Dallas and Landis Simmons

I got a new sister for Christmas! Here she is! The beautiful Landis Simmons!

On December 18, 2011, Dallas and Landis got married! I had been looking forward to this day since Dal proposed on May 22 and it did not disappoint.

Graham and Ashley Scobey were the photographers for the wedding and they were such a delight! I lived in Elam with Ashley so it was neat to get to see her again. 

 If you want to see a sample of the amazing pictures to come from the wedding, click on this link! Scobey Photography 

(Also, feel free to comment on the blog so Dallas and Landis can win a wrapped canvas from the Scobeys!)

The morning of the wedding, the bridesmaids joined Landis and her family in their suite at the Loews hotel.  Her aunt and uncle had made the most elaborate spread of food for us to eat as we got ready. It was so thoughtful and delicious!

The wedding day was such a joyful one and the bride was very cool and comfortable. It was like she didn't stop smiling all day long. The joy in her heart was so apparent and it was a beautiful thing to be a part of.

How gorgeous is my sister? But seriously, like it is any surprise! 

They are made for each other. 

The ceremony was at West End Church of Christ and was performed by David Rubio, who did an excellent job. These little cuties below also did such a wonderful job! Jack is Kelsey's nephew and Landis babysits for Eleanna.

I got to carry this lovely lady down the isle on the way out. What a sweetie pie! 

The reception was held at the Loveless Barn  and the food was incredible! The menu included lots of southern deliciousness and drinks came in mason jars with cute gray and white straws.

 A dear friend, Mary Morgan Gentry, was kind of in charge of the reception decor and getting everything set-up with her trusty team of friend/family volunteers. She is one of the most creative and lovely people I know. Here is just a sample of the magical scenes she created at the barn.  If you or anyone you know are planning a wedding and need someone who is brilliant with wedding/reception decor as well as flowers, Mary Morgan is your girl!

This was the table in the foyer right when you walked in the Barn. 

The favors were little s'mores! Landi loves s'mores and we saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it would be a perfect favor for her guests.

My friend Leigh Ellen Bruce made the cupcakes and the cake topper for the wedding  and they were absolutely delicious! Strawberry cake with butter cream icing.

The weekend of wedding events was so much fun and I loved getting to be around so many friends and family to celebrate with.

This is the Bridesmaid picture we took right before we went up for the ceremony. Such fun ladies! 

I just loved getting to be with Kels again! She is such a delight and I know why Landis loves her so much!

                      

I am so happy for Dal and Landi and I was so thankful to be a part of their day! 

Busy Season

Once October began, it seems like we had something to travel to or celebrate every weekend. I am not complaining, it has been such a joyful season of life! Our lives have slowed down a little since we got back to Denver. I am way behind, but I still have several events I want to cover!

At the end of October, Landis' WONDERFUL Maid of Honor, Kelsey Sisk , and I threw Landis a lingerie shower.  We brainstormed for months on how to make everything perfect for the bride! It was so fun.  It was the first shower I have ever had such a big part of and I am kind of addicted.  I loved dreaming about the decor and emailing back and forth with Kels several times a week, and sometimes a couple times a day!  We had a blast! I almost wish we could go back and do it all again. 

Kels had these ADORABLE cookies made by a friend to use as favors. 

We dreamed of this arrangement at the shower for the food and it did not disappoint. I loved every bit of how we decorated the basement! So fun. 

I had to include this picture of Brookie at the shower because it was just so perfect for the situation.  I love my little sis.

This was also the weekend that my brother came into town for 10 days in Nashville.  We only really got to spend one day with him on Sunday before we headed back to Denver, but it was a fun day. We went as a family and walked at Radnor and enjoyed all of the fall leaves.   I love my crazy brother!

The weekend after the shower was the first weekend in November and the weekend we celebrated David's birthday in CHICAGO! It was my first time in Chicago and it is safe to say that I fell in love with the city.  I am already dreaming about my next visit.  It was SO fun having the whole family together in the city. 

Love this. 

  We even got to decorate one of our rooms for a birthday party for David.  He's pretty easy to celebrate.

Ryan finished up his classes the Thursday before Thanksgiving so we took advantage of that and came  to Nashville.  It got me back in time to watch the FINAL Regis and Kelly with Landis before we headed off to Gatlinburg for a fun Bridesmaid weekend.  I was pretty emotional about Regis' last day.  I still really miss him. I can hardly believe he is really not coming back.  Kelly is still fabulous of course with all of her guest co-hosts, but I will always miss Reg. I would be lying if I said that I haven't watched Reg's last show more than once...and cried equally as much each time.

