A Fun Weekend

We've had such a fun weekend! Mindy and Jeran and Allison came down to visit us and to celebrate my birthday (and take advantage of the three-day weekend). We spent a lot of time hanging out, playing with our cute babies, and playing Sporcle quizzes.
"We're really good at useless trivia!"
"That sounds like the Briscoe family motto."

She's been showing off the Briscoe tongue all weekend.

It was so crazy seeing how big and chunky and interactive six-month Allison is compared to our three-week Myles. Their lengths are not that dissimilar, but the girth of the thighs is an impressive difference. It was like a peak into the future. She can keep her head up (and arms and legs, like Superman or a boat) when on her stomach. She laughs and smiles in response to playing and specific songs. It will be so fun watching for those developments in Myles' future.

Other weekend highlights included walking on a nice trail not too far from our house - I've been wanting to check it out, and we finally had a good opportunity. Lots of wildlife there, too. Two deer, tons of butterflies, squirrels, and oh yeah, the copperhead snake Chase almost ran over with the stroller. That was fun.
We went to Kara's house for dinner on my birthday. The vegetable risotto was delicious! Kara got me a rocking camp chair for my birthday gift. Yay! I can't wait to sit on the deck and relax in my rocking chair. And cheesecake for my cake - could anything be better?
Kara also purchased a gigantic teddy bear for baby pictures - continual size comparison through the years kind of thing. We had lots of fun with that photo session!

Three weeks old!

So done with this. 

It was a super fun weekend, and I'm so glad to live near enough to one of my siblings to allow for these weekend visits. Thanks, Mindy and Jeran!

Oh, and we took lots of pictures of our babies. :)

There are two ways to love books - through reading or through eating!

Crazy, Wonderful Life

So, most of you know I got married this summer. Yay! I've been meaning to write posts about the bridal showers, the dinner in Utah, the wedding and reception in Atlanta, and the honeymoon. Yeah, hasn't happened.
Mostly, I'm just crazy busy with work and work and married life and spending time with Chase's family (his brother just left on his mission - quality time was required before that sad day!) and making food and trying to get to bed at a decent time (Chase does not share my views on appropriate bedtimes). When I do get a few minutes to sit down and write, I usually figure Thank you notes are more important. But I don't want to work on them today, so here's a tidbit of a blog instead.

Aunt Kara hosted a bridal shower for me on May 11, 2013. Mindy even came down to celebrate!

Chase and I flew out to Utah on May 30. I went through the Logan temple to take out my endowments on June 1, and that was followed by a big family/friends dutch oven dinner. (For which the food was fabulous and the decorations just amazing).

All of my loving and supportive family and friends at the temple.

The wedding was on June 21, 2013 at the Atlanta, GA temple. We had a wonderful photographer, Holly Jones. I loved her work!

My wonderful bridesmaids: Kalie Larkin, Erilyn Heintz,
Alyna Briscoe (MoH), and Sarah Hafen

The reception that evening was at a historic park nearby, Heritage Sandy Springs. (Did we get pictures?)

We went on our honeymoon to a cabin belonging to a Smith family friend in the North Carolina mountains, near Cashiers. It was beautiful and cooler and had lots of waterfalls nearby!

Tidbits

I haven't blogged in quite some time, not because my life is boring, but because there's too much going on and I don't feel like I have the time to share even the big, important events. So now I'll just share little tidbits about a smattering of topics (kind of inspired by Lisa and Lindsay's recent blogs).

Work has been difficult lately - lots of co-worker tension and even a reprimand/warning from my boss. I've been considering finding a different job, but don't really know what else I would like to do. Or how to go about getting one. Luckily, it's smoothed out a little lately. My goal is to make it past Jan 15, my one-year mark at Bartlett.

Sugar maple leaf

I love fall, fall in Georgia, and Georgia. I can and I have written long lists of things I love about the fall season (leaves change colors, cooler weather, soups, apples, pumpkin pie, sweaters, etc). I did get the opportunity to be in Utah for fall colors there, which was fantastic and beautiful. But I love fall in Georgia. It gets nice and cool at night and usually is warm and sunny during the day.  Working outside is downright pleasant! There are more species of trees to turn colors. I went to an apple festival with Kara and Christina.

Fall in Provo Canyon

I feel like I've really been in the South now - I've had a deep-fried oreo at a fair. It was incredibly delicious and so not good for me.

