Mel & Dustin's Perfect Day!

This last weekend Saturday was Mel & Dustin's big day and it was PERFECT!  Remember her Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party fun?!  It was finally time for them to tie the knot!!

D and I headed to the big city Thursday after work.  We didn't get there until really late that night, so we called it a night. 

Bernie has a crazy face from hanging out the window!

Friday we went and had lunch with D's brother at Granite City, which was delish!  After lunch it was time to meet up with the ladies (minus 2) to get pampered with mani & pedi's.  It was so much fun and much deserved!  Then it was time for the rehersal at their venue, which was at a country club on one of the tee boxes.  It was perfect!  The rehersal lasted about 20 minutes and then we went back to the hotel and had dinner and drinks. 

Me, Heather, Mel-the Bride, Katie, Ali, and Tiana

 Saturday morning was the beginning of Mel's big day!  Us girls headed to Applebee's for a lite lunch and margarita's to help with the nerves (plus why wouldn't we not have margarita's at noon?!).  Then it was time to head over to the salon for our hair appointments.  Remember the flower pins I made for our hair?  All of our hair turned out really cute, and Mel's was even more gorgeous than her trial hair-do.

before

after

After our hair was done we headed to the venue to get our make-up done, take pictures, and finishing touches before the wedding started.  When it was time for the wedding to start, we couldn't have asked for more perfect weather!  It was gorgeous out, and all of the guests were in shade.  The wedding itself was short and sweet!  The reception was fun; they had a candy bar, cheesecake for the guests, and the table decor was simple but elegant (just like the bride!).  All-in-all it was the PERFECT day for Mel & Dustin to get married.  Enjoy the rest of the pics!

Me, Katie, and Ali

Mel's dad walking her down the aisle

Giving Mel away to Dustin

Mr & Mrs!

Me & my man!

1st dance!

Father/Daughter & Mother/Son dance

 I was so honored to be apart of their wedding!!  I wish them a lifetime full of love and happiness! 

Heavenly Zucchini Bread

When I was a little girl, my Great Grandma Elsie always made the BEST Zucchini Bread!  She would makes loaves, cakes, and cupcakes.  When I would go visit here, she would have some sitting out waiting on me to devour!  She passed away in 2000, so I rarely had Zucchini Bread and if I did it wasn't ever the same. 

Last year when D and I lived in the "Big City" we had a small garden in our backyard and Zucchini was one thing I wanted to plant.  Little did I know once it started growing, I had Zucchini coming out of my ears!!  One day I called up my Grandma and asked her for Great Grandma's recipe and she gave it to me.  I was so excited to make it the first time; it turned really moist and full of sweet flavor, it was heavenly (although hers will always be best in my heart!!)!  I've made it a few times since then and D's grandpa brought us over a large Zucchini last week so I decided it was time to make some more bread.  I thought I would share this special recipe with you!  It makes the yummiest breakfast and afternoon snack!  If you decide you want to give this recipe a try, please be sure to leave me comment and let me know how it turns out!!!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
3 Eggs, beaten
2 cups Sugar
3 cups Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 cup Chopped Nuts (i use walnuts)
3 cups grated Zucchini, peeled
1 cup Oil
2 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
2 tsp. Cinnamon

Directions:
1. Wash and peel Zucchini, and grate.
2. In large bowl, add beaten Eggs, Oil, Sugar, and Vanilla. Mix well.
3. Add grated Zucchini in with Mixture. Mix well.
4. In separate bowl, sift (or mix really well) the remaining dry ingredients together (Flour, Baking Soda, Salt, Baking Powder, and Cinnamon)
5. Add dry ingredients to Zucchini mixture, mix well.
6. Stir in Nuts
7. Pour batter into loaf pans (makes 2), and bake at 325* for 1 hour.  If it's not done (top jiggles), bake in 4 minute increments until done, just make sure you watch it so it doesn't burn.  You can also check it with a toothpick to see if it's done.
8. Cool for a little bit, cut in slices, and DEVOUR!!!

i'm Strutting-my-Stuff over at Somewhat Simple!

Weekend of Family & Friends, antique shops, and dancing!

I know this is a little late with it being Wednesday and all, but I thought I would share my fun weekend.  Friday after work I headed to my {small} hometown to enjoy a weekend with my Family & Friends. I had so much fun! (D was on a bachelor party float trip for the weekend).  Saturday morning my brother's girlfriend and I, who is also my really good friend, went to a couple of the Antique shops in town.

We weren't really looking for anything in particular, but we found some cute stuff.  I found some retro metal canisters for my kitchen that I want to re-do.  The best part it that they were only $7 for the set!  I think they would be so cute if I spray painted them oil-rubbed bronze.  They are already cute, but I want to update them a bit. 

Retro Cannisters - $7 (what a deal!)

