Laura's Bridal Shower #2 - Neiser Family

Please excuse the short hiatus.  Between work and wedding planning, I don't have time for much else lately.  Anyway- two weeks ago I had my second bridal shower, hosted by the Neiser family at my aunt's house.  It was perfect weather and the setting was beautiful.  I'm so pleased with how everything turned out and I know how hard my aunts and grandmother worked to make it a perfect day for me and I'm eternally grateful. 

Laura's wearing: Chateau Fontainebleu Embroidered Dress- Ruche // Belt- Marshall's // Wedges- Kohl's
Necklace- Forever21 // Earrings- Francesca's

My two matrons of honor: Stacey and Miranda

My beautiful and supportive friends whom I love so much

My soon to be mother-in-law and my mama

And how good looking is this bridal party? (not pictured: Katelyn)

Unfortunately Katelyn was the only one not there because she was busy helping plan my McKellar/Piszczek bridal party since she's on the other side of my family. ;)

And these women, my grandmother and my aunts, worked so hard to make this day so beautiful. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all you do. I have the greatest family. 

I have one more bridal shower to share with you all. It's getting down to the wire!

Can't wait to become a MRS. 

xoxo,

Laura

One Crazy Saturday

This past weekend was so much fun. Much like a majority of my weekends, it was packed with family gatherings and music-related events.

On Saturday, it was off to Muskegon to kick off the day by celebrating my great grandmother's 100th birthday! What a blessing to share in such a special day. I can't even imagine the things she's seen and experienced in her century of life. She's still in great health and high spirits. Her positivity and generosity is contagious, and I am very fortunate to have her in my life. I'm glad the whole family was able to come together and celebrate. Katelyn and I are extremely fortunate to have such a large and loving family.

To make the day even more special for our great grandmother, Steve sang her Happy Birthday and then played You are My Sunshine. She was singing along and smiling.
(How AMAZING is he, too?!)

After the birthday celebration, we all headed over to Grand Haven to celebrate the 1st birthday of Country 93.1 WMPA. They have been such huge supporters of Steve's journey through the Texaco Country Showdown, so it only made sense to go show our support for them.

They were broadcasting live at the barbecue, so Steve played some songs for the listeners in west Michigan.

Then it was back to Grand Rapids for a night at the Back Forty Saloon, again!

Bring on the 3-day weekend! Thank you, Labor Day!

xoxo,
Laura

A Thank You from the Newest Mrs. Brown

Dear Friends and Family,

I wanted to take advantage of the fact that I (Katelyn) share a blog with my cousin where I can write a little letter of gratitude for this last Friday. It was honestly the best day of Alex and my's life. We literally could not think of a single thing that we would have changed to make it a better day. We know that without a doubt it would not have been possible without everyone's prayers for a smooth day and the support of SO many people whom we love so incredibly much. To our parents (all six of you): you are the world's greatest for everything you have done for us in our lives and for being such great role models. Thank you to everyone who made the trip for our big day as well! So many of you traveled so far to be a part of our wedding day and words can't even describe the gratitude and love we have for every single one of you. July 5th will forever be the most perfect and special day in our lives and to know that we have that many friends and family supporting Alex and I in our marriage is something truly special. 

I still can't believe how fast the day went! I am so incredibly happy and I am so excited for marriage with my best friend. I can't wait to grow as husband and wife and really honor each other and God and watch the other grow. 

Thank you EVERYONE again! None of it would be possible if we didn't have the support system that we do!

And I can't forget, thank you to my better blogging half (my silly cousin) for putting up with me and taking on the bulk of the blog work while I stressed out about seating charts and wedding shower outfits. You are the best and I promise to do the same for you when you join the married club someday!

xoxo, K

Follow my travels through our nation's capital!

Good morning everyone! Just a friendly reminder that I'm in Washington, D.C. Make sure to follow my Instagram to see a ton of photos from yesterday, today and tomorrow as I share my travels with everyone! Here's the link to my Instagram: http://instagram.com/petekate08 Feel free to follow me on Twitter (@petekate08) and Vine as I tweet and post funny videos from my trip!

 

Here's what you've missed so far!

 

D.C. Cupcakes! I managed to only eat two, how weird?