Kara and I love making dinner together. We're always looking for new interesting recipes to try out. We recently tried pumpkin corn chowder, sweet potato enchiladas, and quinoa-stuffed poblanos. It's the majority of the time we spend together in the last four months, and always very fun. I feel like I'm a pretty good cook now, except when it comes to meat because Kara's vegetarian so we never cook any. 

I now have a boyfriend - Chase Smith. We've been dating for almost two months now; that's an impressive feat for me. He's a mechanical engineering student, we met at the YSA ward, and Kara approves of him.

Me and Chase at Blaine and Christina's wedding

My good friends from the ward, Christina and Blaine, got married this past weekend. I was a bridesmaid, which was stressful. Blaine and Chase are brothers, which added a fun twist. I loved my bridesmaid dress, which was a first ever. I have two more friends who just got engaged last month - Diana and Omar. I'll also be a bridesmaid for them in January. I feel like the movie 27 Dresses.


 That pretty well describes the major points of my life lately.

Gibbs Gardens and Antiquing

I finally had a Saturday without work, so Kara and I went to Gibbs Gardens up in north Georgia. It was kind of drizzly, but it rather added to the charm of the gardens. And there wasn't as many people.

One of my favorite parts where all of the bridges. Lots and lots of bridges.

There weren't really many flowers in bloom. Apparently July-September aren't very good months for that. We'd like to go again in the spring. Apparently they have a stunning daffodil festival in March. There was, however, a really adorable kitten really wanted to be petted.

After mediocre lunch from the garden cafe, we went down to a couple of antique stores on Ponce de Leon Ave: Paris on Ponce and Kudzu Antiques. The two couldn't be more different. Paris was over-crowded with some really weird/creepy things.

 Exhibit A:

Woman chasing her head.

 Exhibit B:

Creepiest looking dog statue imaginable. 

Exhibit C:

Gopher goes mid-century bling.

Like I said, some weird stuff.

Kudzu, on the other hand, was large and had lots of things nicely displayed. There was an old, sterling silver necklace that I loved, but it was $110. Not really in my price range. But I did get a never-been-worn semi-formal dress for $15.

I want this table for my Japanese room. When I have a Japanese room.

So, it was a really fun day.

P'tree Road Race

Yesterday, to celebrate the Land of the Free, I joined roughly 60,000 other people and ran 10K under the hot, Georgia sun.

Ok, it was actually only about 58,000 people, and it was mostly overcast until about mile 4 (although I have no idea what time that is on a normal clock). Still, it was an interesting way to spend the 4th of July. I've never participated in a race that big, and it was an Experience.

I didn't really want to get out of bed at 5:30 on my day off and wasn't really in the mood for running (oh also, I haven't gone running once since my last race, the ten-miler. Oops. Not good training. Again). Getting ready, etc, blah blah blah... It took a lot longer to get to the start line than we expected, so I didn't start with my assigned wave (D) but with wave G. Which I was actually good with, because I was nervous about starting with such a fast wave. There were something like 25 waves, and several thousand people in each wave. So crazy. 

I entertained myself for the first four miles by waving at people and watching the crowds of runners. I liked to try to get people to cheer for me specifically. It was nice and hot, but luckily for everyone, it had rained nicely the night before and cooled the city down. By mile five, I was just going into running zone mode. And trying to keep my pace up enough that I would finish under an hour. The sixth mile seemed very long, but that's mostly because they didn't have the mile marked, and it just went straight to the finish line. It got very hot once we finished at Piedmont Park. Lots of sweaty people and no air movement.

Overall, I am very pleased with both the experience and my performance. I met my sub-hour goal with a time of 58:01. I bet I would do better if I actually trained though.

Hostessing

This week has been overwhelmed by the preparations for a bridal shower Kara is hosting today for her friend Lei. It has been quite the production.

This shower is so cute and fun. The theme is Around the Clock, and guests select different times of the day for gifts, and the food is for different meals/time of day.

The main table with decorations and food. 

The side bar with the evening snack selection. 

Flowers and the menu.

The event was a success, as far as I can tell. There were something like 23 attendees, but I knew approximately 3 - Kara, Lei, and Kristen. It was fun, but I sneaked away before the end and stole a nap. I loved the theme and decoration and food, but it still seems like an awful amount of work.