I also found this really cute mirror, even though it's too heavy to hang on our walls, I think i'll set it on our dresser or in the spare bedroom.  It was only $18!  I think it has a lot of character already, so I don't plan on doing anything to it.

A little rustic!

Lastly found an old clear glass medicine bottle that I plan on painting white to put in my bathroom.  It was only $1.  I'll be sure to post more pictures once i'm done decorating with them!!

Saturday afternoon we went to visit my Grandparents out on their farm for a little bit.  They've been married for 61 years (can you believe it?!)!!  Saturday night my Dad and his gf, my brother and his gf, and I, along with some of my dad's other friends went to the Elks for their Annual Big Ticket Party.  We had Prime Rib for supper, all you can drink, and music all night.  It was a lot of fun!  Below are some pictures from the party.

my Dad, brother gf, and I...apparently i'm an awesome dancer!!

Jimmy Dee & the Fabulous Destinations

my Dad loves to dance!

Bobby Pin Flowers!

I thought I would share with you how I made flowers for our hair, for Mel's wedding.

Before I headed to the Big City for Mel's Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party weekend, I made our flowers for our hair for the wedding.  I wanted to show these to Mel to make sure this is what she was looking for.  They were really easy to make, and not to mention really checp (compaired to ones you would buy at a store or online)!  Each flower cost about $1.20 to make. 

flower picks, bobby pins with bezzle, hot glue gun!

coiled the flower "stem" up to fit on the bezel of the bobby pin

put some hot glue on the bezel

held the coiled "stem" on the bezel until the hot glue cooled

put flower in hair, and it's done!

cute, right?!

(don't mind the messy hair!)

All of the girls thought they turned out great, and to top it off they match our dresses to the "T"!!  That's all for today; I'm off to my {small} hometown to see family & friends, hope you all have a great weekend!!

Mel's Pre-Wedding Events

Summertime is awesome!  Not only does it mean warm weather, pool parties, flip flops, and tank tops, it also means WEDDING SEASON!!!  I love weddings, I think they are so much fun!!  It makes it even more fun when you get to be apart of them; from picking out dresses, to shoes, to going to bridal shows, to Bridal Showers, to Bachelorette Parties, and the most important thing...the BIG DAY! 

Last weekend was my really good friend Mel's Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party (all in one day!!).  It was so much fun.  Friday when I got to town and me and the Maid of Honor had to get some last minute decor and gifts for both parties; that was very entertaining itself!!  Saturday Mel went to her hair trial and got her makeup done, she looked so pretty!

so pretty! (stole this from the MOH!)

While she finished up, me and the other Bridesmaids went and set up for her Bridal Shower.  Everything was very simply decorated, which is totally Mel!

After the shower we all went to Mels and got ready for her Bachelorette Party!!!  She was expecting an UGLY HUGE 15 passenger van to pick us up with a random DD...little did she know...SURPRISE!  We surprised her with a limo and headed out to P&L.  We did a lot of Champagne toasts on the way there.  As soon as we got there, we started buying her shots, and making her money by selling lei's and beads.  By the end of the night, we made her $110, and we decided it was definitely time to call the limo and head home.  I'm pretty sure she had an unforgettable night...although she payed for it the whole next day!!  LOL!  Love you Mel!

My First Attempt!

A few years ago, I hadn't even heard of Blogging, and now here I am starting up my own Blog. A few of my friends back in KC have their own, and it's so much fun to read and see what they've been up too.  I've actually turned into a blog stalker, stalking random peoples blogs even though I have no clue who they are! I've found some really awesome crafts, recipies, and funny stories, which now has inspired me to start up my own. Who knows how entertaining mine will be, but I hope you enjoy my random posts. I'm still trying to figure out all the "code" stuff to make my Blog look cool, but I'll eventually figure it out!

So a little background as to why my Blog is named "Small Town Life"...

I grew up in a small town in Central KS, population of about 5000. I liked growing up there, we didn't have to worry about much of anything.  You can seriously drive across town in less than 5 minutes! As soon as I graduated highschool, I moved to Kansas City to go to college at JCCC; I graduated there in 2006.  I then met the love of my life, Dustin at a George Strait concert in March of 2007.

We immediately hit it off and I moved in with him in June of 2008. At the beginning of 2010 we started talking about moving somewhere, and getting out of KC. We both liked the idea of moving back to Western KS to his hometown, population of about 1200 people. So in March we packed up all of our things and headed back west. We lived with his parents for a few months while we looked for houses. We bought our first house at the end of May and moved in the beginning of July (i'll post pictures later of our house). We both work at his dad's business; I am one of the secretaries, and he gets his hands dirty in the shop and field building/working on engines for race cars and the oilfield industry. We love, love our little house, and being so close to both of our families. We couldn't ask for more!! And this is why I named my Blog "Small Town Life"! 

Until next time...