 

 

xoxo, K

 

 

 

 

 

Travel Tuesday: Washington D.C.

This week's Travel Tuesday is all about our nation's capital! So my mom and I traveled to Washington, D.C. on our very first solo trip almost two years ago, and this May we're going back! My brother works for the airline SunCountry so we get crazy great deals through him, and I work for a Marriott so we're usually very taken care of when it comes to a nice hotel. I was so pleasantly surprised with how clean the city was. So the real purpose of the trip was to run a 5K in honor of a close family member who was diagnosed with brain cancer a while back. This year, I'm actually trying to prepare for the race a little better so I've been running regularly and trying to eat super healthy, which is hard to do when you were born with the biggest of sweet tooth's. Here are a few photos from our trip!

 That would be me after the 5k, looking a little sweaty.

My awesome mom!

These next two photos are courtesy of my stepdad, Wayne, who will be joining us this year for the race.

What I loved about this city so much is the cleanliness, how easy it was to walk everywhere and how easy the metro was! I can't wait to go back so soon and to really check out more of Georgetown as well. 

Have a happy Tuesday everyone! Let me know if you have any suggestions of places to check out while we're in Washington D.C. and Georgetown! :)

xoxo, K

p.s. If you would like to donate to our team for the Race for Hope click here! You will be donating on behalf of Julie Jensen (my mom). 

How to Embarrass Your Cousin

Step 1: Post a really old photo of you guys together.

Step 2: Don't tell her that you're going to dedicate a whole blog post to embarrassing her.

Step 3: Wait for her response. 

Happy #tbt ya'll! This is us in Mexico a LONG time ago. Like, so long ago that it was super cool to get your whole head braided.

xoxo, K

Bread Making + Face Masks

Katelyn here!
So I went home to Muskegon yesterday, and this morning I helped my stepdad make some bread! Here's a little insight to how it went. For those of you who don't know me too well...I wouldn't exactly say I'm the baking/cooking type. So first Wayne showed me how to make the bread (and I took photos), and then he let me make the bread! Here are some photos from today:

It is the most delicious bread EVER! Pictures really don't do it justice...you need to smell it and taste it to fully appreciate it. 

Then I came back to Grand Rapids and Laura and I decided to finally try the face masks we bought at Forever21. Well...I will let you decide how they went. 

WARNING! The images you are about to see are extremely disturbing. We truly are masters at being awkward.

Well...that's all for now folks! 

xoxo, K

Weekend Recap

What a weekend!! Now that the holidays are here, time is just FLYING by.  I'm still wondering where November went.  I can't believe it's mid December.  

This past weekend was crazy fun.  Friday night, I, Laura, went out with some coworkers for some happy hour cocktails as a holiday "celebration", if you will.  It was basically just an excuse to grab a few glasses of wine at the Reserve downtown and chat about non-work related things. 

After that, I headed off to see a few of my favorites, Tieka and Eric, at their house.  We then headed off to the Winchester for a bite to eat a few more drinks.  

Eric and Tieka arguing about something insignificant. ;] 

Then the REAL fun began when we got to Rocky's for some dancing and sweating. Eric thought it would be funny to take a video.  I found it on my phone the next morning....

...don't ask.

Saturday consisted of going to Muskegon to buy new tires.  Had to get the ol' G6 in tip-top shape before my trip to Nashville in less than two weeks.  Then I grabbed some dinner with my parents and headed back home. 

Sunday was the annual Piszczek Christmas party.  Katelyn and I knew this would be a trip, as this side of our family is a complete riot.  10+ bottles of wine, outrageous games, and LOUD family members = hot mess. 

Us, before the madness began. 

Katelyn & Alex

My brother-in-law Ray, sister Miranda, and Dad.

Grandpa received the "Smart Ass" game during the adult gift exchange.  He is clearly thrilled. 

As you can see, crock pots are a popular exchange gift in the Piszczek family.

We were supposed to end our Sunday evening by ice skating at Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids, but it was raining all day, so we had to cancel.  Hopefully we'll get the chance to do that soon, because it's so festive and beautiful downtown with all of the Christmas lights. 

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

xoxo, 

L