Home is where your Husband is

I got a nice surprise Tuesday night when I got home from work. Pulled up, get out of car, unlock door, walk in house (it was nice & warm....this should have been a clue), Rhett jumps out from behind the corner and scares the living crap out of me. He was out of town in Missouri hunting and was not to return until Thursday morning. He decided it would be fun to surprise me. Lovely surprise except for when I jumped 20 feet and starting screaming!! He thought it was pretty funny though. He of course had a wonderful fire burning in our fireplace. If I would have pulled up to our shed I also would have noticed the garage door was shut and that would have been another clue to tip me off. I had my Mom check on the dogs so she was at our house when he arrived home. He said he had to bribe her to keep from telling me he was there. He also said he would not scare me!!! Little stink!

I also got a nice surprise today from fed-ex...my wedding dress & veil in the preservation box. It looks so pretty all bundled up. It is hard to believe that the whole thing fits in that small box. Maybe one day it will get removed but for now it is safe & sound!

Now that the holidays are nearing I am wishing I had more canned goods to give out as gifts. I spent so much time making them for the wedding favors I did not make a lot of extra. I typically randomly give jars throughout the whole year some as gifts others just for fun. Next summer my plan will be make lots for Christmas gifts! I am so glad though that I gave them out as favors. I enjoyed the whole process and maybe it will inspire someone else to start canning. It is quite easy just a little time consuming. I have only been canning for about 3 years now. I think the first thing I made were the Simpson red cinnamon pickles. Margaret so kindly helped me throughout the whole process. In a way she got this crazy canning lady started. For the reception I think I made a total of 165 jars. I only had 10 left all zucchini relish. Someone even ate their strawberry jam with their meal at the reception. The empty jar was left on the table. Haha!! Thank you to everyone who took something home. I was a little worried I would have like 40 zucchini relish left so I was extremely happy with what little their was. I really only made that much because we had ridiculous amounts of the vegetable in our garden.

Here is Brooke & Erin setting it all up on Friday. Thanks ladies!! It looked great.

The end of the nights view!

The popcorn bar went over well too. Margaret made caramel popcorn & I got the kettle corn from Mike the  popcorn guy in Baldwin. (this is so sad I don't even know his last name) My Mom & I also bought some butter the night before just in case we ran out. As soon as we walked in Wal-Mart's doors boom their it was  right in front! The check-out guy was making fun of us for buying such large bags. All the caramel was gone, 8 of the 10 kettle corn bags and 1 whole butter. That was a lot of popcorn that got eaten!! 

Huge Thank You to Lynn Gonzalez for keeping it all stocked during the party! 

Also forgot to mention the other day when discussing the lights on the backdrop. Thanks to my father & his brother my Uncle Steve for rigging the lights up around the frames. I was messing with other things and it kinda got pawned off on them. It was pretty entertaining actually to see them setting it up!

I am so happy that family & friends got to make it from long & short distances. People traveled from Arizona, Minnesota, Washington MO, Defiant MO, O Fallon MO, Lake Ozark MO, St. Peter's MO, Colorado, Indiana, North Dakota, Springfield IL, Ruma, Red Bud, Sparta, Walsh, Troy IL, & so many more! Rhett & I are both so thankful to have such wonderful family & friends who came to celebrate with us. We appreciate everyone who traveled loooooong distances. 

I have the next 4 days off and plan to thoroughly ENJOY them!! Hope everyone has a great weekend starting now!!