Running with the Ward's: Dallas

Showing posts with label Dallas. Show all posts

Baby Ford at Build-a-Bear

While we were in Dallas, Justin and I took Baby Ford to Build-a-Bear for his 3rd birthday. This has a become a Ward/Morris family tradition. Each year for each Morris kid's birthday, we take them to do something fun, just the birthday child and Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Justin. We took Walker to Build-a-Bear for his 4th birthday (I realize this link is actually Walker's 5th birthday trip to the dinosaur exhibit but evidently I didn't blog about his 4th birthday!) and Sophie June for her 3rd birthday.

4 year old Walker rubbing the heart that would go into his wolf to "let it know he will always love it"

3 year old Sophie June and Aunt Lindsay about to go into Build-a-Bear

Recently, Walker and Sophie June pulled out there Build-a-Bear animals and began telling Ford how we were going to take him for his birthday and how fun it would be. This would have been great except one small problem....we now live in a different country than said birthday boy. However, we didn't let this stop us! Not wanting to disappoint the little guy, we put the outing on our agenda for while we were home. Despite almost forgetting our planned birthday outing, I remembered a few days before we left and we squeezed in a stop at the Northpark Build-a-Bear on our last day in Dallas.

Uncle Justin and Baby Ford

Baby Ford and Buzz....this boy knew what he wanted

Rubbing the heart that went in the monkey to "give it brains"

Buzz the space monkey, just chillin' in Northpark

Aunt Lindsay and the birthday boy

Annoucing Mr. & Mrs. Joshua Ward

Josh and Kristen were married on June 15, 2012 at the Orchard in Azle, TX. The ceremony was outside in a beautiful pecan orchard under a pergola with a pond in the background. Kristen's brother officiated and Justin was the best man. It was a lovely ceremony and Kristen looked stunning!

The reception was inside with dinner from Spring Creek and dancing. We had a great time spending the evening with family and friends! Josh and Kristen had an old school photo booth at the reception complete with tons of props. You put on silly props and took photos in the booth. After four photos, there was a prompt to record a short video message to the bride and groom. Upon exiting, you got a copy of the photos to keep and they put a second copy in a book for Kristen and Josh and allowed you to write a message next to your photos. It was a great idea and so fun!

They did not smear cake on each other :)

Best man giving a toast to the happy couple

My parents dancing

Love this picture of our family

The garter toss


Photo booth fun with sisters

I love that my mom is just smiling in all of these while my dad is making crazy faces

Kristen and Josh exited the evening with all the guests lining the sidewalk and waving sparklers. After they pulled away in their fancy retro car, Josh's groomsman and family friend, Justin Hudson, stripped down to his boxers and socks, ran across the lawn, and jumped into the pond! My instigating husband politely warned all the guests by yelling, "hey guys, you might want to see this". It was a perfect ending to such a fun day!

Prelude to the Wedding

Ashley and I spent the night after the rehearsal dinner in a hotel in downtown Fort Worth with Kristen and her bridesmaids. We had a fun girls night but stayed up way too late for our early morning! Kristen and her bridesmaids got up bright and early in order to get to their 8 am hair appointments. Ashley and I left soon after heading back to Arlington via Whataburger (I definitely tried to fill my biscuit quota for the next year while in the states for a two week period).

After showers, all the ladies (i.e. Grandma, Susan, Amanda, Ashley, and I) loaded up and drove over to the bridal luncheon in Fort Worth at a cute little tea room in an antique mall. It literally caused me physical pain to not stop and browse in a such a fun antique store! We had a fun lunch visiting with all of Kristen's closest family and friends. After the luncheon, we rushed back to Grandma's, packed up the cars, and headed out for the big event in Azle!

Bridal Luncheon Table

My partner in crime for the weekend!

Kristen's hair in a bag for protection until the wedding!

Sisters! Amanda, Lindsay, Kristen, Ashley

We arrived at the wedding venue early to help set up and of course get ready with Kristen and her bridesmaids. I took on official babysitting duty to allow Amanda to help with official quilt square decorating duty. Plus it afforded me some quality time with two of my three favorite nieces. Adah and I played put on Lindsay's make up for most of the afternoon while Michaela preferred the eat Chick-fil-a nuggets game. You would think that is not much of a game but in reality the game involves one player attempting to stuff her entire mouth full of nugget while the second player attempts to minimize said stuffing to one bite at a time. If the second player fails, she is punished by having to catch partially chewed nugget in a napkin from the first players mouth.

Cute little flower girl and the beautiful bride

Playing put on Lindsay's make up

Adah and Ashley ready for the ceremony

Playing the eat Chick-fil-a nuggets game

Amanda did all of our hair (our being Ashley, me, Adah, and Susan) and I must say all our styles turned out beautifully! Then it was finally time for pictures! It was super hot but the photographer was fast and I barely even got shiny face!

To be continued....

Josh and Kristen's Rehearsal Dinner

Josh and Kristen's rehearsal dinner was at Joe T Garcia's in downtown Fort Worth. Amanda, Ashley, Grandma, Josh Dishmon, and I went to the venue early to help set up. The rehearsal dinner was in a private building across the street from the main restaurant and it was lovely! The decorations were great and personalized with pictures of Josh and Kristen. The dessert table had a trunk with mementos from their dating relationship. A few members of Kristen's family played music before and after dinner. Kristen's mom made a slide show with pictures of Josh and Kristen growing up through their engagement. The best part of the slide show was one song that was actually Kristen singing when she was younger. It was so cute! We had a great time celebrating with the bride and groom and catching up with family not to mention the food was excellent!

One of the centerpieces

Very cool private room

Dessert table

Ashley and Adah

Forcing Justin to pose

The bride and groom

Dallas Holiday - Week 1

Justin and I made the long trek back to DFW in June to celebrate with Josh and Kristen at their wedding. We had a wonderful trip catching up with family and friends and eating at all our favorite places! We spent most of the first week of our trip in Dallas with my family. I got to shop at Northpark with my mom, hang out with my grandparents, attend Baby Ford's 3rd birthday party, go to a fun dinner at Sissy's with Kara and Aaron, have lunch with some lovely ladies from work, and float in the pool multiple times! My mom and I were on a mission to find not only rehearsal dinner and wedding attire but also all the items on my "get while in the US" list. We employed all our best shopping skills and techniques and managed to get an epic haul!