Cody and Britt's Wedding Weekend

Jason and I headed to New Braunfel's last weekend (June 11th-13th) to watch Cody marry Miss Brittany Brown.  My parents hosted rehearsal dinner at Cactus Ranch on Friday night.  We had a great time seeing family and friends.  We had steak, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls for dinner, and the food was excellent!  My mom had everything decorated super cute, and the atmosphere of the place was fantastic.  We all enjoyed our family traditional rehearsal dinner poem, a slide show of pics of the bride and groom-to-be, and lots of fun dancing after dinner.  All in all, it was a great night and a perfect kick-off for the weekend.  On Saturday morning, the boys all headed out for a pre-wedding golf tournament, and my mom and I headed to brunch at Brittany's parents house.  The wedding was held that evening at the Gardens of Cranesbury View.  The ceremony was held out on the lawn; then we moved indoors for the reception.  Brittany and her mom did an awesome job with everything for the wedding, and we all had a great time.  Cale and Kirby delivered some of the best wedding toasts that I have heard to date and had everyone at the reception laughing!  Brittany was a gorgeous bride, and Jason and I feel so blessed to have gained such an amazing sister-in-law.  My baby brother made a great decision when he chose Britt.  Congrats to the new Mr. and Mrs. Johnson.  I wish you both a long, happy marriage filled with lots and lots of memories.  Love you both.

Rehearsal Dinner

Cody and Britt rehearsing with Brother Ron

Table decorations

Uncle Wayne, Leanne, and Kim

Rachel (with Baby Luke on the way), Aunt Susan, and Britt

Brittany's parents and her sister Kirby

Steve and Cody

Brooks, Cale, and Jason

Ross, Aunt Sherry, and Grandpa

Mom and I

Uncle Mark taking Presley for a walk

Kristi, Grandma, Maddie, and Josh

Bailey giving Shelby some love

Brooks, Jason, Dad, and Cody

Me trying to get a picture with some of the kids....obviously disaster..haha

Grandpa and Grandma

Kris and I with Maddie Grace

Josh holding his niece Claire (Travis and Sarah's baby girl) and Kristi with her daughter Maddie

Jason with his parents

The Dorsetts

Morgan, Aunt Paula, Suzann, Bill, and Will

Wedding Day

 We ate at IHOP on Sunday before everyone went their separate ways, and the waitress brought the newlyweds some lovebirds inside a heart.....haha!

Celebrating 1 Year

Jason and I celebrated our 1-year anniversary with a fantastic dinner at Rainbow Lodge.  I had been wanting to try this restaurant for a while so we figured an anniversary dinner was a good excuse.  It's such a cozy restaurant with a great atmosphere.  It is built like a log cabin and is super rustic.  They have a very "gamey" menu different from anywhere I have been.  We ordered the "taste of the wild" appetizer that had venison skewers, some kind of sausage, and wild game tostadas.  We each had the beef tenderloin for an entree.  Since we had the anniversary tier of our cake at home, we bypassed dessert.  I love trying new restaurants and definitely would recommend this for a special occasion.  When we got home we each had a piece of our wedding cake that Jason's mom kept in her freezer for us for the last year.  I was pleasantly surprised that it was still very yummy.  Neither of us got to have cake on the night of our wedding other than the bite we fed each other for the pictures so we enjoyed finally getting to indulge in a piece.  We also opened up our box of cards that everyone wrote to us at rehearsal dinner.  Some were funny, some full of advice, and of course some asking if we are expecting babies yet (which we aren't).  I really love that my family has this tradition, and Jason and I both enjoyed laughing and reading all the cards.  I decided that my favorite was written by Olivia (Jason's grandma) which said "Marriage is give and take...Katie, you take!!"  haha  This has been a fantastic year, and I look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries with Jason.

 Jason surprised me with this beautiful vase of flowers on Sunday.  They were gorgeous and made our entire second floor smell so good.  I just love them!!