This is also the 2nd year that Brookie and I have ventured out to Urban Outfitters to get the crazy 50% off all sale prices! Last year we did really well and I believe this year we did even better! We were paying 75% and less for some great items! We were pretty proud of our finds.

In other highlights of the holiday season: 

This is from the day that our Martha got engaged! Her fiance arranged for us to all be waiting to have lunch with her (20+ people!) at Pucketts in downtown Franklin.  It was such a special day and I felt so honored to be a part of it!  

How perfect is he? This is Carson Grey Small. He is the firstborn of my dear friend Katie Bug Small.  I got to meet him over Christmas and fell in love. He is so sweet and cuddly and beautiful.

My mother has joined Pinterest and I LOVE it.  She is a pinning machine and always sending me pictures of ideas she has pinned and created in her house. I am so proud of her.  I always knew she had it in her, she just needed Pinterest to channel it.

I am working on 2 other posts to get all caught up on happenings lately (you know like a certain family wedding and some recent visitors).
I am hoping to get them done this week so I can be ready for the post about.....wait for it......

BROOKIE AND KYLE COMING TO VISIT US NEXT WEEKEND!!!!!!

Stay tuned. 

Much love, 

The Simmons 

Meg's Denver Visit

I'll have you know that I finished this post, went to publish it last Thursday before we left for Nashville, and I pushed some setting that completely wiped out all of the pictures. I decided that meant it was okay to wait until Monday.

Whoopsies, I have been a bad blogger again. Let the record show, my delayed post about the lovely Megan Shaub's visit DOES NOT reflect on the amount of fun we had while she was here. I was SO HAPPY that she came!

Megan and I have a unique history because our parents were friends in high school and college, and although we didn't know each other until 2002, we had heard each others names for years before that. I like to think that we were destined to be friends.

Obviously, we took Megan to the Maroon Bells, for our second time in about 7 days. But honestly, can you blame us for wanting to return? Please forgive the onslaught of pictures. I just can't get enough of it all.

This picture reminds me of many a picture taken in HS and college.

Doesn't this look like some sort of secret passageway?

I can never get enough of these trees. Gorgeous.

Bestie.

So I'm sad to say we didn't really take any other pictures over the weekend, although we did take a couple of mental pictures. Megan was in town from Friday afternoon until Tuesday night and I savored every minute of my time with her. We napped, ran around, baked, laughed, watched tv, ate, and laughed some more. It was wonderful. I can never thank God enough for all of the wonderful people He has placed in my life.

Megan and I actually baked this Peanut Butter Sheet Cake that I had been eyeing on Pinterest for a while. We even took the extra time to sift the flour, with special help from Ryan. My Granna would've been so proud. We may not have made the icing as thick as we were supposed to, so it kind of ran everywhere, but it was still delicious!

Here is the picture that taunted me until we made it and here is the recipe if you want to try it for yourself!

In other news, I've been doing some painting lately. My dear friend, Stephanie Jenkins, always keeps me in business painting something. It makes me feel so good when she asks me to paint something for a wedding gift or something for her own home! She had asked me back in the summer to make her a laundry sign and a TN sign to put up in her new place and this is what we ended up with. Thanks Steph for keeping me painting! It is my therapy.

Fall has been beautiful here! It is warm here most days, but the nights are almost always cool. The leaves have been so bright and beautiful everywhere. I thank God for them often.

If you haven't heard, we just got about 8 inches of snow last Wednesday and we are supposed to get about 6 inches this Wednesday. It's usually gone by the next day, but it is still fun and so pretty! It's sunny and warm today.  Must be something about Wednesdays. I kinda love the crazy Colorado weather.

Here are some upcoming blog post-worthy events that I am excited about :

Oct. 29 - Landis' Lingerie shower - hosted by yours truly and the Lovely Kelsey Sisk (Landis' MOH)

We worked so hard on the shower and we were so excited about it! We are now mourning that it is already over. It went so well! I can't wait to add a million pictures of the decor. Kelsey documented it all!

Oct. 30 - Wesley Speight Day - My brother is in Nashville all week and Ryan and I only got one day with him so I designated it "Wes Day." I've really missed my brother! It was so fun to be with him.

Nov. 3-6 - Chicago Trip with Team Simmons

Nov. 10 - Denver H&M Opening! Woohoo!

There are plenty of other things I am super excited about past that, but we will hold it to that at this point.

Thanks for reading!

