{Weekend Recap} Olivia's Wedding Weekend

Hi Ladies! We are back from the beach and back to reality here in the Holt household. After having twelve glorious days off, Kevin had to return to work yesterday and I may have possibly shed a tear. Twelve hour shifts make for some long days and nights... especially with a toddler whose schedule is all off from vacation. But such is the life and we'll get through it; things could always be worse. And let's face it, after the amazing vacation we had, the change in schedule was totally worth it. I'm anxious to share the pictures and details from our little vacation but before I do, I wanted to share what we were up to before we hit the road to the beach. One of my lifelong best friends got married!
On Friday, July 24th, Kevin and I spent the day running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. We woke up early and headed to our photographer's farm for family photos. Following our photography session, we met Kevin's parents at Ruby Tuesday to celebrate Kevin's birthday. By the time we left it was after 1 in the afternoon and we were rushing home to pack for the beach. I'm not quite sure how I managed it, but I had all of our things packed and loaded into our car by 3pm. Not long after, I hit the road with my friend Brittni, to attend my friend Olivia's rehearsal and rehearsal dinner in Cary, NC. 

We arrived at the rehearsal just in time. Olivia's ceremony was to take place outside so needless to say, we were all dying from the heat which sped up the practice process quite a bit. We only walked through it twice and then we all made our way to the barn located at the venue for a delicious meal catered by the Cook Shack. 

Following the rehearsal dinner, Brittni and I volunteered to take Olivia out for one last night out. After driving around for a while, we settled for appetizers and drinks on the patio at the Carolina Ale House. We spent most of the remaining part of the evening there enjoying each other's company and talking about all the exciting things to come. By midnight, we called it a night since we could all barely keep our eyes open. But somewhere between the ten minute drive back to our hotel, we all managed to get a new burst of energy and ended up staying up until close to 2am chatting away in our hotel room. 
Saturday morning we were all up bright and early for the day's festivities. We grabbed breakfast at the hotel around 8am, then the hair and make-up process started at 9am. 

By noon, we were out the door and headed to the venue where the remainder of the afternoon was spent getting ourselves and Miss Olivia ready. 

At 5:00pm, the wedding began and went off without a hitch. It was beautiful, bright, and thankfully we had just the amount of breeze come through to keep us all relatively comfortable. Praise Jesus! I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking!

After we'd enjoyed a southern style dinner of barbecue, green bean casserole, roasted potatoes, corn bread, and four different types of cake, Kevin and I said our goodbyes and made our way to the beach to meet up with Kevin's family and get our hands on our baby girl who we'd sent on to the beach with Kevin's parents. But more on all that tomorrow :P 

{Weekend Recap} Fourth of July 2015

As I sit down to write our weekend recaps each week, I've come to a realization that I can never get these babies posted on a Monday. I guess that's what happens when you just have too much fun. Sometimes you just need a day to recover (; But since I spent yesterday by the pool relaxing & recovering with my friend Jennifer, I've finally got this weekend recap lined up for you ladies. So let's get to it.
On Friday, Harper and I met up with my co-worker, Taylor, and her daughter, Hutson, for a lunch date. We grabbed hot dogs and ice cream at a local dairy bar. While Taylor and I caught up, Harper and Hutson ran around the place like little crazy people. Thank goodness they're cute (; And I swear they are destined to be best friends!

Friday night, Kevin had to work another twelve hour shift, so Harper and I met up with my brother-in-law, his girlfriend, and one of Kevin and Brian's mutual friends for some dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. By the time we left it was nearly 9pm. So we headed home, did the usual nighttime bedtime routine, and called it a night by 11pm. But not before I colored a bazillion pictures for Harper. Which brings me to a question. Are we ever too old to stop coloring? I think not my friends, I think not. 

Saturday, Harper and I got up bright and early and made our way to my family's place at the lake. We spent the day there and enjoyed a delicious cookout with all of my siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Thankfully Kevin even got to come up for a few hours before having to return home and head into work again. Such is life. We ended our evening with another cookout via poolside at Kevin's aunt and uncle's house. 
Saturday night I didn't sleep very well. Around 1 o'clock in the morning my phone rang and Kevin's face popped up on the screen. Immediately I knew something was wrong as Kevin would never call me in the middle of the night when he knew I was sleeping. Sure enough, he dropped a bombshell. One of his friends and teammates had been killed in a motorcycle accident just a few hours before. To top it off, it happened right behind my parents' house and right in front of one of my friends' houses. After getting off the phone with Kevin, I couldn't get back to sleep. My heart was heavy and burdened. Two precious babies lost a father. Another lost a stepdad. And another lost the love of her life. So much sadness caused by a life taken so early. 
Needless to say, the rest of my night was spent tossing and turning. By 9am, my head was splitting open in pain and since Harper was still sleeping soundly, I decided to lay back down and try to catch up on some more sleep. Thankfully I managed an extra hour of sleep before Harper woke up. But since it was after 10, we decided to forgo going to church and decided to head on back to the lake to meet my parents instead. 
We ended up spending most of the day at the lake on Sunday. Mom grilled up some hot dogs and we all hung out on the porch and enjoyed the somewhat cooler temperatures. Sometime around 2, the bottom fell out so we sought refuge inside.

