A Wedding Shower

While in CS we celebrated a wedding shower for my little brother Jeff, aka Toodge (the nickname given to him forever ago by my older brother and the neighborhood friends)(I wonder if he hates that I call him that) and Natalie. They are getting married in Austin on Lake Travis in less than a month! I am in the wedding and am a little nervous about the dress and shoes.

Lets just say they are tall shoes (cute but tall), not really my thing, like I never wear shoes like that, like the first time I wore them I seriously got a cramp in my calf! The dress is decent but the color is one that is not going to go well with my pastey skin..so off to a spray tan I will go, hopefully!
The shower was at the Ernst's house. They live in the country so-to-speak and I knew the girls would have a great time. It was at 3 and we stayed til the kids 'told' us it was time to go. HB and G were ready to go at 8! Emmaline could have stayed forever..she's my party girl and has been since she was a baby..if there is music, lights or people she is good to go! She is also quite the flirt once she gets over her initial shyness.

Fun times ahead for the Listis! HA! G, on the other hand, asks to leave places to go home and gets to a point where she can't be coaxed to stay. We should definitely make them share a car in 13 years...that won't cause any extra drama!!
So Mark (who they call Mudslide) cooked up fried fish, fried oysters, etouffee, sausage, etc. I tried my first fried oysters, only oyster ever!! It was good but not sure I could have it any other way. This other guy was there cooking and he walked up to me and said, You must be Coon Juices' daughter?! Um, well, I guess I must! HA! What fun nicknames, I suppose!

Liz made Italian cream cake (Nat's fav) and a strawberry cake(my fav but don't think she made it for me!) and snickerdoodles (Jeff's fav). I made some brownies (which Emmaline ate most of those and kept sneaking them, but the proof was all over her face. I also made my dad some Pumpkin Bread pudding. I had left over pumpkin muffins so I decided to make him one of his favorite desserts. I used two different recipes and they were both pretty good.

My dad liked Bobby Flay's best (I didn't make the Vanilla Anglaise) and my mom liked Sandra Lee's (this one was easy and good). I know the sauces weren't perfect, but I tried and was glad he liked it and shared with others at the party!
Sara (Rachel's sister), Rachel (Michael's fiance), Natalie and Erica

My Dad (Coon Juice apparently) and Jeffrey (Toodge)!

There were lots of fun family and friends there and we got to eat, drink and watch football!

Mark has a motorcycle and brought it out for people to ride on. Then the stories started flying about how Erica, Pauline and Mollie drove the go-cart all the way across Highway 6 from Emerald Forest to the Binions! It was fun to remember!

We also realized Natalie's cousin Morgan, who lives in Bryan and is a freshman at A&M, was in my Athletics class I taught while at Sam Rayburn. I remembered her once I knew her name..she was in all the sports I didn't coach and in the other Spanish class, so we just barely crossed paths. I was glad to figure it out because I hate when someone looks familiar and I never realize the connection!

Hayes was really good the whole time and had the most fun when we put him on the ground to play. Liz introduced him to the art of throwing dirt. He had a blast and barely flinched when he got it in his eyes. What a boy!!
Congrats to Nat and Toodge! It was a fun day and we are so looking forward to the real party in a few short weeks!