.amiee's chevron baby shower.

My friend Amiee is having a baby boy named Greyson in a couple of weeks.

We utilized my neighborhood clubhouse and threw her a chevron-themed baby shower.

The menu consisted of:

+ pretzel chips and hummus

+ quiches

+ cake

+ punch

We incorporated as much chevron as we could. It was on the cake and napkins. I used some pieces of chevron fabric I had as table runners.

I found this letter G at Hobby Lobby and spray painted the back of it with light gray and mod podged chevron-print paper onto the front. Amiee took this home with her after the shower to use as decoration in baby Greyson's nursery.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut his banner out of card stock. The letters were cut out of the same orange and white chevron paper I used on the front of the tabletop G. She can also hang this in Greyson's nursery if she so desires.

My friend Chrissy brought her chalkboard tray, and we drew out this message.

Amiee's daughter Ella helped open all the gifts.

I'm so excited to meet this sweet baby boy!

.camping & canoeing on the elk.

I don't know if I've ever revealed this or not...but I have the coolest small group ever.

This past weekend, we went on a camping/canoeing trip together.

This marked my second time to camp, my first time (and most likely, my last) time to canoe.

We stayed at The Eagle's Nest in Noel, MO. Our camp site was beautiful, but with a road close by, railroad tracks, and a nearby cow field...sleep was pretty much futile. BUT there was a bathroom, like right there, so I was cool with the loss of sleep.

We walked down to the Elk River from our campsite and practiced skipping rocks.

For dinner, we heated up some burgers, hot dogs and ribs over the fire. For dessert, we had s'mores. It was pretty warm during the day, in the 80's, but the night we camped got pretty chilly. That's another reason I didn't sleep well, but again, I was ok with it because there's something so fun about sleeping in a tent and feeling the cool evening air all night long.

By the way, I don't particularly care for s'mores because of the marshmallow part. But I still ate one because duh I was camping and that's just what you do.

Something neat about our campsite was the plot number we pitched our tent on. Number 61. For reasons that go all the way back to high school, 61 is my favorite number. How cool is that?!

The next morning, we got up around 6:30 (to the sound of a train) and had a breakfast of eggs and bacon. We walked down to the river to mess around, then we took our tents down.

Then the canoeing adventure began.

Let me just say, I am dang proud of myself. I'm proud of all of us, but considering it was my first time and I have a very unhealthy fear of water, I'm super proud that I didn't wuss out.

Eight miles down the Elk River in 2.5 hours (and that includes stopping halfway to eat soggy sandwiches).

I almost cried, almost had a panic attack. The two non-swimmers wore life jackets...

But I found my comfort in sitting on the floor of the canoe as opposed to the seat. I didn't feel like I was going to fly overboard as much with the walls surrounding me. After my panic subsided, I got into the groove of paddling and actually did quite well.

The Elk River was beautiful!

And minus the drunk people that so rudely squirted us with water guns and that one time we almost tipped...I ended up having fun.

Oh, yeah, we ALMOST tipped. In choppy, deep water that carried us straight towards a fallen tree. We had to completely duck to avoid getting decapitated by the fallen limbs. Upon rising back up, we realized we were about to tip, I prayed "Lord!!" out loud, followed by a choice word as my oar got ripped out of my hands and my life flashed before my eyes. 

A nice boy scout in a kayak saved my oar and brought it back to me.

Thankfully, this near-death experience happened towards the end of our adventure. Once we got back to shore and all the canoes from our group returned, we learned that one of our friends' whole family tipped in the rapids that almost tipped us. They lost everything out of their canoe, but the husband was able to swim and retrieve it all. Well, all except for my friend's flip flop, but that floated downstream to us eventually.

Needless to say, after all the drama and excitement, we were exhausted and just ready to get home and shower.

One thing's for sure, you don't go on a trip like this and not grow closer to the people you share in the experience with.  I absolutely love this group of people and I'm go glad I could be a part of these memories.

.will & savannah's wedding.

It's been a while since I've gotten to go to a wedding, so I've been anxiously waiting for May 4th to arrive.

My "brother from another mother" tied the knot with his beautiful bride, Savannah.

This match made in Heaven couldn't have pulled off a more beautiful wedding, in my opinion. It was very Pinterest-inspired without going overboard. The colors were coral & aqua.

And since the wedding took place in a tiny country town about 4 hours from home...ROAD TRIP!

{Side note: Yeah, ok, I'm kinda obsessed with road trips. Love 'em.}

The decor was perf. Gorg. Amazeballs. (AKA awesome)

Got to spend good quality time with some family and friends I hadn't seen in a while. And my handsome brother was the best man!

The wedding was originally supposed to be outdoors with the reception inside, but the rainy weather pushed it all inside. The setting was just so beautiful, I can't get over it. And I can't wait to see the professional wedding pictures they took outside because I'm sure the overcast sky made for some striking colors and gorgeous photos.

So very happy for Will & Savannah!

.warrior dash/girls' trip.

I'm a little behind, but I wanted to post about the girls' trip to Kansas City I went on a few weekends ago.

Some of my friends ran the Warrior Dash, and two of us went as spectators.

The road trip up there was rainy and stormy. Instead of paying for a hotel room, we got to stay at one of my friends' Dad's house. We're talking four air mattresses strewn about his living and dining rooms. My first slumber party as an adult!

Probably the most memorable event from the evening was the antagonizing of Becky -- the least "girly" of the whole group -- when we "bullied" her into straightening her hair.

Earlier in the evening, we had dinner at Granite City Grill, a KC favorite.

I also experienced my first time to Dave & Buster's. Becky and I had a basketball rematch (following our Chuckie Cheese match, which I won). 

We played two games because I won the first one (Boom!) so Becky had to redeem herself by winning the second one.

After a restful night's sleep (for everyone but me on my half-inflated mattress on the hardwood floor), we got up and around, headed to Panera for breakfast, then on to the Warrior Dash. These four were the brave runners:

And Ashley and I were the supporters.

It was a pretty chilly day, super muddy, but oh so fun. I'm even considering joining in the actual race next year. That's big for a gal such as myself.

There were so many people there, lots in costume. So fun!

It took our girls just a little over an hour to complete the course. Once we saw them coming down the hill towards us, I felt so proud of them! They stuck together the whole time and exited the course covered in mud and shivering cold.

I'm still so proud of my friends! So many great memories were made on this trip.