in sweatpants. #oops 

So then we finally get to the arboretum (sorry Lisa!) and Jeff pays the entrance fee while I run to the restroom. When I come out he's all like "ready to go?" and I'm all like "don't we need a map?" So he goes to get a map, opens it up for about 0.56 seconds, and then folds it up and puts it in the picnic basket. I'm like "uhh do you want me to hold it so we know where to go?," and he just responds with "nope let's wing it." Which didn't phase me because he wings everything in life. Well, except this well-thought-out proposal :) 

Little did I know he already 1) explored and drew out a plan, and 2) met with Lisa on Friday to discuss and walk through said plan. Impressed yet? :)

His map - the red line was our "trail."

 

So we get to a pretty area with all the trees (see top picture above) and there's a photographer taking pictures of a girl in a quinceanera dress. We wait for a few minutes, and then this group of tourists just walks on down the tree line. So I'm like "why don't we just hit this spot on the way back?" -- being the Practical Polly that I am, and he just says we should wait in case we don't come back that route. #sigh 

So THEN we walk down a ways and the tourist group asks me to take a photo of them. So I do, but apparently my photography skills weren't good enough because they make me take it AGAIN. Which at this point I'm just frustrated and over this "point of interest" and Jeff is just laughing. So after we take a selfie (which I learn later was a signal to Lisa that things were about to go down #likehim #ononeknee), I tell Jeff I'm ready to move on. Then he (who at this point is standing on my blind side) grabs my hand and says "hey, look at me." 

And then my heart drops to my stomach. 

That's false. Then my heart like drops to my big toe. 

Jeff then tells me that that day made 965 days since we've been together......and then I don't remember anything else. Partially because I'm shocked, and partially because my stinking accounting brain starts recalculating the 965. He's telling me all the wonderful things he loves about me, and I'm all like "so we've been together almost three years....there are 365 days in a year....times three...carry the one....back out four months...." - I mean ridiculous. 

He retold me all the things he said later though. And I reconfirmed that he did actually ask me to marry him. Apparently I said "yes, you doe-doe." Sounds like me. :)

Me taking pictures of the tourists plus the quinceanera situation in the background

The selfie "signal"

THE QUESTION. I love his smile in this picture :)

So then we (the engaged couple!) proceed to walk around the garden, take pictures, and find a picnic spot. Little to my knowledge, Lisa is hopping from rose bush to rose bush capturing it all. #ioweher

And because it makes me laugh - please note Jeff's back sweat. Poor guy. Heat and nerves just about did that little outfit of his in.

We then "find" a perfect little tree (Jeff really planned it) and have the cutest little picnic. He brought champagne flutes and a nice bottle of bubbly, cheese, crackers, fruit, chocolate - I mean he thought of everything. And a thank you to his mama who helped him :)

At this point he confiscated my phone and said that while he knows I'm dying to call my family, he just wants a couple of hours with just the two of us. Little did I know he really just didn't want to spoil what was to come later. :) SO, we do our picnic and take selfies and I make him tell me every little detail about everything!

I will always cherish this picnic. Just me and my future husband. :) :) :)

Trying to capture champagne toasts and the ring - it was quite difficult.

I love that Lisa caught us taking this picture. Jeff actually took forever to actually take our "selfie" because he wanted to make sure Lisa got one too, and I'm like "dude, what are you doing? Take the picture." Heehee - I had no idea. 

The selfie itself turned out pretty cute too :)

I love this man. And I love that we matched. Not even sure how that happened. 

Okay. How are you doing? You hanging in there? 

So at this point sweet Jeff has completely sweat through his clothes. Like...he was drenched. But, being the smart guy that he is, he brought a change of clothes and so we both changed and freshened up a bit before dinner. 

On the way home, I realized we only had staged smiley pictures of the day, and no candid ones (because I didn't know Lisa was in the shrubbery), so I start to get really sad. Jeff's all like "but you can always remember it!" ....little stinker.

We then went to Gloria's (the restaurant of our first date) and he told me we were going to Remedy afterwards to get one of my favorite desserts. I'm not gonna lie - at this point I was secretly hoping our families would be at Gloria's, so when he walked in and asked for a table for two - I was kinda bummed. ....little stinker.

Then we start talking about the pictures and he suggests that we stop by HG for a celebratory drink and to take a picture on the rooftop in front of Dallas skyline. So I say okay! 

Then we get to HG, and we walk up to the rooftop, and I'm all looking at the skyline (hello, I thought we were taking a skyline picture) and then when I look the other way I see FORTY OF OUR CLOSEST FRIENDS AND FAMILY and I'm just completely overwhelmed. I couldn't believe it. Like Kelsey flew back from Charleston. Melissa drove up from Houston. Cheryl drove up from Waco. DFW people drove from all over the metroplex. I couldn't even believe it. 

THEN I see my mama in the back and scream and run and we do this grand ole hug thing, and then my sister gets in on the grand ole hug thing, and then my dad, and then my big brother appears from nowhere (nowhere being Houston) and I ugly cry. I was doing pretty well - but seeing him was just the last straw. I couldn't take it! 

Jeff's best friends took videos at the party (so thankful they did!), so you can see my initial reaction to everyone here, and my family/ugly cry moment here.

Jeff apparently made a facebook invite over a month ago for my "surprise coming home party." And 95% of our people called bull. :) 

Then I continue to mingle and hug everyone and I start telling the engagement story to my girls, and I hear Lisa say "oh, did it look something like this?" and then shows me her camera with the top proposal picture showing. And then I ugly cried some more. 

Y'all. I've never felt more loved. Like I am marrying the greatest man on the planet and we are so lucky to have THE GREATEST friends and family surrounding us. It makes me really excited for the whole wedding shindig that's to come. 

And I am beaming with pride at the proposal Jeff planned. I'm just in awe. I couldn't have even imagined a more perfect day. 

And just for kicks- here are some more pictures :)

 

And then my sweet parents made and gave me this adorable wedding basket.
Let the planning begin!!!! :)

And that's that. The one where we got engaged. The best stinking day of my life. 

Until next time,
THE FUTURE MRS. SMITH

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)