 I'd have killed for a nap but instead I settled for a movie and homemade ice cream with the family and my friend, Brittni, who joined us for the day. We ended up watching Black or White, which I'd definitely recommend if you haven't seen it yet. 

Hope your families had a great 4th of July! 

"Life is Salty, Love is Sweet" Rustic Bridal Shower

Please note, the pictures in this post may appear grainy due to this blog template not allowing photos to be re-sized. For better viewing quality, please click on the photos themselves. 

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This past weekend, I had the opportunity to throw one of my lifelong best friends her very first bridal shower. Olivia and I have known each other since we were in first grade so it's safe to say I know her pretty well. She is a lot like me in that we tend to stray from the traditional and love all things unique. Trendsetters as I'd like to say (; So when the opportunity presented itself to host Olivia's shower this past weekend, I knew I wanted her shower to be very non-traditional as it would truly reflect who Olivia is as a person and to top it all off, it would be way more fun and enjoyable.

After playing around with multiple ideas for the shower, I finally decided on a "Life is Salty, Love is Sweet" theme and decided instead of a traditional bridal shower menu, we'd incorporate fun foods that everyone truly loves. So instead of the usual veggie trays, white cake squares, chalky mints, plain peanuts, and party punch we spiced up the menu a bit and served all of Olivia and Justin's favorite salty and sweet snacks. Insert popcorn, homemade trail mix, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, cupcakes, candy, and canned soda here. Wouldn't you agree that those are way more enjoyable?! To incorporate aspects of Olivia's actual wedding day, I used galvanized serving pieces along with pops of yellow, navy blue, and burlap. If you can't tell, she'll be having a country wedding at a farm and I couldn't be anymore excited about that! But enough about me... here's some pictures from the event! 

Love you Liv! Can't wait till your big day!

Party Details & Sources

Galvanized Serving Pieces: Walmart & Target

Glass Jars: Target

Navy Plates & Yellow Napkins: Walmart

Banner: DIY project made from twine, mini clothespins, doilies, and printed photos

White Vase: Target

White picture frame: Marshalls

A Trip to Safari Nation

Over the last few weeks, NC has seen it's fair share of snow. Needless to say, schools have been cancelled and we've spent quite a bit of time at home. Normally I'm all for the break but factor in being stuck inside 24/7 with a rambunctious toddler and you've got your fair share of meltdowns and headaches. Parenthood isn't always rainbows and butterflies my friends. Though, truth be told, I wouldn't have it any other way. 

So after being stuck inside a few days during one of our first rounds of snow, Kevin, Harper, and I headed out to meet up with some family friends for lunch and a play date and it was most definitely what the good Lord ordered. Our families had such an absolute blast and it felt wonderful being able to get out in the fresh air after being cooped up inside for what had felt like forever. Shortly after 11, we met up with the Loye Family, at a local Ham's restaurant for some sandwiches and sides. When lunch was over we headed over to Safari Nation, an indoor inflatable park, so the kids could get some energy out. I wasn't quite sure how it would go considering it was right smack dab in the middle of Harper's nap time but she acted like a champ and played her little heart out with two of her favorite buddies. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking!

If you want to see more of the Loye Family, head here to see Stacey's adorable blog and all of her super creative ides!

Soaking up the Snow Days!

North Carolina got hit with some snow, sleet, and ice earlier this week. Thankfully for us, the weathermen were right for a change and we got more of the snow and less of the other nasty stuff in our area. Since school was cancelled due to the road conditions, this girl has been taking full advantage of the last couple of days off and has been soaking up all that the snow days have had to offer.

Monday after leaving work at noon, I headed home where I arrived just in time to rock Harper to sleep for her nap. In the past she hasn't wanted to be rocked, but here lately she loves it and I soak it all up. As she slept most of the day, I caught up on episodes of The Bachelor and a few Hallmark movies I had dvr'ed (is that a word?). By the time she got up, Kevin was home so we spent the rest of the evening curled up on the couch with blankets watching Cars. Harper's new favorite movie!

Unfortunately, Kevin's work doesn't close for anything so at 4:30 am he was up and at it Tuesday morning. Since this is the first real snow we've had since last year, I was disappointed that he was going to miss out on all the fun... especially since this is the first year Harper could truly enjoy it. But then at noon I got a surprising text saying to not take Harper out in the snow till he got home and then we'd grab lunch. Confused I text him back and didn't get a response.. then fifteen minutes later he walked in the door! Thankfully they hadn't needed him at work so he asked if he could go home. So the remainder of the day was spent enjoying our snow day as a family, along with my mother in law, brother-in-law, and his girlfriend. Hands down some of my favorite people ever!

Yesterday I decided to take Harper to daycare so she could get out of the house for a bit and enjoy some time with her friends. However, not thirty minutes after I had gotten home, I was missing my little sidekick like crazy. I seriously considered turning right around and picking her back up but since it would have been right smack dab in the middle of her lunch, I decided to busy myself cleaning the house up and catching up on laundry. But you best believe when 2 o'clock rolled around and I knew she was getting up from her nap, I rushed straight back to get my girl. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching more snow fall, eating cupcakes, & watching way to many episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. & of course we ended the night with a spaghetti dinner and some UNC Vs Duke basketball with friends. 

It's been such a great few days and when I have to return to work it's going to be sad. But for now I'm going to continue enjoying my snow days at home with my girl! What do you ladies do on snow days?