 Jason and I posing after dinner

 Cutting our anniversary cake

Happy Anniversary

Happy 1st Annivesary to my wonderful husband!  I can't believe a year has already flown by.  Marrying you was one of the best days of my life.  I love you and look forward to many more years together.

Memorial Day

We had a great long-weekend filled with golf (for Jason), pool (for me), and tons of BBQ'ing for both of us.  I love the summer, and it seems like Memorial weekend always kicks it off.  Unfortunately, I only took my camera out for this one picture below.  Hopefully, you all enjoyed a fantastic weekend and an extra day off of work.  :)  Thanks to all of our former and current troops and their families for dedicating their lives to protecting this great country that we are so priviledged to live in.  We appreciate everything you do!  Your hard work and bravery does not go unnoticed. 

Jason, Daniel, Connelly, Shane, and Amethyst enjoying some burgers

San Francisco

Jason and I stayed at the Westin St. Francis in Union Square while in San Fran.  It was an old, quiant hotel with alot of charm.  The room was small, but cozy and had a pretty chandelier above the bed instead of a fan.  We kept the windows open in our room alot and enjoyed the cool, California breeze.  We slept in on Saturday morning, got ready for the day, and headed out to enjoy a yummy breakfast before site-seeing in San Fran.  We ate a restaurant called Sears, which is apparently known for their mini-pancakes. 

 After stuffing ourselves with pancakes and waffles, we walked around Union Square and then headed over to China town. 

The weather was very chilly on Saturday and the hills in the area we were staying were very steep so walking around got old pretty fast.  We debated what we felt like doing that day and finally decided to try out the on-again-off-again double-decker red busses that drive around the city.  I am usually not a huge "tour" person, but we actually really enjoyed riding around on the bus.  The sun came out and we liked sitting on the second level and seeing the sites.  The tour guide was very entertaining, and we definitely saw more of the city that way than if we had just walked around.  The bus also let us off down at the wharf which worked out well since that is where the boat leaves from to head to Alcatraz.

 Jason and I on the bus

Lombard Street

We got off at Pier 39 and walked down to see the hundreds of sea lions laying around on the pier.  It really is amazing to me that these animals come back to the same spot every year and that they congregate at that one pier.  Although they're really stinky, they are still neat to watch.

We had a little more time to kill so we decided to walk through the aquarium that's down on the wharf.  They have an area where you can touch baby sharks and sting rays as well as tons of starfish.  I really like aquariums and thought it was neat.

 Jason looking thrilled to be touching the sting ray.

 I am a little more excited about the starfish  :)

We then had an early dinner at Fog Harbor and had a great window table with a view of the Golden Gate bridge.  We had a crab cake appetizer and grilled fish for dinner.  After dinner, we walked down to Pier 33 to board the boat for the night tour of Alcatraz.  We both loved the tour.  It was super informative and pretty crazy to get to walk in the cells where the former prisoners once lived.  The views looking back on San Francisco with the sun setting were incredible and possibly my favorite part of the tour.

 Yes...Jason is holding my purse.  I had been carrying it around all day, and it was stuffed full of junk and was super heavy.  My arm was about to fall off so he carried it for me for a while.  Just another reason why I love him..haha

Once we arrived back at the harbor, we took a cab back to Union Square.  We hung out together at a piano bar across the street from our hotel for a little while before heading to bed.  Sunday, we got everything together to check out of the hotel and headed out to lunch for one last meal before leaving for the airport.  We went back to China town to enjoy an authentic Chinese lunch at a restaurant called House of Nanking.  It was recommended to me by some people I worked with while in San Fran last year.  The food was super yummy. 

After lunch, we walked around some of the shops in Union Square for an hour or so before heading to the airport.  We made one more detour on the way out of town to stop and see Candlestick Park where the 49'ers play.  Jason was a huge Giant's fan when he was a kid and since the Giant's used to play at Candlestick as well he wanted to stop and see it.

Although we were sad to leave, it was nice to be back home and back in our routine.  I feel so blessed that Jason and I were able to get away and celebrate our first year of marriage together (a little early).