Fall Visitors

As I mentioned in my last blog, David and Teresa came to visit us last Thursday for a long weekend. We had such a wonderful time eating delicious food and seeing some beautiful scenery.

Thursday night we ate a delicious dinner at outside at Houstons. The weather was unseasonably warm all weekend but still very nice.

On Saturday we started our journey to Aspen. The drive there was very scenic with many different mountain views and lots of fall foliage. I love driving through Independence Pass this time of year.

After our lunch in Aspen, we drove over to the Maroon Bells to walk around for a little bit. The sun had kind of cast a shadow on the mountains so they weren't as brilliant as they are in the morning, but they are still a sight to see.

The David head tilt.

The other way.

 While we were walking around Maroon Lake, we noticed some people staring at a hillside nearby. They kept pointing to something and we soon realized that they were looking at a mama and baby bear eating out of some red bushes. They were very small on the hillside so it was hard to tell but they would walk back and forth a little bit and you could see them better. I'm sure they are so very difficult to see in this picture, but they are there. Trust me.

Ok, one of them is the dark spot on the rocks close to the left treeline. The other is righ across siting in the red bush. If you look closely, you can see the ears on the one on the left.

Whether you can see them or not, we know they were there. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around in Aspen before dinner. We found a delicious italian restaurant kind of on accident for dinner and had a delightful dinner outside on their patio. They even had outdoor heaters to keep us warm when the sun went down. We spent the night in Aspen and got up Saturday morning to make the drive to Crested Butte.

This is just one of the beautiful views on the way.

How cute are they?

T-bird with her "Rynie"

Dabid!

This is another one of our views.

Love Birds

Our first view of Mt. Crested Butte from the drive in.

It looks very different without snow covering it.

 The Simmons have been going to Crested Butte to ski since the kids were really young so it holds a very special place in their hearts. It was so fun to get to see the city in a different season. There were flowers everywhere and a lot of the aspen trees had turned bright yellow.

I love this picture. The boys were sitting outside of Camp for Coffee, a favorite coffee shop.

This picture makes me laugh so hard. The best part is that Teresa didn't even know what the picture was of before she got back there. I just told them to make a surprised face. Loves it.

 We decided to ride the lift up to the top and walk around a little bit. This is just a taste of what it looked like on the way up.

View from the top of Silver Queen Lift

 The boys decided to venture around a little bit and the girls found a good spot to sit and enjoy the scenery. While we were chatting, I noticed a paraglider flying around the mountain. Little did we know, the boys got a firsthand look at him taking off. Ryan even shot this video. Make sure you watch for David hopping down to take some pictures. Can't blame the guy for wanting to fly above this scenery, right?

If you were wondering what a Cool Guy hat looks like, here it is. Old School Crested Butte right there.

One victory I have to share is that of finding a can of pumpkin in the state of Colorado. The decision was made that pumpkin bars were the perfect treat for the weekend. After deciding that, I looked at 3 different grocery stores for canned pumpkin and all 3 proceeded to tell me about a bad pumpkin  harvest and how they may not have pumpkin until October. That was just not going to work. I already had all of my ingredients. Except one can of pumpkin. Our last resort was the City Market in Crested Butte. If you have ever been, it is no exactly as big or extensive as your big city grocery store. I was doubtful that they would have pumpkin. But Teresa believed in the cause, and if you know her at all, you know she makes things happen. She talked to a clerk and they sent us to an isle that had PUMPKIN! I couldn't believe it. Crested Butte/Teresa to save the day! After doing a small victory dance in the isle, we headed to check out with 2 cans for good measure. Here's the finished product. It was and still is delicious. I wish someone would come take the rest off my hands.

Sunday was the day for Teresa and I to do our running around while the boys watched football. Both parties were totally fine with this. We ate a huge and delectable breakfast at Snooze and then parted ways. That night we ate a wonderful dinner downtown at Vesta Dipping Grill . There are so many different dips to choose from and you get 3 with your meal that you can chose or have the one suggested by the chef.  It is such a unique restaurant with so many delicious options. Yum.

Monday morning we woke up and ate a delicious breakfast at Devil's Food Bakery and Cookery. Teresa and I looked at a menu for it last February and put it on our to-do list for the future. It was a more traditional feel than Snooze, but still very delicious. It was a perfect little ending to our fun weekend. I wouldn't have changed any of it, especially how much we laughter filled the weekend!

Up next, Megan Shaub. She arrives on Saturday and I am giddy to say the least. I feel so thankful for Fall to begin with wonderful visitors!