Showers and Summer Fun!

My cousin Daniel is getting married in August! Yesterday, we went to Sulphur Springs for a wedding shower, and then went back to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner and some extended shower fun! 

My cousin, Anna, is an amazing cake baker and decorator! She used her talents to make the shower cake for her brother and sister-in-law-to-be! 

The beautiful tablescape

There are no pictures during the shower because I was asked to write down the gifts that the couple received, and who they were from, which I gladly did. After the shower, I snapped some pictures while we got ready to go to my Aunt Becca's and Uncle Jerry's house. 

started with a picture of my younger cousin, Anna.  Yes, she is a year and a half younger than me, but about 9 inches taller :(

Then, I went to my favorite models - my niece and nephew :) I love this picture (well...except for the fact that I didn't have Michel in it as much as I would have liked!), but I think it's so sweet! Karys hung out with her Uncle Michel throughout the shower. Karys found a room that was set up for kids about her age, and Janette wouldn't let her pull out toys to play with, but she was allowed to read books. So Karys found some bean bag chairs and instructed Michel "Sit Uncle Michel. Read books Uncle Michel." It was cute! And Uncle Michel was more than willing to do as she asked :)

I then turned the camera to Karys's little brother, 6-month-old Zane!

I told Janette to try and make Zane laugh, so Ryan came up behind us and told me that this is what they do to make him smile at home: 

It was pretty funny! Ryan tried doing this same thing to Karys, but she's a little older and knows better so she didn't go for it. Smart girl :) Zane will learn soon!

Cute boy!!!

When we loaded up the gifts and everybody, we all headed to Brashear (small town) to have dinner and extended shower fun at my Aunt Becca and Uncle Jerry's house. We had Bodacious BBQ (that makes 2 weekends in a row - LOVE that stuff!!) and played The Newlywed Game. Out of a possible 100 points, Michel and I tied with Dan and Erica with 65 points, while Janette and Ryan tied with Anna and David for 70 points. It's funny it worked out that way because Janette and Ryan have been married for 8 years; David and Anna for 7; Michel and I for a year and a half; and Dan and Erica are still engaged. So the couples married the longest did the best, but we all did pretty good :)

My mom wanted to get a picture of "the kids" and our significant others, and that in itself was a fun time! 

Our first attempt: not too bad, but I think the way Michel's got his head tilted makes it look like I'm strangling him :)

Top row from left to right: Erica (the bride-to-be), my cousin Anna, sister Janette, and me

Bottom row left to right: my cousin Dan, Anna's husband David, my brother-in-law Ryan, and Michel

Now we added in the "little kids"! It's hard to take a picture and try to get an almost-3-year-old and a 6-month-old looking/smiling at the same time! And this picture makes me laugh because of Michel's face. I'm not sure who he's looking at, but it's hilarious! We got a good laugh from this last night! Everyone else looks super cute, though :)

Dang it! My eyes are closed in this, or else it would be really cute!

What??! My eyes are closed again!! I think I must have been laughing! Oh well...I think everyone else was done with picture-taking too considering Anna's making funny faces with David, Karys is trying to get down, Janette's laughing at Anna, and Michel's scratching his head :) Eight so-called adults are not any better at taking pictures than the kids!

Good times with my family! Can't wait to do this again in August when we're all together for the wedding :)